It is designed to take full advantage of the system's capabilities in terms of raw processing power, graphics and audio.The game will be intense and fast-paced in the Danmaku style with a mix of some of the favorite shooter elements from the years, with new twists and ideas never seen before in any Shmup. You will fight through unique, complex thematic environments, utilize unique upgradable character-specific weaponry, offensive and defensive capabilties, fight unique and inventive bosses, all with a full CD-quality soundtrack, multiple difficulty levels and bonus modes for extra replay value.
Graphics will be modern but with a retro flair-- similar to those utilized by Cave arcade titles. Music will also be modern but with throwbacks to the 80s and 90s-style "feel" of video game soundtracks. Gameplay is quick and responsive, maintaing a very constant framerate at 90 FPS-- reaching points above 115 FPS with music, and 140 FPS without (before optimization) in engine tests.
A PC version will be released as well with some extras not possible on the GP2X hardware, PPC Macintosh version, Linux version, and Dreamcast version-- potentially also an XBox version if there is demand. It will run on just about any remotely recent hardware (most systems built in 2001 or later, really. Perhaps older, too.)
The game will probably be a commercial release, but with a free demo version available. We're expecting to have a tech demo (playable) ready to roll in September of this year.
But what I'd like to know is-- what do you want to see? We are far along enough in development that many ideas are set in stone, but we are still very open to suggestion. Is there a weapon you'd like to see? A means of character defense? An item? A boss? A bullet pattern? A level theme or design? We'd love to hear it.
Similarly, if you'd like to lend any of your talents to the project, we'd gladly consider adding you to the team. With more help, the project may just be completed that much sooner. Our lead artist could always use some help completing all the artwork (it's quite a task!) .. Musicians are always welcome, and as I said, your suggestions and ideas for production.
Thanks for any input, and I hope you will like what we are working to achieve.
