You always remember your “first,” and game developers are no exception. Based in New Zealand, indie developer Wibowo Sumardjo has been fortunate enough to have generated early recognition for his premiere project, the dungeon-platforming hack and slash, Shadowcrpyt.
Based on some of his own favorite game genres, Sumardjo shares some of the influences that effected the development of Shadowcrypt. “For Shadowcrypt, I want players to step into a dungeon and have fun whacking & bashing away at enemies after a long, hard day’s work,” Sumardjo adds, “Then combining all those with the sword & shield sparring flavor that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is well-known for, hopefully will create a fun arcade-like experience that players will want to revisit from time to time.”
While the game is simplistic in nature it was important to Sumardjo to make sure that he achieved the qualities he would expect from a game, and to add a particular feel to the game in order to try and mimic his other major inspiration, Diablo II. “Whether it’s a combat situation, jumping, crouching, landing, climbing ledges, or just plain walking around – I worked hard to make sure the main character feels really solid,” says Sumardjo.
This isn’t the first time players would be exposed to this type of dungeon crawl adventure game, but Sumardjo remains hopeful that it will resonate with fans of the genre. “I primarily focused on making this game for myself, first and foremost,” explains Sumardjo, “Almost everything with this project is completely new to me (programming, pixel art, animating pixels, sound, etc) and I had to learn them all from scratch.”
A release date has not been set for Shadowcrypt but it is slated for release exclusively on the PC. Sumardjo has indicated that while no plans currently exist to submit the game to Steam Greenlight, or port it for iOS support, he has begun to consider the possibility.
Sumardjo’s plan of step by step custom designing a game for his own pleasure may end up being the successful formula for Shadowcrypt
Jesse has been writing video game related articles and interviewing industry professionals for almost 3 years and strives to become a professional nerd.
