To learn more about what inspired this game and how its development progressed, as well as the overall role and impact of retro gaming in modern culture, Joymasher lead developer Danilo Dias and producer We sat down with Thaís Weiller to talk briefly about the studio’s latest work. effort.
Nintendo Life: What inspired Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider?
Danilo Diaz: The game’s direct influences are titles such as Mega Man Zero, Strider, and Shinobi. It’s definitely a ninja-focused game, so there’s a lot of Super Famicom steel as well. Kamen Rider When kamen rider blackThose were a big deal in Brazil when I was a kid, so Moonrider has a lot of that.
What challenges did you face while developing the game?
Danilo: We changed the game quite a bit during development. It was originally supposed to be more linear, like Dracula X. I wanted to change the game to a more open style where you can choose the order of the stages, like Mega Man Zero. you want to play This was a challenge because it required rethinking many aspects of the game.
Initially, it was not envisioned to include so many weapons, so during development everything had to be changed and new abilities and weapons put in place. It caused us quite a bit of stress!
Theis Weiler: Yes, the game worked on the first prototype. “Hey, this might be cool with more stages.”and actually put in more stages and think “Hmm, maybe not that How nice! “. It’s very stressful to change the main gameplay again when the stage is already in place. I forgot about that, thanks for reminding me of that nightmare!
Danilo: Yes, we had to change the level layout significantly along with the mechanics, but we thought the original idea was too simplistic, so we changed it to something more open-ended.
How did you come up with the boss character design?
Danilo: The idea for the bosses was to try to create a character similar to Moonrider, who is essentially a guardian. It was meant to be obtained.
I’ve been focusing on action games so far. Is there any possibility of expanding into other genres in the future, such as RPGs?
Thai: We don’t know about RPGs, but we definitely have an idea of what we can work on next. We are more than just pixel artists. In all other respects he is only 20 years behind.
What role do you think retro-style games will play in 2023? Why do you think they’re still popular today?
Danilo: Well, I think it became more of an art style than anything else.
Thai: Yeah, it’s become an art style and genre in its own right. A lot of restrictions were applied to retrogaming, which meant it had to be more to the point and direct, allowing for a more direct and direct experience.
We prefer making short games that can be played over and over again rather than long experiences. Our game doesn’t have a lot of gameplay distractions like a crafting system or an open world. There’s nothing wrong with this, but I wanted to try something different.
Danilo: The idea is to try to simulate the arcade experience that older games used to offer.
What retro games are you currently playing?
Danilo: currently replaying Armored Core According to the recent announcement of the series Armored Core VII think Armored Core was probably the first game I played on the PlayStation, so I’m playing the whole thing again. You might also get some inspiration for future projects.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is now on the Switch eShop. Arcade Crew has confirmed that a physical release is also in the works, but details are currently unavailable.
