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Army Moves Overdrive
Rebooting a 1986 classic - Dunwich Studio and Dinamic Software tell us about Army Moves Overdrive at IndieDevDay
We spoke with Dunwich Studio technical director Erik Rueda Estévez and Dinamic Software CEO Pablo Ruiz to learn more about the upcoming remake, and why they've decided to bring back this video game from the mid-1980s.
Audio transcription
"Hi Gamereactor friends, I'm in Barcelona for the IndieDevDay 2024 and now I'm looking again, I'm taking a look at a game that might look like an Indie game but actually it's a rendition, it's a modern version of a classic that many people both here in Spain and outside Spain played 40 years ago?
38! 38 years! 40 years for Dinamic Software Company and 38 years for Army Moves."
"And now it's Army Moves Overdrive the new version. And I'm here with legend Pablo Ruiz and Erik who's been into the the modern version of this game. So how do you guys approach this project? You guys had a classic for classic systems and now it looks like an arcade-y faster version of it, is that correct?
Yes, I meet with Ramon Nafria that creates Alex Kidd DX that is a reboot of the famous Sega Alex Kidd and we say it's not possible to do something great with Dinamic titles and we choose from the list and we talk together and finally we say Army Moves and I say I remember the incredible image that created Alfonso Azpiri the illustrator and I say in that time it was impossible to do this move in the screen and I say I want to take this cartoon military image in a game actual game with all the powerful tools that we have today and this cartoon creation of Azpiri comes to live in the new Army Moves Overdrive. Which is way way way before that was way way way before Metal Slug for example. So what can you tell me about the modern version? How did you guys are sort of implementing this modern interpretation of the original game? So it's a completely modern gameplay everything is new but of course with a lot of respect and all the material from the original is something we're taking and implementing and having reference to and we want both new players that don't know Army Moves at all and also people who played the original one we want them to play at the new one and say okay I see what you're doing I can see that jeep moving I can see the jumping I can see that enemy I can see those things those references and to click something on them but we also want the new players players who play nowadays to take the game and say okay this is fun this is cool this is something faster more modern let's say more "Dinamic". Exactly. Does that mean I mean you say you want to bring new players in but the original if I'm correct I played it many years ago does that mean turning down the difficulty a little bit because the original was a bitch I can't remember the original was it was the Souls of vehicle shooting games? Maybe a bit but just a bit okay yeah the game is right now the idea is to have a pretty steep difficulty it's we want it to be a challenge but we don't want it to be frustrating it's going to be okay I died 200 times but I want to die more because I want to I mean people are playing people who are playing here in the IndieDevDay are I see them play and I see them die once and again and again but they are playing they are not they're not frustrated and just leaving it is that they want to then you know it's and that's something so cool that's incredible to see people play it again and again until they finally manage to complete the game so it's yeah it's going to be difficult."
"Tell us a little bit about the army moves that you can perform in the game because it's a vehicle game and you said jumping you said shooting but for those who are not into the game what sort of army moves can you perform here so the game is a run-and-gun so you can run and jump yeah exactly it's a bit of platforming but with action shooting it's very fast paced but also the idea is to have a lot of vehicles that you can play with and drive and fly and okay so right now in in this stage of their development we have the jeep that can move around and jump and turbo and handbrake and shoot missiles everywhere and have a lot of explosions around but the idea will be to have planes to have helicopters to have parachutes to have boats to have we have a bunch of different gameplay styles so you switched from one to another during the levels and we want it to be very "Dinamic" and not to have Navy Moves because that's another game when finally we decide to go to army moves is because we say we are going to restart from the beginning because the idea is if all is okay the next one will be Navy Moves Overdrive and now it's Army Moves and with the playability of Army Moves I remember the strong hook of the game that is target enemy nuclear device infiltrate locate destroy this is for 18 years Army Moves original and you can take this idea and we maintain in this game this means is a target very clear with a nuclear problem and you need to infiltrate you you need to fight and you need to manage and to drive the jeep to to final and resolve their problems and all being in order not in final war and this is a this is the same but a new team have the all the tools of the new systems and they are bringing Army Moves to to the technology of today ok the original one I said was very successful I said many people played it if I'm correct it reached a million players I don't know if it was your first game reaching a million players or one of the first what can you tell people who might not be acquainted with the original about that story about that game almost 40 years ago about that success story for us was incredible moments because and when we finally decide to to go ahead with Dinamic was because we saw Imagine, a classical a company of the eighties, we did one advertisement showing not the game but the team and we see the team we see how we want to do that and we we finally seeing the agreement with Imagine three years after we we start with Dinamic is like a real moment for our lives and Imagine was very powerful and achieved in top one in all European countries with Army Moves after that goes, crosses the Atlantic and and was released in the United States in in the Commodore 64 version and with many many versions with compilations or with agreements with Amstrad to to to have the game in all the Amstrad that's all in Spain and we reach a million players and was the first time and this 40 years only four times we achieve this milestone, is mean that for us is is a tremendous honor that people like Ramón and Dunwich team take these all these a great and bring us today with this awesome quality also quality you before you mentioned the stage of the game so closing one was the status of the project which platforms are you guys to going to release because this was announced a couple of weeks ago yeah right now with what we have is a vertical slice so it's a section of what the game will be it's let's say a level out of 10 we're thinking of doing so it's a it's not a 10% of the game is more because we have all the mechanics we have the visuals we have the AI we have a lot of things already so right now we're looking to at least one year and a half of development so we still have a lot of work to do and the platforms we're looking for our PC of course Steam Epic whatever and probably Nintendo Switch Xbox and PlayStation that's like the main goal right I think that's fair enough looks great so far I love the arena look at how you guys having a filter for it to look like the original that would be great I'm an 80's man, the eighties for me is my original mindset you mean if you choose to this type of image I agree of course they are coming back, before we had an interview about a vinyl record shop so the 80s and the 70s are coming back when we went to a record shop we are in the shelves with one vinyl and others now is impossible to have in the mind but was incredible moments and for me is my remembers my my feelings that's how this is fine for me you can change to the 80s without any problem for me it's more relaxed and that's that's how you bought games before to same as the records you did like this and then you found an amazing Azpiri cover and then you were like I have to buy this one thank you so much for your time guys enjoy the show"
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