Dev blog #2

Last week we were clinking the glasses in the garden behind our office and celebrating not only the Swedish midsummer holiday, but our progress in Backbeat as well. In June we've been working more on our vertical slice, adding things to the in-game experience that sparkle on top of the core puzzle/strategy gameplay that we've been building and user-testing.



We've added a new location to the town of Hornsburg: the video store "Hollywood Movies" where our drummer Josh works part-time. In the 90s brick-and-mortar stores were king and the biggest blockbuster titles debuted in clamshell cases alongside plastic shelves filled with chocolates and candy. We wanted to capture the feel of the industrial carpet, bold colors, and endless rows of VHS tapes.



We've also started creating dialog portraits of our antagonists La Tormenta and the supporting characters that cheer for Watts from backstage. Here are two snaps of Jack, the confident leader of La Tormenta, and heroine Watts' best friend Ashley, who introduces her to both funk music and keyboardist Toshi.



Next month level design goes into full swing and we'll be adding new puzzles and maps for our recently created clubs and businesses of suburban Baltimore. We have a growing palette of objects in our Backbeat editor for creating all sorts of 90s Americana and strategic obstacles.

Finally, we're going (virtually) to GDC next month to talk about our development process on our first game, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ, and Backbeat. Creative Director David Ventura will be talking at the most prestigious conference for game developers shining a little bit of light on how we work together at Ichigoichie. We're really working hard now to have more gameplay videos and GIFs just in time for the conference.

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Do you have an idea for a dev blog topic? Curious about the team and story of Backbeat? Comment on this post or tweet at us, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube