LittleBear says: Yes, but in the morning I'll be sober.

17.02.08

DEX-EV

Posted in development, everything, games, shmups at 12:18 pm by the2bears

DEX-EV is a shooter running in arguably the strangest application environment yet. It’s an Excel spreadsheet macro.

The game itself seems rather generic, but as a project it seems far more interesting. Shadow Slash, the developer, has a series of articles (in Japanese, natch… translation from Google might work, or you might end up balancing your check book. Win, win.) detailing just how to write a game in Excel. The graphics are all DirectX, but it seems the logic and scripting are all macro.

Interesting stuff. I am now issuing a challenge for shmups in even more obscure environs. Via Danmaku Gata.

DEX-EV

DEX-EV

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9 Comments »

  1. crackers said,

    February 17, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    I’ve played games done in Excel before but this one is by far the most impressive.

  2. rel said,

    February 21, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    Unbelievable. Excel? Really?

  3. rel said,

    February 21, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    Wow, it’s an excel app alright. But how do I run this?

  4. the2bears said,

    February 21, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    All I did was open it up in Excel and clicked a dialog allowing the macro(s) to run.

    Bill

  5. booyah » Blog Archive » Microsoft Excel as a Game Engine said,

    March 6, 2008 at 9:19 pm

    [...] Excel for game development purposes. As previously mentioned by the2bears, there is also a vertical shooter project released by Shadow Slash which runs entirely from an Excel spreadsheet macro. Security settings may [...]

  6. rascunho » Blog Archive » links for 2008-03-09 said,

    March 9, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    [...] the2bears.com » DEX-EV DEX-EV is a shooter running in arguably the strangest application environment yet. It’s an Excel spreadsheet macro. (tags: http://www.the2bears.com 2008 mes2 dia8 at_home excel shooter shmup blog_post) [...]

  7. Random Encounters » Blog Archive » Behold! the game engine of the future: MS EXCEL! (PC) said,

    April 12, 2008 at 7:25 am

    [...] And for an actual game itself? Click here. [...]

  8. indie game blog video online at indiegamesblog.net » Blog Archive » Microsoft Excel as a Game Engine said,

    April 12, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    [...] Excel for game development purposes. As previously mentioned by the2bears, there is also a vertical shooter project released by Shadow Slash which runs entirely from an Excel spreadsheet macro. Security settings may [...]

  9. the2bears.com » Defender of the Favicon said,

    July 17, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    [...] the sake of intellectual curiosity I like shmups created for odd and obscure media. This is just such a case, as the game is played in the web site’s favicon, enabled [...]

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