... to answer the question...
Yes, it pretty much is another bullet-heaven game. It has the same core gameplay loop with slight alterations in an attempt to make it a more refreshing experience to all you bullet-heaven fans.
Why this genre? Isn't it crowded enough?
As a big fan of the genre myself, I had so much fun playing similar games. I can think 3 games that got me into the genre; Vampire Survivors, Mars Survivors (mobile) and DRG-Survivor. When I played those games, I had a ton of ideas that I wished were in those games and I hadn't started my game development journey yet. So when I finally did get into gamedev, I decided that I'll keep my first game simple but also make something that I genuinely would enjoy making, and playing.
It's been a year since we started making Survivesmith and a lot more bullet-heaven games have come out within that period. I knew the genre was going to be such a massive hit after the rise of Vampire Survivors, and I hoped that I could release my own game before the market becomes crowded with hundreds of similar games. But since we're already a bit late to turn back, I decided to take a step back on making 'yet another reverse-bullet-hell' and invest more time into making this a little more appealing to the fans of the genre.
What I love about similar games I've played
Ever since I got into the bullet-heaven genre, I have played over 10+ games with similar gameplay loops. They all had their own unique art styles and their own twists. But besides that, they all shared something similar: they kept you engaged for the full length of the run without you ever having to look at the clock. It's a (dangerously) addictive type of gameplay loop where you jump into the game, slay horde after a horde until you make a wrong upgrade choice or a wrong turn, upgrade permanent stats, unlock new characters or weapons, and jump right back in with the hope of 'surviving just a little bit longer'.
It's a simple yet very rewarding gameplay loop. And I don't want to stray away from that.
What is Survivesmith doing differently?
I don't want to exaggerate on unfinished features of our game and make it sound like Survivesmith is different than every other bullet-heaven out there, but I'll tell you what it has and what each of those 'new' features try to achieve.
- Pre-select loadouts: Unlike every similar game I've played so far, none of them gave you the ability to pre-select the entire loadout for a run before the game started. In Survivesmith, you get to pick many different equipment and attachments for your weapons before starting a run. But the catch is that you don't get to decide when and in which order you're going to unlock your selected equipment. Still, everything you get is from the pool of equipment that YOU have selected. No banishes, skips, or things like that.
- Forge your weapons: On release, Survivesmith will feature 3-4 different unique weapon categories. For each category, there will be a unique weapon part system. You will be able to unlock, craft and combine parts and create unique weapons for each playable character. These categories include Magazine-based weapons (mainly standard guns), Melee weapons (swords, axes, battle-hammers, etc.), Single-shot weapons (snipers, bows, crossbows, etc.) and Charge-based weapons (laser guns, and all kinds of futuristic and sci-fi weapons). You will be able to combine different weapon parts from one category and assemble a weapon of your choice.
- Biome Hazards: Levels in Survivesmith are called "Biomes" and each biome has its own hazard. The forest has rains, the desert has sandstorms, the glacial biome has snowstorms and the magma biome has eruptions. These hazards will occur from time to time and affect both you and the enemies (except for enemies native to the biome). This will add an extra layer of excitement on top of the standard enemy waves.
Why should you play Survivesmith?
I am a fan of the genre, and I know what makes the genre fun. When the developer is a fan, you know that they will try their best. So I'm asking you to give the game a try, see if there's anything that hits different, and forge the game with us to make it a game that you'd want to invest time in.
Thank you for reading!
-MaRK