itch.io

Hi everyone

I’m working on “Pixel Canyon” - a small arcade shooter inspired by River Raid (Game link at end)

The game is all about flying a small plane through a procedurally generated canyon, killing enemies, collecting power-ups, chasing high scores, and/or progressing through a simple storyline. It’s fast, arcadeish, and intentionaly a bit unforgiving.

I’m doing most of the work myself, with a friend helping out as a tester and graphic support. And some graphic assets where bought from itch community ;D

Core gameplay ideas:

Fuel as pressure

Fuel drains quickly. Fuel pickups are fairly common. However(!) on the default difficulty (which is basically hard ;p) they can be shot down, so fuel is never guaranteed.

Grazing as risk–reward

You can regain fuel and energy by flying very close to enemies or canyon walls. It’s risky. But you can survive without relying entirely on fuel pickups.

SOOOooooo….

Our current problem is:

Fuel deficit/grazing is meant to be a core mechanic, not just a bonus or a hindrence. In many playthroughs it feels intense and rewarding - but sometimes, because of randomess of game, it becomes unreliable or hard to use at all.

So We would love some feedback for this late stage where we feel like we did to much of other stuff and forgot to check if the base stuff is fun xD:

• Does this fuel + grazing combo sound interesting to you?
• Is this the kind of mechanic you’d enjoy learning and mastering?
• Or does it feel too fragile and something that should be droped?

Any thoughts, quick impressions, or similar examples from other games are very welcome.

Link to game: https://maxdemage.itch.io/pixel-canyon

And a screen shot of gameplay - during grazing and with fuel on screen ;)

Hi, I used your music in my game: https://maxdemage.itch.io/pixel-canyon - all credits given ;D

It fitted like a glove! ;>

I just adore those girls! Bought it. Used it. It fitted like it was made for what I had in mind ;D Thanks a lot for such great assets The game: https://maxdemage.itch.io/pixel-canyon

Hi

Pixel Canyon - a nostalgic top-down horizontal shooter - yup.

Ok, I think I’m ready to share it more to the world, so… If you like retro vibes, high-score chasing, some randomness and games that don’t hold your hand - this is for you.

So what is gameplay like: Survival and reflexes. Fly trough canyon, don’t smash into walls, destroy enemies and break through bridges. It should be a challenging experience, but I’ve hidden several mechanics to help skilled players survive longer.

“Grazing”: This is the core risk/reward thingy. If your low on fuel you can fly close to objects and terrain to gather fuel and energy. Playing it safe will only get you so far!

Boss Fights: It’s not just endless flying; there are bosses to take down and some nice story to uncover.

Community Credits: This game was built using assets from local stuff and this place:

• Music: @smellycatcafe (smellycatcafe.itch.io)
• Art: captainskolot.itch.io & free-game-assets.itch.io

I’d love to know what your high score is and if you managed to see the entire story line.

Play it here: https://maxdemage.itch.io/pixel-canyon

If it looks like River Raid, and plays like River Raid… that may be a coincidence. Or may be not ;D

Hi, I used some of those songs as placeholders for my game until I can be rich enough to commission some dedicated. Credits are in game and on itch page.

The game: https://maxdemage.itch.io/pixel-canyon

BTW. Love your work ;D

AWSOME!

Great game, really like the concept. Was wondering why we could shoot but then a giant moth attacked me. 12/10 would kill the moth during a jump again.

You peed on a jam? Its good it was not a peanut butter and jaaaaa~…. i just have a stupid idea for next game!

The red power up. It just does not feel like a power up once you think long enough about it.

Thankyu :)

<3 - Stupid ideas don’t come from nothingness, maybe i was inspired, maybe i wasn’t - hard to tell now. All i can think is i need to s-pee.

Yhea the game did that. It did. Strange game, truly.

Loved it. To bad i also clicked and not hover. Got only to 0.1 of FTE but still, fun little jam game ;D

Great concept, nice graphics, and the “puzzle” core mechanic is there. Meybe the speed up should be a bit more speedup-y. But overall, great mini-jam game :D

I just loved the graphics, so simple, yet so engaging. One of the best in this JAM. If there was some way to regain health - or I’m just dumb ;D

Ohh, i Love the concept and how its done ;D

It just i think that there is no way of actually finishing the level if the bridge to pass is in the top half of screen - there is just not enough time for a normal person to figure out where to put the bridge in first 2-3 seconds of level;

If its lower half then its actually very entertaining figuring out where to put it.

I would love to have like a 3-4 second countdown before the ball starts to move.

Ok, at first: I dig the idea… but then:

• it just not fun ;( i’m only typing, no actual feel of progress;
• you do not explain explicitly what files to download, in help I did not see immediately the ‘tasks’ command; in the description it is stated, but it wasn’t quite obvious;

Maybe the first day could be a bit more show: all commands step by step - you know a bit better tutorial :)

Then again, the game is just about typing ;/ Mhmmm and later pressing tab. I don’t know, for me it just not fun.

(But the technical approach of screen, command line, visuals, progress bars, boss stupid lines, autocomplete and so on - awesome! Props for that!)