"Insanity's Blade" - An indie 16-bit game now in Arcade Mode! Kickstarter-backed

[Nando]

That's looking awesome!

[schweaty]

Just saw this today:

http://mynintendonews.com/2014/04/20/insanitys-blade-may-be-ported-to-nintendo-3ds/

The article implies Insanity's Blade is already slated for a Wii U release with a 3DS release a possibility.  I would very much be in favor of a 3DS release.  For one thing, I don't have a Wii U.  For another, this seems like the perfect portable device game.  The 3DS is tailor made for these types of downloadable games (and vita for that matter).

BTW - watch the video.  does that battle look just a lot bit like a certain game's openning?  here's a hint:  it rhymes with Blacula Hex:  Pondo of Mud

[NightWolve]

Yeah, he's working with another programmer to handle the Wii U release after having become a licensed Nintendo developer, but the PC version isn't even finished yet (10 levels ready with 7 to go), so the Wii U port will happen later. The code will be ported to something called "Unity" which is more universal than what he chose to build the PC version.

BTW - watch the video.  does that battle look just a lot bit like a certain game's openning?  here's a hint:  it rhymes with Blacula Hex:  Pondo of Mud

Heh-heh, yeah, he's kind of pushing it with all the influences "borrowed" from Capcom, Konami and others, etc. I didn't know he had done this one, looks like it was published in January. It's pretty cool, I mean, they're respectful homages, but hopefully nobody complains or something. Good choice in background music for it too. I think I would genuinely like to play this thing beginning to end when it's ready.

[Tatsujin]

this must so much become a 3DS title!! f*ck the wii U, nobody has that.

[NightWolve]

https://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform/consoles

Well, looking at this "Unity" multi-platform game development engine, it can export/port your game to the following modern consoles: PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360. To port it for 3DS, you'd have to find another programmer to do it that's good on that system, is familiar/experienced with its particular devkit and so forth, etc. He should see how well it does after he gets the main version finished and released which won't be too long: 16 levels have been completed, one left.

[schweaty]

Well, looking at this "Unity" multi-platform game development engine, it can export/port your game to the following modern consoles: PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360.

Are they planning a Xbox 360 release?  I'd be good with that too (but 3DS is better)

[NightWolve]

Nope, nothing at all for that has ever been mentioned. Money was already spent to get a license for the Wii U platform, and from what I gathered he's gone over from what was raised with Kickstarter.

An aside, something that I was surprised to learn over time, but you know how you can make a game or any type of software for Microsoft Windows 98/ME/XP/2K/Vista/7/8, etc. and simply release it without issue ?? That's because MS gave up some IP Rights and chose an "open-licensing" model for their operating systems (as have many others of course). However, videogame console producers have a "closed-licensing" model, meaning, whatever type of software you wanna publish on their system, you FIRST gotta talk business with them which means pay a license fee and get a devkit AFTER they approve your type of game/software idea! That's how they want it. Nobody can just willy-nilly make a game for Xbox, Playstation, etc. If you do, it'll be "unlicensed" and they could theoretically pursue legal action if it REALLY bothered them that much.

Anyway, that's an interesting thing about how things "work."

[schweaty]

so what is driving the 3DS rumor?  pure speculation or is this a thing?

[damainman69]

Hey Guys

I thought I'd pop in and say thanks for the support! I can give you a tiny game update. Things are going smooth for the most part. I can't believe the amount of work that goes into the gfx let alone the coding. The shift from NES to "arcade" is killing me. I've had to redesign all of the graphics and once co-op was added, I had to completely redesign the maps which were single player only.

That cart boss fight was scrapped about a month ago I think. I didn't like the first boss there at all, he was an upgrade from the nes version of the game. Just not feeling him. The ghost we're going to use elsewhere. Now we have the heroes on Horseback throwing their weapons at various enemies. The carts now have cages that contain prisoners. The bosses are gone as this stage will be the boss fight itself. I wanted to break up the game play a little and the horse riding will do the trick I think.

As far as supporting other consoles - that will come with demand. Right now we're getting massive requests for 3DS. So we'll probably venture down that road when Unity is available on it.

On a side note, I'm too attached to my Duo and it obviously showed in that cart fight. Now it's less climbing and more killing/action. If the game has to be compared to anything now it would be Magic Sword having a good time with Ninja Gaiden. Though unlike those games we have the mandatory "elevator" stages where you ride the platform down into the the depths as you get pummeled from all directions by enemies.

People were asking for more co-op and less Castlevania, and although the game never played like Castlevania, the atmosphere was gothic and led people to the conclusion that it must be a rip off of Castlevania. I don't remember being able to kick the balls off of zombies or rip them in half in Castlevania at least The cart fight was the only thing that resembled the series. Though because I put a castle into it (which is part of the story's plot) I'm sure I'll be hearing it from that angle now too!

Anyhow I'll leave you guys with a couple shots from the game that haven't technically been released yet Cheers!

Chris

[schweaty]

Chris,

Thanks for chiming in.  We arent used to getting info straight from the horses mouth, so I guess I'm a little shocked I'm not going to have to wade through 2 more pages of "I think they should do this...." posts.  I thank you for that.

If I wasnt clear in my previous posts:  "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY 3DS MONIES RIGHT NOW!" 

BTW - I like the homage to Drac X.  I dont think anyone will have a problem with it.  Its a love-letter-to-that-era game anyway so anyone who has a problem with it just doesnt get it and shouldnt be listened to anyway.

[lwizardl]

love the screen shots Chris, this game will be awesome!!

[Nando]

love those screen shots! MAKE IT SHINE FOLKS!!!!

Best of luck!

[Tatsujin]

so awesome chris

 how about hand out the grafx to "the old rover". so he could down grade it to fit on the PCE, once it hitted well in the mextgen market?

[Tatsujin]

also how do you create all those wonderfull pixel grafx all by your own? would be like a life task if I would try to do that

[damainman69]

Ha ha! Thanks for the love guys!

@schweaty The 3ds version will happen when Unity happens for it. I think Nintendo is in talks with the Unity guys now. The game was coded in HTML5 so no chance of it happening on anything until the unity port is completed. We already have our Wii U Nintendo licence but we have to apply for a 3ds one. Personally I'd like to go Vita (I have both) as it's starving for games right now. Unity is already on vita so there is a good chance we can hit it quickly. But yeah, this is all up in the air at the moment.

As far as the drac-x cart bit goes, I just couldn't stand the boss fight. It felt clumsy trying to keep the boss on the cart and then dodging the ghost. I spent a bit of time on that ghost though, the driver... we'll see if he at least gets to sit and drive still LOL!

@Tatsujin We're thinking of releasing the game as an arcade cabinet. Table tops and what not. But for a game this size, it's not logical to port as no one will do all of that work for free As far as the graphics go, I do them all in a sprite editor - pixel by pixel. Some bosses are hand drawn and scaled down to game res and colors. But all BG tiles and sprites are done the hard way, which is actually pretty easy if you've been doing it for a long time. I often export the sprites to a sheet and alter the overall shades in Photoshop, then take them back to another sprite editor and tweak the palettes.

Thanks again for the kind comments guys! It means a lot!


Chris