Displaying at the Welcome Geek Event
This past week, we displayed Fingeance at Welcome Geek, hosted by Glitch Gaming in Minneapolis. We’d like to thank all of those people who gave our game a chance at the event! It was a blast watching players team up for some fishy fun, as well as a valuable learning experience. Some interesting notes from the event:
- Have you tried using the Goliath Engine other energy regenerating parts? The combination is very strong. One player was able to get a lucky draw with several energy regen augments, and kept the engine running almost constantly!
- Extreme difficulty continues to claim several submarine lives. Can it be beaten? It may help to take a look at our guide for some tips.
- People of various skill levels playing through Fingeance is always refreshing to see. From the saltiest dogs to the greenest of greenhorns, players at the event enjoyed the underwater thrill ride, often making it to the end.
- Firestarter is OP! That bad boy rips through enemies like damp butter. Woe to the team with packed to the brim with them though; movement in shmups is still important, especially without a tanky teammate.
- The art style still impresses people, which is good because we’re planning to add to it in the coming weeks! At the event, our style was compared to a classic game called Fantasy Zone.
Fantasy Zone is an old school shoot ’em up on the NES and Sega Master System. Some folks at the event felt we have a similar art style!
Alpha Demo Update
In preparation for the event we have updated the newest Fingeance Alpha Demo! This update improves the performance of the game during high intensity moments (such as during boss fights). In addition, we’ve added some new content:
- Force Feedback – Feel the rumble of your Bomb Launchers explosion, or the rattle of your ship’s damaged hull
- Part Tuning – Gadgets have generally been generally buffed (in some cases significantly) to increase their overall effectiveness, while cannons are just slightly weaker
- Improved Lighting – Huge boss attacks now have fancy lighting effects, so players will know when to be wary
- Added Parts – Adaptive Armor and Reflector are additional parts purchasable in-game
We’d love to hear how you feel about these additional changes or your opinion of the event if you could make it; you can let us know in the comments here, or on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Right now, you can go try out the first major update to the Fingeance Alpha. It loads up fast, and a playthrough takes 10 minutes. We highly advise that you give it a try.
If you didn’t play our game when it first came out, let me catch you up. Fingeance is a co-op underwater shoot-em-up. Between levels, you can buy equipment and upgrade your ship. The game has a heavy emphasis on boss battles, with mechanics that emphasize teamwork and feel more like MMO raid-bosses than traditional shoot-em-up fodder.
Since our first release in May, we’ve upgraded nearly every aspect of the game. Equipment is better. Enemies are more exciting. Heck, even the menus are more fun. The game also runs faster, and without all the bugs that plagued version 0.01.
So, what’s new?
Equipment
So Much New Stuff. Tripled the number of parts in-game. Added an entire new part category called Augments. They passively make your ship awesome.
Game Changers. Greatly expanded what parts can do. They can now apply buffs and debuffs, grand passive bonuses, and unleash charged abilities.
Showmanship. Added sounds, animations, and particle effects to all Cannons and Gadgets.
Upgrade!!! Stronger equipment will appear as the game unfolds.
Levels and Bosses
Dastardly Deeds. While we reveal no new bosses in this demo, existing bosses have learned several new tricks.
Fiendish Foes. Added a menagerie new small enemies. Created several new chunks (premade battlefields knitted together to form a level).
Bewitching Battlegrounds. Greatly improved our level-building algorithm. Levels are now shorter, more exciting, and better-adapted to your chosen difficulty.
User Interface
An Honest-To-Goodness Functional Interface. We did it! You can buy equipment and choose characters now. It doesn’t feel awful. Hallelujah.
Snappiness. In addition to being functional, the UI looks worlds better. It’s all animated, and the game feels more engaging and alive.
We owe a giant debt to our commenters, our followers on Twitter, and our friends at Glitch Gaming. Their feedback has been invaluable. As just one tiny example, one commenter suggested that our HUD should change color to reflect the health of living players. We tried it out. The difference was MAGICAL. All of a sudden, players could read their HP in their peripheral vision. People can see how close they are to death without looking away from the action, and easily figure out which allies they should heal. This change, obvious in retrospect, was something we totally missed. It’s thanks to readers like you that Fingeance has come as far as it has, so thank you.
To check it out, CLICK HERE.
Get it now:
It’s here at last: the Fingeance Alpha Demo is ready for your enjoyment. Before you dive in, here’s a few suggestions to maximize the fun:
- Controllers – Gamepads are best for a shmup such as this. Keyboard controls are also provided, but not recommended.
Battle the evil underwater enemies as you enact your Fingeance!
- Allies – Fishy foes are less fearful with friends! Fingeance supports up to four players, so bring extra allies with you underwater.
Pick from four furious fish, each with unique cannon and gadgets at their disposal!
- Creativity – The Fingeance Alpha Demo is packaged with many varieties of weapon parts, from the simple shooters to the complex cannons. Feel free to explore different combinations of cannons and gadgets included with this build. Let us know your favorite mixes!
Buy from a huge selection of parts to customize the ship you want!
Thank you for following us this far. We’ve been bursting with anticipation to bring you this demo. Let us know what you think, and be sure to follow us on our blog and Twitter, and like us on Facebook for more Fingeance content!