Metal Slug: Tactics | Official 'A New Angle' Game Overview
Join members of the development team from Leikir Studio for a deep dive into the creation of Metal Slug Tactics, an upcoming grid-based tactical RPG adaptation of the iconic run-and-gun franchise.
Metal Slug Tactics will be available in Fall 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PS4 (PlayStation 4), PS5 (PlayStation 5), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
Metal Slug Tactics will be available in Fall 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PS4 (PlayStation 4), PS5 (PlayStation 5), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
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GamingTranscript
00:00I had the opportunity to give pixel art classes to students
00:03and really the first thing I told them each time was
00:06if one day we offer you to do Metal Slug, run away!
00:24On the Metal Slug project, I was at the origin of the idea and the project.
00:29My role is really to make sure that everyone shares the same vision around the project
00:35and that everyone's efforts and talents are coordinated
00:38to be able to create the best game possible.
00:42Metal Slug, really we are at the top of pixel art in terms of design and animation.
00:52It's always as good, in fact.
00:54Launching Metal Slug 2, 3, 4, 5, and playing it again now,
00:57it's the same pleasure as back then.
01:00So it didn't make sense for us to remake Metal Slug
01:03and that's when I proposed to do a tactical,
01:07because we had a DNA that was very strong in the tactical RPG.
01:11So we try our best to do our research beforehand, before designing anything.
01:16After that, at the time of designing each character,
01:19we try to keep the identity of the character
01:22while adding new elements to it,
01:24because since we are on a tactical,
01:26the characters need new tools that they didn't have in the basic license.
01:31So in our case, for example, this nervous aspect,
01:33this fast aspect with a lot of enemies,
01:35it's found in the reinforcement systems that we can have
01:38in the duration of our missions,
01:40that we try to keep short enough each time,
01:42at least outside of the boss missions.
01:44It's really at this level.
01:46It's also in the combat abilities of the characters
01:49that they will be able to replay if they are played in a certain way,
01:53depending on the different passives they will have.
01:55It's really trying to identify these feelings
01:59and to transcribe them as we can in the tactical.
02:01So it was really like that, to think about the axes of the run and gun
02:05and which axes we could inject in a tactical
02:07to try to make a tactical that is nervous,
02:10that is a bit demanding anyway,
02:13and that pleases the fans of the license.
02:15And there was a real notion on the design part
02:19of how we make a tactical
02:21by injecting reflex axes that come from the run and gun
02:26to stay close to the IP.
02:28So that it's with a game rhythm that is fast,
02:31with parts that can be restarted.
02:33The fact that it's a roguelike,
02:35it's a direct reminder of arcade games.
02:37Ok, I put back a piece and I start again.
02:39So we really made the choice to have fights that are extremely fast,
02:43to be as nervous as possible,
02:45deploy very few units,
02:47make sure that the movement is the basis of the power in the game.
02:50It's one of the most unusual mechanics of the game.
02:53It's the movement and the positioning that offers the power,
02:56exactly like in a run and gun.
03:02As Metal Slug, it's still a game with a huge influence
03:06that is very admired in the industry.
03:09It was very, very fun and challenging
03:13to try to propose something that is at the same graphic level.
03:17Because it was necessary for the animators, the graphic designers
03:21to work together to give everything they had.
03:25Likewise, we had the chance to receive drawings,
03:27especially from Tom Kosan,
03:29who is one of the original designers of the license.
03:34The difficulty was really to reappropriate the universe,
03:38to transpose it into isometry,
03:41to reinvent what had been done.
03:49We really wanted to stay extremely faithful,
03:52but most of what was reproduced comes from the original series.
03:59We had the chance to meet artists who were there on the first Metal Slug,
04:03who were there on Metal Slug 1 and Metal Slug 2,
04:05and who loved what we were doing,
04:07because for them it gave life to their creations in a different way.
04:11They loved the fact that we had to imagine all the isometry.
04:15Guillaume will tell you more about it than me,
04:17but all the work that was done on the bosses,
04:19for them it was very, very fun to see.
04:22For Ae Shin Ero, for example,
04:24we chose to show it in real, in large,
04:29as the players have never seen it.
04:31We started from a concept art of the original game,
04:36which had only been used for sketches,
04:39and we used it as a reference to really show
04:43this kind of giant snake emerging from the sand.
04:47So really the players will be able to go beyond their experience of Metal Slug from the beginning
04:52and see what we have brought,
04:57the stone that we bring to the legend of Metal Slug.
05:07With the difference that often we will introduce randomness,
05:12we will not just do the missions in the same order,
05:15we will not be able to learn by heart the plot of the game.
05:19You really have to learn the mechanics of the game.
05:23And once the player has validated his learning,
05:28that is to say that he manages to get quite far in a game,
05:32we will unlock new gameplay elements.
05:34For example, new characters,
05:37or for the characters that we already have,
05:39new powers that are not available from the beginning.
05:42In order to give more and more tools to the players,
05:47as they progress in the game,
05:50to be able to go further and further,
05:53and that the feeling of power, mastery and understanding of the game
05:57only grows as we devote ourselves to the game.
06:03When we work on a game with such an important IP,
06:06what we want is to transmit the pleasure that we had as children,
06:11or even not necessarily as children,
06:13but the pleasure that we had on this IP,
06:15we want to transmit it to the next.
06:18And it's even the same sense of making video games,
06:20it's that one day in our life we were marked,
06:23we were hit by a game that carried us.
06:27In fact, it is this feeling that we want to transmit.
06:30We hope that the players will take hold of the game,
06:35that they will look for all the secrets that we have hidden everywhere,
06:38and that they will spend hours marking them.
06:42I think that's what we want to transmit to the players.