That little tech demo video let you know that we weren't just blowing smoke about this gaming business, but there's more to that short video than meets the eye.
Despite the misleading side profile of our placeholder sprites, Johnny Outlaw comes from a long tradition of top down shoot-em-ups. Games like SmashTV, Robotron 2084 pioneered the style, and now there are plenty of clones out there for every gaming medium. Typically these games are arena style, pitting the player against countless enemies in an enclosed space. For the player that meant hordes of zombies were charging from different directions, hoping to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. New weapons and powerups appeared to make the job more interesting, and games to follow tried to develop new and more interesting weapons to mow down their foes. These games are fun as heck, but as it stands, they haven't evolved much past SmashTV.
With Johnny Outlaw, we want to take that inherently fun style of gameplay and build on it to recreate the feel of a classic Spaghetti Western. This means that we're taking the genre a little out of its comfort zone.
Some of the important game design decisions this boils down to are:
-Far fewer enemies who are more intelligent and lethal
-Fewer weapons, but they will actually be specialized and situational
-Focusing more on accuracy rather than spray and pray
-Emphasis on mobility, dodging, and tactical reloading
-RPG elements and exploration that supplement the combat(without being obtrusive)
-and of course an actual story
I don't know if it'll resonate with the same audience, but so far it's shaping up to be the same fast-paced shoot-em-up combat and it has much more room for strategy. I enjoy playing it already, and a little further down the line, I'll let you all enjoy it too.
Until then, remember this bit of cowboy advice:
Always drink your whiskey with your gun hand, to show your friendly intentions.
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