I also loved contrasting the modern Archer mech design with the frankly dopey 1980's version, itself a licensed rendition of a Macross design. First make it exist, someone else can make it good later.

I got pretty cute with the details, like replacing the '7' decal on the cockpit with the Japanese kana '七', since in-universe the Draconis Combine are explicitly modeled after imperial Japan. 😁

Yeah, it was a very different time for indie games. Little guy’s still part of our logo, though!

And I love your stuff, too. I’ve made capsule art for quite a few VS-likes so far (is there a name for it? ‘Survivorlike’? ‘Bullet heaven’?)

Was not expecting to see nostalgia for Tower of Heaven in 2025...I remember drawing those sprites while at orchestra camp in high school! 😆

Maybe, if Justin asks me to. Possibly for the DLC soundtrack?

That last one is a testament to the peril of too many cooks in the kitchen--we basically spent the entire day debating color choices, with me creating a duplicate layer, re-exporting, and uploading a new version each time someone suggested "maybe tinge the water a few shades darker" or smth. 😩

But they at least gave you a copy for free, right?

Right…?

Thanks, and same to you! 😁

You can wishlist the game on Steam here:

I confess, I'm a little sad I didn't get to draw any of the human characters (StarVaders had some kickass character designs), but given the tight deadline on this one, I think this was ultimately the right decision.

Can I ask why? It's looking great so far.

Oh god, which game did it happen to this time?

An excellent write-up. I recently tried Prodeus, and this was a big problem there.

Most enemies are brown-grey blobs with glowing eyes, so the only way to distinguish them was to wait till they attack.

Imagine trying to pick out the zombie with the shotgun in the 0.5 seconds before it shoots you.

(This is after decades of Weyland-Yutani tech having zero continuity between entries; their weapons in Colonial Marines were indistinguishable from Armat's design-wise, and in Alien 3 they literally just carried Armat Pulse Rifles painted black.)

Between this film and Alien: Romulus, it's cool to see elements from the games make it to the big screen.

For example, Badlands borrows Weyland-Yutani's signature 'white w/blue glowy bits' style from Aliens: Fireteam Elite!

If spin-off media comes up with good ideas, why not incorporate them?

Yeah, I do...my sense of timing is bad, and I also don't like the genre of bubbly J-pop music that these games usually use.

No "rabu rabu, doki doki" for me! 💔💔

Games Y'all (@gamesyall.bsky.social) is a free monthly meetup for devs around Austin, TX! Highly recommended.

The venues rotate each month, but it's always a great time to check out various game demos and chat with peeps in the industry.

Oh, for real?! 😮

I haven't touched the Joan of Arc campaign since the original game, that's awesome!

The same is true of Age of Empires II, which has had an unprecedented revival of new units, civilizations, and paid expansions after laying dormant for twenty-odd years.

It heartens me to see old games be made new with just a bit of love & care, instead of put behind glass to gather dust. 😊

(🧵4/4)