Oh and here's an image from the Kickstarter campaign. Totally shows the vibe they had going into it. It also shows the original graphics when they were going for more of the 8-bit look at first:
And for anyone who is interested the developers have been doing a bit of press lately. This is an interview they did with NintendoLife and discuss the ideas behind the game and some of their general philosophy on retro-gaming. Good read if you have the time. Read it here.
There's also a video on the interview that shows the gameplay. If you were at all into these games you'll squee when you see this. It's pretty spot on for the era in all the best ways.
Me want.
I wonder how hard it is to replicate the graphics from that era. I wonder if it's just scanning stuff in and then working on top it.
aspro said:I wonder how hard it is to replicate the graphics from that era. I wonder if it's just scanning stuff in and then working on top it.
I imagine it's not that hard to recreate. Could be as simple as taking detailed artwork and lowering its resolution until its compatible with the look that they're going for and then convert for the program. Or even handdrawing it wouldn't be hard. Those Art Academy programs could teach you how to come up with something fairly similar. The stuff my kid has made using those tutorials is pretty impressive, and kind of ends up looking like that.
Wait, wait, wait!! That's how they did it!!! They have a 7 year old on staff!!
Oh my god, you have to watch this!! The trailer for Insanity's Blade came out a few weeks ago, and holy hell it looks amazing. It looks like the perfect late 80's action game.
Oh and if you thought the trailer was good, check out this video of the first level. If nothing else just watch the first minute or so. The way the game starts is epic.
Well Insanity's Blade is about to make its fans more insane and possibly more bladey. They've delayed the game again due to a game breaking bug. Originally it was meant to come out last week. Then it got pushed to this Tuesday. Now they're saying beginning of June. Oh well, kind of a moot point for me since that was for the PC release and I was planning on getting the Wii U version which isn't coming out until a later date anyway.
Oh cruel world!!! Insanity's Blade has had its release date changed again. It is now, TBD. Damn...
This actually looks kinda fun.
Yeah I think so too. It looks like they lifted the best parts of games like Altered Beast, Rastan, and such and added a neat spin to them. If this is $10 or under it'll be a day one purchase.
Just an update to this, Insanity's Blade was released over the winter. I'm not sure what happened to the console releases or if they are still even planned, but the game is available on Steam and has an 86% positive user score rating. I'm still expecting to see the console release though, as the game is still getting major updates on steam with "Arcade Mode" having been added to the game during the end of April.
A better question is "have you even heard of Insanity's Blade?" Probably not. It was a Kickstarter project that launched towards the end of last year and had a low enough goal that it managed to make it. It's a hack-and-slash platformer kind of like Black Dragon, Rastan, or Magic Sword. Originally it was meant to have an 8-Bit feel to it, but as time went on the developers found they could do a little bit more with it if they pushed it to be more of an 16-bit kind of game. They're getting close to having the game ready for launch, and while I had my doubts at first I have to say they really nailed the look and feel of the era.
At any rate Rastan and Magic Sword were two of my favorite arcade games. Can't even estimate how many of my quarters they took in the day. So when this game finally launches for Wii U, PC, Mac (and whatever else) I will be grabbing it. And if you have any taste you should too.