Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Gamma Bros update, Feb 07, 2006

(original post date: February 7, 2006)

Hello Universe,


Welcome back to the Gamma Bros. pre-release news & info blog. I'm not sure really what to call it, but that should do for now. In today's blog I'm going to post first-time-ever screenshots!, as well as talk a little bit more about the game. First, here's a screenshot of the intro/title screen:


Look at those guys work.. they sure are hard workers.
. So, what is the Gamma Bros. you ask?, well as I mentioned in my first Gamma Bros. blog, It's an original Flash based retro style video game being designed & developed by Miles Tilmann & myself, (Rich Grillotti) with 8 bit music & sound fx by Mark DeNardo. It will be free for all to download & play. It's been in development for about 6 months maybe, building on characters and story concepts from our first game, which we've completed about 1/3 of but had to stop because it was a bit too ambitious for a first game & would have taken way too long to complete. "Game 01" was more of a screen by screen adventure game (think Robotron meets Atari 2600 Adventure/NES Legend of Zelda) where Gamma Bros is straight-up action space shooter... (like Gradius, & Robotron somewhat as well). Both are based on a very minimal pixel art style I was working with originally for a series of pixel models for an Art/Fashion exhibition
here in Chicago a couple years ago. You can see the pixel models at http://anything.org/.




Non-stop action! this would be from one of the earlier levels. watch out! those missiles are guided.

So, the Gamma Bros. themselves come from "Game 01" (working title), and in that game they are sort of like mini-bosses of the "wind" stage. Not necessarily bad guys, but making things hard for the main character (Guy) for some reason. Here in Gamma Bros, they are still the same odd dudes, but you control them on their commute from the space station they work at to their homes back on earth. That's the big, glorious goal here. To get home from work. Of course, it's not so easy with waves of enemies attacking the whole way every day, but I suppose they get used to it. Here they are as they appear in this game:











Zap in a fast ship

Buzz in his regular ship



Zap in his Jetpack

Buzz in his Jetpack


There they are, all suited up for space travel. Watch out, if you wind up out of your ship, in your jetpack in space, you'll be very vulnerable. one shot/hit & you're toast! Click those images for larger versions.

Okay, that's all for today. If for anyone would like to use these screenshots in any art or gaming publication or magazine, that's fine with us as we'd like to get the word out, but please let us know (gammabros@pixeljam.com) where it's going to be used & send a link or copy of the publication. Also, please include a copyright notice "copyright 2005-2006 pixeljam.com" for these images. A link should be directed to "http://games.pixeljam.com".

And finally, if you would like to be added to our mailing list, send an email to gammabros@pixeljam.com. We'll make sure you are included in any mailings about our game(s) we send out. And no, we won't sell, give or share your email with anyone else.

Have a great day!
-Rich