(Kickstarter) Shadow Gangs: 80's ninja arcade action revival

[Xiaou2]

Heres a snap of the original shinobi low kick.

 The post leg is bent 90 degrees at the knee, behind him.   

 In your version, his post leg is fully extended on the ground... and does not allow the attacker to enter without stepping on his leg.

 In Shinobi, the move is also performed from a crouch.. allowing quicker time to return to your feet.

 If you were to do a fully laying down kick.. you should at least pull back the guys post leg at the knee.

 The foot should be horizontal as well, like a blade.

 Some of the other kicks also have issue as well..  not performed anywhere near correct.

[shadowgangs]

Demo video looked pretty good.

Thank you.

- The kick options are nice.

Still more gameplay elements will be added for the full game.

- The low kick however.. does not look realistic at all.  Needs work.

The game is not trying to be realistic, but we'll talk about it more in reply to your more detailled post.

- Punching through boxes, without them being 'opened' .. seems ridiculous.

Shinobi also had it, enemies too can slash the hero with sword and knifes through boxes and other one tile blocking elements.
I think it's fun to let it this way.

If he does possess Ninja training / skills...  then he should be able to pick up other weapons, such as:

 - bow?
 - grenades - (Houroku-hiya)
 - grappling hook - (kaginawa)   - for climbing, swinging, reaching high places
 - sword (constant use until killed)
 - Nunchaku?  Tonfa? Staff?

I would like to add new weapons, but I dread the gameplay takes a hit from this.
I want 100% pure action, like an arcade game. Adding weapons will add rpg elements to the game, and make people have of choice of weapon and then we have one weapon better to use than another one and this will kill the game balance.
This will need proper thinking and judgement, I really want the player experience to be the same at every run of the game.

The hero will transform to a ninja and get the sword which will dispatch enemies faster, as well as deadlier types of shurikens.

Enemy ninjas could use other weapons...such as:

 - blowgun
 - sickle, chain, and a weight  (Kusarigama)
 - fire arrows - Ohkuni-hiya
 - exploding smoke bombs - (Torinoko)
 - Nunchaku?  Tonfa? Staff?

 http://www.ninjaencyclopedia.com/weapon/

I agree with you on this, and it is very desirable for the other ninja enemy types that will make it in the full game.
I noted this.

A ninja clothed hero variant, is still desired.

This is something that will 100% happen.

[shadowgangs]

Heres a snap of the original shinobi low kick.

 The post leg is bent 90 degrees at the knee, behind him.   

 In your version, his post leg is fully extended on the ground... and does not allow the attacker to enter without stepping on his leg.

If the attacker overlap with the extended leg, he will not step on it, he will get a hit and bump back or die.

In Shinobi, the move is also performed from a crouch.. allowing quicker time to return to your feet.

Here too, this attack is from crouch, and you get to crouch position in not time after the attack.

If you were to do a fully laying down kick.. you should at least pull back the guys post leg at the knee.

 The foot should be horizontal as well, like a blade.

The kick will not be full laying down, as it need to reach enemies up to one tile high from ground (which corresponds to about half the enemies height).

Some of the other kicks also have issue as well..  not performed anywhere near correct.

But Shadow Gangs is not aiming to be realistic.

I would like to propose to you one thing, what are the areas you can contribute if you wanted for this game (programming or arts)? and are you interested in joining the team behind this game?

[thomas_surles]

I call dibs on a free download code when the full game is released.

[shadowgangs]

I thought I'll give a new Shadow Gangs update.

The game is being updated every day, the new backgrounds are under way and they will look nothing like the originals. They will be very detailed and will have an extra parallax layer that will add a lot of atmosphere to the game.

is now my inspiration in relation to the backgrounds  variations  and amount of static object, so expect a completely different and better looking backgrounds.

Other fixes are related to engine fixes, 3 checkpoints instead of 1, new knifeman with a new flying attack type, better AI, fixed camera, some prone guys will now stand up when Dan is near (not all will stand up!) and many fixes and new features have gone in.

I leave you with Dan in ninja form, hope you like it:



and the end boss of one of the games mission (yes, Freddy!):


Development is still going on, stay tuned!

[shadowgangs]

Hi Everyone;

Finally I am proud to present the new Shadow Gangs, with new backgrounds (pictures bellow), and many more fixes and enhancements that pictures can't convey.

I am also excited to announce that the Shadow Gangs demo, and the new and final pre Kickstarter video will be both available at the same time at the end of next week, Saturday or Sunday, most probably Sunday 22nd of May.

Aside from preparing the demo, I will now prepare for the kickstarter campaign. To this end, I am going to dress up in big detail what

Shadow Gangs is about, what enemies are there, what levels, what new weapons can Dan and his ninja form use, how they can use it, and what

the ninja form add to Dan capability wise.

Rendez-vous at the end of next week, the demo will be available then for download (pc version), and a new video and final video will be uploaded, and I will also announce the kickstarter date!

[shadowgangs]

I am happy to announce that the Shadow Gangs demo is now available in the downloads section here.

It's the PC version, it should run fine on a 1ghz PC with Intel graphics, but let me know if you have any issues running it.
You may need to install Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable here if the Demo won't start, I didn't need to but just in case.

A new video has been uploaded here:


A new music track is also available, here or in the downloads section. It's included in the demo and can be heard if you finish the demo.

The kickstarter date is now set, it's the 25th of June 2016. If you liked the demo and want this game to materialise, please contribute to the crowdfunding.

These kind of games like Shadow Gangs won't be brought back by big game companies, or the likes of Sega, Capcom etc...., they all seem to have moved to 3D and other new fancy gameplay styles etc..., so don't wait for them to release something like Shadow Gangs.

Also feedback on the game all over the internet, here and friends has been very important, and this new demo is showing that. Apart from the new backgrounds, many enhancements and fixes have gone in.

I really hope you enjoy it!

[shadowgangs]

Just to say that I received enough feedback about the difficulty being too hard even in easy mode, so I added 3 more checkpoints on all difficulty modes, and lessened the number of dangerous situations in easy mode.

It should be an easy ride now.
(In easy, other modes are still challenging).

New demo version available at the same place here.

[mike boss]

I think this looks incredible. I get the retro feel when I look at it. I get the Bad Dudes feel (as mentioned above) and I see the Shinobi.
All of which are AWESOME!

I love the look, I like the new take on retro gold. The music, the colors, the artwork, I think this looks A++++.

Awesome job !

I agree to play this on my arcade cabinet would be awesome.

[shadowgangs]

I think this looks incredible. I get the retro feel when I look at it. I get the Bad Dudes feel (as mentioned above) and I see the Shinobi.
All of which are AWESOME!

I love the look, I like the new take on retro gold. The music, the colors, the artwork, I think this looks A++++.

Awesome job !

I agree to play this on my arcade cabinet would be awesome.

Thank you.
About Bad Dudes, there will be more influence from it going forward, especially some enemy behaviour (like the ninja that throws stars on the ground, and you have to kick the stars out (or jump past them to progress). And some more things especially the scenery, like Bad Dudes level 2 (but this time in China, on top of a train in the Gobi desert), more details soon as I am preparing the Kickstarter.

I will definitly make a version of Shadow Gangs tailored for the arcade cabinet needs. I think I remember there is need to have similar insert coin, push start button (5 and 1) like in Mame, this control type will be provided for easy integration for people that would like it on an arcade cabinet.

And of course, an arcade cabinet is really the best place for Shadow Gangs to reside

I will make a good scoring system, with highscores and competitive score beating, some secrets and some easter eggs thrown in here and there.

Another thing I wanted to say, is about Dan in Ninja form. I decided to give him an assault rifle as weapon (instead of magic shuriken or fire shuriken or any kind of super shuriken).

And also about platform versions, there will be Kickstarter goals for Dreamcast, PS4,  PS vita, Xbox one.

And the last goal will be the 6th mission, a bonus mission with no relation with the Shadow Gangs "story", this mission will be in ancient Greece, over 4 levels, with Zeus as final boss.

[baritonomarchetto]

If you will go the arcade cabinet way, use a non interlaced resolution or it will look not "right" on standard resolution monitors

[shadowgangs]

If you will go the arcade cabinet way, use a non interlaced resolution or it will look not "right" on standard resolution monitors

The game will support all the resolutions that the graphic card provide. (the demo actually has it).
For example, on my laptop I get from 320*240 up to 1920*1080.
It looks ugly in 320, but start to look good at 640, with really good at 800*600.
Is this a good resolution for an arcade cabinet? is it non interlaced? (or does non interlaced display need some kind of specific programming?)

[baritonomarchetto]

320x240 is not a resolution a lcd can handle, at least at a refresh rate of 60Hz.
In an arcade cabinet you have CRT's, not lcd's, and you must force the videocard output to low res with programs like soft15khz or calamity's CRT emudrivers. Both developers are here around, so it would not be difficult to obtain valuable info from them on this regard.

[shadowgangs]

320x240 is not a resolution a lcd can handle, at least at a refresh rate of 60Hz.
In an arcade cabinet you have CRT's, not lcd's, and you must force the videocard output to low res with programs like soft15khz or calamity's CRT emudrivers. Both developers are here around, so it would not be difficult to obtain valuable info from them on this regard.

Ok, thank you. I'll make sure to ask for help here when I get to the the implementation phase of this feature.

[shadowgangs]

Hi everyone;

I uploaded a new video of me playing in hard mode with melee only (mostly, one miss near the end), and no deaths.

The game also had a speed increase for Dan (and some enemies to keep the balance), as well as sharper melee attacks.
I think it plays much better than before.
Many other fixes has gone in.

In relation to the kickstarter, Dan in ninja form will have an assault rifle as projectile weapon, I think it's much better this way than having some kind of fire shuriken or super shuriken or the like which was my original intention.

Here is the video that I wanted to do before the kickstarter to show the game potential more:

[Malenko]

tell me theres an unlockable Pink Gi for Dan.

[shadowgangs]

tell me theres an unlockable Pink Gi for Dan.

I would like to, but I don't think it will happen.
The reason is the sprite are hand drawn, changing palette colours is fine, but drawing new clothes is a heavy operation

Still having him in pink style suit both in ninja and fighter form is fine, not sure if this will do?

[Malenko]

Still having him in pink style suit both in ninja and fighter form is fine, not sure if this will do?

Dan is my fave guy from Street Fighter /Puzzle Fighter, and he wears pink so I thought it was funny

This is just a QUICK mock up, since I dont have source files:

[shadowgangs]

Still having him in pink style suit both in ninja and fighter form is fine, not sure if this will do?

Dan is my fave guy from Street Fighter /Puzzle Fighter, and he wears pink so I thought it was funny

This is just a QUICK mock up, since I dont have source files:

Ok, we'll add it. And in fighter form too, pink suit

[shadowgangs]

Hi everyone;

I am excited to announce that the Shadow Gangs Kickstarter is now live here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1858040208/shadow-gangs-80s-ninja-arcade-action-revival

Please share the news! and thank you!

[shadowgangs]

Hi Everyone;

The Shadow Gangs kickstarter is in it's final hours, and I would like to let anyone who is interested but hesitated for some reasons about
the enhancements and changes that the full version will have:

-If the graphic style is an issue, there will be filters available to add scanlines or any other full screen shader effects that are
available already for emulators like Mame, Winuae etc...

-Also concerning the graphics, all the characters will be drawn by the same artist who did Dan and the ninajs, this will ensure coherent
art and of higher quality.

-The animations frames will be double or tripled in some animation types (dying animation and others).

-A lot of special effects will be added, some using shaders or with added shaders. Blood, bullet trails, better bullet effects, hit effets,
smoke etc...these will make the screen busier.

-If you didn't like the game because of lack of diversity, there will be a lot more interactions, Dan will have an inventory to store
sepcial weapons and sepcial attacks (magic), there will be elements of search, recovering money, freeying all types of hostages, some
elements of adventure/exploration too like using the ninja double jump to get to secret areas.

-The ninja form will allow Dan to take one hit without dying (but will cause him to revert to his fighter form). Also the ninja form will be available at about 10 to 15% of the level start.
 This will put the difficult a lot down.

-And many many more enhancements and fixes. A full list is in the Kickstarter page.


I would like also to ask you to actually play the current demo, to get a real feel of the game and see it actually on your screen not just on videos.

Bellow is the new Dan as ninja which is being done now by the sprite artist, and the first frames of the attack drone.

Also, if the game succeeds the Kickstarter, all backers without exceptions will get regular milestone builds.

Many thanks!

[yotsuya]

Looks like this got cancelled:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1858040208/shadow-gangs-80s-ninja-arcade-action-revival

Says they're coming back with even more features, but I have a feeling that won't make either.

[pbj]

I got $5 in hand when this is finished.

 

[yotsuya]

I got $5 in hand when this is finished.

 

See, I think if the dude sold it directly to the public instead of Kickstarting it, he could make SOMETHING from it.

[thomas_surles]

Free public release. Charge for part 2.

[adder]

update:

http://www.shadowgangs.com/

"The new Shadow Gangs will be what Street Fighter 2 was to Street Fighter 1. A complete new different game, with explorations, items, hidden places, many effects etc... (but, Shadow Gangs will always retain the core fundamentals of it's gameplay).

Stay tuned!"

[keilmillerjr]

update:

http://www.shadowgangs.com/

"The new Shadow Gangs will be what Street Fighter 2 was to Street Fighter 1. A complete new different game, with explorations, items, hidden places, many effects etc... (but, Shadow Gangs will always retain the core fundamentals of it's gameplay).

Stay tuned!"

Bummer. I like side scrolling fighters so much better. Hd graphics isnt really 80's and throws it off, but if it can do 240p that would have been neat.

[shadowgangs]

I wanted to share a WIP of Shadow Gangs, showing here boss Freddy.
​
Still not polished, very buggy, no proper sounds or effects, and many sprites of Dan here will be changed (walk animation and anything which doesn't look good).
Also Video quality is not great, I made it with an underpowered laptop.

But I wanted to share with you this to show this game is progressing.

Hope you like it!.

! No longer available

[Le Chuck]

You leave Freddy Mercury alone!