Hello everyone,
After many perturbations and several gut-wrenching delays, I’m proud to finally lay all the cards on the table and announce Steel Executor – a volatile, fast-paced, techno-fueled 3D top-down shooter set in an original post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world, and my debut solodev title.
The title, description, and trailer should say it all, but some things are better explained in detail, and there’s plenty of time to fill between now and the game’s launch.
I’ll try to post updates on various areas of Steel Executor’s development every once in a while, including stuff like tidbits about the story and setting.
I thought it would be best to start the dev update series with FAQ #1, beginning with an elephant in the room…
Q: So this is basically just cyberpunk Hotline Miami, right?
A: Hell no. While the game certainly takes inspiration from this timeless classic (I think it earned that title), you’ll immediately feel the difference in Executor’s movement controls and mechanics once you get to play.
Armored enemies, lower and higher ammo calibers, sharp and blunt weapons, hacking the environment, blowing up walls within stages, shooting through doors and destroying them, instant acceleration, freeform dual wielding – all of these contribute to the overall freedom of approach and providing additional gameplay layers of split-second tactical challenges, which are some of Steel Executor’s main design principles.
Many amazing games came in the wake of Hotline Miami’s legacy, but the vast majority of them went in the direction of granting the player HP bars and other “additional chances”. This, in turn, affects gameplay with the assumption that the player can get hit and hurt a bit, and be forgiven for it later on with a medpack or repair station… which directly affects pacing and the feeling of increasing “stakes” as you progress through the stage, knowing you can mess up a bit.
Even Steel Executor is guilty of this (after prototype testing among friends), although only in Hacking Mode, which I try to alleviate by making hacking stages into tight death arenas with swarms of enemies. You can get hit three times in the dystopian future of Internet 2.0, sure, but does it really matter with four enemies attacking you at once?
I wanted to play a game designed in the opposite ideological direction, where you get just one life to complete a level in a rush of adrenaline, but with much more focus on freedom of choice and allowing high SPEED. No bullet time nonsense either.
Steel Executor was conceived and created to attempt innovation and bring something fresh to the table in this somewhat niche genre I enjoy very much.
I hope you’ll like it too.
Q: What is all this next to the crosshair? Can I turn it off?
A: It’s a feature related to Freeform Dual Wielding and making it more readable at a glance after combat encounters.
Left and Right side of the crosshair display weapons (and their current ammo status) wielded in – you guessed it – left or right hand. This in turn tells you to click Left Mouse Button or Right Mouse Button to use the weapon you want.
Minimalism in UI clutter on the screen is another design principle of Steel Executor. You want just the action – you don’t want to have to keep looking at the corner of the screen to check if you can keep shooting (when in this kind of game, every single shot matters).
For those who disagree with this point of view, I’m working on a “Classic” UI option placing these indicators on the lower right and left parts of the screen. Hopefully, I’ll get to show it in the near future.
Q: When is Steel Executor going to premiere?
A: I want to say Q4 2024/Q1 2025, although this is subject to change at any time. This is the first “real” game I’m going to actually complete, it might take more time than estimated.
Q: Is there going to be a demo or a beta?
A: I’m planning on releasing a short public demo version of the game sometime in the future. Stay tuned for updates and follow Pax Tyrannica Games on Twitter/Discord/E-mail newsletter!
If you’re interested in the game and want to hear everything there is to hear, beta access and demo included, I highly encourage you to join my brand new Discord channel at https://discord.gg/UVgjE2BWnU.
There’s very little of us, join now and get the limited-time OG Founder Crew role as one of the pioneers helping out a new studio! Who knows, maybe it comes with preferential treatment in the future?
If you’re not a fan of social media, you can subscribe to the PTG e-mail newsletter at https://paxtyrannica.com/
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That’s all for today, be sure to add the game to your Steam wishlist! See you next time.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2541670/Steel_Executor/
X / Twitter @paxtyrannica