| Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sensible Software |
| Publisher(s) | Outlaw |
| Release date(s) | 1987 |
Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit (a.k.a. SEUCK) was a "construction kit" for the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST created by Sensible Software and published by Outlaw (part of Palace Software) in 1987. It allowed the user to make simple shoot 'em ups by drawing sprites and backgrounds and editing attack patterns. The advertising promoted the Kit with the phrase "By the programmers of Wizball and Parallax".
Contents |
The Kit presented users with a series of menus for customising every aspect of the game. Level graphics were created in the Background Editor using a series of blocks for plotting into the level maps, and all the moving graphics in the Sprite Editor. Sprites were assigned to "Objects" - for example, an enemy bullet - with separate animation and colour settings. Editing the "enemy bits" changed the behaviour of an enemy (which bullet it shot, how many points it was worth), while "player limitations" did the same for Player 1 (or player 2, if enabled). A simple Sound FX editor with slider controls on the C64 was replaced by IFF sounds on the Amiga and ST versions.
Enemies were added to the game by placing them on the background and then moving them, with options to link enemies together. The front end (title screen) could also be edited.
Games could feature still screens (held for a set number of seconds), "push" scrolling (based on the player's movement) or constant vertical scrolling. Bonus point items were possible, as well as extra lives awarded at regular scoring intervals.
SEUCK was packaged with demonstration games to display what could be done with the kit. The Commodore 64 (C64) version came with Slap 'n' Tickle (inspired by Slap Fight), Outlaw (a Wild West shoot 'em up), Transputer Man (set inside a computer) and Celebrity Squares (featuring graphics drawn by several C64 personalities). The Amiga and Atari versions featured Slap 'n' Tickle, Quazar and an "army man" game, Blood 'N' Bullets, which featured a sound effect of "Okay, suckers" sampled from the Red Dwarf episode "Queeg".
Since it was possible to save games as stand-alone files, games companies and magazines received many games created with the Kit.
While in college, Ray Larabie, best known for his custom typefaces, created a number of games using SEUCK. Because of their quality and uniqueness they spread throughout the Amiga community quickly via the BBS network, with many ending up on Amiga Magazine coverdisks. Titles included "Monster Truck Rally", "Wielder Of Atoms", "Mulroney Blast" and "Smurf Hunt".
Other notable SEUCK-based titles include several works by Italian software company, System Editoriale s.r.l., such as Emiliano Sciarra's Ciuffy, and the early music game, Amadeus Revenge.