Update #2 []:
The Kickstarter campaign for CopperStorm has now passed €150,000 raised, and to celebrate the developer Neofid Studios has shared some new test footage of the game, teasing some on-foot run ’n’ gun sections that will be present in the final release.
The footage shows the protagonist Jim Cooper crashing his plane into the ocean, but not before jumping out of the cockpit and activating a parachute. Gliding down onto a flat piece of terrain, he then pulls out a pistol, shooting at several enemy soldiers while on his way to find a replacement ship to take him back into the skies.
Regarding the addition of these segments, the game's lead developer Simon Reboul told Time Extension, "To our knowledge, very few games offer this concept apart from Dragon Breed, but we didn't know about it before working on CopperStorm. We wanted to design an action-packed game with beautiful graphics that would keep players entertained!"
In addition to this, he also gave us a bit more information about why Neofid selected the platforms it did for the Kickstarter, stating, "We already had working engines for the Sega Megadrive and NeoGeo, so it was an easy choice for us to satisfy a large part of the retro community.
"The SNES version is an opportunity for us to create a new engine and to be present on this platform, which has been somewhat neglected in the homebrew world. We also wanted to see if the SNES community would respond to the call!"
The studio states in the future it would like bring the title to "as many retro consoles as possible". However, it did not specify which. It also confirmed that there are currently "no plans at this time to distribute CopperStorm via a ROM version or on modern consoles — at least not in the form we presented in the trailer."
The Kickstarter is still live and currently has just 49 hours to go if you want to back the project.
Update #1 []:
The Kickstarter for CopperStorm — the new game from Neofid Studios, the developer of Demons of Asteborg and Asteborg — is now live, bringing with it a bunch of new information and images about the upcoming SNES, Neo Geo, Mega Drive / Genesis shmup.
CopperStorm, according to the story outline presented by its developer, is set in London 188X where "gears grind and empires fall", with players taking control of the war hero and rogue pilot Jim Cooper who must defend the capital against a ruthless imperial force, known as the Blitzmark.
With this new title, the studio has promised to provide "a fresh take on the shoot-’em-up genre" with the goal for the project being to blend "unique mechanics with inspiration from some of the greatest classics". The game, for instance, features pixel artwork and animations inspired by Metal Slug, while also deliberately name checking Thunderforce IV as being a major influence on its style of vertical scrolling.
"We were captivated by the beauty of the first level of ThunderForce IV," Simon Reboul, the lead developer at Neofid Studios, told Time Extension, "And felt that the idea of horizontal & vertical scrolling was underutilized in retro shoot 'em ups, which is why we decided to make it a central feature of CopperStorm.
He continued, "We are [also] big fans of Metal Slug and wanted to emulate its highly expressive sprites in order to give the game a strong identity."
As part of the game's campaign, which remarkably managed to hit its €50,000 goal in just under two hours, you can back a physical version of the SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis edition of the title for €70, with the Neo Geo MVS and AES versions being priced at €320 and €370 respectively.
Here's the link to the Kickstarter, where you can find out more about the game.
Original Story: Neofid Studios — the developer of titles like Demons of Asteborg and Astebros — is working on a new game for the SNES, Neo Geo, and Sega Mega Drive / Genesis.
As of this moment, very little information has been revealed about the brand new title, with all we know about it so far being that the game will be called CopperStorm and that is is described as "a new Steampunk shoot 'em up" inspired by games like Thunderforce IV & Metal Slug.
In addition to this, we also know that the game will be crowdfunded through Kickstarter, with the devs having set up a pre-launch, which contains a piece of key art depicting the main character (a red-haired pilot), alongside his ship, and a few mock-ups of the game's box art.
Sadly, no screenshots or footage have been shared just yet, but if you're interested you can sign up here to be alerted when the campaign goes live.
Despite not having all that much to go on yet, we're pretty optimistic about this new project based Neofid Studio's previous track record with Demons of Asteborg and Astebros.
We're also glad to see the SNES getting some love here, as it isn't everyday that we see new titles get released for the console, with homebrew developers typically focusing their efforts elsewhere.
We'll be sure to keep you updated as more substantial information is made available.