Astral Defense



Hello!

First of all, my name is fedellen and I'm a master lurker of these forums. All of the resources and information on these forums being available at the touch of Google Search -> "stencyl [stuff and things]" is why I'm an Indie Game Developer today. I'd very much like to thank everyone who has participated in problem solving and other helpful advice on these forums.

I'm releasing my solely developed and first indie title, Astral Defense, today! A tiny procedurally generated space shoot em up; basically Galaga in your pocket, from a Pixel Artist. Developed using Aseprite, Stencyl, BFXR, Famitracker, and Audacity.

Release Trailer

Astral Defense is a tiny pixel art space shooter designed for mobile. Each wave randomly generated and endlessly scaling with difficulty. Collect power-ups and conserve special ammo for more troublesome Alien Vessels. Inspired by retro arcade classics such as Galaga.



The majority of this game I made in under a week; a personal Game Jam of sorts. Previously I had been working on our currently on hold 2D Platformer title, The Adventures of Duck Guy. Daunted with the upcoming task of Animation, Level Design, and World Building for our Ice and Magma zones, I wanted to make a game. Felt like I had learned enough about programming with Stencyl over the last 7 months to release a game with a more limited scope.

My Google Doc titled, 'Space Runner Ideas', is littered with tons of potential features and code blerbs about making those features function. All of which slashed down and labeled 'Feature Creep.' Daily Chests, Skins, Obstacles, Special Ammo, Boss Waves, Level Skips, Ammo Boosts I just wanted to get a game under my belt, although many of these features I still intend to add to future versions after I add them to future projects; copy paste, copy paste, copy paste :D

The Features that did make it:
  • Six unique Enemy Vessels
  • Endless Waves of Scaling Procedural Generation
  • Shields and Ship Power-Ups
  • Retro Themed Art, Sound, and Chiptune
  • Three Special Ammo Types



We're now Pixel Pajama Studios, a tiny indie game studio based in Minnesota, USA. Two pixel artists just looking for a good hobby to do during our Son's naps -- what better than making games? Although I did solely develop this game, my business and life partner, abonbon, had heavy impact on design and supported me every step of the way.



Download Astral Defense for free on the App Store or Google Play! PC and Mac versions are also available for USD 2.99 on Itch.io.

App Store: https://apple.co/2JukfE9
Google Play: https://bit.ly/2LMaaUl
Itch.io: https://bit.ly/2xFB0oX

Thanks so much for reading!

fedellen, Pixel Pajama Studios

o/

We've been fortunate enough to receive Press coverage on our game!

PocketGamer

GamesPress

Happy Gamer

Letem světem Applem

Gamasutra Press Release

I shared my experience and overall marketing strategies on r/gamedev for any that are interested.

o/


« Last Edit: July 16, 2019, 06:45:01 pm by PixelPajamaStudios »

colburt187

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Looks nice! downloading now.

Bombini

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Very cool cute shooter!
I would perefer to move the ship with my finger but very good job!
I like the effect when stuff appears a lot.

I also realy enjoyed reading your post /marketing.

Cheers!

Thanks!

There is an arrow mode control option in the menu if that is what you mean, if not I'm very open to adding more control methods as  we're working on a similar title right now :D

Bombini

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There is an arrow mode control option in the menu if that is what you mean

Yes i know but my advice is to go with either the arrows as default (more comment then tilting) or you go with the (from what i saw) the most commen control which is using your finger like in 1945. I play a lot of these games on mobile and the msot succesful use this control.

We've had a ton of positive feedback on the tilt controls including certain articles referring to it as zero-g style controls, so I'm probably going to leave that in as the default control option. I went and downloaded 1945 and I think can do a similar control method without using their auto firing mechanic by having you control horizontally from the bottom portion of the screen.

Thanks for the great suggestion!