RESOGUN is the new, upcoming side-scrolling shoot 'em up title developed by Housemarque, and is said to be a spiritual successor to Housemarque's previous sidescroller shoot 'em ups, Super Stardust HD and Super Stardust Delta.
There’s hardly anything available related to the game at the moment, save that it will be a launch title for the PlayStation 4. However, Harry Krueger, lead programmer of RESOGUN, recently discussed the title (and its related features) with Gamingbolt. According to Krueger, RESOGUN is a shoot ‘em up with a retro attitude and a modern approach.
If anyone is wondering as to why the game is called RESOGUN, it started as a working title, but according to Krueger, “everybody was liking it so we decided to stick to it. It has to do with ‘resolution’, the idea that every voxel is some kind of ‘3D pixel’. The ‘gun’ part it’s just to make clear that things are gonna explode big in this game.”
Destruction physics are said to be major part of the game. But how dynamic is this destruction system? Krueger stated: “Basically, the entire world of RESOGUN is built out of individual voxels. Using our custom toolchain we export the levels as large 3D textures, which are then loaded to our engine and polygonized on the fly to build the ‘centrepiece’ of each level.”
“The environments are all fully destructible (though we do mark certain cubes as ‘indestructible’ to maintain some gameplay readability) so when an explosion happens nearby, the voxels of that part are detached and chipped away.”
He added that these detached voxels that players will see in game are not just particle effects or point sprites, but are “actual individual cubes, with their own geometry, collisions and physics, and each has its own lighting and casts its own shadow.”
“All these cubes are fully dynamic and reactive, so for example when the player boosts through the cubes you will notice them being pushed away. Our engine supports up to 500,000 of these at any time, though in normal gameplay we rarely exceed 200k.”
Compared to Housemarque's previous titles, RESOGUN is expected to provide a different experience. To explain this, Krueger stated:
“Super Stardust HD became famous for its ‘spheric gameplay’: the ship could travel around planets and approach enemies from all directions. RESOGUN is a twist on that formula: its cylindric game world completely changes the rules of engagement, and allows the player to monitor 100% of the playfield at all times.”
“Our inspiration is clearly rooted in classic titles such as Defender and Datastorm, but there’s so much more micromanagement going on in RESOGUN that we consider it a ‘spiritual successor’ to Super Stardust HD, not older titles,” he added.
The team is planning to feature three different selectable ships in the game, “and each one will sport a different weapon type. Like Stardust HD, the traditional boost and smartbombs will also make a comeback, and this time we’ve also given the player an Overdrive ability.”
“Basically, by collecting green ‘energy’ cubes,” he added “the enemies drop, the player will be able to build up his Overdrive bar and – once full – ultimately activate it to unleash a super-powerful beam attack. We’re planning to have 5 levels available in the main game, and each will have its unique own style, enemy encounters, and geometry for the player to break apart.”
RESOGUN is a PlayStation 4 exclusive game that will be arrive as a launch day title for the console when the system hits store shelves this November.
