game – NewRetroWave – Stay Retro! | Live The 80's Dream!

HYPER JAM – CREATING RETRO AND JAMMING OUT

Zach Kelly — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 18:53:22 +0000

I got the opportunity to speak with Roman, a developer for Australian indie Games Team Bit Dragon, about the upcoming title, Hyper jam, a Neon-soaked brawler with a top down perspective.

The game looks amazing, packed with RetroWave synths and neon eye-candy, indulging on a colourful art style, pallet and soundtrack, with unique brawler mechanics involving powerup stacking and strategical hit placing.

Beats on the Battlefield

The map and character designs in Hyper Jam take creative influence in 80’s portrayals of the future, rather than specific throws to our favourite titles.

On Maps, Roman said that “they’re inspired by real world locations and then we’ve… (brought) …the 80’s flare to it after the fact”.

“They’re not necessarily throwbacks to any specific title… … it’s just more a throwback to the era, and, yeah, I guess… …envisioning of what the future could have been like as it was seen in the 80’s”.

“We didn’t start off with (the art style)” “We only adopted the neo-80’s theme… …6 months after it was developed”.

“it was about people basically fighting in hell for a chance of reincarnation… … So the aesthetic was very gritty, very grungy”

Roman discussed that this coupled with the gameplay, and was central to how the game would be played, and how it transferred into a Neo-80’s aesthetic.

“It’s quite fast and pretty chaotic… …One thing sets it apart from other top-down games, there’s a lot of physicality in the combat”.

“When you get hit by an explosion… your character would really like slide back and recoil in reaction to the hits”.

“The combat is very deliberate, very meaty… … we play a lot of fighting games and stuff so it is really important to us that the controls are really responsive and the actions aren’t without meaning”

Beats in the Background

“Hotline Miami… …that’s how we… …got to the Synthwave aesthetic I suppose”

Roman discussed that the team behind Hyper Jam are massive Retrowavers. “Artists like Dance with the Dead, Carpenter Brut… … Pertubator” were listened to during the development of the game.

“Often during development we’ll just like, put on like a Synthwave playlist on… …YouTube or something or just Spotify”.

Currently, Bit Dragon has confirmed music from Dance with the Dead to be featured in the game, with more artists yet to be confirmed.

“There is a variety of Synthwave artists that we listen to and do plan to reach out to… … to feature their music in the game”.

“Also if there are Synthwave artists that are… …wanting to be featured in the game… … I’d definitely also be interest in them approaching us and letting us know”.

Beats on the Screen

It’s a round-based, four player last man standing game, based around heavy hitting and fast pace action.

“After a round… … basically you’re given a selection of (random) powerups”

“Whoever is coming last gets first pick of it, and whoever’s coming first gets basically what’s left over”.

Roman discussed that the game has taken massive influence from brawlers, but also that the “perk drafting” mechanic is central to the game, using similar notions to The Binding of Isaac and Magic: The Gathering, interlaced with a multiplayer, four player systems.

It’s chaotic, its colourful, and there’s strategy to it. It’s Beautiful.

Beats on the Way

Hyper Jam is set for an “Early 2018” Release, with a Progress Update being released on the First of November, showing off a New level – Overpass, alongside improvements of previous maps such as Subway, Assembly (formerly, Hoghouse) and Hotel.

You can check out development and news of the game on hyper Jamgame.com, or through Steam, store.steampowered.com/app/556050/Hyper_Jam .

Groovy.

*Images obtained from the Hyper Jam Presskit http://hyperjamgame.com/press/

**Special Thanks to Roman Maksymyschyn & The Bit Dragon Team

Stranger Things meets Dungeons & Dragons

Sam HaiNe — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 19:12:11 +0000

Tales From the loop is a table top RPG set somewhere in the 80’s mixing ET, Stranger Things, X-Files, Cloverfield and maybe some Stand By Me, created by scifi artist Simon Stålenhag.

Art by Simon Stålenhag

After earning a whopping 3,745,896 SEK ($425,849.27 US Dollars) on Kickstarter, this pen&paper roleplaying game will soon grant you the experience of playing as teenagers in the late Eighties, solving Mysteries connected to the Loop. Choose between character Types such as the Bookworm, the Troublemaker, the Popular Kid and the Weirdo! Everyday Life is full of nagging parents, never-ending homework and classmates bullying and being bullied.

The Mysteries let the characters encounter the strange machines and weird creatures that have come to haunt the countryside after the Loop was built. The kids get to escape their everyday problems and be part of something meaningful and magical – but also dangerous.

Art by Simon Stålenhag Art by Simon Stålenhag

The core rulebook will contain several complete Mysteries to play and a complete campaign setting, based on the Mälaröarna islands outside of Stockholm. In addition, the core rulebook will include an alternative campaign setting in a US location, based on Boulder City, Nevada. The US setting text will be written by the award-winning game writer and author Matt Forbeck.

All art in the game is of course done by Simon Stålenhag himself. Most of the art will be drawn from the pages of the Tales from the Loop artbook – many scenarios in the game are based directly on illustrations in the artbook – but the RPG will contain some new original art as well, including the cover image. The book will have approximately 150-200 pages, in the US Letter format.

Art by Simon Stålenhag

For more information you can go to their Kickstarter page @ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/tales-from-the-loop-roleplaying-in-the-80s-that-ne

Free League Publishing @ http://frialigan.se/en/

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Furi OST Review

Andrew Zistler — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 13:03:44 +0000

“Furi” is an expertly crafted, mostly top-down hack n’ slash platform shooter similar in style to Hotline: Miami mashed together with Contra – except it features only a string of epic face burning boss battles. Notably, the bosses featured were created by Takashi Okazaki, the author and artist behind the critically acclaimed Afro Samurai.

However, the unique concept and characterization is not “Furi’s” most notable feature. What truly makes this game singular is the soundtrack behind it.

Featuring seven titans of synthwave, darkwave and other genres of electronic music, “Furi” is a game who’s soundtrack was designed to take center stage almost as much as the game play. Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper and Kn1ght all contributed original tracks.

Each musical artist was briefed on the bosses and their abilities in order to build music that embodied them. Each track’s tempo and rhythm fits with the nature of each boss and works to capture it’s essence and personality. As such, each piece of this soundtrack is very much intertwined with the game itself – creating more of a collaborative concept album than an OST.

The notion of using synthwave as a soundtrack is bit ironic, as the genre itself was born out of soundtracks. In this way, this album’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Pieces of each track are set to loop and evolve during certain stages of the fight, and tracks often don’t follow the usual verse/refrain combo. Because of this, it may be easy for some casual listeners to miss the truly sick synth riffs that begin later in the song. Carpenter Brut’s “What we fight for” is a good example of this, where the fun doesn’t really start until the three minute mark. With this album as with the game itself, perseverance is the key to success.

The standout tracks on this album are hard to pin down, because the whole thing is just so damn good! My personal favorites were: Carpenter Brut – “What We Fight For”, Wave Shaper – “A picture in motion”, Toxic Avenger – “Make this right”/Make this right remix” and Scattle – “Love and Madness”.Fu

Furi Original Soundtrack by Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper, Kn1ght

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Sonic the Hedgehog Turns 25! SEGA is Planning Something Big!

NewRetroWave — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 22:05:24 +0000

It’s official folks. Sonic the hedgehog is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary in 2016!! It literally felt like yesterday when this game came out. Time flies!!

Expect some major surprises from SEGA as rumors fly around. A new Sonic installment may finally be coming…. and it may be this year!

Stay tuned folks!

FEAST YOUR EYES, EARS, AND TASTE BUDS ON THIS!! BEERPOCALYPSE IS HERE!!

NewRetroWave — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 20:54:01 +0000

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN FOR THE BEER LOVERS OUT THERE!!!!

SUPPORT THIS GUYS. IT’S PURE BIBULOUS FUN!!

Something new for the retro scene to support!

NewRetroWave — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:54:25 +0000

Hey guys,

A new retro feel game with promising visuals and a killer synthwave soundtrack to complement, is in the making. presenting Power Drive 2000. Prepare for visual bliss!!

The Kickstarter for this project just went live a few hours ago. The soundtrack line up looks very impressive indeed, but the game itself looks nuts!!!!

Make sure you support this game folks! Let’s help to meet the goal.

1980s Nostalgia: Dungeons & Dragons

bryan.eddy@newretrowave.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 18:00:46 +0000

To preface this article, it would be fitting to say that I, the author, have been an avid player of tabletop RPGs (chiefly Dungeons & Dragons) since the seventh grade. This article will share both facts and opinions – I hope you, the reader, will forgive me for my bias. This game is close to my heart.

While originally conceived in 1974 and wildly popular before the 1980’s, Dungeons & Dragons (also known by the abbreviated “D&D”) certainly hit its heyday during the 1980’s. Available in two rules-sets, both “basic” and “advanced” (AD&D), the game focused on storytelling and action. For those only passing familiar with tabletop RPGs, they aren’t normally “competitive” in nature; the goal is to entertain through a mutual kind of story telling, where one participant (the Dungeon Master, or DM) creates the fantasy world around the players, whose characters (player characters, or PCs) interact with that fantasy world and ultimately play a large role in its progression.

“This booklet, and the box it came in, is near and dear to many a nerd’s heart.”

During the late 70s and most of the 80s, the game came under fire by fearful fundamentalist groups and other organizations for some of its elements. Not only were there demons and devils in the game’s handbooks, but early editions were none too shy about their illustrations, often depicting bare breasts, etc. This had “decency” advocates in an uproar – after all, this was a game for kids, wasn’t it?

“Ooh la la! Too bad you’re evil though!”

D&D was also often cited in court cases, blamed for inspiring murderous and Satanic mindsets among its devotees. The story of James Dallas Egbert is one widely publicized example of D&D being blamed for someone’s mental unraveling; other cases abound wherein the defendant has been known as an avid RPG player. The game was widely condemned for its treatment of demons, occultism, and violence; however, the accusers often blew things out of proportion. A good example of this propaganda is the Jack Chick tract “Dark Dungeons,” in which a girl falls into evil witchcraft via D&D and is saved by her pastor from eternal damnation. To draw upon personal experience, I have played D&D in one form or another for more than 20 years now, and I have never once witnessed any of my players (I usually am the Dungeon Master) behaving this way. One detail the critics fail to note is that for the most part, demons and their servants are depicted as the VILLAINS in D&D, not the heroes. TSR capitulated somewhat, however, by renaming their in-game demons and devils “Tanar’ri” and “Baatezu,” respectively, and distancing the game’s cosmology from real-life Western religion just enough to leave things ambiguous.

“Excerpt from the Chick tract.”

Outside of the controversy, D&D remained wildly popular, spawning a cartoon series, coloring books, action figures, and various other tie-ins. There was even a DC Comics series titled “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,” though it wasn’t very good.

In 1989, the “basic” edition took a backseat, and AD&D released its 2nd edition revised rules… the ones I grew up on. Now, if you’re wondering what was so “advanced” about it, AD&D was, to be frank, a bit more complex. Charts and lists abounded, and it wasn’t uncommon to pause gameplay to look up a rule or reference one of the ubiquitous charts and graphs.

“Charts, charts, charts…”

Despite this, the game remained popular, and early editions are still used and played by a diehard set of purists. Attempts have been made by third parties to reproduce the same “feel” of the old editions with new (but old-school) rules sets, with mixed results. Two of my personal favorites are OSRIC and ACKS, but many exist, some free, some you have to pay for.

The game, regardless of its edition or rules set, is a mix of acting, dice-rolling (to resolve actions in combat and sometimes elsewhere), and if your DM is good at what they’re doing, problem-solving. I’ve seen games based around courtly intrigue, hack-and-slash monster battles, and even murder-mystery-themed campaigns. Players are offered a wide range of options for building and advancing their characters; you can play an elf, a wizard, a servant of a deity, a mighty warrior, and plenty of archetypes in between.

In the 1980s, D&D was considered largely the purview of “nerds” and “geeks,” and while that stigma has softened nowadays, it is still (sometimes facetiously) trumpeted far and wide. That’s just fine with most of us; we have a great time playing it. However, I recommend it to any group of people who have a “game night” and want to try something a little more exciting than Boggle or Monopoly. Not that there’s anything wrong with those games! If the idea of complex rules and millions of charts puts you off, I recommend the most recent edition, 5th. It is fairly simple to pick up, and there is a “starter set” available.

I’d like to thank NRW for indulging me, and letting me write a bit about my passion – I mean, my hobby… yeah, my hobby… on their website.

Get Ready for… STRAFE

NewRetroWave — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:09:18 +0000

Just when you though it was safe, a MEGA gaming experience drops on us. Well at least, what will be a MEGA gaming experience if we support this vision. Look at the video below and prepare to be blown away be the 80’s EPICNESS!

Be sure to spread the word about the project. If we can get this funded, it would be Rad!

Retro Gaming – Mega Man

Joey Edsall — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 21:37:53 +0000

Old games used to get overly serious and realistic art.

Arcade games and console games are fundamentally different in a lot of ways. While the hardware, game mechanics, and depth of narrative might be the most obvious, there is something at the core of the two that keeps them separated. Before going in depth with my retrospective review on Mega Man (1987), I’d like to first analyze the intention behind the design of an arcade game and a console game.

We’ve written about arcades before. The period from the late 70’s to the mid-80’s is known as the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games. As the popularity of arcade games decreased by the end of the decade, console games were experiencing a boom thanks in part to the Nintendo Entertainment System. Because of this shift, many old NES games feel more like arcade games. The fundamental purpose of a console game is to provide you with satisfaction to justify your purchase of the game. Games are usually not very cheap, so designers try to make their product the most worthwhile for your money (ideally, at least). Arcade games, on the other hand, are all about taking your money in small sums (quarters), giving you a brief, enjoyable, and difficult experience, and then encouraging you to play again to go further and get a higher score.

Mega Man feels like an arcade game. It is so hard that it feels punishing at times and so addictive that you can’t stop coming back to it. The amount of trial and error inherent in the classic platformer makes the experience feel like learning a song. Through your failures and deaths you wind up developing something resembling a rhythm. You know which screen is coming next or which flying penguin is going to dive on you. I wasn’t able to beat any levels on the first try, but on the attempt where Idid beat them, it looked like I was an absolute professional.

Though the level design was difficult at times, there were several gems hidden throughout. As an avid player of the Mega Man X series, I knew that each boss gives you a new weapon to your arsenal. And I also knew that each boss weapon was super effective against another boss. They usually make sense, barring a few mix-ups (Ice > Fire? I guess that means… thunder on the ice guy? Okay.) For example, Elecman’s weakness is the weapon you receive from the truly epic Custman (my only reasoning is that scissors cut wires?). Elecman’s level is full of these small platforms with enemies on top that make avoiding them difficult. If you switch over to the Rolling Cutter weapon, you’ll notice that the odd trajectory of the attack fits the level design perfectly. The level becomes much easier if you use the Cutsman’s weapon to get through it. Ideally, by the time you reach the end of the level you will be pretty comfortable with using it.

I stand by what I said about completing each level being similar to learning a song. That said, Iceman’s level is like learning a song and then being expected to flawlessly improvise with someone else who is also improvising. Everything is typical Mega Man gameplay, and then this happens…

Those platforms shoot sideways. Okay, okay, annoying, but whatever it’s a challenge. Oh, but they also move in a completely random and erratic pattern. Well that just doesn’t sound fair. Oh, and one more thing, we’re going to throw some robot penguins at you for the last half of this part of the level. But wait, that might be too difficult. Let’s make sure the player has a platform to rest on halfway through. Good point, but we shouldn’t make it too easy for them. This is a video game after all, this is serious business, not Soviet Russia Handout Land. Let’s cover that platform in ice. Video game ice. Which science has proven is twice as slippery as regular old boring ice.

Seriously.

The other issue I have with this game is about rationing out lives. There is a checkpoint immediately before each end of the level boss fight. Should you die in the boss fight, you will respawn there with full health and one less life. The game is so difficult that many times I would reach the boss, look to see if I had an extra life lying around, and just let the boss kill me so I could tackle him with full health. That is just poor design. Also, your health replenishes with each respawn, but your ammo does not. This means a particular difficult stretch of a level will become progressively more difficult. The general difficulty of this game is also distributed oddly. It is very difficult in the beginning when you don’t have any special boss weapons, and especially difficult in the end (cough, Boss Rush). The middle portion of the game is by far the easiest. This uneven difficulty may be annoying for some players.

You can tell the designers were on to something when you play Mega Man. It has vibrant colors, an excellent soundtrack, and surprisingly rich and deep gameplay, with little secrets here and there. The game is pretty easy to find. I played the PS2 port from the Anniversary Collection, but you can also find it on the virtual console. Though Mega Man 2 is widely considered better than this game, this is the game that has lent its design to Mega Man’s character in the new Smash Bros., as well as the fact that one of the bosses from this game appears in the new Smash Bros.

Final Thoughts:

Favorite Song: Elecman Stage

Favorite Boss: Cutsman, I actually have a shirt with him on it!

Favorite Weapon: Magnet Beam, of course.

Fun Facts: It’s Mega Man, not Megaman. I’ve been making that mistake for over a decade.

– Joey Edsall

(@JoeyEdsall)

Retro Gaming – Mega Man

Joey Edsall — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Old games used to get overly serious and realistic art.

Arcade games and console games are fundamentally different
in a lot of ways. While the hardware, game mechanics, and depth of narrative
might be the most obvious, there is something at the core of the two that keeps
them separated. Before going in depth with my retrospective review on Mega Man (1987), I’d like to
first analyze the intention behind the design of an arcade game and a console
game.

We’ve written about arcades before. The period from
the late 70’s to the mid-80’s is known as the Golden Age of Arcade Video Games. As the popularity of arcade games decreased by the end of the decade,
console games were experiencing a boom thanks in part to the Nintendo
Entertainment System. Because of this shift, many old NES games feel more like
arcade games. The fundamental purpose of
a console game is to provide you with satisfaction to justify your purchase of
the game. Games are usually not very cheap, so designers try to make their
product the most worthwhile for your money (ideally, at least). Arcade games,
on the other hand, are all about taking your money in small sums (quarters),
giving you a brief, enjoyable, and difficult experience, and then encouraging
you to play again to go further and get a higher score.

Mega Man feels
like an arcade game. It is so hard that it feels punishing at times and so
addictive that you can’t stop coming back to it. The amount of trial and error
inherent in the classic platformer makes the experience feel like learning a
song. Through your failures and deaths you wind up developing something
resembling a rhythm. You know which
screen is coming next or which flying penguin is going to dive on you. I wasn’t
able to beat any levels on the first try, but on the attempt where I did beat them, it looked like I was an
absolute professional.

Though the level design was difficult at times, there were
several gems hidden throughout. As an avid player of the Mega Man X series, I knew that each boss gives you a new weapon to
your arsenal. And I also knew that each boss weapon was super effective against
another boss. They usually make sense, barring a few mix-ups (Ice > Fire? I
guess that means… thunder on the ice guy? Okay.) For example, Elecman’s
weakness is the weapon you receive from the truly epic Custman (my only
reasoning is that scissors cut wires?). Elecman’s level is full of these small
platforms with enemies on top that make avoiding them difficult. If you switch
over to the Rolling Cutter weapon, you’ll notice that the odd trajectory of the
attack fits the level design perfectly. The level becomes much easier if you
use the Cutsman’s weapon to get through it. Ideally, by the time you reach the
end of the level you will be pretty comfortable with using it.

I stand by what I said about completing each level being
similar to learning a song. That said, Iceman’s level is like learning a song
and then being expected to flawlessly improvise with someone else who is also
improvising. Everything is typical Mega Man gameplay, and then this happens…

Those platforms shoot sideways. Okay, okay, annoying, but
whatever it’s a challenge. Oh, but they also move in a completely random and
erratic pattern. Well that just doesn’t sound fair. Oh, and one more thing,
we’re going to throw some robot penguins at you for the last half of this part
of the level. But wait, that might be too difficult. Let’s make sure the player
has a platform to rest on halfway through. Good point, but we shouldn’t make it
too easy for them. This is a video
game after all, this is serious business, not Soviet Russia Handout Land. Let’s
cover that platform in ice. Video game
ice. Which science has proven is twice as slippery as regular old boring ice.

Seriously.

The other issue I have with this game is about rationing out
lives. There is a checkpoint immediately before each end of the level boss
fight. Should you die in the boss fight, you will respawn there with full
health and one less life. The game is so difficult that many times I would reach
the boss, look to see if I had an extra life lying around, and just let the
boss kill me so I could tackle him with full health. That is just poor design.
Also, your health replenishes with each respawn, but your ammo does not. This
means a particular difficult stretch of a level will become progressively more
difficult. The general difficulty of this game is also distributed oddly. It is
very difficult in the beginning when you don’t have any special boss weapons,
and especially difficult in the end (cough, Boss Rush). The middle portion of the game
is by far the easiest. This uneven difficulty may be annoying for some players.

You can tell the designers were on to something when you
play Mega Man. It has vibrant colors,
an excellent soundtrack, and surprisingly rich and deep gameplay, with little
secrets here and there. The game is pretty easy to find. I played the PS2 port
from the Anniversary Collection, but you can also find it on the virtual
console. Though Mega Man 2 is widely
considered better than this game, this is the game that has lent its design to
Mega Man’s character in the new Smash
Bros., as well as the fact that one of the bosses from this game appears in
the new Smash Bros.

Final Thoughts:

Favorite Song: Elecman Stage

Favorite Boss: Cutsman, I actually have a shirt with him on
it!

Favorite Weapon: Magnet Beam, of course.

Fun Facts: It’s Mega
Man, not Megaman. I’ve been
making that mistake for over a decade.

– Joey Edsall

(@JoeyEdsall)

FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS RETRO TREAT!

NewRetroWave — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 20:00:00 +0000

We received this gem of a trailer in the mail. Take a gander at this!

YOU CAN GRAB A COPY HERE

http://clickstore.clickteam.com/necromonads

😉

THIS WEEKS FREE DOWNLOAD IS…

NewRetroWave — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 19:22:00 +0000

NONE OTHER THAN

LAZERPUNK!

WITH HIM DEBUT ALBUM

“GAME OVER”

LISTEN UP!
164. LAZERPUNK! – Game over by Werkstatt Recordings