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TAGAP X is a multi-genre 2D shooter, set in 'TAGAP Universe'. It is a more explosive take on the cybernetic penguins battling across the globe.
No, but it is not a 'lesser' title. On the contrary, it's been in the works for the past three years and is just now getting ready to be premiered properly. As for the title, it is obviously a nod to similar spin-offs of the 16bit era – like Megaman X and Dracula X.
There are several things I always wanted to try with TAGAP, but it wasn't fitting to the gameplay, theme or the stories. Going the spin-off route allows the penguins to spread their wings.
You'll get to see the game in action in the not-too-distant future and then all will be revealed. As mentioned above, the game is different in so many ways that I'd rather show it than tell about it.
Please be patient whilst the penguins get the next apocalypse going!
If you've been following the blog updates, you'll likely already know of the project status but to cut it short; the development is both far along and not far enough. However, now that the nature of the project is revealed, I can finally elaborate more.
ICMYI, a one sentence recap; due to unforeseen consequences – including but not limited to my health problems – the early part of the development became lopsided.
In terms of TAGAP X this means early on I focused exclusively on one of the 'genres' featured. It's to the point I have most enemies for the penultimate levels ready, whilst the another part of the game didn't become 'feature ready' until this very week.
Ironically enough, the 'less developed' part was the classic TAGAP style gameplay. As I developed the engine to support all the other gameplay types, I kept creating content around them and the old-school stuff remained a placeholder. Additionally, the new engine is so different in terms of rendering that I've have to re-create all the level object systems from scratch. More on that downwards in the blog, for those interested.
But I'm happy to 'announce' that all that is now done. All the tools are ready for creating some apocalyptic penguin mayhem.
TAGAP X will see its gameplay reveal in 2026.
As for the game release, that's 'when its done'. I've managed to curse TAGAP X enough already with my lofty plans and how universe intervened.
However, considering how much stuff there has been made for the game – including, as I mentioned, late game content – the rest of the development should go a lot faster. You most likely won't have to wait four years after the reveal to actually play it.
For folks who wondered to the blog per the TAGAP X announcement, this is a regular feature on this blog where I type out what exaxctly I'm working on that very moment. It's a simple way of letting everyone know that progress is being made and documenting the said progress for myself in a simple way.
I touched upon this one already, but I wrapped up the few remaining automatic content tools of the engine, making it fully feature ready for both gameplay types. And by automatic content I don't mean level generation or anything like that, but level editing tools like hand-railings, elevators, etc. As in stuff the engine sets up for you as opposed to having to meticulously place manually.
The hand railings mentioned above are a good example to use. In TAGAP Editor, you just define an area, select it to appear as a 'fence' and the engine does the rest. The old way the system needed to be redone for multiple reasons;
The art design of the game calls for a specific way of rendering things and the old, basic static mesh system wasn't designed for it.
The new engine also handles 'virtual depth' of the 2D scene very differently, resulting the original meshes not being ideal.
The new engine is all about modern optimisation; doing more with less via shaders. Instead of rendering multiple sprites separately, most of the mesh is now rendered in one sweep, reducing the rendering calls needed to fourth compared to TAGAP 4.
Improvements; since the whole system was redone, it was easy to add in features that weren't there before. In case of fences, they automatically connect to moving objects like elevators, so you don't need create separate lifts for different guard railings like in the past. Just combine the railings with the elevator and engine does the rest.
Again, railings are just an example here, the same goes for the other tools as well. But now they're all set.
And since we're doing a thorough update, time to log down the current data content of TAGAP X:
Executable | 2.53 Mb |
Art assets | 7790 files (423 Mb) |
Sound assets | 449 files (6 Mb, not including music) |
Script files | 98 files (1.2 Mb, not including levels) |
Shaders | 275 (compiled from 283 files) |
Though not directly comparable, to get some idea of the work put into TAGAP X, the full release of TAGAP 4 has total of 6631 art assets.
TAGAP X; Level creation for one form gameplay and a testing sweep for the other.
Playlist; Currently going through the last Disgaea (part 7) as the ongoing marathon to cover them all by the end of the year as 'Weekly Penguins'.
