Hi SRK community! My name is Ben Ruiz and I’m the lead designer and artist on an upcoming game called Aztez. It’s being independently developed by myself and one other dev. We’re about a year in and we’re aiming for an early 2014 release on PC/Mac/Linux, and maybe a console or two if we play our cards right. We’re far enough along that we have playable builds that do a decent job of representing the game, and it would be nice to start collecting feedback from skilled gamers such as yourselves.
The problem is, I cannot fucking find beat 'em up communities online! I just can’t do it. Since fighting games have a non-trivial amount of overlap with beat 'em ups, I figured I’d try my luck and see if you magnificent lunatics would like you to break it apart and tell me what you like and don’t like. I’m trying very genuinely to create something great here, and that can’t be done without solid player feedback. Anyway, check out this video we recently released:
So with that on the table, how interested are you in being a part of this? If there is serious interest, I’m willing to create a special build for use here in this forum so that you can sink your teeth into it. I would be tremendously helpful but I can’t spend the time maintaining a build and answering questions unless I’m going to get feedback out of it. Hit me with your thoughts! xoxo
And all you need to know about me is that I’ve been developing games for about 8 years now. For Aztez, I’m doing all of the art (character art, environment art, animation, effects, etc.) and all of the combat design. I’ve been writing regularly about beat 'em ups and game combat experiences on the Aztez blog (link in sig) for years now. I grew up in the AZ Golfland and played every game the late early 90’s had to offer, and I’m getting a Neo Geo cab for my birthday next month.