We got to talk about what’s under the hood for the arcade shooter, as well as look inside the more intimate side of indie game development and its set of unique hurdles.
GameSkinny (GS): When/how did the name Risk System pop into your head for this title?
GS: Can you pinpoint when you realized you wanted to develop your own games?
I didn’t immediately commit to game development as I dabbled in visual art, animation, and music into my 20s. I started teaching myself the programming end in 2010, 2011.
GS: Were there any specific games you looked at as inspiration for it? Those within the genre? Those outside of the genre?
GS: Game development can be rather stressful. When during development, what activities do you participate in to offset that stress?
There are other shmups that use grazing mechanics, but they’re very adherent to all other genre conventions. At the same time, universal binary movement and alternate fire modes are meant to de-emphasize the need for defensive movement. Because of this, making a game with an emphasis on movement, stunts, and offense is unexplored territory in the genre.
GS: You’re a skilled multi-talented artist and game developer. What other hobbies/skills did you incorporate interchangeably when developing?
GS: With your latest demo, the music selection changed. Shmups generally use grand, soaring music. Can you explain why you decided to go a different route?
Note: The prior demo featured music which was more ambient in nature. The music is now more pulsating. The change is to emphasize a feeling of engagement instead of passivity.
I also used FM synthesis via Deflemask to create a sound font that was like a hi-bit Genesis/MegaDrive. People have enjoyed the new soundtrack a lot more than the old one, and have had very favorable comparisons to music, which I then went home and got the chance to listen to.
GS: Recently, you implemented more quality of life features. Can you explain further why and how important it was to have this as an option?
Note: halfCoordinated is a speedrunner that plays games one-handed because of hemiparesis. He’s an advocate/consultant for gaming accessibility and a consultant.
The control customization took a very long time due to the age of the engine the game has been constructed in. Currently, I’m working on how to make the game playable without looking at the screen.
Audio-only play was impossible for the first version of the game. This was due to the engine having a limitation on how sounds can be assigned a stereo field position. Now we’re porting the game to a more modern engine as we complete it, so we’re trying to implement all the measures we drafted up to make it possible.
Some sizable speed bumps have been hit, though. Also, it’s looking like if it is going to be possible for this game, we’re going to have to do it as a separate mode. A mode where all collisions are calculated differently (circle based) to work with our sonar system and the enemies will be invisible as to not create hit box dissonance. Other quality of life feedback that we’re implementing is from live events or from our itch.io comments.
GS: From the ace pilot, her commanding officer, and more, all the characters appear to be women. Even in 2018, an entire female cast is rare. Were there any particular influences that inspired the story? Shows, books, etc?
Absorbing the works of Kenichi Sonoda as a child probably had a great deal to do with me not even noticing that the game was almost entirely populated by women. The Phantasy Star series, in particular, and other JRPGS in my youth, had a wealth of well-realized and engaging female characters. That sort of set a standard for me, that I wouldn’t realize wasn’t the norm in a lot of places until well into my teens.
I think I just happened to be born at a particular time with a particular make up of friends growing up and into adulthood that these choices didn’t feel very deliberate.
I feel I must acknowledge the fact that I am a man regularly writing stories and making games with women as the main characters. Though there are many women in my life I can run ideas by and defer to/ask for advice, I’m writing from a belief of universality that doesn’t always 100% square up with our lived reality. Everyone in Risk System has the same potential for emotional depth, desires, and faults, as well as the potential to be heroic or a villain regardless of gender.
I acknowledge that this can be seen as problematic as the world in Risk System doesn’t have institutional sexism or racism built into it, so in that way, it doesn’t resemble our own world. My hope is that in presenting a world such as [this], that is absorbed where it makes sense to players. In that way, my submarine analogy is more apt.
Ending A of the game also carries with it some subtext on the subject. I won’t get into specifics. I want people to be able to feel it on their own and how it may apply to them when they reach it.
GS: The subject of game difficulty is touchy. It either scales, is ruthless from the start, or requires trial and error. How would you describe Risk System’s approach?
GS: Anything about game development you think would surprise people?
Just surviving isn’t terribly difficult but playing well is a challenge and one the game pushes you toward. As long as you’re having fun and experimenting/taking risks, you’re going to get better.
GS: Any idea on a release window?
Bonus question: What’s your favorite game to wind down with?
We’d like to thank Newt Industries for their insight and helping to fuel our excitement for a release soon. Fans of shmups and challenging games can check Risk System’s newest demo here.
