A sumptuous pixel-art arcade adventure being developed for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Release day is almost here!
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 12:28:28 AM
Hey everyone, hope you’re all well! It’s been a hectic few weeks for us and the Numskull Games team preparing Battle Axe for release both physically and digitally, but we’re pleased to say that everything is now in place with the digital keys being sent out this week on April 23rd, and all physical rewards being shipped to all addresses worldwide across the next two weeks. It’s been a real challenge coordinating everything for a more-or-less simultaneous release, especially given the pandemic situation, and we appreciate everyone’s patience. Here’s a couple of photos of the game from Numskull’s distribution centres:
Apologies for the quality of this next photo, but it has come straight from the warehouse as it's all started to ship!
Oh yes, here are the final versions of the shadow boxes fresh from the factory - the build quality is excellent as you would expect from Numskull!
Whilst you’re waiting for your copies of Battle Axe to arrive you might like to read this interview that myself and Mike had with “The Gamer” website where we talk about the game’s development:
In other news, you may remember the previous title I worked on with Bitmap Bureau, “Xeno Crisis”, is coming to the new online gaming service called “Piepacker”. They also have a load of other great retro titles on there, and it’s especially cool being able to play Xeno Crisis with another player online! I’m sure they would appreciate any kind of support, so if it sounds of interest then their Kickstarter can be found here:
Anyway, we hope this update has you all excited, and we hope you enjoy Battle Axe as soon as you have it in your hands, which won’t be long now! Thank you all for the amazing support and patience over the past year or so - now for a well-earned rest!
Battle Axe is gold!
about 3 years ago
– Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 01:04:03 AM
Hello again everyone, and thank you for your patience over these last few months while we’ve been finishing up Battle Axe! So, the main news is that Battle Axe has now gone gold! We recently completed development and the game is currently in certification with all the major platforms.
Overall the project went very smoothly, although there was a huge amount of art to produce for one person alone! Everything began to click into place a few months back in terms of the feel, pace and difficulty, and we’re all really pleased with the end result, and we hope that you will be too. Infinite Mode turned out surprisingly well and gives players something to keep coming back to should they ever master the regular “Arcade” mode, although New Game Plus is also an immense challenge. One thing that did emerge during the last few months was the game’s combo system, which now greatly rewards players who are able to sustain huge combos, and is the way to achieve truly high scores.
I’m sure you’d all like to see some new footage of the game in action, so here’s Fae hacking and slashing her way through the third area, “Dragon’s Keep”:
Now here’s a few new GIFs and screenshots, and a closer look at some of the more recent backgrounds, enemies and objects that I drew:
The updated attract sequence
Rooney and Iolo dealing with some foes in the Hamlets.
Fae and Iolo being ambushed in the mines by skeleton slashers and rock worms when crossing a bridge. Maybe taking out those generators is a good idea?
Iolo and Rooney fighting off the Ork Troopers in the Dragon’s Keep, trying to de-activate the magic barriers.
The Dragon’s Keep is surrounded by water instead of a parallax scrolling background. Here’s a segment of the animated water tiles in action. This required some elaborate 8 frames tileable animation. I think it was worth it. :)
Just like the other trees found in the game, the Dragon’s Keep also has animated trees simulating the movement of wind. Details like this make the world feel more alive and immersive.
The idle animation of the Banneret ghost knight is shown here. He has a very swift attack as soon as he spots you!
Scoria Spire stage action screenshot - hordes of new harder enemies will appear here!
Ork Rogue walk animations. They are hot-headed and dangerous!
Worlack idle animations. Dark wizards with the ability to teleport and hurl dark magic at you.
There are many more new enemies and bosses to be found in the game but I don’t want to spoil too much here. The same goes for several new interior backgrounds found in the Dragon’s Keep and Scoria Spire world. Some are even hidden! :)
Moving on, we also managed to implement our CRT shader for those players who prefer an even more retro look to the game:
...and we included simplified and traditional Chinese translations, as well as Arabic too:
And here is a quick snippet showing the area 2 boss:
We also added the remaining villager types and the backer names for all of those who opted for either of the Deluxe or Ultimate editions - there were some amusing names for sure! Special mention should be made to our custom villager backer Matthias Bonesi, who we’ve turned into a pixelated caricature - he even went as far as dressing up especially for the part! :) You’ll see him appear in the game as “Zoltan Redbeard”, so don’t forget to rescue him! Here he is alongside his sprite, which I had a great time drawing:
Finally, we’d like to thank all of you for backing the Battle Axe Kickstarter and giving us the opportunity to bring the game to life - your feedback and words of encouragement along the way made all the difference! The whole team thoroughly enjoyed creating the game, and I’d like to give a quick shout out to all of the team members individually for their part in the project:
Additionally, I’d also like to thank Marco Paradiso for producing the shadowbox prototype, Catherine Lin Wang for the simplified and traditional Chinese translations, and the game’s two executive producers - John Feminella and Paul Lanois - whose additional funds helped us get over the finish line.
As for Battle Axe’s physical and digital release, they will be handled by our publishing partner, Numskull Games. They’re actually holding a special online event on February 12th at 5pm GMT for Battle Axe, where you can see more game footage, and also hear from myself and Mike. Please subscribe to their YouTube channel to be informed when the stream goes live!
Pre-orders for the game itself and other extras made after the Kickstarter are about to be charged, but anyone that’s new to Battle Axe and would like to place a new pre-order can do so here:
Thank you once again, and we'll be back with an update soon once we have firm release dates and know when the rewards will be shipping - stay safe!
Henk and the Battle Axe team
September update - it's a trap!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 03:27:05 AM
Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since the last update but things are progressing well here! We’ve largely been creating more traps and enemies to add to the game whilst also working on the overall feel and balance. Might as well kick things off with a quick video of Dragon’s Keep showing you the new additions, including some new sound effects from Lee:
As you can see, Etheldred’s orcs are better kitted out in this area with armour and a sword, and are guaranteed to cause you problems! Here’s a closer look at a couple of their walk animations:
Orc trooper walk anims
You can also check out the frames used for the flame turret which will likely appear in the Mines and Keep:
The flame turret
Without giving too much away we’ve also been working on the final area, “Scoria Spire”, so here’s a peek at that:
Scoria Spire preview
As for the current state of development, right now Mike is working on the Infinite Mode which is coming along well, and we should be able to show you that in the next update along with a new boss perhaps! On the physical side of things, the team at Numskull Games has been hard at work designing and manufacturing the enamel badge set, which we think looks great!
The enamel pin badge set
Other than that there’s not much else to add, but everything’s progressing nicely on all fronts and we’re really happy with how the game is shaping up! We’ll be back in a month or so with another update - until then stay safe!
Cheers,
Henk and team
June update - making progress!
almost 4 years ago
– Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 03:36:21 AM
Hello again everyone, time for another update! We’ve all been working hard on our respective sections, with new art, code, music, sounds and speech all making their way into the game. Let’s begin with a look at the third area - “Dragon’s Keep”:
A preview of the third area - "Dragon's Keep"
Ancient ruins surrounded by perilous waters for our heroes to explore; a restricted area guarded by sword wielding Orc Troopers and many other creatures that lurk among the remnants of this intimidating fortification. Look for hidden treasure guarded by a monstrous snake-like creature according to the untold legend. :)
Moving on to music, we also have the accompanying track for Dragon’s Keep from Matsumae-san which you can listen to here:
Our characters’ arsenal of abilities continue to expand! Check out Fae’s new spinning attack animation, guaranteed to turn (and remove) heads:
Fae's spin attack
...as well as some new enemies including this horrible worm ready to ambush you in the mines.
The worm
If this creep or any of the other enemies get the better of you then you’ll probably end up seeing one of these new hero death animations:
Put that altogether and this is what it looks like in-game:
Fae in action in the mines
Oh yes, we also received the final shadow box samples from the design gurus at Numskull, and they look fantastic!
Well I think that’s it for this now - we’ll continue working hard to make this a great game and will be back with another update in a few more weeks!
Take care,
Henk and team
April update - new sprites, animations, and other bits to show!
almost 4 years ago
– Wed, May 06, 2020 at 06:19:42 PM
Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing ok in these testing times - the world is a very different place since we last spoke! Luckily the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t affected us too much as we’re all able to work from home, so we’ve actually made good progress on Battle Axe and have a bunch of new things to show you. Sorry for not updating sooner but we’ve all been “in the zone”, concentrating on moving the project forwards. :)
Well, let’s get started with Iolo the Druid’s melee attack, which you can see in action below:
I had a lot of fun with that as you can probably tell! We’ve also added quite a bit to the campfire scene, where you can finally meet Aelfwen and buy some of her wares:
Still need to add the more interesting items to the shop, but the art and code are now complete. Mike’s been working on the combat mechanics some more and we have a new enemy which is certainly more devious than the orcs that you initially come across:
In fact here’s a quick video of the bugs in action leading up to the first boss fight in fact:
You can probably also hear some of the new sound effects from Lee Mintram (Featurecast) and also the new end of level jingle from Matsumae-san. :)
Every good video game should have exploding barrels, and Battle Axe is no different - what’s nice about ours though is that you can hit them with your melee attack to nudge them into better positions before detonating them, as you can see here:
As you all know, we’re now working with Numskull Games who’ve been great, helping us source the shadowbox and other parts of the Kickstarter. Oh yes, you’ll all be receiving your BackerKit survey tomorrow later today to confirm your details, provide villager names etc. You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to answer your survey - the invitation email contains a link to your personal survey. It is important to submit your responses as quickly as you can since we need this information to process your rewards.
If you need to change your survey responses, purchase add-on items, or update your shipping information, you can click the link in your survey email again or request your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page. (This page will only start working after we send the surveys out.)
Finally, I thought you might get a laugh out of the cake presented to me by my friends as we had a little celebration when the Kickstarter campaign ended:
That’s all for now but we’ll be back with another update soon! Thanks for reading and all of your messages of support, and I hope you’re all in good health!
