Support NeoGAF

[daydream]

Release date: May 8, 2014
Platforms: PC, out now on 360 (XBLIG)
Price: $1
Developer: Neon Deity Games, (@Shutshimi)
Homepage: http://shutshimi.com/

Try out the demo!
Vote for it on Greenlight!

Release Trailer

What is Shütshimi?

A frantic wave-based, side-scrolling shoot'em up mixed with a randomised shop element that gradually changes the game in a variety of ways. Also, hats!

Sorry, I actually meant what the game title is all abou-

Hey, don't look at me! It's..something about shooting? Shoot. She Me? Shüt.. I got nothing. Definitely something about shooting. You're a fish, okay? (Edit: Mystery solved!)

When is this out, where can I get this?

The game is out now on Xbox Live Indie Games. The PC version is now available via Humble Widget on the official site! IGS shortly.

---------

Screenshötshimi:

What others think:

Shütshimi has a wonderfully retro, arcadey quality, thanks to the excellent pixel art and Famitracker-crafted music. The action stays refreshing due to the brief level duration, random generation, quickly increasing difficulty and the addition of different gameplay modifiers to the mix each round. (Indiestatik)

You're a fish with beefy arms and guns, do you really need to know anything else? (Destructoid)

If there's one thing I love about Greenlight, it's all the insanely creative people it attracts. Like the creators of this side-scrolling shooter, Shütshimi. (Kotaku)

Closing Comment:

Had this game on my radar since I played the demo. Also, the dev kept us posted in the Indie threads which is always cool!

It's a charming and fun little title, wonderfully creative, it's only a dollar and made by a fellow GAFfer, so give it a shot, will ya? Just look at this guy, he's such a dudebro:

 

[Toma]

Such a weird and lovely game.

 

[someguyinahat]

Sorry, I actually meant what the game title is all abou-

Hey, don't look at me! It's..something about shooting? Shoot. She Me? Shüt.. I got nothing. Definitely something about shooting. You're a fish, okay?

Maybe a portmanteau of Shoot + Sashimi?

 

[daydream]

Maybe a portmanteau of Shoot + Sashimi?

That's very possible! I'm not that familiar with Japanese cuisine so I couldn't make much of it.

 

[OnPoint]

Thanks for the awesome thread daydreaming. It was a ton of fun making the game, so I hope people have fun playing it.

Maybe a portmanteau of Shoot + Sashimi?

Nailed it! You sir just won a free copy of the game. You prefer PC or Xbox 360?

Shoot me a pm

 

[Jintor]

Thanks for the awesome thread daydreaming. It was a ton of fun making the game, so I hope people have fun playing it.


Nailed it! You sir just won a free copy of the game. You prefer PC or Xbox 360?

nisu!

 

[Chairmanchuck]

Is this like Cho Aniki but with a fish instead of muscular guys?

 

[daydream]

OnPoint was so kind as to provide me with a key! Gonna fire it right up.

 

[daydream]

Played my first ~10 rounds and I have to say, the "one more go"-appeal is still very much intact, as is the excellent soundtrack which I really enjoy!

I did not expect some of those hat effects, that

Spoiler

Pokemon

one came out nowhere, haha. Game seems overall really polished, there's in-game challenges to go after and a few things to unlock, even! Very much worth the dollar, GAF!

I have to ask, though, is the cat enemy a reference to Aqua Kitty?

 

[OnPoint]

Is this like Cho Aniki but with a fish instead of muscular guys?

Kind of sort of! We saw your post and just about died laughing. We love shooters, and get a big kick out of Cho Aniki, so yeah, we were going for the wacky, not-so-serious shooter style with this one.

Played my first ~10 rounds and I have to say, the "one more go"-appeal is still very much intact, as is the excellent soundtrack which I really enjoy!

I did not expect some of those hat effects, that

Spoiler

Pokemon

one came out nowhere, haha. Game seems overall really polished, there's in-game challenges to go after and a few things to unlock, even! Very much worth the dollar, GAF!

I have to ask, though, is the cat enemy a reference to Aqua Kitty?

You're too kind sir. One of the other devs and I played a ton of Aqua Kitty in co-op, so maybe subconsciously? I hadn't thought of that.

 

[daydream]

Game is now available on the Humble Store via widget on the official site. IGS shortly.

 

[malfcn]

This game looks so crazy. Development must have been fun. What was the general state of mind for brain storming?

 

[someguyinahat]

Thanks for the awesome thread daydreaming. It was a ton of fun making the game, so I hope people have fun playing it.


Nailed it! You sir just won a free copy of the game. You prefer PC or Xbox 360?

Shoot me a pm

PM sent. Thanks very much!

 

[OnPoint]

This game looks so crazy. Development must have been fun. What was the general state of mind for brain storming?

The general state of mind was pretty much anything goes. We just kind of shouted ideas out there, and they were all pretty much considered. In the first version of the game that we submitted to Ludum Dare, our main enemy was surfing butts with sunglasses on (which may still be in the game somewhere...). We have a ton of ideas that will make it into the 1.1 patch we're going to eventually put out, including more hats.

I'd say this song was the spirit our development, mostly because we listened to it a lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWQZFCRYQ3o

 

[someguyinahat]

our main enemy was surfing butts with sunglasses on (which may still be in the game somewhere...)

Butts confirmed.

Okay, here are my comments about the game. Please note the following:

I'm not normally a shmup player.
I'm not good at shmups.
But I do like indie games.

I found the game fun. The quick-wave pace and quick shopping was interesting. I did clear the first mode to unlock two more difficulties. I have yet to clear the other two, unless they're infinite...I dunno, but I only played it about a dozen or so times and didn't clear the second boss yet. The graphics are cute, the controls are tight, the boss AI is challenging but not donmaku crazy (at least not at the levels I encountered.)

My gripes:

I know the game is about ten second bursts of game followed by ten second bursts of choosing your next upgrade, but I'm the kind of guy who will alt-tab, chat, that sort of thing, so...a pause feature during waves would be nice. (I can get why you wouldn't want to do that during the shopping.)

There's no way to tell whether an upgrade is just for one wave or semi-permanent. New weapon type? Semi-permanent, unless you get rotating weapons in which case one round. Rapid fire or triple guns? One round. Shield? Semi-permanent until enough hits break it. Change in size? One round. Irritating sunglasses covering the screen? Semi-permanent until you desperately try to figure out how to replace it. Perhaps you're meant to simply learn what they all do and for how long, but it just feels inconsistent to have some things last longer than others.

Maybe my mind is in the gutter but those arrows in the tutorial look pretty phallic if you ask me.

Is it a perfect game? No.
Is it a good game? Yes.
Is it worth your dollar? Very yes. *insert bixby snyder pic here*
So get it! That's just my opinion anyway.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

So. How far are the GL-ratings? Would love to buy it if it has a chance to be released on Steam

 

[OnPoint]

someguyinahat's impressions

I'm very glad to hear you could complete Guppy as someone who isn't a shmup player. Normal and Heartless are actually unlocked from the start and are both end up infinite once you beat the bosses (Pro Tip: Extra guys accumulate every 5000 points on Normal). We're planning to put leaderboards in the 1.1 update. I really wish they were in now, honestly, but they're in the works.

There is a pause function but it's weird. If you press start (on the xbox version, not sure what it is on keyboard?) it will enable "Break Time" mode, which will pause the game when the 10 second round is over, either in the shop or during an actual stage. Our line of thinking was 10 seconds was short enough to finish before a pause, but maybe we were wrong. We DEFINITELY need to find a way to communicate that it exists, so we certainly failed on that haha.

You're right about the upgrades and it's something we're brainstorming on how to fix. You're also right about the arrows. They're preeeeetty phallic. We might have to change those lol

I'm super glad you liked it though. I feel like you're doing well if you not only finished Guppy but got to the second boss. Keep pushing, and if you beat it, please post your score!

So. How far are the GL-ratings? Would love to buy it if it has a chance to be released on Steam

We are at 42%, which is pretty good considering how weird the game is. Honestly, we can probably make it if the might of GAF falls behind us and we start getting some votes, but we've been buried in the back now, so without a push from somewhere, I don't know if we'll make it.

 

[CNCOMICS]

Looks like something Adult Swim Games would put out -and I mean that in a good way.

 

[someguyinahat]

There is a pause function but it's weird. If you press start (on the xbox version, not sure what it is on keyboard?) it will enable "Break Time" mode, which will pause the game when the 10 second round is over, either in the shop or during an actual stage. Our line of thinking was 10 seconds was short enough to finish before a pause, but maybe we were wrong. We DEFINITELY need to find a way to communicate that it exists, so we certainly failed on that haha.

Found it in the readme file. It was the space bar. And no, that's just fine. Definitely needs to be in the tutorial though.

 

[derExperte]

I don't know what exactly I just bought and upvoted on Greenlight but I doubt I'll regret it, will play tomorrow.

 

[Krystof Koreni]

Only a dollar, you say? Done. Thanks for making a game about fish with Schwarzenegger-grade arm fins.

edit: will you be making the swag (below) available internationally?

 

[OnPoint]

Thanks to all you guys for checking this out so far. We really appreciate it.

If any one is in the Toronto Canada area tomorrow, we'll be showing off the game at Bento Miso's Bit Bazaar. Really proud to be alongside lots of great games like N++, Always Sometimes Monsters, Guacamelee, They Bleed Pixels... the list goes on and on. Stop by, say hi, we even made up a bunch of swag.

 

[OnPoint]

So Bit Bazaar was a TON of fun. We got a lot of hands on the game, and everybody seemed to like it pretty well. Between impressions online, here, and at the show in Toronto, we definitely have some big plans for our 1.1 update that we'll do in the near future.

Here's a couple pictures, one of our rig, and a panorama shot of the whole Bit Bazaar itself.

In other news, we're going to be featured on XBLIG in Japan, which is awesome for us I think. It'll be nice to get some more eyeballs on this bad boy!

 

[daydream]

Great to hear, OnPoint, and thanks for the visual impressions!

I really need to play more of it this weekend. Kero Blaster (and Mario Golf) took up my gaming time the past few days, haha.

Keep us posted on that 1.1 update.

 

[Shadow Hog]

I saw supergreatfriend cover this game as part of his "Demo Friend - XBLIG" series.

He seemed to like it.

 

[OnPoint]

I'm proud to report that we're one of two games recommended by Microsoft in Japan for XBLIG this month.

http://xbox.create.msdn.com/ja-jp/home/about/monthly_recommend_Jun2014

 

[malfcn]

Congrats, Pewds played this game here.
Has it helped out in a positive way?

 

[daydream]

Congrats, Pewds played this game here.
Has it helped out in a positive way?

Apparently it has!

 

[OnPoint]

Definitely it has helped, Malfcn. We effectively doubled our lifetime sales in 2 days because of this video. It sounds great until you realize we're still under 1000 units sold, but it was still awesome that the game caught on to any degree. There were also a bunch more Youtube videos made, so hey, I won't complain about the coverage and/or watching people enjoy what we made.

The most important benefit from this so far has been our Greenlight, which went from 59% to sitting now at 77%. I've been brainstorming ideas on how to get that Greenlight last boost, and while I had a few thoughts before the video came out, this has been a huge plus for us in that arena. Does anyone have any ideas to suggest?

We still have no idea at all how he got wind of the game, but it's awesome nevertheless. He was the only sale on our Humble widget the day before it, then boom -- lots of sales.

 

[daydream]

Here's a preview for the upcoming update. Love the trippy effect!

Screenshot Saturday for the Shutshimi update

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Here's a preview for the upcoming update. Love the trippy effect!

I presume the update is only for the PC version? I noticed it on XBLIG the other day, and had to buy it, although I didn't have the time to play it yet.

 

[OnPoint]

I presume the update is only for the PC version? I noticed it on XBLIG the other day, and had to buy it, although I didn't have the time to play it yet.

We're on the fence about the update on XBLIG. Our membership for the creators club expired so it would cost us to re-up on what is essentially a dead platform. On the other hand, it would be great to get the update out to those who picked it up on that system, new sales be damned.

The update kept growing as we were creating it, and we have pretty much doubled the size of the game. New bosses, new enemies, more backgrounds and music, powerups and hats, 2-4 player co-OP... I am proud of the work we are putting in. Hopefully people enjoy it. I'd like some of those enjoying it to be on XBLIG but we'll see where we land when it's done.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

That's a fair explanation. Well, if you don't update it, I guess I'll get the PC version as well.

Have you considered bringing it to Xbox One? I'd rather buy it there.

 

[OnPoint]

Yeah, there's a possibility that we'll get it on the next gen somehow, Xbox One included, but no definite plans just yet. Our latest game jam project, Meowgical Tower was our introduction to putting something together in Unity, so we're going to port Shutshimi into Unity once we're content-complete in XNA/Monogame. Once that's done we can put it just about anywhere, really.

 

[djtiesto]

Looks really awesome, nice pixel art. Was Deep Blue (TG-16) an inspiration at all, OnPoint?

 

[OnPoint]

Looks really awesome, nice pixel art. Was Deep Blue (TG-16) an inspiration at all, OnPoint?

I just had to look up what that game was and I showed it to the team. We had no idea that it even existed until right now haha

Also, our artist said your compliment was "Awesome " so thanks!

 

[OnPoint]

Small update:

We've been Greenlit. -- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=215519496

Thanks to everyone who voted!

The update is coming along swimmingly (el oh el) and it's pretty full of content. Hats have been bumped up to 40 now, there are new enemies, 2-4 player co-op, three new boss battles, a bunch of new backgrounds, more crazy powerups... and likely more to come.

Edit: Oh we've been moved to Community. Haha well, I'm sure we'll be able to bump this out again more when we are closer to release

 

[daydream]

Small update:

We've been Greenlit. -- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=215519496

Thanks to everyone who voted!

The update is coming along swimmingly (el oh el) and it's pretty full of content. Hats have been bumped up to 40 now, there are new enemies, 2-4 player co-op, three new boss battles, a bunch of new backgrounds, more crazy powerups... and likely more to come.

Edit: Oh we've been moved to Community. Haha well, I'm sure we'll be able to bump this out again more when we are closer to release

Congrats, awesome news!

Yeah, I'll PM a mod once the update is released and ask him if we could get another week or two in the sun.

 

[OnPoint]

Congrats, awesome news!

Yeah, I'll PM a mod once the update is released and ask him if we could get another week or two in the sun.

Thanks! And thanks for making this thread!

At this point, by then, it might be best to make a new thread... it's practically a new game at this point haha

Plus there are other things in the background going on I can't talk about yet. But there are big things in the works.

 

[daydream]

Thanks! And thanks for making this thread!

At this point, by then, it might be best to make a new thread... it's practically a new game at this point haha

Plus there are other things in the background going on I can't talk about yet. But there are big things in the works.

Exciting! Do keep us posted.

 

[thekonamicode]

Just picked this up on PS4. Love it so far!

 

[OnPoint]

Just picked this up on PS4. Love it so far!

Thanks so much We'll try to get an OT up for this new release in the future