Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit


Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit is a game creation system for the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST created by Sensible Software and published by Outlaw in 1987. It allows the user to make simple shoot 'em ups 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, while "player limitations" does the same for Player 1. 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 may also be edited.
Games can feature still screens, "push" scrolling 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, Outlaw, Transputer Man, and Celebrity Squares. The Amiga and Atari versions 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 episode "Queeg".
Since it is possible to export SEUCK games as stand-alone files, 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.

Derivatives

While attending college Ray Larabie, best known for his custom typefaces, created several games using SEUCK. Because of their distinctiveness and quality they quickly spread throughout the Amiga community via the BBS network, with many ending up on Amiga Magazine coverdisks. Titles included Monster Truck Rally, Wielder Of Atoms, Mulroney Blast and Smurf Hunt.
Other notable SEUCK-based titles include several works by Italian software company, System Editoriale s.r.l., such as Emiliano Sciarra's Ciuffy, and the early