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

[sigh]

Regarding the graphics - it's a really tricky one. The animation works nicely for the gameplay as they look responsive and are very clear which does not make the action confusing.

Graphical style - to start redrawing the sprites might be okay as they don't have many frames, but redrawing the backgrounds could be an absolute pain for the artist. Creating background tiles is a labour intensive process which needs a lot of thought and organization, to make the tiles look good enough to make the repeats less obvious.

Have you tried taking the graphics and running it through some sort of "pixel" filter and reducing the amount of colours to around 16 - 24? That may tone down the flash like look?

[fano]

A shinobi like, yes , i like this !
Gameplay looks cool but i find gfx too clean, nicely made but really too clean.Not a fan of the music too (maybe too anonymous for me)
Anyway i voted for it on steam, keep up the good work.

[Kris]

I really love the "back in time" of the game: it looks like game end of 80's and this is something we miss today; gameplay is typically what we have all seen in the arcade games at this period.


Really enjoy it

[shadowgangs]

Graphical style - to start redrawing the sprites might be okay as they don't have many frames, but redrawing the backgrounds could be an absolute pain for the artist. Creating background tiles is a labour intensive process which needs a lot of thought and organization, to make the tiles look good enough to make the repeats less obvious.

Some anim frames will be redrawn (especially for Dan and especially the regular jump animation), some enemies will be completely replaced to better looking ones (Gunman).

For the background tiles, I'll let the background artist know that he can any number of colors he wants as look as the result look "dirty" and much less clean and much much more detailed, I am sure he will be up to the task. To be fair, I always asked him to max the colors everywhere, seeing that the game is millions colors why not use as much colors as possible. But I can see that less colors might be better.

If needed, I might look up for a second background artist if the task is huge (especially for 20 large levels, and I think I will come to this conclusion in the end).

Have you tried taking the graphics and running it through some sort of "pixel" filter and reducing the amount of colours to around 16 - 24? That may tone down the flash like look?

We didn't try, but I'll let him know about this.

[shadowgangs]

A shinobi like, yes , i like this !
Gameplay looks cool but i find gfx too clean, nicely made but really too clean.

Thanks, yes background gfx are the main complaint I get and got it so many time that you can be sure it will be addressed. I will be intransigent on this for the full game.
Demo is too late to fix now.

Anyway i voted for it on steam, keep up the good work.

Thank you.

[shadowgangs]

I really love the "back in time" of the game: it looks like game end of 80's and this is something we miss today; gameplay is typically what we have all seen in the arcade games at this period.


Really enjoy it

Thank you, much much more to come:
Ninja transformation, 20 levels (bigger than Shinobi ones), 5 missions, (hidden mission maybe if possible) 5 bosses, One or more types of bonus levels, more music, more enemies including female ones etc...


But, the gameplay will not change, the basic formula at work will stay the same

[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.



Shadow Warriors 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!

[Gryzor]

Eheheh I love Freddy


I'm not a fan of this style of gfx but I suddenly have the urge to give it a go

[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!

[sigh]

They look very nice indeed.

Just a few comments:

On the first screen, the crates could show more of an angle to make it look less flat. At the moment, it looks more like a wall tile.

On the sixth screen, I reckon that the truck could be a bit bigger, as it looks as though the characters on top of it, wouldn't be able to fit inside it.

Another thing are the buildings in the background. I think it would be nice if they stood out less to give the backgrounds a bit more depth. Maybe fade them little?

Currently, I feel that with all the backgrounds, the characters would benefit from having a shadow of some sort against the walls. This feels quite evident with the fourth screen as It would make them feel less like they're just sitting on top.

Regardless - this looks amazing.

[shadowgangs]

Currently, I feel that with all the backgrounds, the characters would benefit from having a shadow of some sort against the walls. This feels quite evident with the fourth screen as It would make them feel less like they're just sitting on top.

Thank you for your feedback

When seeing it in movement, this impression of characters sitting on top is not noticable.
But, I'll look into adding shadows to characters as an important feature (after the kickstarter if successful).

[Gryzor]

I agree about the shadows!


Also, in the screen with the huge girl graffiti: just some transparency doesn't make it a good graffity, really. I think it kind of stands out...

[shadowgangs]

I agree about the shadows!  

I agree too
Shadows will be a priority post kickstarter, I think they will add more depth to the game.
I never implemented shadows before, and I am not sure how to proceed on this but eventually I'll find a solution.

[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.

[TFM]

Looking at all the color schemes and shapes of bodies, then this clearly looks IMHO like the late 90ies. The 80ies have been more 'strong', not so bleached out, brighter colors, real characters instead of models. Maybe you should rename it to:
(Demo) "Shadow Gangs" an 90's arcade inspired ninja action game.

[shadowgangs]

Looking at all the color schemes and shapes of bodies, then this clearly looks IMHO like the late 90ies. The 80ies have been more 'strong', not so bleached out, brighter colors, real characters instead of models. Maybe you should rename it to:
(Demo) "Shadow Gangs" an 90's arcade inspired ninja action game.

It's inspired by the 80's arcade games (especially late 80's) but the setting of Shadow Gangs is now.

[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:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRUY-PzgsH4

[shadowgangs]

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


Shadow Gangs: 80's ninja arcade action revival by ShadowTeam — Kickstarter


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!

[Gryzor]

I missed this - both the beginning and the end. Strange and sad that it finished so low...

[shadowgangs]

I missed this - both the beginning and the end. Strange and sad that it finished so low...

The game is coming back in a much better video and demo, and will showcase the real potential of Shadow Gangs.
But, yes it's sad, but really some of the backers contributions was humbling and showed how much they believed in this game and how much they wanted the game.


For those, and for many others that may not have heard of Shadow Gangs, or that may not have liked this initial version, we are now making a definitive polished and much bigger and better demo.


Stay tuned!

[shadowgangs]

Hi everyone;

The scope of the game, and the quality is also getting a big lift, with many improvements and enhancements.

Also, now it will be more an action/adventure, with many secrets to find/items to use, than a pure action game.

Above is the mission 4 boss (actual in-game sprite), more info and updates on the website.

[Gryzor]

Freddy Mercury?

[Bryce]

Freddy Mercury?

Maybe he wants to break free?

Bryce.