PlayShift Games is proud to announce Brave Rounds!
Release date: 2026!
Will be available on:
Nintendo Switch (Link will be added at later date!)
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WELCOME TO LOOP 2.0
Hell Blasters is going to receive a Ver 2.0 major update!
Release date: August 17th 2022
Will be available on Steam, itch.io and Nintendo Switch!
On Steam and itch.io it will be available as free update!
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. Shmups? Story!? LOL! Who wants that!? Er, while it’s true that those who expect shmups don’t expect dense stories, but one of Hell Blasters’ goal as a product is to have a broader audience. So somehow and also as an experiment, I made a mode with lots of reading: Story mode. Reading in a shmup. Imagine my shock. Anyway, this devlog will detail further what’s within the Story Mode!
The Story So Far…
Story mode’s story is about the gritty details of the Hell Blasters’ story, fighting the Bellasian War. Why the war goes on? What are the things will they sacrifice to achieve victory? Is it even the right thing to do…?
As shown in previous devlogs, the story is presented with many animated illustrations. The Story Mode is also in tate so there is no need to rotate back your screen to enjoy the mode!
Story Mode also contains gameplay, of course. The mode contains the same stages from the arcade mode in bite-sized stages. Each stage and in each difficulty will have their own stars to gain. The 4 of them are not getting hit, not using any bombs, gain the required score and achieving all 3 of these in a single run. The game also keeps track of the completion rate so if you’re a completionist you can expect a chunky amount of content just in this mode alone!
The mode also contains exclusive simulation stages. They’re mainly designed to prepare you for the real deals. For beginners of the genre, playing story mode first is highly suggested. Perhaps after you clear the story mode you’ll have the skill to clear the arcade mode without continues.
That’s all for now. See you soon in another devlog! The game will be released on October 7th!
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. As it had been revealed before, Hell Blasters has “Journalist Mode”. In the simplest terms it’s the game’s Novice Mode. How easy it is varies from title to title. It is also literally a mode to cater to the journalists. I mean, they’re busy. To properly review the game, they need to clear it at least once, right? A very easy good ending to get!
The name isn’t just for that sake, though. It’s also relevant to the game’s story. How? It will be on a later devlog, but you’ll want to remember why it’s named Journalist mode.
Further Look
The thing is making the easiest mode by reducing the amount of bullets will render the game’s title pretty moot… Without any hell to blast then this game can’t be called “Hell Blasters”! But buffing the ships will make it hard to transition to harder difficulties. So what should I do…?
There are yellow bullets, so let’s make the mode full of them!
Looks pretty exciting for a Novice Mode, isn’t it? Yellow bullets are treated as popcorn enemies, actually, so their destruction with even normal shots do add up to the Chain counter. See how high you can score in this mode!
How easy is the mode in action, though? Here’s a hint: Try keep pressing the shot button and don’t move for even a pixel. See how far can you go! Don’t worry. There is auto bomb available on Journalist Mode.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned on next Wednesday for the next devlog!
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. As you can see, Hell Blasters took the 8-bit look. Making the game simply with pixel arts and low resolution is one thing, but while at it, why not keep it as faithful as how the technology was at the time as humanely possible? This devlog will explain the decisions made for Hell Blasters’ visuals.
No, it doesn’t go as far as sprite flickering.
Color Decision
The target platform to emulate the visual design from, the 8-bit NES / FC, has limited color palette available, around 54 colors only or so. This is the first step and consequently, any and every design will have their colors follow the chosen 54 colors (not counting black), regardless of the smoothness of the produced artwork inside or outside the game.
This extends to the human characters! Winter and Summer, for example, their colors follow the limited 54 colors. No room for subtle colors, bold ones only!
Pixels and (lack of) Effects
The 8-bit consoles didn’t have the capability of rotation and scaling too, something we take for granted today. Hell Blasters is committed to not use any modern graphical tricks (except for the wallpapers. That’s outside the main game). No rotation or scaling that will mess up the sprites, no transparency. If you see some level of transparency, actually it’s an old trick: The “transparent” image is flickered for each 2 frames, creating the illusion of transparency. Which is rad in action.
Giving dedication to this style is indeed limiting, but one of the benefits is it’s easy to animate things, including for cutscenes! Feels like making an anime show!
That’s all for now. Stay tuned on next Wednesday for the next devlog!
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. One of the things one would ask when taking a look at a new shmup is how the scoring works and how will it affect survival. This devlog will explain Hell Blasters’ direction in terms of that aspect.
To explain the new readers due to the nature of how Hell Blasters was announced, being announced when it was as complete as possible near release, these devlogs are more like footnotes than progress updates, if anything. Think of it as a preview to headstart your preparation before tackling Hell Blasters!
Arcade Structure
There is no secret that of all genres today shmups tend to stick with the arcade formula the most. While Hell Blasters’ arcade mode is no exception, the difficulty is more in tune with console-exclusive shmups.
The main difference between arcade shmups (and the ports) and console-exclusive shmups mainly don’t lie in the stage design. Rather, it’s mainly on the resource availability. Arcade shmups tend to be stingy with it. You need the skill to gain the limited 2 score extends. Meanwhile console-exclusive shmups, notably Compile’s and Naxat Soft’s, their games give out extends very early and abundantly. Stage design-wise the difficulty of arcade and console shmups are not that far off. Hell Blasters is on the latter category.
Scoring to Survive, Survive to Score
The key of scoring in Hell Blasters is the Chain counter. The number directly correlates with the score gained. The higher the chain, the bigger the score gained. Combo / chaining systems for scoring like this is said to be intimidating to newcomers, but unlike the early adopters, in this game the chain count is designed to be very easy to maintain. A single damage dealt to a foe is enough to refill the Chain gauge. The Chain number will increase when you beat an enemy or destroy enemy bullets with the special shot.
At max you can only store up to 5 HP (Life), which is considerably more limited compared to the other console-exclusive shmups, but this will trigger the MAXIMUM state. At this state all score gained will be doubled! If you’re aiming for a high score make sure to keep your HP intact!
That’s all for now. Stay tuned on next Wednesday for the next devlog!
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. This week’s devlog I’m going to explain my thought process of deciding how the main shots work. After all, contents must be calibrated according to the things the player can do!
To explain the new readers due to the nature of how Hell Blasters was announced, being announced when it was as complete as possible near release, these devlogs are more like footnotes than progress updates, if anything. Think of it as a preview to headstart your preparation before tackling Hell Blasters!
Winter
Initially the one decided first is the ship’s design, Azure Sword. The pilot, Winter, came later. This makes Winter’s ship the vertical slice for the content. The shot was originally just a spread of 3 bullets per shot process, but as things get tested the low bullet count from the player proved to be too weak against fast yellow bullets and missiles. Now the normal shot has the 5-bullet spread.
When focusing before the shot doesn’t change at all. As further feedback was gathered there are feedbacks that the visual cue for focusing was lacking. I can’t do much in visual standpoint because keeping the visual limitations is priority, so I decided to make the shot converge into a single point instead when focusing. I guess DonPachi’s laser shot is more than just cool factor.
This game is designed to be as easy to learn as possible, so the special shot is also made to be simple: A piercing, single big bullet. Easy to grasp, right? The way to limit its usage was pretty difficult to decide, though. Originally I didn’t give any way to speed up its charge time. But as things get tested further… yeah, pointblank quick charging. In one way or another there is merit in giving an advanced technique for players to use. Winter’s special shot cost is also subject to many usage cost revisions. 3 shots in a row initially felt right but when Summer is added to catch up with the new ship the special shot cost had been made to make 4 shots in a row possible.
The bomb mainly functions as a defensive tool, to give invincibility frames, so the bomb is not that powerful. At least using them is not that punishing since it won’t break the chain. In fact, using them is encouraged, either to extend your chain when you ran out of ways to reload the special shot or to evade receiving any hit!
Summer
To be frank Summer’s inclusion was much later, so while taking the stage design in mind, he’s the opposite of Winter’s (Winter, Summer, get it? :P). Slower movement but wider shot arc. Summer is more about shooting than movement so expect to alternate between normal and focus shots often!
The special shot is yes, the laser. Very powerful and great at erasing bullets, but it’s costly to use, so you’ll want to be smart with it. One small tip: The laser aura is also a damaging hitbox, so the protection area is wider than you think!
That’s all for now. More devlog to come towards release! Upcoming devlog will be on next Wednesday.
More info:
Heya, wltr3565 here. It’s been a while since the last time I get to write any devlog, in particular after I quit my previous studio. This devlog won’t detail that process at all; best keep it confidential. This devlog is about our upcoming bullet hell shmup: Hell Blasters.
This will be a weird one because the nature of how Hell Blasters was announced. The game was announced when it was as complete as possible near release. So these devlogs are more like footnotes than progress updates, if anything.
Why Hell Blasters?
As new studios do of course they’ll need a debut title. I want to make something that is meaty enough to be consumed but not too strenuous to make. Yes, I’m burned out from 4-year long development cycles out of indecisiveness and crippling perfectionism. Plus, it had been my dream to publish my own shmup. One was in development in the previous studio, but things happened and here we are. Yes, the previous one is cancelled, unannounced. That is a story for another day.
So, why specifically Hell Blasters, a pixel art bullet hell shooter that lets you blast the bullet hell away? For the pixel art part, let’s say it’s within my skills to make it as good as possible within a considerable amount of time. The content is large, in particular the story mode. For this title my main target audience is on the broader side of things, the ones within the average skill of gaming. Shmup is a terrifying genre for most people due to its notorious reputation for difficulty, although there had been shmups that cater to the easier side of things, namely Compile shmups. There had also been complaints of lack of story, so this title also serves to also experiment with one thing: Give a meaty story mode with long cutscenes for average gamers to read.
This also ties in to the major mechanic of the game: the bullet-clearing special shot. I designed the shot to be easily rechargeable and easily used. In the older games mainly again, Compile, bullet-clearing shots are not hard to access like defense bits or just most of the weapons in Aleste 1. This hopefully attracts new players to more shmups and especially, Hell Blasters itself.
That’s all for now. Expect more devlogs soon toward the game’s release!
More info:
PlayShift Games is proud to announce Hell Blasters!
Release date: October 7th 2021
Will be available on:
More info: