“Can a real-time, side-scrolling action RPG be fun?”
This was the question I asked back in 2001. I was at university and playing Seiken Densetsu 3, a classic top-down 2D action RPG on the SNES. I wanted to make something similar, but with a twist. It would be side-on like the platformers that remain popular with indie developers and it would be real-time, without the need to pause and navigate menus during combat. And I knew how to make it.
In the early 1990s the revolutionary game development software ‘Klik & Play’ was released for Windows 3.11. It let amateur developers create games without needing to learn a traditional programming language and while new versions of the software have followed, the concept has remained the same.
A thriving amateur development community soon grew up around ‘Klik’ products. I sold my SNES to get the money to buy a copy of ‘Klik & Play’ and get involved. Websites and IRC channels formed, followed by small indie studios, one of which was Natomic, led by Andi Smith.
It was as a member of Natomic and with the playtesting help of fellow members that ‘The Spirit Engine’ was developed over the two years I spent at university. Early iterations of the game included platforms and jumping but these were eventually removed, resulting in the game’s signature 2D side-on view and real-time battle engine.
The final game was released in 2003. It was experimental and rough around the edges but it found fans and eventually spawned a sequel. Sadly there have been no obvious successors in the twenty years since and this is disappointing if you wanted to play more!
Being unpolished made TSE1 a great candidate to revisit when Aquellex started work on an update several years ago. And TSEDX is not just a remaster, but a complete rebuild of the original game for modern systems, with a new engine, new features, updated graphics and revised dialogue. The upgrade is so comprehensive that it’s impossible to go back to the original release. We’re excited about what DX has become and we hope that you will be too when it’s released later this year.
- Mark
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3424270/