A duo of ex-Infinity Ward developers, Todd Alderman and Francesco “Frank” Gigliotti (co-founders of Scary Mostro), have unveiled their side-scrolling beat-em-up To The Death , a seemingly fast-paced game with an interesting aesthetic that reminds me vaguely of Darksiders .
In an article by Gamasutra , Alderman and Gigliotti talked about and explained To The Death’s development and inspiration, and how teaming up with Section Studios changed the game’s visual style to be a bit more demonic and awesome. To The Death began as a pixel art, 2D side scroller where two opposing players race towards each other on a huge map, battling minions along the way, until colliding at the centre an epic showdown. When developing To The Death , Alderman and Gigliotti were inspired by the first Ninja Gaiden , presumably the original series from the 1990s, or the more recent series that started back in 2004 (or even perhaps both), and–curiously–a scene from an Adventure Time episode, “ Super Ultimate High Five ”. After watching a preview of that very episode you may get the basic concept of what this game is trying to do, only with more sword swinging and less high-fiving.
“The idea was: what if you had two characters who were so far apart from each other they were virtually dots on a screen?” Alderman explained. “And they’re both rushing toward each other, because [launching off of Ninja Gaiden] they have such a vendetta against each other, they’ll go to these absurd lengths just to take that person out. So that’s where those two inspirations combined.”
After developing the prototype for To The Death, Scary Mostro later worked together with Section Studios when Alderman and Gigliotti met God of War concept artist Cecil Kim at a recent E3, who decided to make the game a reality by combining the programming and design talents of Scary Mostro with the art and animation talents of Section Studios.
“Cecil’s art added a whole new energy,” says Alderman. “Since he came aboard we’ve been constantly tweaking and finessing, to keep it fast and balanced.”
The two studios are currently seeking crowdfunding for To The Death on Kickstarter , so the two can work on bringing the title to retail. The game is set to have its own singleplayer campaign, but its main design point is in its multiplayer, which can be done either online or locally, with split-screen to boot. As the two players race each other to the centre to give one another a five star across the face, they’ll also be able to collect power-ups and chain combos to brutalise what minions get in their way until they finally face each other.
The Kickstarter is still in its early days and has a goal of raising $400,000 for its development, with 29 days to do it in. To The Death will be coming to Steam upon Kickstarter success, and has been touted to run at 60fps. You can find more information on To The Death (and view its rather pleasingly gritty art) over on its Kickstarter page here .