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Hi there, nice people of TigSource! I'm a longtime follower of the indie scene, who has been tinkering in a while now with a personal project, and I think now it's the time to start showing it to the world. Watching the current whims of indie game development, creating a public devlog in Tig seems to be all that the cool kids are doing, so, without further ado...

(http://s7.postimg.org/bpz93gx5n/banner_inx.png)

Game Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PM9GPOYhD8

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

In Extremis is a shoot'em up that attempts to modern design sensibilities, as well as some experimental elements to the genre, being developed by a one-man team (that's me).

It is neither a bullet hell, nor a old-school homage to the classics of the genre. Actually, my main influences have been the older indie games of circa 2006-2010, along with experimental arcade games such as Space Giraffe and Everyday Shooter.

But rest assured, shmupaholics, there are also several nods to every single shmup imaginable, from Ikaruga to Raiden to Espgaluda to Battle Garegga to Hellsinker and beyond. This game started as my university conclusion project, so I pretty much played every shmup imaginable in my research.

The my intentions with this project are twofold: first, it is to revitalize the genre by providing new design ideas (such as some mechanics and challenges beyond just adding more bullets) and play paradigms (like giving the player clear feedback when his skill improves).

The second is more complex: INX is also an attempt to generate meaning through gameplay and interactivy, without resorting to means that are external to the medium of games. Which means, very little amount of text and non-interactive scenes, and a high amount of cultural references and and elliptical, minimal narrative imbued in every single part of the game. For instance, the weapons were designed to ellicit specific sensations, beyond giving an strategic advantages, and the stages were planned with subtle micro-narrative arcs in their intensity curves.

A more detailed origins story can be found on a three-parter on the project devlog (link at the end of the article).


FEATURES

.A exquisite audio-visual metanarrative, filled with references that encompass centuries-old mysticism to contemporary pop-culture

.Eleven stages, each one with different enemies, mechanics, challenges and aesthetics

.Challenging bosses that require distinct strategies and subvert many clichés of the genre

.Twelve distinct weapons, called "aspects" in-game, which range from blasters and beams, to short-range weapons and support ones

.An adaptive difficulty system, that welcomes new players, and gives a proper challenge to seasoned ones

.A ton of surprises and secrets for persistent and lazy players alike.


STORY

There isn't any.

Just kidding. There is actually a complex story behind the action, contextualizing who and where the player is, and what is he doing there, but I deliberately wanted for it to be outside of the game, in order for the player to create his own interpretation of the narrative. This is partly inspired by how some old videogames dealt with narrative; players who actually read the story introductions present in the manuals had a different impressions of the events when playing the game.

In the future, I will post the story prelude in some form (I'm thinking about using Twine coupled with illustrations), for those who want more of a direct context to their experience.

(http://s23.postimg.org/bhkbi3g3v/ig6.gif)


GAMEPLAY

In Extremis main mechanic is "Drive", which works similar to  Hyper Mode in DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, with a dash of Jamestown's "Vaunt". Essentially, destroying enemies raises your drive bar, and when it is full, you can go into Drive. While in that state, each one of your aspects has their functionalities amplified (such as an increase in range, damage or rate of fire, or even changing entirely how they work). Also, while on Drive, if you git hit, you are unharmed, and all bullets on screen are canceled, making it also an shield of sorts.

The game scoring system is as simple as it gets; destroy enemies to raise your multiplier (up to x9), keep hitting enemies or graze bullets to stop it from decreasing after a while, and make monstruous combos. Going into Drive locks the multiplier, but getting hit while on Drive resets your multiplier to one.

I am trying to make scoring relevant to all players, not just to highscore chasers, by tying tangible rewards to it, like being extra lives in game and several unlocks, including new aspects and extra stages.


VISUALS

(http://s2.postimg.org/ne2us4but/image.jpg[/img[img]http://s27.postimg.org/uel5tnde7/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/ne2us4but/)(http://s30.postimg.org/jwfj50sml/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/jwfj50sml/)

So, the development of this project is probably running counter-current to most games I see posted around here;  almost all of the game content is already in playable state, but most of the art is still in development. Stuff such as enemy animations, layered backgrounds and enemy destruction effects will be implemented in the coming months.

(http://s11.postimg.org/hqvp78f1b/image.jpg)(http://s9.postimg.org/fmcwe0lhn/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/hqvp78f1b/)(http://s28.postimg.org/ec8a7x77d/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/ec8a7x77d/)

Since the look of each level is really unique, my goal is more that each level has an aesthetic coherence than to it merely look pretty. For that, I am using mixed media, such as collage and hand-made animation, as well as pixel and vector art, and a plethora of filters, shaders and graphical tricks in the game.

(http://s2.postimg.org/t6cma4hdx/image.jpg)(http://s18.postimg.org/co30uudat/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/t6cma4hdx/)(http://s22.postimg.org/hk4hq184t/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/hk4hq184t/)(http://s1.postimg.org/rp6fumyij/image.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/rp6fumyij/)

I want to do this because most shmups are visually really dull, with the overepeating robots-and-spaceships motif, and I always wanted to make a game in which each stage had a different, unique look, like a concept album of sorts.


SOUNDS

The soundtrack of the game is composed mostly of Creative-Commons music, with the exception of the rollicking space-rock main theme heard in the trailer, which was composed exclusively for the game. Music is really important to the design of the project, as it stage was constructed around the flow of each song. It encompasses a wide variety of genres, such as heavy metal, chiptune, swing jazz, piano ballads and 70's funk.


DEVELOPMENT STATUS

So, this is where I am right now:

Stages - Done!
Aspects - Done!
Bosses - Done!
Interface and Menus - Done!
Stage Balancing - Done!
Aspect Polishing - Doing...
Art and Visual Effects - Doing...
Adaptive Difficulty - Done!
Game Structure and Systems - Done!
Extra Content - Doing...


LINKS

Devlog Page:
http://inxgame.wordpress.com/

Follow In Extremis in Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/inxgame

(My devlog entries will be more oriented more to heady game design discussions than art showcasing and .gif porn btw, hope people are still into that!)

Update some information in order to reflect the development of the game. Also, added some static screenshots in the post, since the gifs that it had before misteriously disapeared.

Been updating the devlog more often, with some fun design tidbits; last post was about subverting and understanding shump tropes:
http://inxgame.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/breaking-the-shmup-dogma/#more-119

Last but not least, got a stable beta working already! It already contains all stages and weapons, as well as menus, different difficulties and setting, and save systems. If you are interested in playing, PM me!

(if there is anyone reading this, of course...)