Oh snap, here we go again! It’s getting close to 6 years (!!) since the launch of My Friend Pedro: Blood Bullets Bananas. Bananas, indeed! Since then I’ve released the mobile version of My Friend Pedro (subtitled Ripe for Revenge) and experimented with a handful of prototypes of varying potential. But it wasn’t until about two and a half years ago I stumbled on to the seed that would blossom into Shotgun Cop Man, a precision platformer where your weapons are your wings.
The idea of using a shotgun to propel yourself across the levels really resonated with me because of its simplicity close to the core of the design of the game. It felt like anything I’d build around that hook would be interesting not only for me to explore, but for players to experience too. I quickly found myself getting stuck playing longer than I intended while developing the early prototype, which is a good sign! I feel there is something in this game that pulls you into a nice flow state quite quickly.
I mentioned earlier the simplicity of the shotgun-propelling being something that spoke to me. And I wanted to stick with that word, simplicity, and try to make a game where I could strip away or minimize anything that wasn’t contributing to that core flowy feel and experience. Hence the minimalist look and straightforward nature of the game. I found that adding extra visual fidelity actually decreased the feeling of flow, as it increased the “cognitive load” for the player. With its current presentation there is mental room to track multiple incoming bullets and still leave room to make a split second plan on how to evade said incoming bullets.
One of the main requested features for My Friend Pedro was a level editor. Because of how My Friend Pedro was built, it would have been extremely challenging to have a fully functional level editor which would produce levels fitting with the game. However! I took that request to heart and made sure Shotgun Cop Man had its own level editor very early on in the development. In fact, all levels in the game are built with the same tool you, the community, will have access to in the full release! All fully integrated with Steam Workshop. I’m extremely excited to see what the community will make with it!
So without further ado, if any of this sounds like it would tickle your fancy, please give the demo a twirl and let me know if you got into that nice flow state too!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2966870/Shotgun_Cop_Man_Demo/
Cheers and all the best!
Victor, solo dev at DeadToast Entertainment