I was supposed to post this one a short time after the first one.

..... oops. Anyway...

Not as big a history lesson on this one. Here's a game I started back in 2007. I guess maybe I was playing a lot of Alien Soldier as well as a few other games and I started getting ideas for characters. I wanted to put these characters in a game where they fought each other in highlighted matches, but not as a one-on-one fighting game. I still wanted it to be a side-scrolling action game with some adventure aspects to it, but like Alien Soldier, the real meat of the game was going to be the boss battles.

Although a lot of these modern "retro-throwback" style games have been getting on my nerves recently, at the time, I decided to intentionally make the story-line and writing of this game campy; reminiscent of a games I would have played in the late 80's and early 90's. I still plan on doing this, so I guess a good taste of that would be the story set-up. Although it may sound like it, I didn't write this as a spoof on Avatar; the general story was written around 2006. All similarities are purely coincidental, I actually still haven't seen Avatar.

In a possible future, with space travel and aliens and all that sci-fi goodness, a material is discovered on a small, war-torn planet. This substance is found to be an extremely effective yet perfectly clean-burning energy source. It's also high in protein and tastes great on toast. Scientists label this material Perfectium and quickly, the galaxy's largest governments scramble to section off zones of the planet for harvesting. The constant civil wars amongst the planet's hostile denizens and competing warlords of the region complicate matters for all parties, resulting in an emergency meeting of the Third Galactic Coalition (3GC). Through this, the Hell-Razors were born: a secret branch of highly trained agents, kept so confidential that they are isolated from each other. Their only exposure to their fellow Hell-Razors comes from a leaderboard, ranking the highest rated agents by their overall career efficiencies. Through their clandestine operations, key areas of the planet were kept stable enough for mining operations to resume.

A short time later, the planet is declared fully harvested and all mining crews are pulled. The Hell-Razor unit is disbanded and all records of their existence seemingly destroyed. Many disappear entirely, wary of how thorough the 3GC wished to be with their cover-up. Some seek similar positions amongst the 3GC's special forces. Many still find employment amongst the many remaining warlords as personal assassins; the discovery of Perfectium only increasing their bloodlust, unaware of their planet being mined dry of it. Gun-Shy, the only Hell-Razor to maintain a 100% mission efficiency rating when the team was disbanded, finds himself abandoned on the hostile world. With no desire to rejoin the 3GC, and even less to sell his skills to the native warlords, he attempts to find his way off the planet and into a quiet civilian life. However, he quickly learns that not all the Hell-Razor records were properly destroyed, and his status as top-dog is about to make him popular with all the wrong people.

So anyway, players assume the role of Gun-Shy, a former Hell-Razor on a planet teeming with belligerent locals, trigger-happy militia, dangerous beasts, and worst of all, other newly-employed former Hell-Razors. The game itself is styled after action-heavy side-scrollers like Contra, Gun-Star Heroes, Alien Soldier, Mega-Man, etc. Combat will be a mix of shooting, hand-to-hand, melee weapons, and more. Gun use is limited to a recharging ammo-supply, so while players will always have the gun available to them, it will have to be supplemented with various forms of combat. Levels will be mostly linear with some exploration giving way to more items and better upgrades. The player will progress through the storyline, battling legions of smaller enemies until they reach one of many boss battles. These typically will be other Hell-Razors, but may sometimes be other types of large enemies.

One of the major features of Hell-Razor's combat is Drive. On the HUD, in a speedometer-like display is Gun-Shy's Drive. Drive is built by successfully dodging attacks with the "defend" button. When it is pressed, Gun-Shy performs a quick evasive action that, when timed properly with an enemy attack, totally averts damage. The total damage prevented will be added to his Drive, and the more Drive built up, the easier consecutive attacks will be to dodge. Nearly every attack in the game will be dodgeable with possible exceptions being things like explosive-generated splash damage. When Drive is stored, pressing the attack button will result in a powerful single Counter-Attack that is capable of stunning opponents. The more drive stored, the stronger the attack. The Drive bar is also capable of being upgraded, allowing multiple levels of drive to be stored. With each new level, a stronger Counter-Attack is unlocked. Drive cannot be stored indefinitely; when drive is accrued, it persists for several seconds before draining quickly. This stops the player from maxing it out and unleashing it on the next boss at the beginning of the fight. It also keeps the combat quick and exciting, allowing the player the choice between burning their Drive on a Counter-Attack, or hoping they can keep it filled by dodging following attacks. A single Counter-Attack (or being hit) completely drains the Drive bar.

There will be an item slot where players can select one of their two carried items. They will always carry one permanent melee item and one consumable item. When picking up a new item, that item will replace the existing item of the same type. So if Gun-Shy has 5 throwing knives left and picks up grenades, he will drop the remaining throwing knives in place of the grenades, for possible later use. The player can switch between their permanent or consumable item at will. While Gun-Shy can swap out varying items during the game, his firearm will always be with him. During the course of the game, it will be upgraded several times. I've not yet nailed down which of these upgrades will be mandatory story upgrades, and which will be the result of exploration and puzzle-solving, but it will definitely be a mix of the two.

So basically, the main draw of the game as far as I'm concerned will be the wackiness of the characters that make up the many boss battles. I'm pretty set on having full-voice acting for all the in-game cutscenes, and I'm excited to record much of the game's dialogue. Anyway, as most of the game in its current form exists under the surface, here's a collage of concept art and sketches.

Larger version of the image here.