Euroshmup/beatemup hybrid in development: "PUNCHgunner"

[oboewan42]

What if all Treasure's games were kinda just one game that came out once?

The poster for the game

(Yes, you play as that bear.)

So I recently discovered an interesting little shmup/beat-em-up hybrid currently in development by Tiny Build Games (the makers of "No Time To Explain", one of the first games to get funded on Kickstarter, before that really became A Thing). The lead developer has specifically stated that he hates bullet hell shooters and that his goal is to make something that's the opposite of a bullet hell shooter; instead, the gameplay is going to revolve around combining various ranged and melee weapons in order to get crazy combos and high scores.

Another thing he's aiming for is to have lots of enemies that are unique, gameplay-wise. For example, there's one enemy that violently explodes if you kill it with a ranged weapon, damaging nearby enemies (and you, if you're close). If you kill it with a melee weapon, however, it drops lots of point items.

Here's the blog post in which they announced the game

Here's the TIGsource thread where you can watch the game's development in real time

Here's a relatively recent early build of the first level

What really interests me is the design philosophy behind the game. While I don't agree with everything he says here, I do find it very interesting, and it will be interesting to see what someone who is more or less an outsider can add to the genre:

It’s a scrolling shooter- but with less shooting and more everything else. Think Radiant Silvergun if instead of a ship, you played as the guy from River City Ransom. Or Devil May Cry in space…

It came from the fact that I had one PC game when I got my first computer and it was Stargunner. It was a great shooter with big, chunky enemies and LOADS of weapons to attach onto your ship, different enemies with unique AI and abilities, and being made in TEXAS: it was a different design philosiphy than all the Japanese shooters. Japanese shooters got more and more bullets onscreen, smaller ships, more complex spirals of… dots. I think bullet-hell shooters are VERY boring, and every shooter now just feels like a nostalgic call-back to bullet-hells.

I got excited when Grasshopper announced Sine Mora as “rebooting the genre”, but it was just giant spirals of dots again. Why can’t you EAT ENEMIES TO GAIN THEIR POWERS in shooters? Why can’t you CATCH MISSILES AND THROW THEM BACK AT DUDES? Why can’t you pick up a pipe, do a combo on a guy, and suplex him through a table like in Streets of Rage, but in a shooter? Nobody’s even trying it.

All in all, I'm cautiously optimistic. Thoughts?

[Captain]

It’s a scrolling shooter- but with less shooting and more everything else. Think Radiant Silvergun if instead of a ship, you played as the guy from River City Ransom. Or Devil May Cry in space…

It came from the fact that I had one PC game when I got my first computer and it was Stargunner. It was a great shooter with big, chunky enemies and LOADS of weapons to attach onto your ship, different enemies with unique AI and abilities, and being made in TEXAS: it was a different design philosiphy than all the Japanese shooters. Japanese shooters got more and more bullets onscreen, smaller ships, more complex spirals of… dots. I think bullet-hell shooters are VERY boring, and every shooter now just feels like a nostalgic call-back to bullet-hells.

I got excited when Grasshopper announced Sine Mora as “rebooting the genre”, but it was just giant spirals of dots again. Why can’t you EAT ENEMIES TO GAIN THEIR POWERS in shooters? Why can’t you CATCH MISSILES AND THROW THEM BACK AT DUDES? Why can’t you pick up a pipe, do a combo on a guy, and suplex him through a table like in Streets of Rage, but in a shooter? Nobody’s even trying it.

do a combo on a guy, and suplex him through a table like in Streets of Rage, but in a shooter?

Way too many shooters have close range attacks for the player, all I can say is that there is a probability that none employed a suplex specifically.

pick up a pipe

picking up a pipe is equal to getting a close-range weapon powerup.

[Udderdude]

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?t ... #msg715932 :3

[trap15]

tig sores

[n0rtygames]

but in a shooter? Nobody’s even trying it.

I feel I may be going out on a limb here, but I feel that the reason most shooting games tend to incorporate shot based mechanics over punching and kicking is that a lot of developers when writing a shoot em up, tend to subscribe to this outrageous idea that a shooting game should probably focus on shooting things.

Cheeky sarcasm aside though, it's quite obvious that he's capturing the feel of a STG while incorporating other really cool stuff too. Going to keep an eye on this one closely I think. It looks like it could be just insane enough to be utterly glorious!


edit: I'm still not entirely convinced this is strictly a *shooter*... the giant bear makes my brain hurt in a good way too.
edit edit: However as I continued to read the linked thread, my views changed

[ciox]

Another thing he's aiming for is to have lots of enemies that are unique, gameplay-wise. For example, there's one enemy that violently explodes if you kill it with a ranged weapon, damaging nearby enemies (and you, if you're close). If you kill it with a melee weapon, however, it drops lots of point items.

This is one of the strangest sentences I've ever read, if you are him, or a friend you should probably just mention it.

[hermit crab]

Another thing he's aiming for is to have lots of enemies that are unique, gameplay-wise. For example, there's one enemy that violently explodes if you kill it with a ranged weapon, damaging nearby enemies (and you, if you're close). If you kill it with a melee weapon, however, it drops lots of point items.

This is one of the strangest sentences I've ever read, if you are him, or a friend you should probably just mention it.

I'm not him nor do I have any friends but FWIW I see nothing strange in any of those sentences you've quoted. The game will have enemies which will behave differently from eachother and also the way they die will depend on the weapon used... Your sentence, however, is more difficult to decipher. Are you saying that the sentence is strange if I am him, but if I'm not him it isn't all that strange after all? Are you sure you're qualified to be the English teacher and is this really even English class to begin with?

[relminator]

One word: "EuroSHMUP"

[alice]

Interesting information. I appreciate your post. Thanks for sharing it.