After a few years of on and off work (to be honest, i was exhausted after working on Rick Henderson) on a small spin-off game to Rick Henderson i can proudly say the work is getting done. The demo of the game will be available for buyers of the Rick Henderson Physical Edition (the edition that comes with a floppy disc) for Switch and PS5 and they will get the access to a special repository on Steam while the game is in development and when it comes out.

I would like to thank my publisher, EastAsiaSoft, VGNYSOFT, players and everyone that supported the idea of Rick Henderson coming to life.

So what’s it all about?

I’m not gonna lie, besides shoot ’em ups, i have a lot of love for roguelike and roguelite games. As you’ve probably seen in Rick Henderson, stuff is basically semi-random, so besides skills you need to have a bit of luck and make good choices.

Eternal Arena is a one screen shooter (i guess most of you played Bit Blaster XL) set in the Rick Henderson “universe” with a roguelike twist. Waves spawn at you, bosses and random events appear and you get to pick upgrades for your ship and the drones that will accompany you. Besides maneuvering on one screen only (ship never stops, it can boost or slowdown) you need to take care of your ammo (so no running wild with all guns blazing or you’re gonna get dry pretty soon, at least in the first stages of the game) and choose the upgrades for your ship and the drones wisely.

Now, you’ve probably seen this concept in games like Nova Drift, Vampire Survivors, hell, even Crimsonland. All of these games were a part of inspiration, of course, but i’m aiming at a different player experience with Eternal Arena. Nova Drift has great customization options, but games take too long for my taste and a myriad of options tend to water down the experience and make progress slow. Crimsonland is awesome, but besides choosing different weapons and random perks and pickups, there’s not much more to it. You do get to move and shoot, but in the end you basically just stand in the middle and shoot the closest enemy in the swarm around you. Vampire Survivors are awesome, but i don’t like that you don’t get to actually shoot, you just do the moving part and games basically end like Crimsonland, with you surrounded and trying to milk out that last bit. Bit Blaster is a great concept, arcadey and simple, skill based, with games that don’t last too long, but there’s not many options to choose from. SNKRX is another great game that has a lot of skill involved, but then again, you move and let the (carefully selected) snake do its thing.

So, combining the things i like from the games i find inspirational i am making something that will scratch all of the itches that i have.

You have a skill based, controllable ship in a confined space. You need to move properly, choose your targets, manage your fuel and your ammo. Simple concept that is easy to micromanage almost subconsciously, balanced enough that it can give you an edge but won’t burden you in a way that you constantly need to take care of those, it will just disable you from using boost or break and fire all guns all of the time.

Upgrade selections can help improve your build if you go in a proper direction. There’s a bit of luck involved of course, as in all roguelike/lite games.

Drone selections branch into finer adjustments of your killing machine. They do help you specialize your ship in a direction that you want it to go and help you last longer, but ultimately, it is your skill that will help you stay alive as long as possible.

Finally, all of this should fit in a 10 minute run that will make the game dynamic. The results of your selections will be visible very fast and will affect the game quickly. Also, when you die, it will not be after a 30 minute session of careful perk and upgrade selection that will make you feel down, but should instead inspire that “let’s give it another go with another ship/drone combo” feeling.

There’s a lot of challenges to balance things out in such a short session so the game will probably be in an early access to get feedback from the players. All of the ships and all of the drone combos should work, there must not be an ULTIMATE built that is the best, only the build that makes YOUR play style viable for that high score. Some will excel in using the fast ship with low health and maxed out support drone, some will use a slow ship with tons of firepower and assault drone that rips everything around it and buffs the player ship. Other will use a balanced ship and a balanced drone upgrade combination (yes, you will be able to use all three drones at the same time) to get them through as far as possible.

You can wishlist the game on Steam