Perhaps you've seen the trailer for the latest version of Doom. It's what you'd expect from a first-person shooter: loud and bloody, with screaming metal guitar riffs and lots of testosterone. Now take a look at a shooter that's downright adorable: Lovely Planet: Arcade.
Developer Vidhvat Madan, aka Quick Tequila, calls it a "back-to-basics shooter," and it is made with all the constraint and simplicity of the oldest games of the genre, with the original Doom particularly in mind. But instead of aliens and gore, it has sunshine and rainbows.
I caught a glimpse of Lovely Planet, coming later this year on PC, at the PAX South expo last month and was drawn in by the sheer silliness of the bright and colorful style. Madan emphasized the classic lineage of the game. Playing off of the design constraints of the earliest shooters, Lovely Planet: Arcade doesn't let you look up and down. Instead, armed with a simple, and slow, pop gun, you can shoot only what's right in front of you.
Quick Tequila
