This introductory post is the first in a weekly series where we will provide you with a short synopsis of the development progress. Code-named 'Space Hawk', we are here to present you what-will-be our re-make of Gaplus, a successor to a once popular game called Galaga. Gaplus was developed by Namco. They tried to improve upon game you might have heard of called Space Invaders. Whether they succeeded or failed is not for us to decide, but we do think the Galaga series offers exactly what we want to try and do with our game: dodging bullets and killing enemies.
Despite its archaic graphics and game design, we think that Gaplus, as the only one in the Galaga series, succeeded in providing fast and engaging gameplay throughout. However, AI patterns are very predictable and the types of threats the player is faced with is sort of limited. Enemies in Gaplus can sometimes drop power-ups or ship parts that the player can use to gain an advantage, yet there isn't much variety. With all this in mind, you can see why Gaplus was a great game during its time, but lacks quite a bit in our time. That's where we step in.
In our remake you can expect an improved AI and more varied patterns. We will also rework the level system a little bit to provide you with faster gameplay and more challenging boss encounters. Part of more modern games is the ability to progress the player with customization options and we want to do some akin to a shop or garage to allow you to improve your ship as you progress through the levels. Other than that, we will of course update the graphics and sound to today's standard, but the exact details we will still have to figure out. We are also not yet sure if we should use the same theme (bug-like aliens) or if we can derive a little bit.
In the meanwhile, have a look at the following video of Gaplus to give you a better idea what game we will be remaking.
To round things off for this introductory post, we want to remind you that the name Space Hawk is just a name we use internally until we come up with something final. But who knows, maybe it sticks.
See you next week!
- the Thunder Struck team