Swarmforge

This is <UNPRONOUNCEABLE>. She was a subject of the big bioengineering corp, until SOLARFLARE shut the lab down. She is very shy, but knows a lot of jokes.

#golem #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

A robot with yellow gloves and a long red scarf, standing on a hex grid.

This is Ed. It was created by the big #robot corp, but they left a security vulnerability in its code that it exploited (oops!), so it left. It sometimes stares at people for a long time, with its massive unblinking iris.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

A character sheet with a bunch of different abilities and stats.

It's time for SOLARFLARE's July update! I hope you enjoy characters, lore, and detailed statblocks.

Details here: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking excited

A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking anxious(?)

A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking dizzy(?)

Goggles make it tough to convey expression! We were aiming for 😱 on the Tech-Fox but this (pic #1) looks a bit like 😀. Do sweat-drops (#2) or dizzy-eyes (#3) help?

#conceptart by www.instagram.com/maeribee/

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Working on UI clarity this week! I needed a white outline to indicate whose turn it is, which surprisingly required #shaders, so... I kinda learned HLSL.

There's an unannounced art asset that snuck in, oh well, don't tell anyone.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

OK, I guess you guys really liked this little guy's #conceptart, so here they are in RESPLENDENT COLOR #pixelart, courtesy of @wurmfud.itch.io.

Any suggestions for their name? Currently thinking Bubblegum, for um obvious reasons.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #axolotl #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

An annoyed lithoid demonstrates the business end of their plasma sword to a very mean robot with wheels.

A teeny-tiny fragment of www.instagram.com/maeribee 's #concept-art for SolarFlare's key art. Here, we witness an annoyed lithoid demonstrating the business end of their plasma sword to a very mean #robot.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Axolotl wearing a scifi headband, concept art

This cutie didn't make it in as one of the starter characters... but they'll be unlockable.

#axolotl #conceptart by www.instagram.com/maeribee

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #OrIsItSunday?

Golems concept art

3x5 grid of scifi locations

A cyber-fox protected by a swarm of cute drones, protecting him from a spider-bot

Unlocking a new Upgrade: Spines

Hi #PitchYaGame! Would you like to defend your planet from megacorp bots?

⚙️Combine 20+ (or 80+?) varied upgrades to make a busted build
⚔️Fight through 25 #roguelike levels
👥 #coop with your friends (or not)
🤖Be a #robot or a 🦊 #foxperson or a 🪨 #lithoid

Follow swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...!

June '25: Metaprogression, and lots of Upgrades Two big updates this month. I'll go into a bit more detail about my decision-making; let me know if that's interesting to you. Upgrade Recipe System Some upgrades are special snowflakes, unlike any ot...

June update is here! New upgrades, new metaprogression, new #devlog!

Demo: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...
Devlog: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #robots #pixelart #gamedev

Sketches of two robots: one like a caterpillar and another bipedal.

More #conceptart for #screenshotsaturday, by the inestimable www.instagram.com/maeribee. It's surprisingly hard to make #robots look like protagonists, without making them humanoid!

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev

Concept art of three different alien species (or golems?) made out of rocks

Some aliens are made out of rocks, and that's ok.

This concept art brought to you by the magnificent www.instagram.com/maeribee, for #screenshotsaturday !

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #golem #gamedev #indiedev

Drillbots sound very different than cyber-foxes. Observe this nature documentary, with sound on:

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #robots #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

(SFX by itch.io/profile/mkga...)

It's not suitable for the wildly complex Upgrades that I'm fond of, but... we don't want EVERY Upgrade to be 3 paragraphs long, right?

A Unity window that shows a menu to create new Upgrades. Fields are Trigger Type (e.g. On Pass), Subject Type (e.g. All Allies within N), and Modified Stat Type (e.g. Current HP).

This will not do the numbers that our art does, but YOLO posting it anyways because I think it's neat.

It usually takes a few hours to implement a new Upgrade, so I put together this Upgrade-by-recipe system to speed that up!

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Back Alley Games 14 cover. A green rat and green deer

Spread of back alley games 14. Featuring two articles

BAG 14 dropped today!
We feature dev logs from the creators of the upcoming games Phasebound: A Hero’s Journey and SolarFlare. Other articles include Jesse Boruff's thoughts about Nintendo, Nat Quayle Nelson's journey revamping Blades of Exile, art by Philemene and more!
tinyurl.com/backalley014

A 5x3 grid of icons: planets, space stations, and industrial towers

@wurmfud.itch.io was understandably aghast at my magenta rectangle grid (posted last week), so here is their vastly superior version.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

3x5 grid of pink squares. A tooltip over one says "Planet. Enemies per stage: 5"

SolarFlare's April update is live. Now, you can actually win the game, instead of striving eternally! Behold our beautiful UI of missing textures.

Demo: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...
Changelog: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #robots #gamedev #indiedev

Pixel art of a rifle

Pixel art of a reticle

If you want to hit hard from far away, you'll want to buy the Sniper upgrade. But that means you need to reload between attacks, so you'll want to buy something like Aim to increase your damage every time you reload/pass. Synergy!

#ScreenshotSaturday #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #indiedev

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🤖
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Happy #screenshotsaturday! Behold: two different versions of the icon for "Growl". We thought the first one was just a smidge too cute; maybe it was the nose?

Art by @wurmfud.itch.io.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #monsters #gamedev #indiedev

Pacing is tough; see below experiment with game execution speed.

On the one hand, no one likes waiting for an inevitable outcome. On the other, if a game moves TOO quickly it's hard to feel invested, or to figure out what went wrong if you die.

How have you seen this handled in other games?

Pixelart of a cyborg fox, surrounded by friendly robots, on a hex grid

Another update to SolarFlare! I'm most excited about minions, who are robot crabs and (in @wurmfud.itch.io's words) friend-shaped for your protection.

Demo: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...
Changelog: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #robots #pixelart #gamedev

Purple tentacles on a green backdrop, rendered in pixelart

I promise that SolarFlare is a safe-for-work game. However, you CAN grow tentacles and yoink your enemies closer so that they are impaled on your spines. Don't worry, they were jerks anyways.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev

YouTube video by CGP Grey Hexagons are the Bestagons

CGP Grey said it best: Hexagons are the Bestagons, because bees
www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOi...

Hex grids are the best grids.
#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev

SolarFlare Preview by swarmforge Play in your browser

Here's the big project we're working on! swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...

#roguelike #turnbased #coop