I had begun numerous Top-Down-Shooter projects with various themes and mechanics, but never finding the passion to really develop them. But then one day I was in a barbarian mood (probably from reading Lord of the Rings) and I created a little guy shooting arrows at goblins and pigs. Then I developed it by adding axtra weapons like swords and spears, and extra enemies like Oliphaunts and a boss dragon. It quickly grew from a simple concept to a decent minigame to a short level. I never expected “barbarian” to be the theme that would interest me most in a top-down-shooter.

The game starts on a farm and your only weapon is your fists. From there, you can travel to the valley to fight off a goblin raid, go to the cemetary to fight zombies, or (my personal favourite) head over to the colliseum and fight endless waves of enemies. As you progress you fight increasingly difficult opponents and as your score increases you unlock extra weapons and more powerful weapons until (sometimes) the colliseum can’t spit out enemies fast enough.

The first weapon you unlock is an arrow, then later you get a sword, then a spear, then two extra arrows. By 50,000 points you’re simultaeneously shooting/throwing/creating 5 arrows, 2 swords, 2 spears, 5 enemy-seeking buzzsaw chakrams, a pack of 4 wolves, 7 Grey Host (the ghost-soldiers from Lord of the Rings) and a beam of Balefire (from Wheel of Time) all while continuing to punch with your bare fists. He’s a very talented barbarian.

By 80,000 points Death shows up and just follows you around because he figures he’ll save time that way.