The Showdown Effect
| The Showdown Effect | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Arrowhead Game Studios, Pixeldiet Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Paradox Interactive |
| Director(s) | Johan Pilestedt |
| Producer(s) | Axel Lindberg (Arrowhead) Mats Anderson (Pixeldiet) |
| Designer(s) | Emil Englund Johan Pilestedt |
| Artist(s) | Carl Brännström Malin Hedström |
| Engine | Bitsquid |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release | 5 March 2013 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
The Showdown Effect is an action game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios in cooperation with Pixeldiet Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive for Microsoft Windows and OS X. The game was released on 5 March 2013 via digital distribution on Steam.
The game has a strong inspiration in exploitation films of the 1980s and 1990s, with all characters being one of multiple protagonists of these films. Most of the interaction between the characters of the game consists of "one-liners". These one-liners are part of the game's mechanics. The game is set in a futuristic Tokyo in 2027.
The game was announced in February 2012 under the codename "Project JFK", and was unveiled during the Game Developers Conference 2012. The Showdown Effect was developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and co-developed by Pixeldiet Entertainment, their first game on the market.The Showdown Effect was created in the BitSquid video game engine. The pre-game production has begun in late 2011, with only a small part of the Arrowhead team working on the title. In January 2012 the rest of the team left another project they were working together and with the rest of the team at , thus giving focus the full The Showdown Effect.
On 8 February 2012, Paradox Interactive has announced that three new games would be revealed at GDC that year, including code name "Project JFK", which would later become The Showdown Effect. On 6 March 2012, the game was revealed to be a "2.5D multiplayer action game where players will participate in deadly battles to win fame."
In an interview to Joystiq, Emil Englund, the game designer of Arrowhead Game Studios, said the idea for The Showdown Effect came when they were working together with Paradox Interactive in creating a game similar to Super Smash Bros.. Moreover, the designer Johan Pilestedt, of The Escapist, said he considered the game a mix between Super Smash Bros. and GoldenEye 007. Pilestedt continued, commenting on some movies that were used for inspiration during the creation of the game, especially in the graphics: "It is close to the work of Tarantino. His films are so violent, but are exaggerated. The blood is not real blood, it's just red water. These exploitation films are a major influence on the violence present in Showdown. " Pilestedt also mentioned to the interviewer that animations in the film Ghost in the Machine and in Team Fortress 2 served as inspiration.
...
Wikipedia