Shutshimi

Overview

Shutshimi is a horizontal shoot 'em up to be released in the first quarter of 2014 for the PC and Xbox Live Indie Games. It is the first release from Neon Deity Games and features a retro style using pixel art, chiptune music and sound effects created in Famitracker, and an arcade score-centric layout. Choice Provisions published the game on Wii U, Steam, PS4 and PS Vita in 2015.

The game's story follows along the accounts of a muscular fish with arms as it attempts to explain how it saved it's home from the "terrors of the deep". The fish has a poor memory playing off the myth of a goldfish's short memory span so the details of each story change ever so slightly along with the gameplay.

Gameplay

Shutshimi is a wave based horizontal shoot 'em up with comedic elements similar to Parodius franchise but features a series of randomized elements. Further working with the goldfish memory myth each level is only 10 seconds long and is followed by a ten second shop section. After a pre-determined number of waves there is a 10 second boss wave where the player must attempt to defeat the boss or be forced to finish it off later. Each wave becomes progressively more difficult as the number of foes increase as does the health of them.

Shop Time

Between waves is a 10 second shop screen with a selection of 3 items in the shop which are randomized each round. The effect of each item is buried within a paragraph of text and sometimes have negative effects such as inverting your controls. Shop items can range from new weapons, status effects, visual changes, enemy spawn changes, and a series of hats. As the game begins the important text is bolded but after a few rounds the player is left to determine the important elements.