What is Gunmetal Arcadia?

Hello world! I’m J. Kyle Pittman, indie game developer and co-founder of Minor Key Games. As I write this, I’m days away from releasing my latest and greatest work, Super Win the Game. In fact, with the exception of minor tweaks and bug fixes, development on Super Win concluded several weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been toying with ideas for my next project. Gunmetal Arcadia is the result.

Gunmetal Arcadia is a roguelike, or maybe a roguelikelike. Some number of likes, or maybe a lite. Let’s get that out of the way up front. It’s also going to reuse the CRT simulation technology from Super Win, or some variation of that tech. This game is designed to answer questions like, “What would Super Win look like if it were a roguelike?” “What would Super Win look like with combat?” “Can I make a roguelike that is challenging and demanding without being frustrating and discouraging?”

Gunmetal Arcadia is an action platformer featuring permadeath and upgrade choices in a procedurally generated world of entwined technology and magic, portrayed through the lens of 8-bit games. Touchstones include The Battle of Olympus, Faxanadu, Rogue Legacy, The Binding of Isaac, and others.

As my brother and fellow Minor Key Games co-founder David is doing with his upcoming stealth title Neon Struct, I’ll be documenting the process of developing Gunmetal Arcadia in a series of weekly blogs. As of the time of writing, nothing exists of this game beyond words on paper and images in my head. Let’s see where it goes.

—J. Kyle Pittman
September 2014