What is Flutter Bombs?
Flutter Bombs is a nature themed top-down twin-stick shooter with a unique twist on the typical twin-stick shooter. There are 10 different butterfly groves that players can unlock with each grove being based on a unique wingset theme. With unique wingsets comes unique bomb types. Some bombs explode instantly, while some are delayed but have a much more powerful explosion. Some bombs linger around for a bit and damage enemies over time.
OK, so what’s the ‘twist’ that makes this twin-stick unique?
Nectar. Lots and lots of nectar. Well...actually not lots. But that’s the point. Nectar is a limited resource, but is needed to shoot nectar guns for air-to-air combat, and nectar bombs for air-to-ground combat. If players collect nectar when they don’t need it, they will exhaust the board of it’s nectar while running away from enemies completely defenseless as they wait for nectar to respawn. However, if players only collect nectar when they are near-empty, there is plenty of nectar for all! This mechanic creates a pretty fun local coop competitive atmosphere when competing against friends to collect nectar, but working together to fight stronger enemies.
What’s up with the arena-style gameplay?
Each arena in Flutter Bombs is composed of a hex-tile board that is rearranged for each gameplay session. Each hex tile can be either a no-fly zone, a spider spawner, a heavy armor air-based enemy spawner, or a wingset upgrade spawner. Re-arranging these tiles creates a unique gameplay experience each session.
What’s a no-fly zone?
A no-fly zone is a tile that is hazardous for players to fly over. For example, some no-fly zones freeze the player, some explode, and some spawn jumping fish.
Multiplayer?
Yes, and this is encouraged. Flutter Bombs supports up to four local players. The social dynamics of multiplayer Flutter Bombs is pretty fun with players competing to collect nectar when necessary.
What about VR? Everyone’s always asking about VR these days?
Flutter Bombs was originally a landscape study, that eventually became a game study on various platforms including VR. While I haven’t integrated any VR into this build, it’s not out of the question. If there is enough community support, I’d be willing to integrate some older VR studies into the PC version of this game as bonus content for fun.
Why are all the wingset air-to-air guns similar when the bombs are different?
Simply stated, because budget. This is an independent title, and with enough community support, I’d love to give each wingset a unique air-to-air weapon. However, this has a significant impact on gameplay balance, and would require a lot more time to integrate. Since i’m launching into Steam Early Access, there may be an opportunity to create this with enough support.
Hey, why isn’t there a story?
When this project first developed as a landscape study, the concept didn’t really have much of a narrative as it was mostly an academic endeavor to learn more about multi-platform game design. Eventually a story did evolve about a butterfly defending it’s grove, chasing the intruders out of the destroyed grove, getting completely lost, discovering new lands and wingsets, and eventually returning home. When the game turned into a top-down twin-stick shooter, and became more of a ‘sensationalist’ statement on the absurdity of violence, (and yet its very natural existence), the story was removed because my philosophy sort of lead to the thought ‘nature doesn’t need a reason for anything’.
Didn’t you say there was a boss rush?
Yes, and to unlock it, players have to complete the campaign. This also unlocks the credits. The boss rush is pretty tough, but extremely fulfilling to complete. By the last boss or two, i’m typically convulsing with adrenaline at like 10% percent health, and sometimes rage quit if I don’t clear the last boss, but i enjoy revisiting it from time to time.
Did you say clear the campaign? That will take forever!
Nope. Each level can be cleared in about 20min when players get a feel for the flow of the game. The game was designed to be played in 10 to 20 minute increments for gamers that have busy lives, but want to squeeze in some tactical twin-stick action.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. Feel free to reach out with any comments/questions, and i’m looking forward to sharing this project with the Steam Community!