Mercenary 2029 ( Raptor Call of the Shadows )

[@iAmCodeMonkey]

I remember this game from my childhood. Still have the CD version of Raptor that my uncle handed down to me years ago, along with tons of other Apogee games like Cosmos Cosmic Adventure and the original Duke Nukem platformers. Good luck with your newest game!

[@ThorirTheReD]

Looks very different, stunning to see an old favourite from an unknown perspect.

[@lukeallen2894]

Played the release version way too much, these songs are burned into my soul and I still have dreams where I'm playing this. Or Tyrian. Thanks for sharing how it looked in development; the final release was way more polished, but I can definitely feel the love baked into this version.

[@SylkaChan]

This should become a game too.

[@johnsmith9205]

Raptor is my favorite shmup game, ever. The only one I can beat casually, with convenient saves between missions and persistent ship upgrades. What a masterpiece. I used to replay this every year for a while.

[@ScottHost]

Sorry for delay I was at Pax West. If you have not already check out other videos been working on a new Raptor over a year now.

[@JamesEmirzianWaldementer]

I never seen played Alpha Version of Raptor, Looks different and nice with your alpha build testing in history.

[@SylkaChan]

Is there anyway to download this or at least the music?

[@SolCresta3405]

The Game Over screen reminds me of the Strike video games, just wanted to point that out.

[@ScottHost]

Strike ? is that the name of a game or a company ?

[@SolCresta3405]

@@ScottHost I’m talking about Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, those games.

[@ScottHost]

@@SolCresta3405 I don't think I ever played those ( just googled it ). Back then I was into Ultima 6 and Wing Commander 1-3 for PC

[@contactrpg5936]

This game (as in the final version) is truly a hidden gem of the 90s PC gaming era. I remember it fondly to this day.

[@DJNicShogun]

i still play it

[@JolanXBL]

Oh cool! Bigger shot of the hangar, very nice :)

[@gdlocri2784]

This was one of my first pc games. I was just 4 yrs old. Thank you for it!

[@ScottHost]

Making an updated version now

[@gasparmc]

This is awesome piece of history, the map having areas with names is a cool idea. The music revamp is excellent too! By the way, I want to say it's barely possible to go through Outer Regions in Elite mode with only the machine guns!

[@re3443re]

Goddamn, this is some cursed Raptor gameplay.

[@larnregis]

Wow, never seen the alpha. It reminds me a lot on Xenon 2, especially the forward and sideways firing guns. All the changes done to turn this into the Raptor as we know it, were definitely excellent improvements. I'm only a bit sad that we never got to see these nice pixel art screens, like the alternate hangar/shop.

[@ScottHost]

To this day I do not remember why I made a Mercenary/Raptor demo as I was working on the Second Sword game for Apogee. My guess is it was just a technical test and then Apogee loved it.

[@blaggzear3152]

the music score... so great

[@JamesEmirzianWaldementer]

0:56 In gameplay, An player ship kinda looks different, Something like out of DemonStar fighter ships

[@RetroWill]

man, this game looks so different, still awesome looking!

[@ScottHost]

and this was before the ground was made up of tiles it was just a scrolling image in this

[@Roobar_Plays]

Oh wow! There was a map even? I wonder why it was removed. Maybe you can add some of the transition animations into the Switch version of Raptor you're working on? That with the sun in the background looks awesome!

[@ScottHost]

I think we took the map out for simplicities sake

[@xkillerz]

Very interesting. I can remember the menu screenshot but never seen video footage of this version. Explosions look like galactix? Anyway nice share it always shows games go through multiple iterations before releasing. Map feature could return in new one that can you fly different routes for example with different endings.

[@ScottHost]

Yeah i probably used the explosions at this point from Galactix this could not have been more than 4 months of work so far or less Have to think about the map idea .... it might be like you have to play levels in order once then can go back at anytime to any level

[@CuteFloor]

This looks very interesting! I guess you're one of the developers. Do you mind sharing a playable version of this? :)

[@ScottHost]

Yeah im Scott Host the guy who coded it ... thats a good idea I made a Raptor discord channel if you want to join discord.gg/PCMsYMJpSq

[@strelitziapete9071]

@@ScottHost interesting looks like Raiden and the plane looks more futuristic and the landscape looks unearthly. The final product was more based on a F-16 and more like regular earth but you can see things from the prototype game in it.

[@ScottHost]

@@strelitziapete9071 This was before i moved to Texas one just me and the artist Tim working on it . this was mostly a proof on concept kinda thing.. wound up redoing most everything since this test

[@Raptor501st]

That poor protoss interceptor in the beginning

[@ScottHost]

lol starcraft ref ?

[@Raptor501st]

@@ScottHost Absolutely :)

[@erie4237]

Hype

[@Protosszergling]

Hey Scott, will you ever release the "Mercenary 2029" beta to the public? Maybe you could offer it as a free download, like 3D Realms and Devolver Digital did with Shadow Warrior betas.

[@ScottHost]

yeah one day when i get the time ...want to release the source for dos Raptor as well

[@ameerm4899]

I am glad we have Raptor. Maybe I did like to play Mercenary 2029. And by the way, I always thought it was inspired from Fighter Jet named Raptor 😁

[@ScottHost]

Raptor game came out in 1994. f-22 Raptor jet first flew in 1997. Actually got name from Jurassic Park when I came out of movie theater, I thought Raptor its a bird of prey that's the name.

[@ameerm4899]

@@ScottHost oh I didn't know that 😅

[@hoorayforhawksbills]

When I was about 12 years old this was my buddy and I's favorite game. He actually called me when they announced the F-22. "Just as we expected."

[@belandino]

Oh wow, this looks amazing! Have you been able to share a playable version of this? Or is this version under NDA?

[@ScottHost]

Come to the raptor discord i will send you a link

[@belandino]

@@ScottHost Nice, thanks! I will join soon!

[@belandino]

Joined! ^^

[@alonsopg931]

This isn't a Dinosaur game!!

[@ScottHost]

he aint Lyin

[@Boildroid]

so nostalgic