Steam In My Defense - retro, side-scrolling, sci-fi shooter

cdeveloper

Member
Now released on steam- In My Defense on Steam

This is a very challenging, old-school, retro, side-scrolling, sci-fi shooter, with modern twists. You must defend your base against the onslaught of approaching alien attackers. Utilize power-ups and protect your allies and resources.
There are also bonus, twin-stick shooter levels, that occur under the base. The game has an original soundtrack by six composers and voice acting.



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AnthonyRose

Member
Looks alright, although I think the enemy projectiles should be more visible as you want to avoid having "cheap deaths". I atleast have seen in the gameplay video some very small green projectiles, unless they are not enemy projectiles.
 

cdeveloper

Member
@AnthonyRose Thanks for the comment.

I have tried to limit "cheap deaths" in the game. It can be difficult with so many objects flying around the screen in the game.

You are referring to the spores that are released when you destroy a pod. The spores are fairly big (10x10 pixels). I added a gas trail behind them so players can track them. I think that trail is what you are referring to when you mention the really small objects. Maybe it comes across weird in the compression of the video, but those small green particles are just a gas trail left behind by the spores. The trail doesn't harm the player, just the spores themselves.

The actual spore ->3350e4fc-298b-447b-ba1c-96fb7197dc1d.png

The smallest projectile in the game is 8x8, so there are no very small projectiles. I even put in the HUD, a statement of what type of enemy or projectile killed the player.

There are many risk/reward things in the game, like the teleporter. You can teleport into an enemy ship and die. This can be avoided by either checking the radar beforehand, or using a shield power-up prior to using the teleporter.

Probably the most unfair thing in the game is if a spider jumps on the player's ship. It can be hard to avoid. I made it so the spider rarely jumps, and you can always check the radar to see if there is a spider to the left of you.

I tried to put a fair amount of design into the game. There are enemies that work together, the player has to prioritize and make decisions on which enemies to handle first, and I have put many things into the game to prevent the player from camping in a single spot. You really need to move around the whole playfield.
 

cdeveloper

Member
A new 1.1 update has been released, adding a couple new enemies.

Below is a video showcasing the new enemies.

In My Defense is currently on sale for 30% off during the Steam Winter Sale!

Steam Link

 
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cdeveloper

Member
The 1.2 update has been released, adding a new play mode (Endless mode), two new enemies, and many small tweaks/fixes.

Currently on sale for 50% off!

Steam link

The new trailer:
 
S

Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
you did a good job at making the volcano and mountain range look creepy. I don't know how to describe it but it's very well done and effective that background art.
 

cdeveloper

Member
The 1.3 patch for "In my defense" has been released. It is the largest patch yet:

An upgrade store was added, new enemies (including one whose weapon you can steal), graphic improvements, new powerups, and more.

New trailer:



Full patch notes below:


  • New enemy- The Steaky Surfer. If killed a certain way, player can steal its weapon, picking the gun up and dropping it like the rock launchers. When attached, the weapon fires along with the normal ship's laser.
  • Added yellow burst when picking up a power-up.
  • Improved graphics on player shield. Shield now animates if something hits it.
  • Added new achievement based on new enemy.
  • Hawks now tilt up and down. Hawk enemy has had its graphics re-done.
  • New ability/powerup: The Wood Guardian. It kills enemies with its branches.
  • Made it so Defensa and Hitch don't talk over themselves as much. Low important voice lines won't play, if another voice line is currently playing.
  • Changed text to icons for many of the HUD labels.
  • New power-up: Shrinker- all the firepower, but less of a target. Enemies that fire on or web player when player is near, will not detect player.
  • New Defensa voice lines, including adding voice lines to the intro sequence.
  • Updated instruction screens to include new enemies, friendlies, and power-ups.
  • AI wingman intelligence has been improved. They are much better at bombing ground targets. They each have a limited set of 19 bombs.
  • Added random size scaling to base cracks to make them look better.
  • If a powerdown activates a shrinker powerup, the player's ship will be twice the normal size for a short period. If the powerdown activates a wood guardian powerup, an evil wood guardian will appear.
  • Spider body and head graphics slightly enhanced.
  • Mist added to some storm levels.
  • Added Attack Saucer. It launches from the base side of the playfield. If it make it to the edge of the left side of the playfield, it will drop a rolling bomb towards the base. The rolling bomb can only be destroyed by a bomb.
  • Changed ship graphics so it tilts when going up or down.
  • Removed small moon and sun. Added random large planets to background. The planets will stay in that configuration until a new game is started.
  • Destroyed ships now drop metal, which can be collected. Before every basement level, there will be a store to buy ship upgrades that you can pay for in metal.
  • Changed death of the planter. It used to turn black for a second. Now, pieces of it shimmer to the ground.
  • The spider legs now fly off in pieces when destroyed.
  • All saucer types now have a debris explosion when hitting the ground.
  • Nightwing animation redone to be smoother.
  • Added death animation for spores.
  • Twin stick basement levels.
    • Dead Hacker sprite that flies up at the screen has been redone to be higher resolution.
    • Fixed issue with initial wave pause screen, so player can no longer move while paused.
    • Fixed issue with gas explosion achievement that had a bug, making it too easy to achieve.
    • Added sand traps that slow down everyone moving over them, except drones.
    • Droids now move to center of playfield after player dies.
    • Added new enemy, Generator Spawner. It moves around the playfield dropping enemy generators.
    • Added death animation for blobs.
    • Added alternate death animation for ensects.
    • Changed the ensects path to the power generators so it is not a direct path. This will make it so less of them are clumped exactly on top of each other. Also changed it so more will be at remote power generators.
 

cdeveloper

Member
New Steam trailer for the 1.44 version of "In My Defense".

I try to make short trailers, but they always end of being long, since I want to show everything.

The new version is mostly polishing the game. There is a new radar, better analog control, among other improvements.

It is currently on sale for only 99 cents on Steam.

 

cdeveloper

Member
For the second anniversary of the release of "In My Defense", comes the 1.5 patch!

New supply landers, new Defensa voice lines, kill streaks, more options, additional polish to the game and more!


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