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Indie Game Spotlight: Fallen Angel

Welcome back to another Indie Game Spotlight. This week’s game is Fallen Angel, in which you take on the role of Lucifer and explore a twisted version of heaven. Hack and slash through God’s army, consume the Archangels’ power, and confront your creator.

We spoke with Hunter Wu, the lead developer and lead artist of Fallen Angel, about the game’s art style, weaponry, and more! Read on!

What’s the story behind the title of the game?

Lucifer was once the proudest and most beautiful angel, but he was consumed with pride and led a catastrophic rebellion during The War in Heaven. Defeated, Lucifer was cast out and lost access to paradise. Now, as a fallen angel, he vows to return to heaven and regain his power.

Why did the team decide to go with a pixel art approach?

I’ve been making pixel art and creating games with retro visuals for years, so it made sense to develop this game in the same style. Pixel art is also becoming more and more popular within the indie game world, and games are constantly figuring out new ways to create modern, refreshing, pixel art. Fallen Angel provides the beautiful pixelated visuals inspired by games like Hyper Light Drifter and Wizard of Legend, while also inserting unique combat mechanics and narrative themes to set itself apart from other top-down pixel art RPGs.

What was the biggest problem you came up against while creating the game?

We started this game as a student project, but the scope increased after we received feedback from fans and potential publishers. We’ve added a lot of game mechanics, and the air combat and height system have been a struggle since the game isn’t actually 3D. Fallen Angel uses a variety of clever tricks to try and provide the illusion of being mid-air. It’s not perfect yet, and we are still constantly working on it and receiving feedback from players so we can make the combat feel as good as it can be.

What types of weapons does Lucifer have at his disposal?

Lucifer has his basic hack and slash sword skills, and also a shotgun-like blaster that can also fire a precise critical shot if released with the right timing. Throughout the game, Lucifer will encounter Archangels who can be defeated in order to gain new weapons. These weapons will replace Lucifer’s arm and provide new and interesting playstyles.

Who are some of the characters we can expect to meet?

Fallen Angel will feature many biblical characters, some familiar, and some more cryptic. There will be archangels such as Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, as well as other famous characters such as Saint Peter and King Nebuchadnezzar. Fans who know their Abrahamic literature and mythical characters will recognize some of the lesser-known NPCs. There are so many cool biblical characters we’d like to include with interesting twists, we worry we won’t have time for them all, but we are excited to feature as many as we can.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into making games?

We started Fallen Angel from scratch, creating a prototype with the help of GameMaker Studio tutorials. Before we received initial funding to start polishing it, the game was really simple and janky. Anyone can get into game design these days, it just takes a bit of time and a few tears. Some moments will be frustrating, and some moments will be glorious. Always plan ahead for development and know that 99% of plans don’t work out. I’ve never really hit a deadline I created for myself, but we’ve come this far by focusing on the simple things and making sure we at least reach the minimum viable product goals that we set.