Prismidia: Spirit of the Rift - a new 2D bullet hell

[fruitbatsalad]

Hi all,

This is my first post here about our project. My wife and I have been making a bullet hell shmup, and we just posted our first playable demo on Itch. It's still a work in progress, so we're calling this an alpha demo. We'd love to get feedback from the shmup community!

If you watch the trailer, then it won't come as a big surprise that I'm a fan of Cave. My favorites include Mushi Futari, Espgaluda, and DDP Daioujou. We're also taking inspiration from games like RayForce, Batsugun, Eschatos, and lots of other stuff.

The finished game will be released on Steam, but we're doing this alpha demo on Itch. This demo has 2 stages, and we're planning for the full game to have 7.

We still have a long way to go, but this seemed like a good point to have people test it and get feedback. Tell us what you like or don't like! And please let me know if there are any crashes or tech issues. Thanks!

* Demo on Itch: https://chaindamagegames.itch.io/prismi ... alpha-demo

* Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3595820

* Trailer on Youtube: https://youtu.be/iDcQng_em1Q (updated June 2026)

[To Far Away Times]

This looks real good.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Any plans to release a Steam demo of Prismidia? And does it run on a Steam Deck setup?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[fruitbatsalad]

Any plans to release a Steam demo of Prismidia? And does it run on a Steam Deck setup?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

We'd like to do a Steam demo eventually, when the game is closer to finished. For now, I like Itch because it's a little more under the radar while we're testing out features.

We don't own a Steam Deck, but I tested an earlier build on a friend's Steam Deck and it ran great! I haven't had a chance to test this version, but I think it should still run well. I'm planning to code in some Steam Deck functionality later. Basically, I'm going to change the settings menus to be more appropriate when you're running on Steam Deck. I'll aim to have it Steam Deck verified by the time the game is finished.

[Nahar]

The game looks awesome. I'm very eager to try it!

[CaptainKraken]

This is a really strong start.
I spent an hour or so with it.

The scoring tied to the bomb is a great risk/reward thing.
I really like the art too; the enemies are all distinct and well-animated.
The first boss extending its arms to the music is a nice touch

I was able to do a no-miss of the demo on Ultra mode, which was quite satisfying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNlCgOpryks

One thing I noticed which may potentially be a criticism is the second boss's fast wave pattern seems to wall me every other time? (I practiced this boss quite a bit) Maybe I was just reading it wrong; in my video there might have been a path to my right but I didn't see it so I bombed. It's not the biggest deal especially since the bomb is there and the other patterns are very consistent.

But overall, excellent work. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
Good on ya for not compromising to AI, assuming that's an honest disclaimer

[Verticen]

I played on a Steam Deck through Proton and did not notice any performance issues. Never noticed the FPS counter drop bellow 60 during gameplay.

The default controls are fine.
L/R triggers behave to be mapped to Left/Right directions;(?) idk if this was done in the interest of compatibility with unusual joypads, but its something I never encountered before on the Steam Deck. I often map the autofire button to Right trigger, but couldn’t in this case.

Game has alright challenge and pacing.
The scoring/weapon mechanic was enjoyable after getting the hang of it.

I think your visuals are above average quality.

the enemies are all distinct and well-animated.

^+1
I found the info panels nifty and easy to configure. The bullet counter meter panel is arguably the most useful of the panels, since it can be used to guess when is the ideal time to bomb to achieve the largest bullet cancels.

I would describe the music as okay, but unremarkable. It isn’t grading or “bad”, but it didn’t seem memorable or “catchy” either. Feels somewhat lackluster in comparison to the quality of the visual presentation and gameplay.

Bugs(?):
If the player is killed and immediately pauses, the screen will still horizontal pan to the center of the stage while the game is paused. This doesn’t effect gameplay all that much, but might potentially de-sync replays(?), idk, just seems like unintended behavior.

Prismidia Demo August 2025 v B
Difficulty	Best Score
Normal	99130
Expert	109410
Ultra	120010

[alastair jack]

Only tried briefly:

The graphics are beautiful! Movement and shot felt good. Well done

But doesn't display properly on my monitor at all:

[TerminalInternet]

Things looks so cool, Pixel art and retro aspect, Indie bullet-hell game type of gameplay style, So very good.

[fruitbatsalad]

Hey all, just wanted to drop in and say thanks for the feedback! I didn't realize that I forgot to turn on notifications for replies, so I'm super late on seeing some of this. I just turned on notifications, so I should be better about seeing replies now.

The graphics are beautiful! Movement and shot felt good. Well done

But doesn't display properly on my monitor at all:

Thanks for the bug report! It looks like your desktop is running at 2160x3840 resolution in a portrait orientation. I thought I tested that possibility, but I must have missed it. I made a note of this and will look into it.

[fruitbatsalad]

We're making progress on our game, and we just posted a new trailer:

https://youtu.be/iDcQng_em1Q

Development is slow because I've been busy with my day job, but I wanted to let everyone know that we're making progress!