This game is great thank you! I tried playing with my Switch Pro controller on Windows 10 but the buttons seemed to be mapped wrong. Can someone else try a switch controller and see how it goes?
Very cool game! Lots of this has been said below about the gameplay, sound, vibe, I all agree.
Found a minor bug though. I'm playing on a Windows PC with keyboard. When shooting diagonally the movement does not always work. For instance, when shooting diagonally down to the right, I cannot move right anymore.
that sounds like a very frustrating bug. :( i have tried to reproduce it on two machines but have thus far been unsuccessful. i'll do my best to find it!
This is not a bug per se, it's due to the limitation of number of simultaneous keys able to be pressed on certain rows of certain keyboards. As mentioned above, the ability to rebind should fix this issue as it will allow people to play with different combinations and find the keys that work with their keyboard. I've also seen the issue fixed by coding direct hardware key reading routine.
Bit late, but indeed, I tested it with that site Technostalgic posted and I can confirm my keyboard has the same issue over there, so no bug in your game!
Wow, never knew this, will double check this. I never had any issues with games before though, but I can also not with 100% certainty say that I have played games with 'twin stick setup' lately. Will double check this and inform the dev here.
A lot of laptop keyboards and cheap keyboard have 2 key rollover – meaning you can only guarantee 2 keys being pressed at once. This makes certain games unplayable.
If that’s the issue you’d have to either use a different keyboard or a controller.
Absolutly beautiful game! just put a price on it! haha, i have a question, i like the transition between the stages, but... how did you do that animation!!!!?, i mean just frame by frame or using other method ? i like it very much haha!
Hey. Your game is really amazing, the amount of juice is incredible. I had a lot of fun with it! Could you tell us what software did you use to generate the sound effects (if you made them yourself, that is), and what palette is used for the sprites?
hey! i used a combination of hardware and software synths, Bfxr, and my phone's mic to record sounds. for the ambient track i sampled static from a shortwave radio. mixcraft was my DAW of choice to put them all together.
My man how you make a shooter without SCREENSHAKE?? Thats like the most essential thing for game feel, come on.
Sound is nice i guess, no music. I guess i could recommend "bosca ceoil" (here: https://boscaceoil.net/) if you want to do it completely solo, its free and not too complex yet still allows to make some listenable tracks, though still have to know the basics of it so id suggest to look up a tutorial for it, Brackeys made a good one.
Also dont think i felt any freeze frames (you know when a game like stops for a few miliseconds to add more impact to the action) which is also a minus cuz once again, thats like one of the essential and super easy ways to add GAME FEEL.
Id also suggest to make the friends at least try to avoid danger, even if not like super advanced, cuz like it feels they just walk directly into traps and enemies which is dumb.
Possibly adding some way to move faster could be nice as sometimes it feels like im juuust a bit too slow, maybe like move faster when not firing? Could work imo.
A small neat change would also be to display the controls at the start of the first level so people like me who didnt check the manual dont get too confused.
AAaaand thats all i could think of i guess. Good luck or somethin i dunno.
Loved this game, there's just something about these type of shooters like Smash TV with the focus on "crowd control" that i can't seem to have enough with. The art is gorgeous and the screen effects add a lot to the gameplay
Fantastic game! I love the sound effects and aesthetic, I've been playing for hours now. My current record is 2,462,400, and I got to level 34. Thanks for making this! I'm really excited to see where this game goes!
to be clear about what you are requesting: currently you can pause, select end, return to the menu, and quit from there. are you asking for a dedicated "exit to desktop" button?
thank you for the recommendation! i will check out his music :)
Wow! Such a nice game. It's always nice when even the simplest enemies have their moments to shine! Those little red guys and green scropions violently murdered me at times and it was delightful. Trying to save friends is quite fun aswell.
Really simple yet intricate game. I've only played for an hour, but I like it a lot.
Idk if controller play works as intended; it seemed as is the right stick worked as a macro for keyboard inputs and it's set to only 8 way shooting instead of 360° aiming, which felt unintuitive imo (I played with an SN30pro+, so who knows if it's an isolated issue).
I'll play it more and maybe give some more feedback afterwards. Congrats for making such a beautiful game ;)
PD: have you thought of adding bosses every other stage?
This is super well done! The manual is a great touch as well, the polish is out of this world.
My one critique: I'm not a fan of powerups being tied to score though. Since friends are reset with each death, dying ruins both your score multiplier and your ability to quickly generate powerups. This makes death a punishment both for score attacking players and players just trying to survive. Might just be a difference in philosophy, but I really don't like my chances of survival feeling ruined by a single mistake. Even with the life system, a single death feels like a ruined run, which isn't a great feeling.
this is fantastic feedback, and it's something others have told me as well. dying is super punishing right now and it feels really bad. i have some ideas on how to improve this, but i'm not happy with any of them just yet 🙃
have you considered just making it so friends don't get reset at death? i know it sounds kind of sacrilegious to what a multiplier is supposed to be, but it would be the simplest fix and (imo) wouldn't ruin scoring, it would just make one death less of a disaster. would also have the added benefit of making it easier to tell when your next extra life is after dying.
that'll be my only suggestion because i know backseat game designing can be annoying. i just think this game rocks and could be a super fun and rewarding thing to put a lot of time into with a few minor tweaks. : )
I disagree with your assessment. To me, this is an absolutely brilliant build up and advancement of mechanics made popular in 1982 with the mother and poster child of what twin stick shooters should be, Robotron. The influence is absolutely clear here and makes the right decisions every step of the way. To promote no-death long runs to get greater score is just brilliant. It makes every single risk/reward judgement become even more riskier and rewardier! I love it!
The entire point of risk reward is a split second decision on 'is it worth it' and encouraging the player to take risks for huge reward forces the player to do things they otherwise wouldn't do.
One of the biggest problems with twin stick shooters is 'circle strafe boredom' becomes there's nothing to break the circle strafe. This is done through 'rescue/bonus' items strewn and wandering through the hoards of enemies.
I beg you to reconsider what this mechanic brings and absolutely makes the rescue/bonus mechanic that had not been improved on since 1982 actually IMPROVED. I'm ALWAYS looking to make that Friends number bigger because my points get bigger! And I've died trying to make it bigger even in situations where I thought, 'yeah, i can do this' and NOPE...couldn't. And that feeling of anguish and seeing all the points dry up....man...it makes me take even MORE risks to build it back up!
I LOVE this aspect and I don't agree it should be changed. Whether it was accidental genius or calculated genius, I don't care, I love it, and I vote that it does not change. It's brilliant and does all the right things to make the game harder, without forcing one's hand. This game is FAR easier than Robotron in general if you're just looking at 'staying alive', but this mechanic balances PERFECTLY for score chasing, you make the game harder yourself. And you pay for your mistakes in judgement.
Twin stick shooters aren't about circle strafing. They're about having the fire power to deal with impossible situations and having a reason to put yourself in an impossible situation. Geometry Wars is a circle strafe bore. Satyrn is a damn fine game that breaks the circle strafe intelligently and finally takes the mechanics that nearly everyone who's played it finds Robotron the perfect sweaty palms game and FINALLY pushes it forward.
Props to maybell, I have suggestions for minor changes here and there, but your risk/reward system is definitely not one of them. Keep pressing forward. In my humble opinion, folks that find it too hard have played too much Geometry Wars or Binding of Isaac. They're fine games, but they're they're own thing. I see all you did here and even though it's an iteration on a great game, it's a GOOD iteration and moves in the right direction!
At the end of it all, my one suggestion is top 10 scores. Single high score is no good for this kind of game. Top 10 at least, if not 10 top of the day and top 20 of all time. But I'm fine with everything as it is right now, no changes necessary, I love everything about this. Smash TV failed to improve, and it had Jarvis on the team. Same with Total Carnage...you did it absolutely perfectly, imo. In my opinion, this is proper Robotron II.
Consider yourself a hero, maybell. A winner is YOU.
my gosh, i'm speechless. <3 thank you for this. your passion for the og formula is infections, and now that i've heard both sides i've much to consider!
the main thing i am hoping to avoid is death feeling so insurmountable that people would rather reset instead of pressing forward.
Loving this. You got the magic formula most people miss....you have to force a player to kill themselves by risking their livelihood for points and glory. Fun stuff.
Awesome looking game. I saw on reddit you made it with Godot, which is also cool and makes cross platform really easy! I'd love to check it out if you add a Linux build for it!
This little game is incredibly addictive! :D Graphics, SFX and overall presentation feel very slick and polished.
One minor thing that confused me on my first run is that friends that are alive after all enemies are killed can not be collected. I understand that this is probably done because of balancing reasons but it felt a bit weird and illogical.
Otherwise, this game is a gem. I can see myself playing it whenever I have a few minutes to spare.
hi <3 thank you for the kind words. i agree, that does feel pretty strange. it was done for balance reasons, but i will try to think of something a little less lame. :)
← Return to twin stick shooty
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Frenetic shooter game! Couldn't stop playing it!
It is featured in my Top 5 for this week!
Check my video!
trailers incluye satryn VHS en minuto 1:50
This game is great thank you! I tried playing with my Switch Pro controller on Windows 10 but the buttons seemed to be mapped wrong. Can someone else try a switch controller and see how it goes?
The switch controller doesn't work natively with windows 10. If you want to use it with non-steam games, look up BetterJoy.
Thanks for the info. The controller works in Pico 8, but yeah most other non-Steam games the thing is a mess.
This game could easily be released on steam for 10 bucks with some more enemies, map generation, and a progression system. Good job!
Yo this is fricking sick!
Why is this not on steam for 10$?
Very cool game! Lots of this has been said below about the gameplay, sound, vibe, I all agree.
Found a minor bug though. I'm playing on a Windows PC with keyboard. When shooting diagonally the movement does not always work. For instance, when shooting diagonally down to the right, I cannot move right anymore.
that sounds like a very frustrating bug. :( i have tried to reproduce it on two machines but have thus far been unsuccessful. i'll do my best to find it!
Will try to verify if it's indeed my keyboard as people mention below.
thank goodness the smart people chimed in to help :)
This is not a bug per se, it's due to the
limitation of number of simultaneous keys
able to be pressed on certain rows of certain
keyboards. As mentioned above, the ability
to rebind should fix this issue as it will allow
people to play with different combinations
and find the keys that work with their
keyboard. I've also seen the issue fixed by
coding direct hardware key reading routine.
Bit late, but indeed, I tested it with that site Technostalgic posted and I can confirm my keyboard has the same issue over there, so no bug in your game!
This sounds like a limitation of your hardware, not the game. Some keyboards have limited N-Key-rollover capabilities.
https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/6669/how-do-i-remove-the-limit-on-pc-...
for more info
Wow, never knew this, will double check this. I never had any issues with games before though, but I can also not with 100% certainty say that I have played games with 'twin stick setup' lately. Will double check this and inform the dev here.
To expand on Technostalgic, you can test your rollover of your keyboard with the following webpage and following the examples
http://gadzikowski.com/nkeyrollover.html
A lot of laptop keyboards and cheap keyboard have 2 key rollover – meaning you can only guarantee 2 keys being pressed at once. This makes certain games unplayable. If that’s the issue you’d have to either use a different keyboard or a controller.
Thanks, this site will help me testing it probably :)
Buy this game. Very addictive and fun!
Absolutly beautiful game! just put a price on it! haha, i have a question, i like the transition between the stages, but... how did you do that animation!!!!?, i mean just frame by frame or using other method ? i like it very much haha!
really cool
very good sounds tickle my brain oh so right.
good game
540k my best run, thank you so much for making it!
Game is so great, supported on paypal!
Hey. Your game is really amazing, the amount of juice is incredible. I had a lot of fun with it! Could you tell us what software did you use to generate the sound effects (if you made them yourself, that is), and what palette is used for the sprites?
hey! i used a combination of hardware and software synths, Bfxr, and my phone's mic to record sounds. for the ambient track i sampled static from a shortwave radio. mixcraft was my DAW of choice to put them all together.
also, here is satryn's color palette:
i hope this helps <3
Thanks a lot!
This gives me housemarque vibes for some reason, I love it. My best run was around 300k, hoping to beat it. Thank you for making this!
My man how you make a shooter without SCREENSHAKE?? Thats like the most essential thing for game feel, come on.
Sound is nice i guess, no music. I guess i could recommend "bosca ceoil" (here: https://boscaceoil.net/) if you want to do it completely solo, its free and not too complex yet still allows to make some listenable tracks, though still have to know the basics of it so id suggest to look up a tutorial for it, Brackeys made a good one.
Also dont think i felt any freeze frames (you know when a game like stops for a few miliseconds to add more impact to the action) which is also a minus cuz once again, thats like one of the essential and super easy ways to add GAME FEEL.
Id also suggest to make the friends at least try to avoid danger, even if not like super advanced, cuz like it feels they just walk directly into traps and enemies which is dumb.
Possibly adding some way to move faster could be nice as sometimes it feels like im juuust a bit too slow, maybe like move faster when not firing? Could work imo.
A small neat change would also be to display the controls at the start of the first level so people like me who didnt check the manual dont get too confused.
AAaaand thats all i could think of i guess. Good luck or somethin i dunno.
I heavily vibe with this
New Highscore of 166,610!
Bold of the game to assume I have friends, but kudos to maybell for letting me be the hero of the cosmos.
Loved this game, there's just something about these type of shooters like Smash TV with the focus on "crowd control" that i can't seem to have enough with. The art is gorgeous and the screen effects add a lot to the gameplay
Best game I have played on itcho yet :)
Fantastic game! I love the sound effects and aesthetic, I've been playing for hours now. My current record is 2,462,400, and I got to level 34. Thanks for making this! I'm really excited to see where this game goes!
Your aesthetic is incredible. Love it! “i’m having fun” just lookin at the darn thing!
Well, to be honest, nice game! I like shooters like this , good job!
This is a really fun game. But there is a lack of a mid game exit, maybe add ESC to exit or a button you have to press.
P.S. if you need music talk to Evan king, he makes some good music for games
to be clear about what you are requesting: currently you can pause, select end, return to the menu, and quit from there. are you asking for a dedicated "exit to desktop" button?
thank you for the recommendation! i will check out his music :)
Wow! Such a nice game. It's always nice when even the simplest enemies have their moments to shine! Those little red guys and green scropions violently murdered me at times and it was delightful. Trying to save friends is quite fun aswell.
Really simple yet intricate game. I've only played for an hour, but I like it a lot.
Idk if controller play works as intended; it seemed as is the right stick worked as a macro for keyboard inputs and it's set to only 8 way shooting instead of 360° aiming, which felt unintuitive imo (I played with an SN30pro+, so who knows if it's an isolated issue).
I'll play it more and maybe give some more feedback afterwards. Congrats for making such a beautiful game ;)
PD: have you thought of adding bosses every other stage?
8-directional aiming is very much intended. it's a little different, but it might grow on ya!
I'm in love with this game, I spent hours and hours trying to beat my record and trying to get all the powerups.
It would be nice if the game's scenario changed during the stages, and more maybe a boss in the future, I am waiting for things like that.
I will try to make a donation when I have money
Congratulations on that pearl you created!
Damn, this is really fun. The visuals are top-notch as well ( even if things can get a little hectic lol )
My highest so far is a score of 283,200 and at level 18. Probably be playing this a lot more lol.
I have only one real complaint and that's that the spread of the triple shot is a little too wide
Otherwise, this is a really great game :) . How long did this take to make ?
This is super well done! The manual is a great touch as well, the polish is out of this world.
My one critique: I'm not a fan of powerups being tied to score though. Since friends are reset with each death, dying ruins both your score multiplier and your ability to quickly generate powerups. This makes death a punishment both for score attacking players and players just trying to survive. Might just be a difference in philosophy, but I really don't like my chances of survival feeling ruined by a single mistake. Even with the life system, a single death feels like a ruined run, which isn't a great feeling.
this is fantastic feedback, and it's something others have told me as well. dying is super punishing right now and it feels really bad. i have some ideas on how to improve this, but i'm not happy with any of them just yet 🙃
have you considered just making it so friends don't get reset at death? i know it sounds kind of sacrilegious to what a multiplier is supposed to be, but it would be the simplest fix and (imo) wouldn't ruin scoring, it would just make one death less of a disaster. would also have the added benefit of making it easier to tell when your next extra life is after dying.
that'll be my only suggestion because i know backseat game designing can be annoying. i just think this game rocks and could be a super fun and rewarding thing to put a lot of time into with a few minor tweaks. : )
I disagree with your assessment. To me, this is an absolutely brilliant build up and advancement of mechanics made popular in 1982 with the mother and poster child of what twin stick shooters should be, Robotron. The influence is absolutely clear here and makes the right decisions every step of the way. To promote no-death long runs to get greater score is just brilliant. It makes every single risk/reward judgement become even more riskier and rewardier! I love it!
The entire point of risk reward is a split second decision on 'is it worth it' and encouraging the player to take risks for huge reward forces the player to do things they otherwise wouldn't do.
One of the biggest problems with twin stick shooters is 'circle strafe boredom' becomes there's nothing to break the circle strafe. This is done through 'rescue/bonus' items strewn and wandering through the hoards of enemies.
I beg you to reconsider what this mechanic brings and absolutely makes the rescue/bonus mechanic that had not been improved on since 1982 actually IMPROVED. I'm ALWAYS looking to make that Friends number bigger because my points get bigger! And I've died trying to make it bigger even in situations where I thought, 'yeah, i can do this' and NOPE...couldn't. And that feeling of anguish and seeing all the points dry up....man...it makes me take even MORE risks to build it back up!
I LOVE this aspect and I don't agree it should be changed. Whether it was accidental genius or calculated genius, I don't care, I love it, and I vote that it does not change. It's brilliant and does all the right things to make the game harder, without forcing one's hand. This game is FAR easier than Robotron in general if you're just looking at 'staying alive', but this mechanic balances PERFECTLY for score chasing, you make the game harder yourself. And you pay for your mistakes in judgement.
Twin stick shooters aren't about circle strafing. They're about having the fire power to deal with impossible situations and having a reason to put yourself in an impossible situation. Geometry Wars is a circle strafe bore. Satyrn is a damn fine game that breaks the circle strafe intelligently and finally takes the mechanics that nearly everyone who's played it finds Robotron the perfect sweaty palms game and FINALLY pushes it forward.
Props to maybell, I have suggestions for minor changes here and there, but your risk/reward system is definitely not one of them. Keep pressing forward. In my humble opinion, folks that find it too hard have played too much Geometry Wars or Binding of Isaac. They're fine games, but they're they're own thing. I see all you did here and even though it's an iteration on a great game, it's a GOOD iteration and moves in the right direction!
At the end of it all, my one suggestion is top 10 scores. Single high score is no good for this kind of game. Top 10 at least, if not 10 top of the day and top 20 of all time. But I'm fine with everything as it is right now, no changes necessary, I love everything about this. Smash TV failed to improve, and it had Jarvis on the team. Same with Total Carnage...you did it absolutely perfectly, imo. In my opinion, this is proper Robotron II.
Consider yourself a hero, maybell. A winner is YOU.
my gosh, i'm speechless. <3 thank you for this. your passion for the og formula is infections, and now that i've heard both sides i've much to consider!
the main thing i am hoping to avoid is death feeling so insurmountable that people would rather reset instead of pressing forward.
Loving this. You got the magic formula most people miss....you have to force a player to kill themselves by risking their livelihood for points and glory. Fun stuff.
Utterly lovely. Way to go!
Brilliant! Did a playthrough:
Nice classic feel to it, love how each level is different and the freaking allies attend dumb lol wonderful game!
you are such a crack up! i loved watching how into it you got. you're the best friend the friends could ask for <3
a little feedback: the audio for both games sounded slightly delayed, which i found distracting
Thanks for letting me know maybe I synced it incorrectly. Glad you liked the gameplay
Cool game! Very fun and challenging!
Awesome looking game. I saw on reddit you made it with Godot, which is also cool and makes cross platform really easy! I'd love to check it out if you add a Linux build for it!
done. 😊 let me know how it runs <3
Awesome, will do. Thank you!
Hey. It runs very well :)
what a beautiful game, great job friend, keep it up :)
Saw this for free and liked the art style. . . lost a good chunk of my evening to it.
It's modern robotron 2084 and it is superb :D Definitely would have eaten my pocket money if it was in the arcades and was well worth a donation.
thanks for mentioning it so the search engine crawlers will pick it up. ;) robot ron was a big inspiration. <3
Hiii, I've made a video about the game and wanted to share some feedback about it, hopefully it is useful to you ^^
-The concept of the game is awesome and original.-Visually the game looks really good and it's pretty enjoyable.
-The gameplay mechanics are awesome, they actually feel really polished and solid while being quite fun.
-The enemies and difficulty on the game change and grow in a way that feels really balanced :)
Hopefully this is useful to you :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Regards
This little game is incredibly addictive! :D Graphics, SFX and overall presentation feel very slick and polished.
One minor thing that confused me on my first run is that friends that are alive after all enemies are killed can not be collected. I understand that this is probably done because of balancing reasons but it felt a bit weird and illogical.
Otherwise, this game is a gem. I can see myself playing it whenever I have a few minutes to spare.
hi <3 thank you for the kind words. i agree, that does feel pretty strange. it was done for balance reasons, but i will try to think of something a little less lame. :)
Intense and fun. Great game!
thanks for giving it a whirl. it was fun watching you play :)
cool another game. This should be good. I’ll give it a try this weekend and leave some feedback.
yay, i look forward to hearing your thoughts! :)