![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And you could do so much movement, so fast … when you can already jump and then dash and glide almost the length or the height of the entire screen and move really quickly, it makes for kind of difficult design decisions.’ ‘It was actually kind of a challenge in that way, because it felt so good. We went along to improve the feel of it, the fluidity of it.’ ‘The wall jumping, floating, bouncing on it, striking enemies with it – all the stuff was the first thing we did … The core was there from the beginning. ‘The controls for the actual movement of the Gunbrella was one of the first things that got done in the prototype,’ Bourgeois explained. Read: Gunbrella preview – A rain-soaked gothic Western to die for The umbrella is almost a character in itself in Gunbrella, and allows for players to fully explore their environment, utilising slick commands to cross battlefields and survive the onslaught of strange creatures. In an early preview for Gunbrella, we remarked on this specific feature. From appreciation for this design, the Doinksoft team began working on their own interpretation, with a goal to create a fluid and fast movement mechanic that utilised an umbrella in dual fashion: for rapid gunplay, and for smooth traversal. ’ Cloudy inspirationsīatman wound up being one of the core touchpoints for development on the game, although Gunbrella‘s origin point and mechanics owe a lot more to the Kirby franchise, which features its own floaty umbrella mechanic. Not so much the time setting, but the dark vigilante revenge / avenging mood. ‘We were looking at and was showing me some of that – and that even almost inspired the synergies, with Batman, and the umbrella. In its shades of brown, purple, red, and grey, you can see much of the world of Gunbrella, which spotlights the journey of a lone hero wandering a hostile world of eldritch horrors and gun-toting villains. In revisiting the creation of Gunbrella, Doinksoft looked to its past inspirations: Kirby, and the dark noir detective world of Batman – specifically, Batman: The Video Game for NES, which rocks a mute colour palette and climbing mechanics, rather like Gunbrella. The success of previous games, and their acquisition by Devolver, has evolved the team’s circumstances, and allowed them to significantly expand their work. While the team ‘made it work’, they were ‘scraping by’ to make ends meet. Per comments by Bourgeois, the Doinksoft team has ‘struggled for years’ in reaching for their creative vision, with very little assistance. ‘Devolver trusts what we do as developers, and wants us to be developers, and do what we do.’Īccording to Brady, Bourgeois, and Dwyer, Devolver’s role has been largely of support, with the reduction of administrative responsibility allowing the team to focus on the development of Gunbrella, and providing a much-needed layer of stability. ‘In doing Gunbrella, it was kind of like wrangling back into “let’s do what we’re good at, but bigger and better.”‘ ![]() ‘We knew that we wanted to do something bigger, and keep working with Devolver – and I think Devolver wanted us to do something bigger,’ Brady said. While Doinksoft told GamesHub that nothing much has changed since the acquisition, the support of the publisher has allowed the team to pursue Gunbrella in a way that stays true to its original vision. Then, Devolver officially acquired Doinksoft in early 2023. Doinksoft first worked with Devolver on Devolver Bootleg, a mini-game collection parodying multiple Devolver games. The turning point was when publisher Devolver Digital took a keen interest in Doinksoft, and its retro adventure specialty. While a prototype for Gunbrella was created – at the time, with ambitions for it to be a cute adventure game – a large scope and visions for a sweeping noir meant it was briefly pushed back in favour of ‘rapidly’ developed games, like Gato Roboto, which had a clearer focus and simpler mechanics. ‘Cullen originally brought up, kind of inspired by Kirby – and we just started talking about all the different things you could do if you had an umbrella. ‘It was something that Cullen talked about a long time ago,’ Britt Brady, creative director on Gunbrella told GamesHub of the title’s initial creation. While the idea for a gritty noir adventure game spotlighting a ‘gun umbrella’ was strong, birthing the game proved difficult, and its ambitions meant it fell by the wayside. The idea for Doinksoft’s 2D action platformer Gunbrella germinated nearly four years ago, before the studio began formal work on its most prominent titles – Gato Roboto, and Devolver Bootleg. ![]()
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