Impeli
@toparoproject.bsky.social
I'm creating a Touhou-esque shmup, Toparo ~ the Forgotten Rotting Technology. Inspired by early Touhou and Len'en.
It'll be free!
Website: https://toparoproject.neocities.org/
It'll be free!
Website: https://toparoproject.neocities.org/
Another WIP, but it's basically done at this point. Just something short for the title screen; unless you intentionally stick around, you'll only ever hear the first three or so seconds.
I tried for something like the music in an installer program - Remember those?
I tried for something like the music in an installer program - Remember those?
November 19, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Another WIP, but it's basically done at this point. Just something short for the title screen; unless you intentionally stick around, you'll only ever hear the first three or so seconds.
I tried for something like the music in an installer program - Remember those?
I tried for something like the music in an installer program - Remember those?
Stage enemies all done (again), this should be plenty of variety now, right? Funnily enough I ended up scrapping the enemies I wanted to resprite, which was the whole reason I decided to make more to begin with.
Right image for the old 'all stage enemies done' from 29/09/24.
Right image for the old 'all stage enemies done' from 29/09/24.
October 19, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Stage enemies all done (again), this should be plenty of variety now, right? Funnily enough I ended up scrapping the enemies I wanted to resprite, which was the whole reason I decided to make more to begin with.
Right image for the old 'all stage enemies done' from 29/09/24.
Right image for the old 'all stage enemies done' from 29/09/24.
Stage enemies are almost done (again), just four more to go then it's back to more important things.
This isn't a stage enemy though, I just couldn't help myself to one more midboss only character :P Last one, I swear (they only exist to fix the worlds smallest plothole).
This isn't a stage enemy though, I just couldn't help myself to one more midboss only character :P Last one, I swear (they only exist to fix the worlds smallest plothole).
October 19, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Stage enemies are almost done (again), just four more to go then it's back to more important things.
This isn't a stage enemy though, I just couldn't help myself to one more midboss only character :P Last one, I swear (they only exist to fix the worlds smallest plothole).
This isn't a stage enemy though, I just couldn't help myself to one more midboss only character :P Last one, I swear (they only exist to fix the worlds smallest plothole).
Well, can't post gifs to Twitter anymore for some reason, I suppose they'll have to be just here. At this point I might abandon Twitter, too much doesn't work anymore...
Anyway, here's a new stage enemy, needed to update some old ugly ones and thought I might as well add a bunch while I'm at it.
Anyway, here's a new stage enemy, needed to update some old ugly ones and thought I might as well add a bunch while I'm at it.
September 21, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Well, can't post gifs to Twitter anymore for some reason, I suppose they'll have to be just here. At this point I might abandon Twitter, too much doesn't work anymore...
Anyway, here's a new stage enemy, needed to update some old ugly ones and thought I might as well add a bunch while I'm at it.
Anyway, here's a new stage enemy, needed to update some old ugly ones and thought I might as well add a bunch while I'm at it.
It's always fun to try and get just a bit more out of each audio channel; one channel echoes are pretty easy, even if they end up sounding a bit odd if you really focus on it.
August 24, 2025 at 1:35 PM
It's always fun to try and get just a bit more out of each audio channel; one channel echoes are pretty easy, even if they end up sounding a bit odd if you really focus on it.
Waste three channels on something that could be achieved mostly the same by just one? Sure, why not.
August 3, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Waste three channels on something that could be achieved mostly the same by just one? Sure, why not.
New blog post: State of Decay #10.
Not much this time, some pointless fluff about a few characters though. Very exiting I'm sure...
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD010
Not much this time, some pointless fluff about a few characters though. Very exiting I'm sure...
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD010
July 1, 2025 at 2:04 PM
New blog post: State of Decay #10.
Not much this time, some pointless fluff about a few characters though. Very exiting I'm sure...
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD010
Not much this time, some pointless fluff about a few characters though. Very exiting I'm sure...
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD010
Whenever I get around to updating old and messy music I have to decide between trying to fix it or just pretending it's still usable. This is defiantly a "it's still usable" one; even after removing one of the three original channels...
June 22, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Whenever I get around to updating old and messy music I have to decide between trying to fix it or just pretending it's still usable. This is defiantly a "it's still usable" one; even after removing one of the three original channels...
New blog post: State of Decay #9.
About the usual in this one, a little mention of when the first demo might come out too~
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD009
About the usual in this one, a little mention of when the first demo might come out too~
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD009
June 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM
New blog post: State of Decay #9.
About the usual in this one, a little mention of when the first demo might come out too~
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD009
About the usual in this one, a little mention of when the first demo might come out too~
toparoproject.neocities.org/BlogSoD009
Work in progress or something like that. I should post more things that I'm still working on, probably wont though~
May 18, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Work in progress or something like that. I should post more things that I'm still working on, probably wont though~
Rough mock-up that crams all of the decorations onto one screen. Might change the colours of the flags because they blend in to the right part, but it probably looks fine with the animations and the parallax.
May 4, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Rough mock-up that crams all of the decorations onto one screen. Might change the colours of the flags because they blend in to the right part, but it probably looks fine with the animations and the parallax.
Castle in the sand~
Finished the stage 1 (C/D) background after it sat half finished for most of a year; I'm pretty sure the only sprites left for Demo 0 are menu sprites.
Although, now stage 1 (A/B) looks far worse by comparison, so I'll have to make it look a lot nicer now.
Finished the stage 1 (C/D) background after it sat half finished for most of a year; I'm pretty sure the only sprites left for Demo 0 are menu sprites.
Although, now stage 1 (A/B) looks far worse by comparison, so I'll have to make it look a lot nicer now.
May 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Castle in the sand~
Finished the stage 1 (C/D) background after it sat half finished for most of a year; I'm pretty sure the only sprites left for Demo 0 are menu sprites.
Although, now stage 1 (A/B) looks far worse by comparison, so I'll have to make it look a lot nicer now.
Finished the stage 1 (C/D) background after it sat half finished for most of a year; I'm pretty sure the only sprites left for Demo 0 are menu sprites.
Although, now stage 1 (A/B) looks far worse by comparison, so I'll have to make it look a lot nicer now.
BOO!
Very scary ghost, at least that's what she thinks she is (probably).
Very scary ghost, at least that's what she thinks she is (probably).
April 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM
BOO!
Very scary ghost, at least that's what she thinks she is (probably).
Very scary ghost, at least that's what she thinks she is (probably).
Different designs for big items, only the first and last one are any good. I'll probably just stick with the first one (ie: the one that's already been in the game for just over a year). I guess this whole exercise was mostly pointless.
April 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Different designs for big items, only the first and last one are any good. I'll probably just stick with the first one (ie: the one that's already been in the game for just over a year). I guess this whole exercise was mostly pointless.
All bullet sprites done, finally.
239 bullet types (not counting colour/direction variants!) *should* be enough variety for one game, right? (^^;
239 bullet types (not counting colour/direction variants!) *should* be enough variety for one game, right? (^^;
April 9, 2025 at 11:03 AM
All bullet sprites done, finally.
239 bullet types (not counting colour/direction variants!) *should* be enough variety for one game, right? (^^;
239 bullet types (not counting colour/direction variants!) *should* be enough variety for one game, right? (^^;
Forget the Sunsoft bass, I think I have a new obsession... Well maybe, it's not very Touhou like is it (^^;
Not to mention the fact that it's probably overall ill fitting. Oh well~
Not to mention the fact that it's probably overall ill fitting. Oh well~
April 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Forget the Sunsoft bass, I think I have a new obsession... Well maybe, it's not very Touhou like is it (^^;
Not to mention the fact that it's probably overall ill fitting. Oh well~
Not to mention the fact that it's probably overall ill fitting. Oh well~
First piece of music I've finished with the MMC5 in mind from the start, here's a snippet. It's menu music even if it might be a bit much here (^^;
2:30 min loop because some people might end up in the menu for a decent while...
2:30 min loop because some people might end up in the menu for a decent while...
March 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
First piece of music I've finished with the MMC5 in mind from the start, here's a snippet. It's menu music even if it might be a bit much here (^^;
2:30 min loop because some people might end up in the menu for a decent while...
2:30 min loop because some people might end up in the menu for a decent while...
It's been a while since I've posted anything that wasn't a blog post; I should post some more W.I.P stuff.
Here's something for the main menu, I already know I'm going to hate shading this...
(Working on the menu sprites means that I've drawn most everything for Demo 0!)
Here's something for the main menu, I already know I'm going to hate shading this...
(Working on the menu sprites means that I've drawn most everything for Demo 0!)
March 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
It's been a while since I've posted anything that wasn't a blog post; I should post some more W.I.P stuff.
Here's something for the main menu, I already know I'm going to hate shading this...
(Working on the menu sprites means that I've drawn most everything for Demo 0!)
Here's something for the main menu, I already know I'm going to hate shading this...
(Working on the menu sprites means that I've drawn most everything for Demo 0!)
Very rough widescreen HUD mockup. After a little deliberation (mostly just realising that VS mode would be way too squished in 4:3) I've decided that the game's probably better off in 16:9.
Which of course means I can fill the screen with junk 99% of players won't care about!
Which of course means I can fill the screen with junk 99% of players won't care about!
January 20, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Very rough widescreen HUD mockup. After a little deliberation (mostly just realising that VS mode would be way too squished in 4:3) I've decided that the game's probably better off in 16:9.
Which of course means I can fill the screen with junk 99% of players won't care about!
Which of course means I can fill the screen with junk 99% of players won't care about!
Lily White doodle, presented without context.
January 4, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Lily White doodle, presented without context.
All bullet sprites are finally almost done, should be done in another day or two at most.
There's about ~800 individual sprites as a low ball estimate (not counting recolours, that would be about ~5600). That should be enough variety I think...
Here's one I quite like:
There's about ~800 individual sprites as a low ball estimate (not counting recolours, that would be about ~5600). That should be enough variety I think...
Here's one I quite like:
December 20, 2024 at 11:54 AM
All bullet sprites are finally almost done, should be done in another day or two at most.
There's about ~800 individual sprites as a low ball estimate (not counting recolours, that would be about ~5600). That should be enough variety I think...
Here's one I quite like:
There's about ~800 individual sprites as a low ball estimate (not counting recolours, that would be about ~5600). That should be enough variety I think...
Here's one I quite like:
There we go, it'll probably feel a bit strange to have the pfp be unrelated to Toparo, but this is so much nicer.
I tried to treat the shading like actual paint and it worked out a bit better; drawing at low resolutions is way more fun. Also, I think the old Jack Frost is way cuter.
I tried to treat the shading like actual paint and it worked out a bit better; drawing at low resolutions is way more fun. Also, I think the old Jack Frost is way cuter.
December 19, 2024 at 10:21 AM
There we go, it'll probably feel a bit strange to have the pfp be unrelated to Toparo, but this is so much nicer.
I tried to treat the shading like actual paint and it worked out a bit better; drawing at low resolutions is way more fun. Also, I think the old Jack Frost is way cuter.
I tried to treat the shading like actual paint and it worked out a bit better; drawing at low resolutions is way more fun. Also, I think the old Jack Frost is way cuter.
More digital practice; just a messy one to try and get a bit more used to shading. I figured out how to make it a little nicer, but still needs a lot of work. Also featuring a background I drew in about 10 seconds.
December 17, 2024 at 9:46 PM
More digital practice; just a messy one to try and get a bit more used to shading. I figured out how to make it a little nicer, but still needs a lot of work. Also featuring a background I drew in about 10 seconds.
???
How, what happened, where did all these people come from, and why was it on this one of all things (^^;;;
If only it was on one that wasn't too bad...
How, what happened, where did all these people come from, and why was it on this one of all things (^^;;;
If only it was on one that wasn't too bad...
December 16, 2024 at 9:32 AM
???
How, what happened, where did all these people come from, and why was it on this one of all things (^^;;;
If only it was on one that wasn't too bad...
How, what happened, where did all these people come from, and why was it on this one of all things (^^;;;
If only it was on one that wasn't too bad...
First attempt at digital art (that isn't pixelart).
Even with a laptop trackpad, it didn't turn out too bad, but I only figured out how to make the shading not completely awful halfway through.
Got a long way to go before I can try and replicate the Touhou PC-98 boxart style...
Even with a laptop trackpad, it didn't turn out too bad, but I only figured out how to make the shading not completely awful halfway through.
Got a long way to go before I can try and replicate the Touhou PC-98 boxart style...
December 11, 2024 at 8:25 PM
First attempt at digital art (that isn't pixelart).
Even with a laptop trackpad, it didn't turn out too bad, but I only figured out how to make the shading not completely awful halfway through.
Got a long way to go before I can try and replicate the Touhou PC-98 boxart style...
Even with a laptop trackpad, it didn't turn out too bad, but I only figured out how to make the shading not completely awful halfway through.
Got a long way to go before I can try and replicate the Touhou PC-98 boxart style...