TJ Townsend, is developing Pythetron, a 2.5 Shoot'em Up for the PC, Mac and Linux.The game’s Kickstarter campaign aims to raise $5K in total, and has 26 days in order to meet that goal.
The Game
If you've played shoot'em ups before it's clear the arcade style action is fun, but usually the game follows a set pace through the game world. Pythetron will be designed to feel like the shootem' ups you've known from the past, but with a few tweaks. In Pythetron, you control the speed! If you are up for it, you can put the pedal to the metal and blast through each level, dodging obstacles, dealing damage to your foes and discovering tricks that make each stage completion challenging and rewarding. You can use speed to strategically advance through the game, or be lighter on the throttle and meticulously plow through your enemies as you choose your route across the galaxy.
Features
- Gameplay exists solely on a 2d plane
- Visually compelling 3d backgrounds and environments
- 7.1 surround sound compatible
- Crazy smooth motion using a high tech modern physics engine
- Dynamically scalable graphics that look great on modern PCs and even better on a gaming rig
- A vast game world to explore with many themes and cleverly designed levels
- Customize your ship to make your ultimate machine of destruction
- 11 elaborate boss battles
- Replayable levels that feel totally new when you use speed techniques
- 1080p 60fps on any modern graphics card and most older cards
The Story
After discovering that your planet's core is made up of a rare element called Gravitanium, the Zirgon, a functioning robot population that are the remnants of an ancient civilization, have unexpectedly attacked your home planet, Terradomus. Using Gravitanium harvested in their sector the Zirgon were able to develop long distance transport ships that could travel across the galaxy faster than light. Your only hope is to use your own long distance ship to launch a counterattack in hopes of finding and destroying the overriding command signal that appears to be responsible for the sudden change in Zirgon behavior.
Gameplay
In Pythetron the goal is to create an old school game with a new feel. It’s quite simple, a shoot em up with an accelerator. This creates a unique game style where each level can play out multiple ways. You could go really slow and mow down everything in sight, upgrading your ship with all the best heavy armor and just brute force your way meticulously through the galaxy with minimal scoring. Or, go a lighter approach and blast through carefully constructed levels narrowly avoiding disaster but racking up huge amounts of points, unlocking new worlds and plotting your own way to the far side of the galaxy.
What is great about the old school shooter...
- Massive weapons - Who doesn’t like watching their ship go from a pea shooter to a machine of total destruction?
- Easy to master controls - Keep it simple. You can move, you can accelerate, and you can shoot.
- Lots of enemies - Explosions and destruction are therapeutic.
- Colorful high contrast environments - With so much going on, you need to be able to see. A key obstacle to overcome in this genre.
The new mechanics...
- Pace controlled by player - See how fast you can blaze through each level, earning more points and unlocking more levels.
- Lots of permanent upgrades - Earn money and buy dozens of upgrades including several different weapon upgrade paths.
- Shorter replayable levels with unlimited lives - More rewarding difficulty without all the frustration of backtracking several minutes of gameplay.
- Longer overall gameplay with saves - With more levels, organized in a non-linear manner, the player can feel open to discover their own path.
Pythetron is indeed Glorious! and a testament of how a talented individual can create something extraordinary. We will bring you any new information on Pythetron as soon as it becomes available.
Be sure to support Pythetron and TJ Townsend here.
