Will you defeat the Swarmlord?

Controls

  • Arrows – Move ship
  • X – Fire blasters 
  • Z – Fire special weapon

Credits

Change log

0.3

  • Updated to a CRT effect that can be turned on and off.
  • Improved hit feedback on the Swarmlord.
  • Added wings to the Swarmlord.
  • Updated title screen with Swarmlord animation and other minor tweaks.
  • Added sway to the background spores.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause an auto shoot right after starting the game from the title screen or when restarting from the game over screen.
  • Some sprite optimization and cleanup.

0.2

  • Special weapon combined with shields, which replaces the extra lives.
  • Special weapon, new function: fires 3 bullets at the cost of one shield.
  • UI for extra lives removed (replaced by shields).
  • UI for special weapon removed since they’re now represented around the ship (they are the shields).
  • UI hint for special weapon moved to bottom left corner and got some new graphic.
  • Boss speed adjustments.
  • Boss bullet speed adjustments.
  • Special weapon now destroys enemy bullets on impact.
  • Added first CRT shader (separate itch page)

0.1

First version, submitted for the Basic Shmup Showcase.



StatusIn development
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(3 total ratings)
AuthorJammigans
GenreShooter, Action
Made withPICO-8
Tags8-Bit, Arcade, PICO-8, Pixel Art, Retro, Shoot 'Em Up, Short, Singleplayer, Space
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Gamepad (any), Touchscreen

Development log

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

What a great tiny shooter!

I just featured it in my bi-weekly 2d-shooter newsletter. Check it out: https://storm-electricity.beehiiv.com/p/swarmed-pico8-battle-garegga

Glad you liked it :) Thank you for the feature!  

So juicy! Great little shmup with a perfect level of challenge for a quick game - I barely survived the swarmlord with just one shield remaining :)

(+1)

Glad to hear that you liked the level of challenge. Thanks for playing, and well done making it through!

(1 edit)

Awesome game! Very impressed with it!

Oh thank you, glad you liked it! :)

Very cool game that manages to feel even smaller than the pico8 usually does! Great enemy design, sprites look very consistent. I know the description mentions spores but it felt like I was inside the blood stream battling a virus. Excellent job, and makes me want to hit X as soon as I die.

One sentence review: "I've never enjoyed being swarmed as much as I have today!"

Thank you for the kind words! It actually is smaller than the usual pico8 screen, I’m using the lowres mode at 64 by 64 pixels for this game. Thank you for that the alternative interpretation too, that could totally work as a theme, the nano-ship. :)

very enjoyable =)

Glad you liked it, thank you!

Would it be possible to make the pico-8 cart available for download?

The code is kinda of a mess at this point. I might put a more polished version up here and/or on Lexaloffle BBS later though.

(+1)

The cart is available for download on the Lexaloffle BBS now: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=50696

Thanks!