The Making of Sys*Crusher

I fondly remember time I spent as a child playing Robotron 64 at a local Chuck E Cheese’s knockoff. Robotron 64 was a remake of the classic Robotron 2084, the grandaddy of all twin-stick shooters. The Nintendo 64 version added flashy 3D graphics and a pumping techno soundtrack. Years later, I encountered another game: Decker. Decker is a freeware turn-based hacking RPG, inspired by Shadowrun. You can play an online version here. The concept for Sys*Crusher is essentially, what if the structure of Decker was applied to the gameplay of Robotron? (I also took some inspiration from some of Robotron’s peers, specifically Berzerk and Frenzy.)

I toyed with the idea for a while, considering other platforms such as the Playstation 1 or MSDOS. The 2024 GBA Jam gave me a target of the Gameboy Advance. The Gameboy Advance is one of the most nostalgic consoles of my youth, and I still have my original unit—now modded with a modern screen and battery.

I made use of the Butano engine to develop for the Gameboy Advance. C++ was the first “real” language I ever made games in, but I was very rusty, especially on the modern features used by Butano. On multiple occasions, I bothered Butano’s author about stumbling blocks I ran into, and he was very patient and helpful. The alert meter in Sys*Crusher even lead to a new feature to make palette manipulation easier!

For the visual design and writing of Sys*Crusher, in addition to Robotron 64, I also took inspiration from many of the classic hacker and cyberspace movies of the 80s and 90s. Hackers, Tron, Johnny Mnemonic, and many more. For example, the original avatar and the decoy powerup are based on the climactic hacking scene of Johnny Mnemonic. If you get to a high enough level, there are several famous mega corporations you may have the option to infiltrate!

The graphics of Sys*Crusher are a mix of hand-drawn and 3D-modeled art, all done by myself. The hand-drawn scenes of the real world were drawn using the open-source paint program Krita. I used a Ugee pen tablet for freehand input. The 3D graphics were done in Blender. With the 3D graphics I tried to mimic older styles of 3D rendering with simple materials and lighting.

The music is also composed by me. I used samples from my own Yamaha Reface CS and PS-460 synthesizer keyboards, a Korg Volca Drum, an IBM Model M computer keyboard, and a modern mechanical keyboard with Gateron Blue switches. I learned a lot about music composition in the process, and even more in the latest update! Most of the sound effects are also from the Reface CS. A little bit of music trivia: although it didn’t influence the style of the game’s music, the title “Sys Crusher” comes from an obscure Neil Young song, Computer Cowboy. It’s very much in the spirit of the game!

I’ve tinkered with game projects for most of my life, but I’ve hardly released any since I was a kid making quick games in The Games Factory and Multimedia Fusion. My last itch.io release was a co-operative project with a friend of mine for a local game jam back in 2017. It’s an old-school text adventure. (That same friend, and his son, helped playtest early versions of Sys*Crusher.) I also made an unofficial recreation of the classic MSDOS shareware game Crystal Caves for the NES around that same time.

Having a definite deadline for the 2024 GBA Jam was a big help in staying focused, and I was gratified that Sys*Crusher won a prize in that jam. I hope this new version will also be received well, by both old and new players!