MEGACOPTER MAYHEM
Interview with Gabe Miller & Nick Hunter of Pizza Bear Games
What first inspired you to create a game based on the Strike series?
Gabe/Nick: We were working on educational games together at the University of Oklahoma and started joking about an evil helicopter with ancient origins. I think attack helicopters were state of the art in the 1980s and as children of the 80s they have held a place in our hearts this whole time. Megacopter was originally drafted as a game where half of the time you would be in a helicopter and the other half infiltrating buildings as a 2D side scroller. We decided to cut the 2D side scrolling in favour of focusing on the helicopter combat and adding depth there. Afterwards, the art evolved into an isometric style which is very reminiscent of the Strike series.
What other games and media are you drawing inspiration from?
Gabe: ‘Chopper Lifter,’ ‘Thunderblade,’ ‘Airwolf TV series, ‘Infiltrator.’ I played a lot of games on Commodore 64 and NES that were helicopter-based. Also from TV and movies like ‘Night Rider’ and ‘Big Trouble in Little China.’ We really wanted to capture that fun vibe and sense of adventure. The Sentient vehicle genre is one of my favourites.
Does the isometric perspective require particular programming techniques or art styles?
Gabe: When we started, we didn't feel that any of the mainstream game engines had the toolset we really needed to make what we wanted. We wanted to make it purely 2D-pixel art and isometric. So we had to make a lot of our own world editing tools. For the Art, I did a lot of 3D modelling, and then tracing on top of the renders and hand-pixelating for the final sprites. There's probably a smarter way to go about it, but the most important thing for me was to get the hand-crafted feeling. We also use ‘Spine’ from ‘esoteric software’ for animating the big bosses and complex player interfaces. Since we aren't using a mainstream engine, Spine became our animation timeline tool.
What inspired the unusual mix of sci-fi and ancient Gods in the storyline?
Gabe: Well, probably just all the daydreaming and time-wasting I did while I worked at OU haha. I have always been fascinated by the history of warfare and also Indigenous cultures. After a while, the myriad of insane YouTube documentaries have all mixed together into a soup that floats around in my head at all times. I think Nick wanted the helicopter to have more of a personality. So, if our evil helicopter needs to have a personality, why not an Aztec goddess? I don't know, it just made sense to us and it's fun so why not?
How much art and animation is involved in creating the game?
Gabe: For Nick and I this whole project was pretty far outside of our experience, so we had to do a lot of sketches and models. We also did a lot of writing, and we were pretty harsh on each other about what ideas worked and which ones didn't. It was important to us that we nail the feeling we were after. There are lots of enemies, levels, effects, character animations, bosses, and cinematic animations. And for all the stuff in the game, there's even more that we cut or abandoned.
Nick: Additionally, there is art and animation used in the in-game HUD as well as the interactive ‘Megacave’ which is your hideout between missions.
Were there any particular Strike missions or ideas that have inspired missions in your game?
Nick: One of my favourite objectives in the Strike series was rescuing POWs, so we have a mission focused around that and it is a particular helicopter fantasy that we enjoy. There was also a mission in Urban Strike to defend a Russian sub and we took the idea of defending an objective and made it into a tower defence style mini-game.
How long has Pizza Bear Games been working on the game and as a team?
Megacopter has always been a passion project apart from our full-time jobs. We started experimenting with the idea about 10 years ago and then began really working on it in 2015. We had to put the project down several times for other life obligations and during the pandemic. Originally, we had no idea what we were doing but now we are much more experienced developing it.
What is your development environment and are there any particular tools used?
Gabe: The art is a combination of Blender 3d, photoshop, and Spine 2D.
Nick: We utilized libGDX as our 2D game engine and the Spine 2D runtime for animating complex assets like bosses and many parts of the UI. We developed our own mission map editor that integrates all of the isometric tileset editing, object placement, and other aspects of mission design.
What inspired the music of the game?
Nick/Gabe: We really liked the soundtrack of ‘Big Trouble in Little China.’ It has such a great combination of mystery and action. We did a very exhaustive search for composers on sites like ‘Band Camp’ and our first choice was ‘OGRE Sound.’ We liked several of his releases and saw he also composed soundtracks. We approached ‘OGRE Sound’ with an initial direction and he ran wild with it. It was really an honour to work with him, the soundtrack is really next level. You can purchase the soundtrack from ‘OGRE Sound’ through ‘Band Camp’ and it’s called ‘Megacopter.’
When are you hoping to launch the game on Steam?
Nick: Our planned release date on Steam is April 3rd, 2024.
UPDATE: Launch has moved to the Steam Summer Fest on June 21st, 2024.
Do you have any future projects in development, or would you be interested in doing a Megacopter sequel?
Gabe: A Megacopter sequel, boy I sure hope so! We'll make them for the rest of our lives if it’s successful enough :P We only scratched the surface of the lore in this one.
Nick: The main feature of Megacopter is progressing through the single-player story/campaign. I would love to add other game modes post-launch if there’s enough interest. If I had the opportunity to make a sequel to Megacopter, I’d love to support multiplayer as a central feature and continue the story.
What other retro-styled games are you playing on Steam?
Gabe: I have been playing ‘IFO’ and ‘The Arrest of a Stone Buddha.’ IFO has a really challenging shooting mechanic that I enjoy. “Arrest of a Stone Buddha” is such a great throwback to Hong Kong action and “Rush ’n Attack” type gameplay.
Nick: I finally got around to finishing ‘Loop Hero’ which feels very retro in terms of sound and art. However, the gameplay felt new and unique to me.
LAUNCHING 21ST JUNE, 2024 - Wishlist at:
NEWS BYTES
AMSTRAD CPC: Foggy’s Quest has jumped from the ZX Spectrum, thanks to Cyrille Ayor61, with cartridge and tape images. https://bit.ly/foggy-cpc
ATARI ST: Haplo brings dungeon puzzler Tenebra to Atari’s machine, with classic and remastered graphics. https://bit.ly/tenebra
COMMANDER X-16: Jimbo’s latest for the machine is Tower Defender, inspired by his earlier PET Desktop Tower Defence game. https://bit.ly/tower-x16
DREAMCAST: The Dreamcast Junkyard has put together a massive guide to the last 20 years of indie games on the Sega machine - https://bit.ly/indie-dreamcasy
GAME BOY: Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge 2 is a clever point & click inspired by an episode of The Simpsons. https://bit.ly/putting2
MSX2: Phenix Corrupta by Casper Croes is available as a digital download and a limited-edition premium cartridge from Côté Gamers. https://bit.ly/phenix-msx2
NES: Lowtek Games released a demo of Flea 2 before the Kickstarter campaign (which was successfully funded) - https://bit.ly/flea2-demo
PICO-8: Bomb Jack is the latest arcade conversion from Paul Hammond = https://bit.ly/bombjack-p8
PLAYSTATION: 3D puzzle game Mike Visor was the first submission to the Net Yaroze 2023 Jam, which ended in February. https://bit.ly/yaroze2023
ZX SPECTRUM: Blast those Mutant Mushrooms and avoid the giant bugs (pictured above) in the stylish Robotron-inspired 128K game from The Death Squad. https://bit.ly/mushrooms-zx
For another arcade experience, there’s Marco Leal’s brilliant Pac-Man Arcade for 48K. https://bit.ly/pac-zx
VARIOUS: The BASIC 10-Liner Competition 2024 is underway. https://bunsen.itch.io/
CHAMPION CODER - JONATHAN CAULDWELL
Jonathan talks about 10,000 downloads of Multi-Platform Arcade Designer (MPAGD)
[Info]
Jonathan Cauldwell
From: England
Websites: http://www.spanglefish.com/egghead/
Format: ZX Spectrum, ZX81, Various
Previous game: Arcade Game Designer (Spectrum)
Working on: Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer (Windows)
How pleased are you that MPAGD has reached 10,000 downloads?
I'm astonished but absolutely delighted. When I set out to create the program, I never imagined it would reach a milestone like this. A large part of its success is undoubtedly down to the volunteers who have assisted with various things like engines for new machines, fonts, tutorials and of course the community of users who regularly release games written with the tool.
Where did the original idea for MPAGD come from?
This dates back to when I had my first Spectrum back in 1984, I knew BASIC was no good for writing games but learning machine code was hard. I remember wanting a tool that would allow the user to create commercial-quality stand-alone games in a simple language. Sadly, no such tool existed and so many years later I set out to create one first on the Spectrum (AGD), then as a Windows tool that could be used to convert games to different formats. The result was MPAGD.
Are you planning more updates for MPAGD and Arcade Game Designer?
Definitely. AGD has had a total rewrite for version 5 and is currently in the testing and bug-fixing stage. When that's done, I'll get around to updating MPAGD. Hopefully we'll get volunteers to convert the engine and compiler to more machines too.
What games have you personally made with MPAGD?
I generally leave that to others. There's the demonstration game Diamond Geezer and a little shoot-em-up called Tea and Sympathy but those are pretty much it. The important thing for me was to include functionality to import the hundreds of games written with AGD firstly so that I could test that everything worked but also so that these games could then be further extended by their authors to use the extra memory. Kees van Oss (the guy responsible for the Acorn engines) utilised this functionality to convert hundreds of Spectrum AGD games to the Acorn machines.
What have been your favourite games made with MPAGD?
Anything with an original mechanic as that's what I look to do when I write a game. Hedgehogs is a brilliant puzzle game that I just love. Duckstroma had the player laying an egg that would explode after a few seconds, blasting him far higher than an ordinary jump could achieve; I really liked that idea. There are many others too, far too many to mention.
What styles of game do you think MPAGD is capable of tackling?
It can do anything the user wants if he or she thinks about it. It doesn't scroll but it can do starfields if a user wants a scrolling shoot-em-up. It has BASIC's READ and DATA statements but every individual sprite has its own DATA pointer within a script, so it's possible to have tables of coordinates for sine waves or sprites orbiting other sprites. It can also import user assembly language routines and occasionally I create new Amstrad and Spectrum routines to do new things such as (for example) rotational controls. There's so much potential that still hasn't been realised.
What would be your recommendations for someone starting out with MPAGD, in terms of learning the software and creating their first game?
First of all, read the documentation in the download, it's comprehensive and each command has a code example. After that, I'd absolutely recommend Bruce Groves' incredible tutorial at https://bit.ly/mpagd-tutorials
Databurst - Game reviews
Yeti Mountain
Format: C64 cartridge / Windows executable
Credits: Russell Mills for Protovision
Price: digital download $8.99 / physical cart TBC
[Score] 88%
Sergio Kidd
Format: Game Boy (DMG/Color compatible)
Credits: PCNONO Games
Price: digital download €3.95 / physical cart TBC
Physical pre-orders now at https://www.pcnono.es/juegos/
[Score] 78%
Golf Monday
Format: Steam/PICO-8
Credits: Apskeppet (Johan Peitz)
Price: £4.29 (Steam) / $4.95 (itch)
[Score] 80%
PROCESSING - KIRITO (MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS)
Interview with artist Ciberu from Kirito Team:
What inspired the game?
The concept is a bit wild – initially, the game's main characters were intended for a comic strip. Picture this: a tale of Kirito, a young enthusiast immersed in the world of retro gaming, who takes the plunge into the realm of YouTube. When faced with his unexpected success,
Five seasoned retro gaming YouTubers (and yes, they're real!) decide to take him on and give him a beating as a lesson.
The game unfolds around this narrative, kicking off right after Kirito's video game collection is burglarized.
How much are you willing to do to retrieve your game collection?
Who are the people involved in the game?
Our squad consists of 5 members, starting with Thulf, a seasoned coder, backed up by Fredoleponge (i.e. Sponge Fred), an expert in artificial intelligence.
Adding to the mix, there's Rek1 Viskeux, our resident musician, and Fredial, the testing maestro and a true expert in Beat 'em Up games – we're all secretly envious of his flawless 1CC in Final Fight, haha!
And last but not least, myself, Ciberu the pixel artist!
What is your development environment?
Our coder utilizes SGDK and the C language to craft the game on a standard computer. Our musician employs Deflmask to compose, staying true to the original hardware of the Mega Drive. Personally, I create my Pixel Art using an iPad and the Procreate app.
Are there any original ideas or game mechanics you have added?
We don't claim to revolutionize the Beat 'em Up genre, but we're dedicated to honouring its traditions. Nevertheless, the game stands out with its contemporary setting, humour, and dynamism. We have only one goal: to deliver a game that's pure fun for you.
How long have you been working on the game, and how much more is there to do?
We've been in the trenches for a little over a year on this project. A demo, serving as a prologue, is set to drop in May 2024 to kickstart our Kickstarter campaign. We're looking at around another year of development to wrap up everything.
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