Once Upon a BIT Windows game

In the year 3914 A.D. men engaged in a nuclear war that devastated the planet. Beobel, god, descended to earth and wiped out humanity, no longer happy with his creation. Followed 1000 years, in which, under the guidance of the god, animals obliterated all traces of man, thus becoming masters of the planet. To reward them, Beobel gave them the Conscience. Another 1000 years passed. It was created peacefully the Kingdom, a pseudo-anarchist territory controlled by King Eagle, which was recognized by its majestic crown. In his realm who wore the crown could exercise unlimited power.

Cobra, one day thought to steal the precious headgear, and at night sneaked into the castle of King Eagle. During the way back, however, the crown fell down and broke into 4 pieces! Cobra decided to hide the pieces in the homes of the Far Giants, lazy creatures and greedy of riches, owners of small land outside the Kingdom. By the next morning Cobra built a crown of yellow construction paper which, fortunately for him, he managed to fool all of the subjects, who recognized him as the legitimate ruler. Only Cat, the most trusted adviser of King Eagle, knew the deception and attempted to resolve the situation!

The gameplay of Once Upon a BIT is relatively simple, I started from the base of the classic Super Mario Bros., adding abilities through the power ups typical of Megaman / Metal Slug and Ghost 'n' Goblins. Devoid of special abilities, the player may however become fearful in the sight of the enemy, it can crush them by running the ''butt attack". During levels player can find 2 power-ups that fundamentally change the vision and approach the level. There is the gun, that allows you to follow in the footsteps of Metal Slug; the player can shoot in all directions, but not if it's crouched. The sword, instead, allow to be wielded to strike the enemy at a very close range, and does more damage than the gun. The game will consist of 20 levels divided into 4 worlds, except for secret levels and the tutorial. There will also be 5 bosses (and one secret, but shhh! not say it around). During the experience you will encounter several secret passages, bonus or collectible that will unlock extras in the main menu: curiosity on the development, images, sounds, or even (why not) new levels!

The graphics could be placed approximately between the 3rd and 4th generation of consoles. I imagined to develop Once Upon a BIT on a machine with a lot of technical weird details: for example the aspect ratio locked on 16:9 or the 320x180 resolution. The entire game consists of only 5 colors, I chose carefully to create the palette. The graphic style is dry and barren, leaving the imagination of the player the addition of details.

For everything related to the sound I chose the world of 8-bit, full and round, were used to follow every action. I chose the later adapted versions of songs that I considered appropriate to set the mood I wanted: for example, you could listen to "Far Beyond The Sun" (Yngwie Malmsteen) during a boss-battle or "Hotel California" (Eagles) during the intro and the the initial screen.

Now that you know a little more about the game I suggest you download one of my trial versions here on IndieDB. Then if you want why not look at the website? You'll find more news, more images and the jukebox to listen to the music in the game! Onceuponabitgame.altervista.org