Edmund McMillen is one half of the duo that comprises Team Meat, the developers behind indie platforming-speed-running sensation Super Meat Boy (SMB).
He has been working on a project aside from Team Meat called The Binding of Isaac. McMillen describes the game: “Isaac is a roguelike shooter based on the dungeon structure of Zelda (NES). At its core it controls like Smash TV / Robotron in a randomly generated semi RPG world filled with powerups items and special abilities.”
The Binding of Isaac will launching on Valve’s Steam service in August (2011). A price hasn’t been decided upon yet, but McMillen said that “it definitely won’t put much of a strain on your wallets.”
McMillen provides some further insight into the game: “There is not a traditional levelling system in Isaac, instead we used an item system. Every level will have a treasure room, shop, boss and other secret/special rooms that might contain unique items. Special items come in 4 sets: Usable items; Special Weapon upgrades; Passive upgrades; and stat boosters. 90% of items in the game stack, so as you progress your character will change into a monstrous powerhouse not only in stats and abilities but also in appearance. There are currently over 70 special items in Isaac, not counting pickup items.”
“Aside from these core items, Isaac uses…pickup items as resources in what I call micro puzzles. The core resources in the game are Coins, Bombs, Keys, Hearts, Cards and Pills. Each of these pickups can be used in different ways to acquire special items, gain access to shops and hidden areas, kill enemies and also affect gameplay in many other ways,” said McMillen.
“The game currently has 6 “dungeons” spanning 3 chapters, 6 bosses, 36 enemy types, 4 unlockable characters and tons of dynamic happenings. In the end we hope to top out at 8 dungeons with 10+ bosses and 42 enemy types. We have our work cut out for us for our August launch,” said McMillen.
The music in Super Meat Boy was one of its highlights, and SMB composer Danny Baranowsky is on board to deliver the musical backdrop for The Binding of Isaac. Follow the link to listen to the first track for free.
An example of the warped gameplay madness to be found in The Binding of Isaac comes from McMillen: “Florian just made it so neutral flies are attracted to piles of shit and if they eat too much of the shit they get fat and become bloated flies that poop blood at you… I’m very happy with this game so far.”
The Binding of Isaac launches on Steam in August 2011 << Comments and views
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