If you didn't play the original, Dead Pixels is a side-scrolling zombie shooter that launched back in 2011. It has a beat 'em up-like presentation, with some RPG elements, and there's lots and lots of zombies to shoot (it's available on PC and XBLA and it's well worth a look).
Now we've got that out of the way, we can move on to talking about the sequel. In fact, direct sequels aren't something we've covered yet in the Indie Calendar, as they're not normally the done thing in the indie space. That, however, hasn't stopped CSR-Studios (CSR stands for Can't Strafe Right) from whipping up a follow-up to the 2011 hit.
"{Dead Pixels II: Straight to Video} is a procedurally generated side-scrolling shooter, with guns, loot, zombies and 1-4 player coop. It takes everything that worked well [in the first game], improves upon it and adds in the stuff fans wanted," CSR's John Common told us when we asked for the pitch.
"It also pushes the look and feel 10 years forward, taking inspiration from the straight to video horror boom of the 80s and 90s and mashes it with 16bit style games. At its heart Dead Pixels II is my perfect project. It allows me to express my love of films in a way that few other projects would allow, as well as making the perfect game to play when friends come round."
Common's love for film is evident across both projects. The first game came with an 8bit aesthetic, and had, as its creator describes it, "a kind of grindhouse filter". We're expecting a similar amount of visual homage to present itself in Straight to Video.
CSR-Studios is a one man outfit based in Scotland. We caught up with Common earlier in the year during one of his excursions down south, and he had plenty to tell us about his incoming shooter. One of the things he mentioned was the new story mode:
"I'm also adding in a story mode as well as just a normal quick mode that's kind of similar to what Dead Pixels 1 was. So it'll be the story game that will be, maybe twelve hours at most, and then there's the quick game modes that you can just setup whatever options you want and just start a game with that kind of setting."
The new story mode, the revised and updated visual style, the design lessons learned from the first game, the online co-op; it's all coming together to form a very interesting proposition. We asked what we might expect from the year ahead:
"I think my biggest hope for 2015 is that Dead Pixels II will be finished and out. I love working on it, but I want to do other things and I want people to be able to play the finished game."
Common then summed up by saying: "Other than that, the world of indie games has changed so much in the little time I've been in the industry, it would be nice for things to stay the same for a while to allow people to find their place, but I guess that would be like hoping the sun doesn't set tomorrow."