For a few years now we've been working on this project and it's currently still in early access on Steam.
Check it out on Steam
The game is called BroodStar, it's a roguelite SHMUP with a heavy emphasis on having very different playthroughs, due to how the upgrade system and randomization works.
If I had to compare the upgrade system to something, I guess the Binding of Isaac would be a good example, you can expect similar sorts of crazy combos and synergies.
There are 160 upgrades in the game right now, with at least 200 planned, I'm hoping to introduce as much as I can.
The levels as you can expect are also randomly generated, we have several bosses and boss variations for each stage (a lot of them are still in the works). The gameplay is also shaken up a bit by random events throughout the stages.
Difficulty wise it's not really a hard game, especially compared to what the SHMUP and bullet hell genre has to offer, and the difficulty can also vary greatly based on what sort of run you get as you can imagine.
But we have a few challenge stages and an additional difficulty option planned.
Mechanically the game is also a bit different from your standard SHMUP. You have a health bar, a fuel bar and additional lives.
Fuel is used for dodging, which provides invincibility for a short time, this is an important mechanic in the game as there are quite a few patterns that demand you use the dodge well.
Over the course of each stage enemies and the boss of the stage will drop coins, these coins can be used to purchase "Modules", which provide very varying kinds of upgrades to your ship.
These can be anything from passives, stat upgrades, active items, drones, weapon modifiers etc.
Modules and Coins can also be gained based on what type of event appears in the stage.
The scoring system is very simple, however it still requires you to play well, so having a good build won't completely trivialize it.
Each time you kill an enemy the score multiplier goes up by 0.1x and when you get hit it goes down by 0.2x
Up to a maximum of 3x and a minimum of 1x.
I have also recently introduced a time bonus for killing bosses as fast as you can.
As I mentioned the game is still in early access and we have a ton of content and features planned.
Let me know what you guys think about the whole approach we took and if you decide to buy it, how you liked it.
I appreciate every and all feedback I get.
To close this off, here are a few screenshots:
