"Spellrazor: a haunted arcade game inspired by Rogue, Defender and Berzerk"
Latest builds: 0.9.10 - 17th of February 2016
[New tutorial and front end, bug fix for lightning, more clarity!]
Latest builds: 0.9.5 - 18th of January 2016
[Shader and endgame updates]
Latest builds: 0.9.2 - 9th of December 2015
[Fullscreen bugs sorted out - finally]
Latest builds: 0.9.0 - 18th of November 2015
[Game finished, complete with 'ending', (apart from any bugs people find)]
Latest builds: 0.3.0 - 27th of October 2015
[ALL spells now in! New creatures, dark levels and vaults]
Latest builds: 0.2.9 - 23rd of October 2015
[24 of 27 spells implemented, Slowmo now implemented as 'Danger zone', console improved, crash bugs removed]
Love file: here
- Arrow keys to move
Every letter on the keyboard fires a unique spell
The '~' key allows access to the 'debug console' - more on this later.
I'm Dene Carter - I was one of the creators of Fable, one of the core team on Dungeon Keeper and the guy who made Incoboto for iOS.
What do you want? I'm busy!
I've been working on this weird little 'haunted arcade game' for about a month now. It's inspired by really beautiful old arcade machines of the 1980s - specifically Eugene Jarvis' Defender/Robotron as well as Berzerk.
Spellrazor is an arcade game with (believe it or not) 27 unique fire buttons and a single directional stick used to guide the 'Adventurer'. Peculiarly, there is no aiming. Aiming is automatic, meaning that positioning and choice of spells are critical.
What? 27 fire buttons? You're crazy. Or stupid. Or crazy stupid. That's a thing now, you know.
Well, there's a weird story that half explains why this came to be, and why I call this a 'haunted arcade game'.
The story goes that a guy named Duncan Bower created the original Spellrazor in 1980/1981 just before being booted out of Williams. He took the original code with him, and shortly afterward found himself working on, believe it or not, Polybius for the CIA/Sinneslochen, after which he disappeared. There are indications that even before he left he was edging toward insanity.
Spellrazor is what he was working on before Polybius. Before he went mad. Hence 27 fire buttons and no aiming.
You said something about a debug console? Is this thing broken?
As in the original game, there's a debug console which the player can use to access various things. It's kind of glitchy, and infused with Duncan's odd sense of humour. For example, there's a weird mode that slows down time when you don't move, which turns the game into a strategy game!
There are numerous weird glitches in the game that seem to hint at something creepy within the game, buried deep within the arcane console commands.
Am I going to enjoy it?
I won't lie - it's a difficult game. And you only get one life. Add to that the secrets that are growing, plus the increasing levels of intelligence the monsters are beginning to show and it's clear that Spellrazor is not going to be for everyone. Games of this era were brutally hard, and - from the Williams stable at least - kind of sinister (as befits a guy who went on to work on Polybius). If you liked Defender or Robotron, you'll probably find this to your taste.
What now?
This project is mostly done: there are a few more of the spells to put in, and a couple more enemies including bosses armed with the same spells as you, but it's already enormously (if masochistic) fun. The music's not final, but overall, I'm really pleased with how this little 'resurrection' has worked out.
Finally, I thank you enormously for your time. I also thank the Love2d fraternity for making Love2d one of the best game environments I've had the pleasure of working with in my long years.
