great game! My highest score was 1164290 :)
Author Comments
"Steel Surge: Revolution" is a vertical scrolling shmup, learning towards a bullet hell style while still having unique mechanics. Developed in Pico 8, the game attempts to push the limits of the system to the maximum filling the screen with bullets, keeping a fast paced action and sounding a headbanging soundtrack.
Controls
- Arrow Keys: Move
- Z: Shoot
- X: Engage/Disengage Focus Mode - Drop/Pick the option.
- P: Pause/Menu(Pico8)
Steel Surge features a style system for scoring that rewards risk and careful planning. Kill Them Fast, Kill Them Close. Misdirect, Set Up and Style On those who seek to destroy you. Reach the mothership and make it to the other side.
This version of Steel Surge is a Demo / Early Access Version, but functions as a standalone version as well. It includes two modes, one unlocked after beating the game for the first time (activated on the options menu) which is not for the faint of heart. Tell me your score if you feel proud of enough of it.
Credits to: LouieChamp, short_demand, aktane, Krystman (and the Lazy Devs Academy's Shmup Tutorial and the Discord Community).
such a great game, you should make more of these, the enemies and highscore systems are the best, gameplay too,keep going, you are doing a great job :)
Wow, this is quite the cool SHMUP! Overall it feels very well-done in all respects: great enemy and boss design with lots of variety, well-paced wave structure, juicy explosive graphics, a nice bonus overclocked mode, and to top it off, a novel strategy of deploying your drone for focus fire. It's not exactly the most innovative SHMUP as it is pretty bog-standard in terms of mechanics with not much new, but it hits all the right notes for a good experience nonetheless: looking forward to seeing this built upon!
If I were to have any feedback, it would be that I did find the respawn mechanic a bit disorientating in how fast you recover, but it was nice in its own way. Rather, the part I want to focus on is the 'style' system, which I feel is neat since it pushes you to play in risky interesting ways, but feels bad that it is just relegated to points which can be easily ignored by players. Instead, it might be nice if doing stylish things actually gives you a tangible benefit, such as powering you up or giving you a bomb move if you keep it up. Even if you don't want to do that, at the very least, it'd be nice if you gain lives if you get points, meaning being stylish can get you lives quicker. Such things would increase player engagement and make the experience more unique and memorable, I think.
LokiStrikerDev responds:
Thank you for the lengthy feedback! Regarding scoring/style: It is definitely part of my focus to introduce extends/lives as part of scoring with the aim of making "scoring" a viable method for survival as well. The style system was introduced on the last 1/4 of development as it was more of a feedback to already existing systems. The idea it to keep developing this mechanic more and more throughout the stages, introducing both alternative score methods and also new ones. Beyond lives, I'm unsure if I want to introduce another reward method, but Ill leave that door open for seeing if something can go there.
I'm trying to stick closer to a ChoRenSha-type experience, so I'm trying to innovate in little ways while still holding true to a shmup experience with a fresh/evocative style. Once the game is closer to release, Ill be posting an additional demo, to see if I'm hitting all the right notes with the direction I'm taking. Thank you for the comment!
WOW! its a very chaotic game but i like it! very fun gameplay ngl!
Bullet hell flash, Graphics are pixels lit up brightly. You should allow the player the chance to reconfigure your controls. One of the better demos that I have scene.
Credits & Info
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Frontpaged January 17, 2024
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Daily 3rd Place January 18, 2024