''Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit'' (a.k.a. ''SEUCK'') is a

game creation system A game creation system (GCS) is a consumer-targeted game engine and a set of specialized design tools, and sometimes also a light scripting language, engineered for the rapid iteration of user-derived video games. Unlike more developer-oriented g ...

for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

created by

Sensible Software Sensible Software was a British software company founded by Jon Hare and Chris Yates which was active from March 1986 to June 1999. It released seven number-one hit games and won numerous industry awards. The company used exaggeratedly small sp ...

and published by Outlaw (part of Palace Software) in 1987. It allows the user to make simple

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

s by drawing sprites and backgrounds and editing attack patterns. The advertising promoted the Kit with the phrase "By the programmers of '' Wizball'' and ''Parallax''".

Design

The Kit presents users with a series of menus for customising every aspect of the game. Level graphics are created with the Background Editor, using a series of blocks for plotting into the level maps' all moving elements are designed with the Sprite Editor. Sprites are assigned to "Objects" - for example, enemy bullets - with separate animation and colour settings. Editing the "enemy bits" changes the behaviour of an enemy (which projectiles it may shoot, how many points it is worth), while "player limitations" does the same for Player 1 (or player 2, if enabled). Whereas the Commodore 64 version contains a simple Sound FX Editor with slider controls, on the Amiga and ST versions this feature is replaced with IFF sounds. Enemies are 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) may also be edited. Games can 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 are possible, as well as extra lives awarded at regular scoring intervals. ''SEUCK'' is packaged with sample games to demonstrate what may be done with the kit. The Commodore 64 version comes with ''Slap 'n' Tickle'' (inspired by '' Slap Fight''), ''Outlaw'' (a

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

shoot 'em up in the style of the arcade game Commando), ''Transputer Man'' (set inside a computer and partially inspired by the arcade game Robotron 2084), and ''Celebrity Squares'' (featuring graphics drawn by several C64 personalities including video game journalists Gary Liddon and Gary Penn). The Amiga and Atari versions (released in 1989) feature ''Slap 'n' Tickle'', ''Quazar'', and an "army man" game, ''Blood 'N' Bullets'', which features a sound effect of "Okay, suckers" sampled from the ''

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'' episode "

Queeg ''The Caine Mutiny'' is a 1951 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard two destroyer-minesweepers in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Among its themes, it deals with the mora ...

". At the height of the software's popularity game companies and magazines received many games created with the Kit.

Reception

''SEUCK'' was well received, earning a ''Zzap!'' Gold Medal Award. SEUCK was reviewed in '' Commodore Disk User'' Issue 2.

Legacy

Screenshot from Spittis Search Game Commodore 64

While attending college

Ray Larabie Raymond Larabie (born 1970) is a Canadian designer of TrueType and OpenType computer fonts. He owns ''Typodermic Fonts'' type foundry, which distributes both commercially licensed and shareware/freeware fonts. Biography and career Larabie wa ...

, later known for his custom typefaces, created several games using ''SEUCK'' which spread throughout the Amiga community via the BBS network and some were included on magazine coverdisks. These included ''Monster Truck Rally'', ''Wielder Of Atoms'', ''Mulroney Blast'' and ''Smurf Hunt''. Italian software company, System Editoriale s.r.l. developed some games with ''SEUCK'' such as Emiliano Sciarra's ''Ciuffy'' and '' Amadeus Revenge''.

References

External links

The SEUCK Vault

German C64-Wiki
{{Sensible Software 1987 video games Sensible Software games Commodore 64 games Amiga games Atari ST games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video game engines Video game development software Video games with user-generated gameplay content

Design

Reception

Legacy

See also

References

External links