Cuphead

[Dr. BUGMAN]

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/games/if-the ... 93559.html

http://studiomdhr.com/what-kind-of-game-is-cuphead/

http://www.cupheadgame.com/

I think this is a game right up our collective alley, for style if not gameplay. I just love, love cartoons from that era and seeing that style become the new zeitgeist for indie games has me, I must admit, a little ambilviant -- I liked it before it was "cool"! But these folks must _really_ dig this style to emulate it so well.

They have also drawn inspiration from Gunstar Heroes, Batman & Robin, and Mega Man X, etc. That's to say their boss battle, which this seems to be entirely composed of. But they promise a whopping 25, so hopefully that's enough for memorable experience.

Can't wait!

[G.Silver]

Not my alley, but I do immediately notice that they've done what many "cartoony" games often fail to do, making a character with a really consistent shape. It looks cool, but a lot of games go a little too crazy in the animation department and the result is something that feels imprecise, and considering they appear to be gunning for Alien Soldier...

If all goes as planned, we will defeat the current “Guinness World Record for Most Boss Battles in a Run and Gun Game”[25 total].

...that's pretty vital, so kudos there.

I really hope they don't emulate the cartoons so closely that they don't include sound effects. I doubt they'd actually do that for the game, but for these clips it really adds to the vibe, so it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility.

I don't know though, I mean who looks at a boss-fest like Alien Soldier and says "I love this crazy hardcore action, but you know what would make it better? Ditch that stupid cyborg bird and replace him with Bosco!" I might be too vested in this particular topic to say this objectively, but the genre and art styles may be at odds with one another. If this were a platformer that happened to have a lot of cool boss encounters (or other interesting situations--think Dynamite Headdy), that would be completely different, and probably more in-line with the theme.

[Wombatwarlord777]

Speaking strictly from a plebeian perspective, I love the looks of this game, although I hope that the environments and / or backgrounds are more than just a grassy field. I really think that Cuphead's design is cool too, although it's interesting to note that he's essentially just Sonic with a different head. It's also interesting just how much inspiration Mario and Sonic take from pre-WWII cartoon characters, moreso in Sonic's case since he was initially billed as radically new and different in Western marketing materials.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I guess I ought've tempered my anticipation a little more, especially in bringing it up here. Like I might be a little too eager to see good in colorful, handdrawn projects (To wit: The entire Tempo franchise).

But I'm not so deep in that I don't recognize that Japanese animation's poppy low framerate style lends itself better to action games. Like you take a look at earlier builds of Donkey Kong Country and you can infer that the simplifying of some the animations were at the behest of the NOJ. But I'd like to see more of game before I condemn (or endorse) it entirely.

[G.Silver]

Well, I'm really glad you brought it up, because I didn't know about it and any game that's taking influences from so many games I like is one that I want to keep my eye on. I'd really like to see it further along, because at the moment it's just pressing all my "ugh" buttons (the first boss reveal is circles? Come on...) but I know it'll be more impressive later on.

[G.Silver]

New trailer up for E3. Still awfully short! :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jDZfREYppk

[Majestic Joey]

That game looks really cool. Really like how they got the fire to look in that hell looking level. They really captured the feel of old cartoons. I just hope the gameplay is good.

[Esrever]

I am trying to figure out of the lack of sound effects will make it harder to play!

[G.Silver]

Have they confirmed that there will be no sound effects? I assumed they were just leaving them out to better establish "the feel" in the trailer (and with any PC game, I assume you can turn them off). I doubt it will be harder to play but it's going to make the game seem empty and dead without them. The old-timey shows matched the action to the music, but that is extremely unlikely to be the case here.

[G.Silver]

Another E3, another trailer! (Still no sound effects!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TjUPXAn2Rg

[Jingles]

The animation is nice, but it really looks far too crowded visually to actually be any fun. Maybe if they made the player characters smaller?

[G.Silver]

I think it'll be less crazy when you're actually playing it and have a chance to see things get started. That dragon boss is nuts at a glance, it's hard to even tell at first that the characters are standing on clouds (I thought they were flying somehow), but when they have time to slowly ramp up and not be confined to 4 second clips that sort of thing will be easy to pick up on. I think we're seeing all these encounters kind of at their climaxes in terms of difficulty.

[G.Silver]

I went to E3, and I got to play a little Cuphead! The demo was churning through players really fast, so I didn't get to play as long as I would have liked--there was nobody guiding it, but people seemed to leave when they died to let someone else play, so I died just like anyone else and stepped aside. But I can confirm two things! One is that, for the bosses I fought, they do ramp up very smoothly. Like at first bullets will be coming out at an even interval, but gradually it becomes more varied and you end up with the looks-hard-to-dodge stuff mentioned above. The other thing that I was worried about is sound effects, it does in fact have them. But they're weird, they're all voiced, so as you shoot it's like a guy going "pew pew pew" and making other mouth noises when things explode. It matches the aesthetic (I'm sure I've seen an old cartoon or two that did stuff like that..) but it is a little odd.

It seems pretty solid and good, but one thing I didn't like was that it was a bit difficult to tell when I'd been hit, like the player hitboxes were a bit on the large size and the response to getting hit didn't seem to register with me, like I just didn't even notice it, and the next thing I knew I was out! The player health bars are also really small (just a number, in fact, not a bar) and tucked away in the bottom corners. Probably neither of these is a big deal when you have time to play it more but for the demo it was a little frustrating.