Ion Fury, a new Build Engine game out now.

[DooM_RO]

Source http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1404138

 

Developed by Voidpoint, a studio comprised of EDuke32 vets and Duke Nukem 3D mappers, Ion Maiden was formally announced on a recent Duke4 livestream. It will be published by 3D Realms and is releasing in 2018.

 

First, a bit of background. The Build Engine powered Ion Maiden is a FPS prequel to the poorly received Bombshell, an isometric shooter from Interceptor Entertainment, a studio which declared bankruptcy last year. A new team called Slipgate Studios was founded earlier this year with many of the same team members.



The game’s developer, Voidpoint, is an independent venture founded by TerminX and Hendricks266 when creating the Hail to the King Collection ports for iOS and Android. Work began on Ion Maiden (working titles "The Washington Project" or "Project Washington", and later "The Washington Incident") in early 2015 as a stand-alone project, with the team working on both projects in overlapping fashion until HTTKC was shelved. The game was quietly announced on a poster back in July 2015 as an extra for the digital deluxe version for Bombshell. Since then, however, the scope has expanded considerably and the game is a full commercial product. The developers’ chose the name Ion Maiden to distance themselves from the negativity associated with Bombshell (2016). The game is running on EDuke32, built in 2004 by Richard Gobeille and continuously developed over the following decade with a view to preserving the original developers' intent of Duke Nukem 3D and to make it playable and enhanced on modern hardware. 

This is a shooter that's coupling truly retro gameplay with truly retro tech, using the original engine and its ideas, with 20 extra years of development--replacing code, but rarely throwing out ideas. The team has created a brand new 8-bit palette, which all assets will use, essentially turning the era's original aesthetic and creative techniques up to 11 (think Mega Man 9 and 10). The score's being made by someone from the European C64/Amiga demo scene who has been making mod tracker music for about 20 years.

Voidpoint’s 256 color pallet (Cage is easily one of the most talented pixel artists around):

 

There’s some seriously talented mappers involved (including DavoX of DNF 2013 DLC fame), with the levels being made with the hallmarks of classic shooters in mind, including interconnecting areas, interactivity, and secrets. All of the weapons have either an alt fire or an alternate ammo type which you switch by pressing alt fire. The team’s currently working on a demo (which won't feature the alt fire stuff) much like the FEAR demo, the maps in the demo are redressed samples of portions of the registered version. The team recently showed a video behind closed doors at E3 so I hope we’ll see more soon, but in the meantime here's some more screens!

 

 

 

 

Note: the face in the HUD is temp art just cut from a random promo image for Interceptor's Bombshell game. The final game will have a face in the HUD, in much the same way as Doom.

Edited August 18, 2019 by DooM_RO

[Mr. Freeze]

Quote

FPS prequel to the poorly received Bombshell, an isometric shooter from Interceptor Entertainment

 

eh

 

A new team called Slipgate Studios was founded earlier this year with many of the same team members.

 

ehhhhh

[june gloom]

I was wondering whatever happened to this.

[Nevander]

1) That looks incredible

 

2) Ion Maiden? Really? It's quite close to Iron Maiden a bit?

[Pencil of Doom]

Looks like a promising game, i look foward to it.

[wheresthebeef]

5 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

 

eh

 

 

ehhhhh

To put some ease back in, this is made by longtime Duke3D modders and EDuke32 devs; while it is related to the other Bombshell game, it isn't actually the same developers; in fact, the main artist is Cage

There's a reason it's called Ion Maiden and not Bombshell: The Prequel or something

Edited November 19, 2017 by wheresthebeef

[[McD] James]

Wasn't it announced awhile ago that the game was going to drop all connections to the Bombshell universe? 

[Bauul]

I didn't really follow much of what was in the opening post (never heard of Bombshell), but damn those weapon sprites are tasty!

[Da Werecat]

EWW software mode get on with the times Okay my life is over I don't have to do anything anymore.

[Arctangent]

2 hours ago, Nevander said:

2) Ion Maiden? Really? It's quite close to Iron Maiden a bit?

You act like puns on objects are anything odd.

[esselfortium]

Every screenshot of this that I've seen looks amazing. Cage's artwork is beyond incredible, and the architecture looks 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍  as well.

[Manuel-K]

Looks very nice. I hope that they manage to repair eduke32's multiplayer in time.

[Spie812]

Oh yes, please. That looks really cool.

[Linguica]

My only complaint is that it's not a new commercial Doom-engine game.

[Manuel-K]

Just now, Linguica said:

My only complaint is that it's not a new commercial Doom-engine game.

Yes, that would make it better. IMO build engine games feel a bit off/weird.

[Urthar]

Looking forward to seeing this.

[VGamingJunkie]

It's more fitting that it's a Build Engine game, since Bombshell started out as Duke Nukem until Gearbox muscled their way in.

[[McD] James]

1 hour ago, Manuel-K said:

Yes, that would make it better. IMO build engine games feel a bit off/weird.

 

I don't agree. Build engine games allow for better environmental interactions and set pieces, which is something that these games are often known for. I also find that Build engine games lend themselves better to platforming sections. I'm not saying that either engine is better than the other, but for what they're going for it looks like they made the right choice. 

[Avoozl]

Ah yes, the Bombshell prequel.

[Graf Zahl]

20 minutes ago, Ajora said:

 

I don't agree. Build engine games allow for better environmental interactions and set pieces,

 

Correct, but the engine is still a bit too buggy for my taste.

[Manuel-K]

21 minutes ago, Ajora said:

I also find that Build engine games lend themselves better to platforming sections

Really?

 

I consider the jumping physics one of the weakest points of the engine. It feels very weird – both the jump height and the air control. It's definitely no Quake/Quake3/Super Mario/Jazz Jackrabbit level of nice jumping and IMO worse than Doom's vanilla platform to platform running.

[PsychoGoatee]

Game looks tremendous, looking forward to it! On jumping in Duke and whatnot, I like it. And in general I love the engine, but there have been many a post on here about that. And eDuke32 in particular has done good work on it.

 

And on the software mode post, I think the screenshots are actually not in software mode, it'll be on eDuke32's source port renderers which is like the GZDoom of Duke. Software mode is an option though, at least in eduke in general. And whichever way it's rendered, I do love that pixel art.

 

Edited November 19, 2017 by PsychoGoatee

[Deleted_Account]

That actually looks pretty goo!

[Revenant100]

2 hours ago, PsychoGoatee said:

And on the software mode post, I think the screenshots are actually not in software mode, it'll be on eDuke32's source port renderers which is like the GZDoom of Duke. Software mode is an option though, at least in eduke in general.

It's correct that these screenshots are not taken in the software (called "Classic" in EDuke32) renderer. Although software mode is supported, the default video mode will be the Polymost OpenGL renderer for performance reasons.

[jval]

I really like the outdoor enviroment (first photo).  I'm looking foward to it!

[Agentbromsnor]

13 hours ago, Ajora said:

 

I don't agree. Build engine games allow for better environmental interactions and set pieces, which is something that these games are often known for. I also find that Build engine games lend themselves better to platforming sections. I'm not saying that either engine is better than the other, but for what they're going for it looks like they made the right choice. 

Doing any sort of platforming with the Build engine's warping view is a nightmare when platforms are located above you. What made navigation such a breeze in Duke 3D was the inclusion of the jetpack, IMO.

[40oz]

lol "science bitch" on the periodic table.

[Avoozl]

Even if the jetpack is cheap it was sure fun to use.

[VGamingJunkie]

15 hours ago, Agentbromsnor said:

Doing any sort of platforming with the Build engine's warping view is a nightmare when platforms are located above you. What made navigation such a breeze in Duke 3D was the inclusion of the jetpack, IMO.

I'm pretty sure the warping view was a consequence of being software rendered. ZDoom has a similar thing with its mouse aim.

[mrthejoshmon]

Good to see this, I hope there is plans to bring this to more platforms than just PC (like consoles, handhelds and mobile).