GALACTIVORE - 2D Retro action-platformer

GALACTIVORE is a gory 2D retro style action-platformer I´ve been working on sporadically since 2013.

Demo version 4.0 of Galactivore is out now!

This version features three levels, two boss fights and four additional ammo types for your arsenal. It is the most polished version to date and has an auto-saving system as well as controller/game pad support.

This might just be last demo, as the full game is almost finished by now.

I am currently looking for publishers interested in releasing the game.

Download demo version 4.0 here:
Galactivore (demo version) by FulKult (itch.io)

I also made a new trailer for the game:
Trailer

More info:

Website: FulKult (wordpress.com)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/galactivore/


Screenshots:
IMG_4201.png
IMG_4203.png
IMG_4205.png
IMG_4204.png
IMG_4202.png
 
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Hi Kris :)
It looks great indeed, I find that the art-style is simple, yet stands out!
Particularly like the backgrounds and the overall retro style
Music & sounds are awesome (really like the menu's music!)

Gameplay is fun but to be honest I'm under the impression that it feels too slow, that's only my though.
I mean it probably fits the genre.

Cool game overall ! Eager to see the improvements
 
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Hi Kris :)
It looks great indeed, I find that the art-style is simple, yet stands out!
Particularly like the backgrounds and the overall retro style
Music & sounds are awesome (really like the menu's music!)

Gameplay is fun but to be honest I'm under the impression that it feels too slow, that's only my though.
I mean it probably fits the genre.

Cool game overall ! Eager to see the improvements

Thanks for your feedback!

I have thought a bit about the game being too slow myself, and i’m probably gonna change it so the whole game is 60 fps. That might make it feel faster. Otherwise i’ll Just have to speed it up another way.

I think the reason I made it in that pace is that I’m in pal territory and thats how I percieve retro games to be :)
 
R

Red Phantom

Guest
First of all I want to say that this game is already great and has even more potential, I personally enjoyed it very much. I can tell you've put a lot of effort into the game and I think it has payed off.

Things I personally really liked about the game:
  • The red and grey enemy boss character: his graphics, the fight with him and the intro cut scene with him.
  • The gameplay mechanics (crouching, shooting, jumping)
  • The dripping sewer pipes
  • The bat enemies
  • The brown and green big alien enemies.
  • The visuals/graphics in general: red and green HUD, starry sky background, red structures in the background, mountains in the background, platforms. machines, brick and pipe system in background, walls
  • The music
Things I personally didn't like about the game and that I think could improve:
  • Accessibility: I had to get a download link sent to my email to download the game. I suggest putting the game on gamejolt or itch.io to make the download easier and this would also put your game out there a bit more.
  • Main character: This is being really picky but I feel like the main character could have a bit more... character. If he/she could perhaps be a bit more unique/special/interesting in some way. Maybe give him/her an ammo belt or change the colours to something more serious like purple or orange or green (but perhaps these colours might not work with your game)
  • The standing stance of the main character: this is also really picky but it looks a bit awkward with the direction the feet are pointed.
  • The main character's movement speed: I feel as though most people want decently fast paced games (although not too fast). I feel if you increased the player's speed by 1.5x or even just 1.25x this would make the game feel a bit more intense, faster-paced and enjoyable.
  • Difficulty: I think the difficulty could be turned down just slightly considering this is only the first planet of the game: less green liquid slime pits (which cause you to die instantly), more health packs dropped.
Capture2.PNG
 
First of all I want to say that this game is already great and has even more potential, I personally enjoyed it very much. I can tell you've put a lot of effort into the game and I think it has payed off.

Things I personally really liked about the game:
  • The red and grey enemy boss character: his graphics, the fight with him and the intro cut scene with him.
  • The gameplay mechanics (crouching, shooting, jumping)
  • The dripping sewer pipes
  • The bat enemies
  • The brown and green big alien enemies.
  • The visuals/graphics in general: red and green HUD, starry sky background, red structures in the background, mountains in the background, platforms. machines, brick and pipe system in background, walls
  • The music
Things I personally didn't like about the game and that I think could improve:
  • Accessibility: I had to get a download link sent to my email to download the game. I suggest putting the game on gamejolt or itch.io to make the download easier and this would also put your game out there a bit more.
  • Main character: This is being really picky but I feel like the main character could have a bit more... character. If he/she could perhaps be a bit more unique/special/interesting in some way. Maybe give him/her an ammo belt or change the colours to something more serious like purple or orange or green (but perhaps these colours might not work with your game)
  • The standing stance of the main character: this is also really picky but it looks a bit awkward with the direction the feet are pointed.
  • The main character's movement speed: I feel as though most people want decently fast paced games (although not too fast). I feel if you increased the player's speed by 1.5x or even just 1.25x this would make the game feel a bit more intense, faster-paced and enjoyable.
  • Difficulty: I think the difficulty could be turned down just slightly considering this is only the first planet of the game: less green liquid slime pits (which cause you to die instantly), more health packs dropped.
View attachment 28609

Thank you very much! Thats great feedback!

The next iteration Will be easier for sure. I think I know what part of the level youre talking about.

About the other things you mentioned regarding the players look and speed Ive thought about them and plan to have them fixed. Hadnt thought about the feet though, and now I won’t be able to unsee it :)

Thanks for the tip about itch.io. Just learned about the site the other day!
 
Version 1.02 is available!

News in version 1.02:

-New enemy type
-Tweaked levels
-Slight graphical changes
-Added squishy sound
-Faster player movement
-Updated player sprite
-Fixed minor bugs
-Unintentionally added bugs(?)

Download link is in the first post of the thread.
 
Version 2.0 is now available!

Galactivore demo version 2.0 for Windows is now available for download over at Itch.io!

Try it out and let me know what you think! All feedback is appreciated.

News in version 2.0:

-New enemy type
-New level
-New boss
-New ammo type
 

pixeltroid

Member
hey I played your demo. I loved it. It's definitely a game that I'd enjoy. Loved the music and the graphics, especially the character and the enemies. I also liked the attention to detail, such as the circular blade becoming bloodstained when you touch it.

Just a few small issues:

1. Map the movement keys to the left. WASD keys for movement and maybe O, P, K, L for actions. It's much more intuitive.
2. There should have been a save feature. I reached level 2 (the desert) and exited the game and I lost all my progress. For a demo, you'd want people to play as much as they can.

Well done! Keep us posted on your progress!
 
Thank you for taking the time to play the game and getting back to me with your thoughts!

I get that you might want the movement mapped to the left. One of the things on my to do list is including the option to play the game with a controller. My hope is that Will Remedy the control issue for people who might not be comfortable with having the movement controls to the right. Maybe an option for an alternative keyboard mapping would be good as well.

Yes, I Agree that a save function is needed. That is also on my to do list!
 
C

cactus

Guest
This looks great. Has a certain timeless rough quality to it that I like a lot.
 

TobiasNL

Member
Hi there! 2013, dang, you've been on it for quite a while. Got to respect that! I reckon this post will come as a surprise looking at the activity :)

First off, I appreciate the overall solidness of your project. The game feels bug free and very responsive. I can see you have put a lot of effort into the project, it features everything that classic games used to feature. It has that whole package: consistent graphics, interesting backgrounds, solid run & gun gameplay and pretty cool bossess. The unlockable weapons were quite nifty too, I like the phaser shot that phases out enemies (or what was the name?). I definitely had fun playing through the demo.

The game was not without its problems though, so here's my two cents.

Presentation
Looks good, especially your attention to the backdrops. Good use of isometrics there.
Though I have to say that I'm not too keen on (some) of your character designs. They feel ordinary and lack expression, in particular the aliens and the main character. However your boss designs look tight, especially that big robot boss which was (easy) yet awesome. I had a good laugh at the gore and the eye for detail like the little bugs that you can squash are sweet. It felt satisfying to shoot those enemies dead.

Where I like the design of your tilesets it's hard to distinguish which one is actually 'walkable' and which one is not (i.e. train level). As a player you feel cheated once you fall through a platform that looks walkable. Maybe shading them a'little would help.

The story was a good addition in the sense of carrying the progression of the game, yet felt very standard and ordinary ('kill those terrorrists!'). It's not a major problem as these kind of games are mostly about the run & gun gameplay but I think the story could work out better if coupled with more motives and lore, accompanying the characters and thus creating 'expression' as a result.

Audio wise, pretty good! Not sure if you did the music yourself but it fits the retro aesthetics and is of quite high quality. Good mixing/producing there.
Same for the SFX, nothing real fancy but they fit the animations and game events good enough.

Gameplay
Simple yet enjoyable. I think it's a nice touch that the game starts out as a shoot 'm up and then transitions to platforming.
The platforming itself is solid but lacks any form of originality. Some of your level designs were kind of annoying platform wise (especially in the desert with the small vertical platforms which you cannot jump though).
Shooting is fine. Nice touch with the ducking and the enemies that stay in cover, where sometimes different weapons work better in different situations.

Overall it is an enjoyable and solid project, but I feel it lacks originality to really stand out. What is that one thing that your game has and others do not? It feels real standard, from the story to the characters to the gameplay. Other than that you did a terrific job tailoring the different aspects of making a game. Good job!
 
Hi there! 2013, dang, you've been on it for quite a while. Got to respect that! I reckon this post will come as a surprise looking at the activity :)

First off, I appreciate the overall solidness of your project. The game feels bug free and very responsive. I can see you have put a lot of effort into the project, it features everything that classic games used to feature. It has that whole package: consistent graphics, interesting backgrounds, solid run & gun gameplay and pretty cool bossess. The unlockable weapons were quite nifty too, I like the phaser shot that phases out enemies (or what was the name?). I definitely had fun playing through the demo.

The game was not without its problems though, so here's my two cents.

Presentation
Looks good, especially your attention to the backdrops. Good use of isometrics there.
Though I have to say that I'm not too keen on (some) of your character designs. They feel ordinary and lack expression, in particular the aliens and the main character. However your boss designs look tight, especially that big robot boss which was (easy) yet awesome. I had a good laugh at the gore and the eye for detail like the little bugs that you can squash are sweet. It felt satisfying to shoot those enemies dead.

Where I like the design of your tilesets it's hard to distinguish which one is actually 'walkable' and which one is not (i.e. train level). As a player you feel cheated once you fall through a platform that looks walkable. Maybe shading them a'little would help.

The story was a good addition in the sense of carrying the progression of the game, yet felt very standard and ordinary ('kill those terrorrists!'). It's not a major problem as these kind of games are mostly about the run & gun gameplay but I think the story could work out better if coupled with more motives and lore, accompanying the characters and thus creating 'expression' as a result.

Audio wise, pretty good! Not sure if you did the music yourself but it fits the retro aesthetics and is of quite high quality. Good mixing/producing there.
Same for the SFX, nothing real fancy but they fit the animations and game events good enough.

Gameplay
Simple yet enjoyable. I think it's a nice touch that the game starts out as a shoot 'm up and then transitions to platforming.
The platforming itself is solid but lacks any form of originality. Some of your level designs were kind of annoying platform wise (especially in the desert with the small vertical platforms which you cannot jump though).
Shooting is fine. Nice touch with the ducking and the enemies that stay in cover, where sometimes different weapons work better in different situations.

Overall it is an enjoyable and solid project, but I feel it lacks originality to really stand out. What is that one thing that your game has and others do not? It feels real standard, from the story to the characters to the gameplay. Other than that you did a terrific job tailoring the different aspects of making a game. Good job!
Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave such a comprehensive piece of feedback! I really appreciate it!

Belive me, I’ve been thinking a lot about what could make my game stand out. Honestly I haven’t yet come up with what that should be gameplay wize.

The one thing that might make it a bit different than say mega man games or the like is that I’m planning to let the player choose which path to take at the end. This Will determine which last level you get to play and it Will also determine the ending. To get to that part you really have to play the entire game though, and it’s still a work in progress (almost nine years and counting :) ).

Thanks for the feedback regarding the graphics, details and sound. I guess what I’m hoping is to deliver as solid an experience as possible, and feedback like this is invaluable to me. I’ve made most of the music and sound effects myself using various tools (mostly garageband).

The player character has gone through quite a few revisions, though I get that She could be seen as generic. After finishing the remaining levels I might go back and add Something to make her stand out more.

If I fail to come up with that unique feature that’s still missing, my plan is to put even more work into the details to make it as enjoyable as possible. I’m also trying to add lore to it using more subliminal ways like certain graphics or pieces of dialogue.

I’ve tried to adress the problems with the platforms in the desert, as I had trouble with it myself When going back to play that level.

I hadn’t realized that some of the tiles in the train level were unclear whether you could walk on them, so I’ll get on that!
 
So I am finally beginning to wrap this thing up (after almost eleven years!), and I want to have some people test out the full game and hopefully get some feedback on it.
Preferably I would like people that don´t know me to test it, since I want some honest opinions. Maybe even some people on this forum might be interested?

Anyway, my question is, does anyone have any tips as to approach this? I have made a survey on google forms which I am intending to send to the people testing, and I´m thinking I could upload the game on itch.io "unofficially" and give people a download link it. My concern is how do I make sure people don´t distribute the game online before I have a chance to finish it? I´m reluctant to have people sign some contract or something, and would like to avoid that hassle if possible. Is my only option to just trust that people will not distribute it without my consent?

As always I would be grateful for any help!
 

pixeltroid

Member
So I am finally beginning to wrap this thing up (after almost eleven years!), and I want to have some people test out the full game and hopefully get some feedback on it.
Preferably I would like people that don´t know me to test it, since I want some honest opinions. Maybe even some people on this forum might be interested?

Anyway, my question is, does anyone have any tips as to approach this? I have made a survey on google forms which I am intending to send to the people testing, and I´m thinking I could upload the game on itch.io "unofficially" and give people a download link it. My concern is how do I make sure people don´t distribute the game online before I have a chance to finish it? I´m reluctant to have people sign some contract or something, and would like to avoid that hassle if possible. Is my only option to just trust that people will not distribute it without my consent?

As always I would be grateful for any help!
Hey, I suggest you proceed with extreme caution. Releasing it on itch "unofficially" and giving people links sounds extremely risky.

If you've worked on that game for 11 years, just wait a little longer and figure out how you can safely get people to playtest your game (And also do a proper release).

I suggest you get on Steam. There's a bit of money involved and you'll need to learn how to use that site. But the advantage is that it lets you give out game keys to a select audience solely for testing purposes. Since games on Steam are played through the Steam app, you have more control over it. So for example, once the playtest phase is done, you can de-activate all copies of the game that were given out for playtesting.

Good luck!
 
Hey, I suggest you proceed with extreme caution. Releasing it on itch "unofficially" and giving people links sounds extremely risky.

If you've worked on that game for 11 years, just wait a little longer and figure out how you can safely get people to playtest your game (And also do a proper release).

I suggest you get on Steam. There's a bit of money involved and you'll need to learn how to use that site. But the advantage is that it lets you give out game keys to a select audience solely for testing purposes. Since games on Steam are played through the Steam app, you have more control over it. So for example, once the playtest phase is done, you can de-activate all copies of the game that were given out for playtesting.

Good luck!
Thank you very much for your advice!

I was always planning on putting the game on Steam once it was finished, but maybe I should get it on there sooner so that I could let people test it in a way that’s safer.

I ended up asking some of my friends to playtest the game, which I know is not ideal due to bias and all. So far they have done a good job helping me find bugs and givning me opinions on the game though.
 
The game is finally almost done and I am currently searching for publishers.

I’ve updated the first post with new info and a download link to demo version 4.0 as well as a link to a new trailer.
 

stenol

Member
Wow ! The art style of the game look great. The trailer is also good. Is it you that made the music in the trailer ? I love it ! I will try the demo for sure this weekend.
 
Wow ! The art style of the game look great. The trailer is also good. Is it you that made the music in the trailer ? I love it ! I will try the demo for sure this weekend.
Thank you very much!

Yes, the music is from the game itself and I made it.

I hope you enjoy the demo!
 

stenol

Member
I just tried the demo and I love it ! All is well done (music, graphic, ambience). The only things I would change is to add an option to be able to change control mapping. I hope that we will see your game on steam soon :)
 
I just tried the demo and I love it ! All is well done (music, graphic, ambience). The only things I would change is to add an option to be able to change control mapping. I hope that we will see your game on steam soon :)
Thanks! I’m glad you like it!

what kind of controls would you prefer if I were to change them?
 

CMAllen

Member
Look into the keyboard_set_map and keyboard_get_map functions as one option. That or your input routine could check for the ord string of the user-bound keys instead of checking for specific vk_key values, doing the same in reverse to let them set the key to whatever they want.
 
Look into the keyboard_set_map and keyboard_get_map functions as one option. That or your input routine could check for the ord string of the user-bound keys instead of checking for specific vk_key values, doing the same in reverse to let them set the key to whatever they want.
THANK YOU!!

I have been searching for a function like this for months, but apparently I have been looking in the wrong places.

This makes everything so much easier!
 
I have been thinking about setting a price for the game on Steam and really don’t know what would be a good one.

If you are really good at the game you could finish it in about an hour. My friends that have played the whole game have been spending several hours on it though, as it gets quite hard in the later levels.

Those of you that have tested the demo, what do you think would be a good price for the game?
 
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