The new backgrounds will be ready hopefully by the end of April and they will completely change the look and feel of Shadow Gangs.
I am working with a very enthusiastic background artist and I am really happy with the treatment he did to the background so far and will include some level section images in the next update.

It's not just the backgrounds that are better now, the platforms that are used in the demo (like boxes) will be much more varied now and the new demo will introduce other platform types (tires, sand bags, even complete destroyed car).

Game engine got updates too, although they are not very visible, they are there and make the gameplay better.

Early May I will post pictures of the new backgrounds, with hopefully the demo and new video and the Kickstarter by the end of May, or June latest.

Retrogamer talked about the game on it's latest issue 154. Thank you very much Darran and Jason!

Here is a snap of the article:

I'd like to talk about the enhancements that Shadow Gangs is undergoing now. Biggest of all being the new backgrounds.
All I can say is that the new backgrounds compared to the old ones is like night and day.

I was wondering why I didn't get the backgrounds in a great shape from the start of Shadow Gangs, instead of having to digest people feedback on the game to finally come the realisation that there is better alternatives to the backgrounds.

I think this comes down to 2 things:
- I put the biggest emphasis on gameplay, and character AI's
- For me the backgrounds looked all right if they were compared with Shinobi arcade backgrounds! because Shinobi arcade backgrounds were not it's biggest asset.

Once I switched from seeing in Shinobi arcade the target backgrounds I am looking for, I started seeing that with taking other games as reference, Shadow Gangs backgrounds had much to desire.

I am now working with some incredible background artists, and the new Shadow Gangs backgrounds are going to impress.

Other additions I made are a new attack type for the knifeman.
There will be two knifemans on the game, the orange one, and the new purple knifeman which is stronger and has a new deadly flying attack that will remind you of Final Fight.
I'll make sure to have it recorded in the next upcoming video.

I thought I'll give a new update, as Shadow Gangs is is being updated everyday to make it a better game.
One of the enhancements that are being worked on now are the new backgrounds, they look nothing like the earlier ones, are very detailed and will have an extra layer of Parallax!

The new backs will look good, and the extra parallax layer will add a lot of atmosphere to the game.

Programming side, I kept enhancing the game, fixing bugs and AI, cleaning up the game code and optimising the engine.
Some of the fixes are the camera switching which is better now, prone guys will now stand up if you are near them (but not all of them! the nut types will not budge until you bounce on them!).

I will be adding more checkpoints in the demo level, and award people that don't use shurikens and magic with extra points.

I will be adding a new kifeman type which has a news special attack.

A new music track is being worked on, it will have big influence from Queen...I didn't listen to it yet, but I am sure the musician will deliver.

I leave you with Dan in ninja form.
The game is moving forward, Shadow Gangs is still alive and will be coming soon!