Indie Guest Levels Announced for They Bleed Pixels
Independent game developer Spooky Squid Games has announced that its upcoming Xbox Live Indie Game They Bleed Pixels will feature guest levels created by four indie developers. Featuring a distinct visual style that blends pixel art with paper and ink textures, They Bleed Pixels is a singular mix of intense platforming and fierce beat-em-up action.
They Bleed Pixels tells the story of a young girl haunted by a mysterious book and her violent Lovecraftian nightmares. The game features a robust one button combat system and a mid-level save system that requires players to execute stylish kills in order to earn checkpoints.
“We’re big fans of community collaboration and wanted to give some of the talented folks we know a chance to play in our world,” said Miguel Sternberg, Creative Director at Spooky Squid Games. “This is the first of two secret collaborative projects we’ve been cooking up—folks will have to wait till the release date announcement to learn about the second one.”
“As the trailer mentions we’re moving the release of the game back a bit from the Summer release date.,” Miguel continued. “While our debut trailer was met with a lot of excitement and anticipation we made the call to delay and add more polish and content rather than rushing the game out the door. We promise it will be more then worth the wait!”
The four guest levels are much more than simple extras: Spooky Squid Games worked with each of the guest creators to blend the visual style of their work with They Bleed Pixels, changing backgrounds, writing, colours and a few choice enemies. Chunky pixels are replaced with crayon drawings; squid with evil lemons or abstract nightmares. Take a sneak peek at them in this new trailer:
[youtube:http://youtu.be/rqop9UTo2TI?hd=1]
They Bleed Ponycorns! – Ryan and Cassie Creighton
The father-daughter team behind the hit viral game Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure returns in the unlikeliest of crossovers. Featuring collectable ponycorns, crayon art, evil lemons, fountains of adorable pink blood and a ponycorns tribute mix by musician DJ Finish Him!
exp. issue 0.666… – Mathew Kumar
Journalist and designer Mathew Kumar’s acclaimed videogame ‘zine exp. Magazine makes the jump from photocopier to silicon. Featuring black and white photocopy art, an extra rare copy of exp. minus two, and words like orotund, grandiloquent and turgid!
Ninjas Bleed Techno – Dance Party! – Michael Todd
The creator of Silent Skies, Broken Brothers and Engines of War gives a sneak peak of his upcoming XBLIG platformer Techno Ninja, from his new company Happy Little Smile. Featuring cheesy rave flyer art, trendy black silhouettes and eye-searing amounts of the colour pink!
They Bleed Star Dust – Alex Bethke
Golden Gear Games’s Bethke brings a level visually themed around his game Starfall, the top pick from the Experimental Gameplay Projects: High Velocity theme. Featuring a glowing shiny protagonist, abstract nightmares, an outer space background and punishing difficulty.
Players near Austin or Winnipeg will get a chance to preview the game at the Fanastic Fest Arcade this September 22nd through 25th and at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Nuit Blanche ARTcadia event on October 1st.
