Killon (Steam) - now available

[FunktionJCB]

Killon, a new indie shmup «Inspired by 90s shooters like Aleste, Truxton and Batsugun» is out now on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2520560/Killon/

The game features 16-bit aesthetics (the borders even mimic a SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis ), various modes, and online leaderboards.

[SavagePencil]

I would challenge the "16-bit aesthetics" part there. Although it does look like it leans heavily on the fixed EGA palette.

[FunktionJCB]

I would challenge the "16-bit aesthetics" part there. Although it does look like it leans heavily on the fixed EGA palette.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, in terms of visuals.

Some elements remind me of games I played on the Amiga, others would be more at home in, say, the Turbografx (that kind of frontier where things look a bit better than 8-bit, but not quite 16-bit).

[SavagePencil]

To me it looks like "what if we could do an 8-bit Aleste with no sprite limits, but let's tie our hand behind our back in terms of palette?"

[-Fish-]

Purchased and played this yesterday. Never have I been so quick to hit fhe refund button in 18 years on Steam. Wouldn't even know where to start with my complaints.

[FunktionJCB]

Purchased and played this yesterday. Never have I been so quick to hit fhe refund button in 18 years on Steam. Wouldn't even know where to start with my complaints.

Sorry to hear it.

I'm yet to try it (it's an insane period of game releases, so I have to skip some stuff; just today, between games and DLCs, I ended up with 10 new purchases ), so I was hoping to read some impressions on the game. Considering your feedback, consider me officially "scared off" buying it.

Is it that bad?

[-Fish-]

Purchased and played this yesterday. Never have I been so quick to hit fhe refund button in 18 years on Steam. Wouldn't even know where to start with my complaints.

Sorry to hear it.

I'm yet to try it (it's an insane period of game releases, so I have to skip some stuff; just today, between games and DLCs, I ended up with 10 new purchases ), so I was hoping to read some impressions on the game. Considering your feedback, consider me officially "scared off" buying it.

Is it that bad?

I'm generally a laid back and pretty forgiving person. I also don't leave negative reviews because i realize devs generally make games out of passion.

But yes, in this case it is that bad. There is nothing redeeming about it unfortunately.

[FunktionJCB]

But yes, in this case it is that bad. There is nothing redeeming about it unfortunately.

Too bad.
I always hope for the best, and love being positively surprised with smaller projects, since a lot of cool stuff being made frequently goes unnoticed (Gana Blade, for example, was a positive surprise).
Of course, sometimes the oppositive happens, and you get a complete mess of a game.

You win some and you lose some.

[clippa]

Yeah, I only managed to get to stage 2 after 50 minutes play. It's absolutely brutal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBU8tnRyFuQ

My run ended when I got shot up the arse by an enemy who'd disappeared off the bottom of the screen :S
The steam page says that it's "For Beginners", which is just ridiculous.
It's janky as hell, and has lots of issues, but it's hard to tell if they're "bugs" or if it's all intentional and exactly how the dev wanted it to be.

I think I saw an option to increase the speed of your ship so I'll try that next time.

[FunktionJCB]

Thank you for the footage.

Damn, that final section of the clip is hectic, with bullets coming from everywhere. Beginner friendly?!

[clippa]

Being able to crash into the ship that you spawn from is just evil!
There's your beginner friendly stage 2!

https://streamable.com/imak36

It seems like the enemies are more aggressive the more aggressive you are, so you have an easier time of it staying low down at the bottom of the screen and playing it safe.
I'm not sure if I'm having fun but there's something that keeps drawing me back

[-Fish-]

Being able to crash into the ship that you spawn from is just evil!
There's your beginner friendly stage 2!

https://streamable.com/imak36

It seems like the enemies are more aggressive the more aggressive you are, so you have an easier time of it staying low down at the bottom of the screen and playing it safe.
I'm not sure if I'm having fun but there's something that keeps drawing me back

Yeah it's not fun at all. But I could see someone getting addicted to just trying to survive.

The game is definitely jank from the pixel art to the animations to the SFX and more lol.

[-Fish-]

I may of made a mistake with this one and judged it too quickly. Decided to try it again and oddly enough it becomes enjoyable just to see how far you can go. It is brutal though but i think that may be the appeal. Not sure if "fun" is part of the equation though. Unless you feels as if fun is smacking yourself in the balls with a hammer.

[RUOK]

Hi there I just played your game it looks attractive with a kind of xevious, staforce vibe. Gameplay wise I like the enemies and that flame thrower enemy is quite cool. My main criticism is that I had to treat the game almost as if I am doing a passive run, powering up seems unbalanced. Perhaps the base weapon should be spread or slightly stronger. Thanks for your efforts, oh also the intro cinematic is dope.

[FunktionJCB]

Hi there I just played your game

Just a quick note, to clarify things: I didn't make the game, I just posted about it, after coming across its page on Steam.

[RUOK]

Ah my apologies I misunderstood. I may spend more time with this today, I was thinking about it away from my PC so it may be better than I think

[kaffaboi]

Tempted but looks like abandonware. Worth buying?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Tempted but looks like abandonware.

A game that's not even a year old looks like abandonware...?

It looks like a cute indie release, the title screen's nice, though the collectable items/gems are a bit hard to distinguish from enemies and other background elements. It's very colourful like an Aleste game, but I'm not entirely sure about the special weapons having limited ammo. All the reviews are positive, so it can't be that bad. Boils down to if 14 bucks or so for a small indie shmup is too rich for your taste I guess? Cheaper than the price of a movie ticket and longer lasting, though.