Ten questions with one of the main dudes at Dudedle Studio

I had such a blast playing through Dudedle Studio's Sugar Shooter a few months back that shortly after I finished my review of it I reached out to Punipen, the studio's chief designer, programmer and scenario writer, in an attempt to get to know the guys behind this boss-rush, bullet-hell shmup that's aimed at the bara-loving set a bit better.

Thankfully, he wasn't at all turned off by my (completely honorable, I assure you) advances and graciously agreed to answer a handful of questions--I know only nine appear below, despite the promises of the headline above, but the first one originally was split into two--about the company's background, what prompted him and his colleagues to create the sexy Sugar Shooter and why they make gay games in general.

The Gay Gamer: Can you tell me a bit about Dudedle Studio's back- ground? When was the company founded, for instance? Also, why was it founded? What were your goals for the company?

Punipen: First of all, I think we're more of a studio or group of indie developers than a company. We started making games as a hobby, just for fun. And since we're all gay, we [decided we] would develop erotic games for gay people.

If you know about H-games, you'll see that there are literally tons of them on the market in Japan. Many of them are very good and were turned into animation afterwards, such as Air, Kanon, To Heart, etc.

Sadly, the gay audience is neglected [by the makers of these games]. If you're talking about gay games that feature manly men, they hardly exist. The only company that stands out [for making such games] in Japan right now is Underground Campaign, which is led by Senga Migiri-san.

When we checked [the availability of these kinds of games] outside of Japan, we found that the scenario wasn't so different. While there are Flash games that target gay people who prefer manly men, none of these are big games like the ones Underground Campaign has made. Also, there are many people who wish these kinds of games were available for English speakers.

So, you could say that we've been toying with the idea of making a gay game [for a worldwide audience] for a while.

We didn't actually start making one, though, until Takezamurai-san, the main artist for Sugar Shooter, tweeted me saying that he wished he could make a game. He's a great artist, and I've always been a big fan of his, so I was like, 'Why not?' I got in touch with him and that's when we started working on Sugar Shooter.

So, you could say that our group was founded on November 14, 2010--which is when Sugar Shooter was first released in Japan.

Get yer pipin' hot Sugar Shooter 2 demo here!

And when I say it's piping hot, I mean that literally--as in, it's freshly released--and figuratively--as in, well, it features some smokin' content, just like the first Sugar Shooter.

I've only played the Sugar Shooter 2 demo for a few minutes this far, but already I can tell it's going to be just as fun as--if not more fun than--its fabulously gay predecessor.

One thing that's certain at this point: Sugar Shooter 2 will have a lot more options--such as a bevy of difficulty settings and selectable "partners"--than Dudedle Studio's original effort.

To see what the Japanese version of this boss-rush, bullet-hell shmup for bara lovers looks like in action, check out this trailer:



If you'd rather experience it firsthand, download the one-stage demo of the game from the Dudedle Studio blog.

It appears Sugar Shooter 2 will be playable on both Macs and Windows-based PCs, by the way--something that couldn't be said about the series' initial installment.

Finally, for more information on the first Sugar Shooter, read these previous posts: 'A somewhat gay review of Sugar Shooter (PC)' and 'I think it's about time I played a bullet-hell shmup starring beefy boys in underwear'

The question is: Will I enjoy blowing the underwear off of the bosses in the second Sugar Shooter as much as I enjoyed doing so in the first?

Yep, that's right: Everybody's favorite--or at least it was my favorite--bara-flavored, boss-rush, bullet-hell shmup, Sugar Shooter, will soon get a sequel. Rejoice!

Here's a brief glimpse of a still-in-the-works version of Sugar Shooter II, for those of you who are interested:



Well, that certainly looks like Sugar Shooter, doesn't it--sans the first game's buff (and in-the-buff) baddies, of course. I'm guessing the guys at Dudedle Studio will be adding them shortly.

See also: 'A somewhat gay review of Sugar Shooter (PC)'

A somewhat gay review of Sugar Shooter (PC)

This downloadable (for Windows-enabled PCs) title, developed by the folks at Dudedle Studio, is/was my first run-in with a bullet-hell shoot 'em up, and you know what? I enjoyed it so much that I'm eagerly awaiting my second such experience. Granted, Sugar Shooter isn't a run-of-the-mill bullet-hell shoot 'em up (or shmup, as they're often called)--rather, it's a boss-rush, bullet-hell shmup that's squarely aimed at the bara-loving set.

To those of you scratching your heads at any or all of the aforementioned "b" words (bara, boss-rush and bullet-hell), hopefully the following infor- mation will straighten things out: Sugar Shooter stars a beefy, gay prince named Satan (hmmm), who is tasked with protecting his precious Sugar Kingdom from a quartet of similarly studly baddies. (They're where the bara, or "Men's Love," aspect of the game comes into play, by the way.)



One by one, these baddies--backed by a bombastic, guitar-laden soundtrack and led by a bloke named Lord Sugarless--assault Satan with wave after wave of beautiful bullets. (Hence the genre's name: bullet-hell.) Satan isn't powerless against said bullets thanks to his "Dessert Ring" (hmmm again), which transforms oncoming projectiles into candy and increases the prince's "Sugar Level." Increasing the prince's Sugar Level accomplishes two things: 1) It enhances his base attack and 2) It allows him to perform a "Sugar Burst," which not only destroys everything within a certain distance of the prince but destroys his opponent's armor, too. That's important because you have to destroy an opponent's armor before defeat- ing them in order to see the best (i.e., most X-rated) ending scenes.

All of this is controlled with the left button on your mouse, by the way. Click it once to unleash Satan's auto-firing "Chocolate Gun" (hmmm for a third time) and click it again to stop attacking and start using his "Dessert Ring." You also click, hold and then release your mouse's left button to enter "Sugar Rush" mode, and then click it one last time to use Satan's "Sugar Burst." It feels a little odd at first if you're used to playing shoot 'em ups with a directional pad and buttons, but it quickly becomes second nature.



Don't worry if all of the above sounds annoyingly confusing or convoluted; in action, it's surprisingly simple to understand. It's not so simple to master, though--as evidenced by the fact that it took me a good 20 tries to topple the fourth and final boss (Lord Sugarless) on the game's easiest setting.

I don't share that fairly embarrassing tidbit to scare folks away from giving Sugar Shooter a try. On the contrary, I think gaymers who enjoy shoot 'em ups--bullet-hell or otherwise--and have $14.99 to blow will get a kick out of this Dudedle Studio-developed title.

See also: Other 'somewhat gay' reviews