Platform Warriors Concept Art #1!

The first concept art for our 2D doujin fighter, 'Platform Warriors', is done! Meet 'Charles', a cute little fella who you might recognise from those games about the plumber brothers. He'll be chompin' through the opposition, in 202X, should Nintendo's legal team not be doing their job properly!

Platform Warriors!

Another fun thing we've always wanted to do here at Data West Towers is a 2D doujin fighter, that brings together lesser-known characters from platform game franchises. Smash Brothers, on a budget... coming in 202X!

SkyBusters!

We're also working on SkyBusters, a 2D doujin fighter heavily inspired by Sunsoft's Astra Superstars. We'll never get close to it's greatness, but... "Sitting in the gutter, looking at the stars!" :)

Doki Doki Attack!

Here's something new! We're working on 'Doki Doki Attack', a 2D doujin fighter based on the Famicom game, 'Doki Doki Panic' (which later became Super Mario Brothers USA, but obviously we're going for the version that doesn't have Mario and friends in it). This is a tentative logo for the game!

Project Zu: New Challenger!

'Zu', the doujin fighter from Data West, has finally moved beyond 'flight of fancy' status, with some concept art of the first character. This is 'Tak-Yo', the funky octopus. This music-loving crustacean has nine brains - and they're all set to 'chill'!

For more information about Project Zu, as it breaks, please keep an eye on the Data West socials (http://www.tinyurl.com/DataWestGames)!

'Zu' Announce!

... Something else we've got cooking here at Data West Towers is 'Zu', a 2D brawler showcasing the diversity of the animal kingdom. A charming cast of critters will do battle, in a bid to be crowned King (or Queen!) of the Zoo!

It's wild! It's wacky! It's coming at you in 202X, from your pals at Data West! Check out the socials for more information (as usual!)

Nyarou: Kitty Of The Wools

"Certainly, they existed.... those blinded by nyanbition."

Nyarou is a 2D doujin fighter coming in 202X, from Data West! Our influences are about as subtle as a brick, but they do say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, don't they?

Sweet Strategy!

More concept art for Sweet Strategy, Data West's real-time strategy game. This is 'Cube-Chan', the 'worker bee' of the game. These little dudes turn up in large numbers to do all your mining, building, and general grunt work. As far as design is concerned, we were inspired by Capcom's 'Servbot' character, and the 'Moo' enemy from Klonoa.

Eclaire!

Concept art of 'Eclaire' (Sweet Strategy).

 

The first unit design for our RTS Sweet Strategy is 'Eclaire', who is meant to be a femme-fatale, 'Mata Hari' type character. She doesn't actually attack, but she'll slink around the enemy base, charming their troops into joining your side. I guess she's sort of like the Monk in Age Of Empires... but a pastry. Wearing lipstick and high heels. *cough*

 

Age Of Empires (c) Microsoft

'Sweet Strategy' Logo!

That's right folks, the studio that never releases anything is working on a real-time strategy game. Choose your tribe of totally yummy, super-cute confectionery characters, and wage all-out war for dominance of Candy Land. It's like WarCraft, except the dev isn't laying off huge numbers of staff for no reason! Coming in 202X from Data West!

Wintris!

Our latest fascination is Wintris. It's winter! It's Tetris! It's both! The only question now, is... will we finish it before Christmas?

More 'Chouxdown'!

Okay, so we've got a logo for the project, now. Unlike most Data West projects, this one actually looks like it might have legs - at this moment, some of the actual game art is done, so we have something to move around the screen in a pleasing, dopamine-inducing manner.

'Chouxdown' Assets

Assets for Chouxdown, a puzzle game in the works at Data West.

*gasp* What is THIS, now?! Actual game art that isn't a logo?! Now that is refreshing. It's from the aforementioned Chouxdown, an arcade-style puzzle game that we're working on. It's early days yet, but this could turn out to be even better than our debut game, Spook Buster.

... As usual, keep it locked to our socials for more information on the game, as and when it drops.

'Rex' Concept Art (B.C. Bombers)

We know the name is a little lackluster, but this is the first concept art for 'Rex', a character in B.C. Bombers. Coming in 202X from the roar-some folk at Data West! :)

'Jellomancer' Announce!

You've got two options, hot shot. Either you look forward to Data West actually turning out a game this century, which might well be Jellomancer (an auto battler where you battle against other blob wranglers, with teams of sentient slime characters that you can fuse to make crazy goo-based abominations). If so, expect the game sometime in 202X.

Alternatively, you can call our bluff, and subscribe to the not-entirely-untrue fact that Data West is just three beavers in a trenchcoat, making funny logos on their momma's Hewlett-Packard.

Either way, keep an eye on our socials for more, whether that's actual games, or just funny logos. Either way, you can't lose.

'B.C. Bombers' Announce!

We're making a homage to Bomberman, set in pre-historic times. It's the multiplayer nonsense that you didn't know you needed. Coming 202X from the DW folk. You're welcome.

'Project Feral' Announce!

We know we said 'no more logos!', but there's an idea that's been cooking up here at Data West Towers that we wanted to share - a monster-hunting Rogue-like deckbuilder, with the tentative name 'Project Feral'. The basic idea is that you pick a class, each with its' own unique card pool, and do battle with massive critters that may or may not want to eat you - yes, it sounds a lot like Monster Hunter, and that was an intentional move, because we at the Towers love Capcom and the Monster Hunter franchise (you may remember that back in the Tabletop Simulator days, we released a partial translation of the MonHun trading card game, that was only released in Japan).

... So yes, a beast-slaying card battler, with a Monster Hunter motif. Like with everything we start, and then abandon like a prom night dumpster baby, it's early days for the project - so keep an eye on our socials for more, when it emerges. Thank you!

Monster Hunter (c) Capcom

Bomb Jack Rogue!

Now, I know what you're thinking at this point, and that's 'Stop with the logos, and actually make a game!'. We feel you, homes - and promise that we'll lay off the logos for a while.

 

... Anyway, this is the logo for a project we've always wanted to cook up, here at Data West. 'Bomb Jack Rogue' is a homage to the classic Tecmo/Tekhan arcade game, with a Rogue-lite twist.

Balloon Kid '26 Announce!

We at Data West have fond memories of the original Balloon Kid, which was one of the Game Boy's early releases - and thought it was about time the retro classic got an update. So, that's what we're doing! Huzzah!

Battle Maniax!

We've also got this little project knocking around at Data West Towers. It's a galactic fighting tournament, in the form of a 'Rogue'-like deckbuilder - you choose a warrior to represent you from the games' motley crew of derelicts, and battle to become the champion.

... It's basically a fighting game in card form - we're heavily inspired by the card games Yomi and Death Or Glory, but hopefully we'll be able to bring some freshness and originality to the formula. Will we succeed? Keep it locked to the Data West socials to find out!

(And yes, we know the name is a bit jank, and the logo's not much better. It's a work-in-progress - we had to call it something, to begin with!)

Zombémon!

Another idea that's rattling around the halls of Data West is Zombémon, a monster-battling card game where all the critters are dead! As usual, please keep it locked to our socials, for more!

Snow Sisters!

Concept art for 'Snow Sisters', a homage to the classic Toaplan platformer from the 90's.

I know it's not the most original game concept, but I've always wanted to write a Snow Bros. tribute (even more so now that I know the sloped platforms in the game aren't the easiest to replicate!), so I've turned the Data West pitbulls loose on the idea. I'd like to get at least a demo out there at some point, if only to prove that I can pull it off - so, as usual, keep it locked to our socials to see if this ever gets past the 'concept' stage.

Snow Bros. (c) Toaplan

Usagi (King Of The Zoo Legends)

Concept art of 'Usagi' (King Of The Zoo Legends).

Work continues on 'Legends'. I've taken a break from actually writing the game, to concentrate on the character design.

King Of The Zoo Legends Announce!

King Of The Zoo (also known as Bokosuka Penguin Wars!) was an 80's arcade game about projectile-flinging animal folk, that got ported to the Game Boy (which is where I first played it). As a young gamer in the early '90s, the Game Boy had a huge impact on me - and King Of The Zoo was one of the launch titles that really stuck in my mind, along with Super Mario Land, Balloon Kid, and Tetris.

... I've been wanting to work on an update to the game for many a year, but I've only really got my act together with the dawn of Data West. To be honest, I'm not sure whether I can write a tribute game (what with Nintendo being as predatory as they are!), but even if I can't, it'll be a fun development cycle.

... As usual, if there's anything to show you, you'll see it on the Data West socials! Yahoo!

King Of The Zoo (c) Nintendo

InventoRematch!

 

 

 

 

We've been doing a bit of thinking about the project that was formerly known as 'Turnbound GB', and have come to the conclusion that the name and concept were probably a little too close to the original 'Turnbound' - so the project is now dubbed 'InventoRematch'. It's still an inventory management based Roguelite, but this time there's a little less plagiarism.

Coming in 202X... keep it locked to the Data West socials for more information!

Turnbound GB, Coming in 2026!

Turnbound GB is a non-profit demake of Gambit Digital's Turnbound, an inventory management puzzle game that's due to be released on PC, January 22nd (demo out now!). It's a love letter to the original, which you should absolutely buy on Steam when it releases. We hope that it all works out, but even if not, at least we've got something to do this year.