Interview with Michiel Kroder from HitP Studio about Schildmaid MX
From passion project to multiplatform release: Schildmaid MX is a modern ode to the shmup genre. What began as a small lockdown project evolved into a stylish and technically refined shooter that’s now making its way to consoles worldwide on Wednesday, November 26. In this interview, Lead Designer Michiel opens up about the game’s origins, the influence of classic titles, and how he and programmer Hans built a bridge between retro spirit and modern design principles. A conversation about perseverance, creativity, and a deep love for pure arcade action.
Introduction & Background
Michiel, can you briefly introduce yourself and tell us how Schildmaid MX came to be?
Sure! I’m Michiel. I’ve been working as a writer/editor and online content specialist in and outside the gaming industry since the early 2000s. In 2013, I got the idea to start designing games myself and teamed up with my good friend Hans from Germany, who’s a programmer, to make it happen. Since then, we’ve worked on several projects that never quite made it to the finish line, often because they grew too ambitious. But in 2020, during the Covid lockdowns, we decided to experiment with a smaller title: a 2D shooter, or shoot ’em up (shmup). That project went so well that we actually managed to finish and release it. That game became Schildmaid MX.
What originally drew you to the shmup genre?
I’m really an old-timer, and in the ’80s shmups were a big deal, but even back then, they were pretty hardcore. I noticed that with my younger brother, who spent way less time on Gradius than I did when we got our NES with 40 games. What I love about arcade-style games is the purity and focus of the action. Say you have half an hour or an hour of free time. In a modern AAA game, you’ll spend that time mostly watching cutscenes or tutorials before you actually play. In an arcade game, you’re immediately in the action and shmups deliver that intensity like few others can. Seeing your shots fly across the screen, hitting enemies that explode in bursts of color, it’s as satisfying as popping bubble wrap. That’s really the essence of the shmup’s appeal for me.
Which influences (games, music, or developers) shaped your work the most?
Oh, so many. I’ve always been a student of action games across decades. While Schildmaid MX doesn’t directly play like any other shmup, if you’re as much of a geek as I am, you’ll spot plenty of influences. Developers like Capcom, Konami, Irem, Cave, Takumi, Treasure, G.rev, Success, Namco, and so on. Specific games include Gradius, the SNES version of Area 88/U.N. Squadron, DoDonPachi, Psyvariar, and to a lesser extent R-Type, Giga Wing, Akai Katana Shin, Street Fighter IV, and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. When it comes to music, I’m a big hip-hop head, but for Schildmaid MX I wanted an electronic soundtrack with strong, catchy melodies, which fits the genre better. Still, our composer Ed Tremblay from Studio Mudprints (Canada) created a banger of a breakdance-style electrobeat for the game’s training stage. It definitely has that ’80s hip-hop vibe.
About the Development of Schildmaid MX
How did the development process of Schildmaid MX go? What were the biggest challenges along the way?
Development, especially of the original PC release, actually went quite smoothly. We were highly driven, had the game stress-tested in the alpha phase by players from all kinds of backgrounds and skill levels, and even a few professional testers we’re friends with. We published version 1.0 of Schildmaid MX on itch.io after a little over a year of development. It was a complete game, but we wanted to add more (free) content. The hardest part at first was setting up a company so we could release our game on Steam ourselves. Because we live in two different countries, both German and Dutch notaries had to agree on the necessary paperwork. I’ll spare you the boring details, but that meant it took more than another half year before HitP Studio existed as a B.V. We used that time to work on a 2.0 version so that the 2023 Steam launch would truly offer something new. Version 2.0 added extra game modes, extra music and SFX, and a replay system so people could watch their own runs and other players’ runs from the online leaderboards.
Then came the biggest challenge: porting the game to Nintendo Switch without making major compromises to performance or graphics. Hans really moved mountains for this and had to rewrite whole parts of the game code, but he pulled it off. Meanwhile, we were approached by the publisher Eastasiasoft from Hong Kong, who made us a great offer to publish the game on all modern consoles. Due to platform-holder requirements, the game has to launch everywhere at the same time, so the PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions also had to wait until the Switch port was done. The versions for the other consoles are being developed in-house by Eastasiasoft. And that’s version 3.0 of Schildmaid MX, which launches on consoles on November 26. I’m really looking forward to it!
The game feels like a blend of retro arcade action and modern flair. How did you strike that balance?
That happened very naturally. I play games from every era, old and new. Much of Schildmaid MX is based on foundational design principles from the past, but viewed through the lens of 2020 and beyond. A respectful lens, I should add, because I look at older games in terms of what still works and what they have that many modern games lack. Over the years, I think too many babies have been thrown out with the bathwater without considering what that means for contemporary design trends. At the same time, we added modern elements: a layered, escalating scoring system like the ones you see in 21st-century shmups such as Crimzon Clover and the previously mentioned Akai Katana Shin. Hans also thinks in more “current” terms of metaprogression and online experience. While we were careful not to undermine skill-based player progression, the hallmark of pure arcade games, you can unlock extra modes, ship color palettes, and title badges for your online leaderboard entries, for example.
What was the moment you thought: “Yes, this is it. The game is finished”?
Haha, you never really have that feeling. Even now, with version 3.0, there are still little things I’d like to improve or add. But we were ready for the first release right before November 2021. Although the game has improved a lot since then and gained more content and features, we already felt it wasn’t “early access.” It had three full game modes, the mechanics were solid, and you could already spend many hours with it. That was at the end of that first intense period of development and constant testing.
Can you tell us about the visual style? Who or what inspired that neon-and-pixel look?
In the prototype phase before the game had its own graphics or visual style, we used sprites from (again) the NES version of Gradius. So using 2D pixels felt like a natural step. Hans is a big fan of indie games with chunky pixel art, and his cousin, who created the graphics, is a 3D modeler. By working closely together, they arrived at a visual style reminiscent of the pre-rendered graphics in something like Donkey Kong Country: 3D models flattened into sprites, but with an extra-thick pixel sauce. Hans also loves modern graphical effects, so we added real-time lighting and particle effects. The scenarios and enemies are based on my MS Paint concepts from the design document, but I didn’t really interfere with the art direction beyond feedback and a few ideas. Since all three of us worked on the game without a salary, I believe you should let the experts, like Hans’s cousin, do what they do best. It was important to me that he could develop his ideas and have fun working on the game.
Gameplay & Design Choices
The “shield mechanic” really stands out. How did that idea come about?
Because I also play a lot of older games and analyze their design, I noticed no one ever really built on the health/damage system from the SNES game Area 88/U.N. Squadron. When you’re hit in that game, you get a few invincibility frames to escape; then a “DANGER” period begins during which the next hit is lethal and costs you a life. If you survive, your health bar refills though a bit less and you can continue with a calmer mind. That led me to this idea: what if there were a shmup where you actually want to get hit to gain a slightly longer invincibility state to tackle harder challenges… but then you face the DANGER period as the trade-off? I ditched the health bar. The invincibility frames (your ship’s defensive system) became a shield. And we added the ability for players to extend its duration by chaining enemy kills into a combo. That’s the core mechanic; everything else is built on top of it and designed around it.
What did you most want players to feel while playing Schildmaid MX?
The constant shifts in dynamics as they move through the stages and switch between the neutral state, shield state, and danger state, forcing you to adapt your tactics and approach… The satisfying, addictive scoring system; seeing your score skyrocket as you slurp up clusters of thousands of gold bullets with your shield. That stuff.
Did you use any shmup classics as reference points during design?
Gradius was my first side-scrolling shmup, and I used that game’s design as a base to build on then added a lot on top of it.
What player feedback surprised you most since the Steam release?
Because of the unusual shield mechanic, I expected more mixed reactions. Intentionally flying into bullets (in most cases) is a pretty radical departure from other shmups. But instead of 50/50, it was more like 80/20 in favor of positive feedback and enthusiasm.
Console Release & What’s Next
The game is coming to consoles soon. What can players expect from these versions?
An even more polished and better-optimized version of the game compared to the 2.0 release on Steam. With two extra EX modes, bringing the total to eight game modes and more than 50 hand-crafted levels. It also looks better. We’ll update the PC version on Steam and itch.io with the 3.0 update for free as well, once the dust has settled.
What does this milestone mean to you personally: from indie project to multiplatform release?
Phew, it’s really something big and hard to put into words. We’ve walked the whole road, from a pure indie release on itch.io to where we are now. And suddenly we’re everywhere in the online stores of the major consoles. It all feels very official now. Oh, and then there’s also the physical release of the Nintendo Switch version (affiliate link), even a collector’s edition with a fancy box and extra goodies, that means a lot to me as an old-school gamer. It feels like we’re truly in the game now!
Personal Vision & Future Plans
How do you view the current shmup scene?
There’s the player scene and the developer scene, with some overlap. We’re devs, but we also play a lot of shmups and other games ourselves, for example. The current player scene is generally very welcoming to newcomers and focused on helping people find their way and level up their skills. That’s very positive. I don’t have numbers, but thanks to the internet and how easily communities can form, I get the sense the player scene is slowly growing. Not radically, though. People also move on and new folks join. We’re still missing that one big shmup that suddenly draws a much larger crowd to the genre, and I don’t know if it will ever arrive. Ikaruga drew a lot of attention in the early 2000s, but it didn’t suddenly create masses of new shmup players. Of course, I’d love for Schildmaid MX to open more eyes to the genre, but what we’re doing is still too small-scale for that. Even shmups from developers who got a lot more media attention over the past ten years and had higher development and marketing budgets didn’t manage it. But we never give up. Fighting against “unwinnable odds” is kind of part of shmups.
On the developer side, it’s interesting too. Not much is happening at the big companies; many veterans among the specialist devs aren’t making shmups anymore, or they only re-release their older work. Some veterans collaborate with other developers to release smaller new shmups or even retro-style arcade games. And then there are the indie developers. Making a shmup is, in principle, not that hard. In engine courses and tutorials, it’s often one of the first assignments. But making a good shmup is another story. The games may look simple at first glance, but the true classics have layered systems, dynamic difficulty that adapts to player actions, incredibly fine-tuned gameplay, and so on. There’s a reason some developers have been making shmups for decades and keep getting better and more refined.
What do you think indie developers can add to a genre that’s been around for decades?
As an indie developer, especially one who isn’t dependent on a paycheck or accountable to shareholders, you have a lot of freedom to make games in your beloved niche and innovate within it. That’s what we did. I didn’t feel I could compete with masters of the genre like G.rev, Treasure, and Cave. But because I knew we had a mechanic that does something genuinely new in practice, I had the confidence to step into the arena, because we could add something to the genre.
However, you can’t innovate without truly knowing your genre. To make a good shmup, it’s not enough to have played R-Type once. Play the games. Play a lot of them, and play them a lot. The “innovation” you’ve come up with may have already been done in the early ’90s. Or there’s a good reason why what you’re imagining never became a thing in a genre as iterative as shmups. That knowledge of the genre, alongside the dedicated testers we had and their feedback, was crucial to our game’s success with players and specialist reviewers.
Finally: if Schildmaid MX could leave players with one message or feeling, what would it be?
It took us quite some time and, of course, work and perseverance to get to version 3.0 and the console release of our first game. I hope you’ll enjoy it, whether you played it on PC before or not. Jaeger Mode is a little bit spicy, but it’s designed so that anyone can beat it. Once you master the mechanics, you become quite powerful in the game and can overcome seemingly hellish challenges with surprising ease. Go beyond Jaeger Mode and you’ll gradually peel away layers of content and of new routes, challenges, and encounters. You’ll be amazed at how good you can become at this game and at shmups in general and how high you can push your score.
And look forward to our next game! We’re going to make more shmups and other kinds of games.
Schildmaid MX launches on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 on the following consoles:
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