Thank you to everyone who downloaded and played CYGNI: All Guns Blazing during the Steam Next Fest last week!
We hope you all had a great time blasting your way through the alien forces in CYGNI. Your participation and support mean the world to us as we continue the development of the game.
Your feedback is also important to us! Please share your thoughts or any issues you may have encountered whilst playing the demo on our Discord channel.
Make sure you follow us on our socials to be updated on any future announcements and updates.
What to expect in the demo.
You may remember our previous blog post where we covered Level 1, but development has moved forward since then, and some new enemies have been added! For instance, smaller enemies such as the Swarms appearing right from the start, alongside larger enemies, making level 1 more intense than before.
The demo features a tutorial accessible from the stage selection menu, covering basic controls like Shield and Weapon management, as well as how to control the Orca ship.
You'll also get a glimpse of the first cutscene at the end of the initial stage, where Ava discusses the discovery of dormant machines on the planet, now awakened and hostile.
We value your feedback! Share your thoughts and experiences with us on our Discord channel. We can't wait to hear from you!
Developer Livestream @ Next Fest
Demo played by CYGNI's game director Nareg Kalenderian. Tune in and find out more about the game.
Now is your chance to experience CYGNI’s first level, which includes one mini-boss and two bosses. Don’t forget to play the Tutorial first to learn more about the gameplay elements. The team welcomes your feedback on their Discord channel.
Make sure you follow us on X and Discord for further announcements and updates.
CYGNI Demo Coming to Next Fest!
We’re excited to announce that CYGNI: All Guns Blazing will feature a Demo for the first time in the upcoming Steam Next Fest!
The demo will be available from the 5th to the 12th of February 2024, make sure you don’t miss out!
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is an exhilarating shooter with stunning visuals and immersive soundscapes. In it, you'll be able to immerse yourself in a heart-racing battle to survive against formidable biochemical alien races that have decimated Earth’s forces.
Now is your chance to experience CYGNI’s first level, which includes one mini-boss and two bosses. Don’t forget to play the Tutorial first to learn more about the gameplay elements. The team welcomes your feedback on their Discord channel.
Make sure you follow us on X and Discord for further announcements and updates.
We hope you enjoy it!
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
While our initial goal was to release CYGNI: All Guns Blazing this year, and despite our utmost dedication, we find ourselves in need of a little more time for testing and polishing. Therefore, we’re pushing the release to 2024 to ensure we reach the quality we aspire to achieve.
We’ll keep you updated on our progress in the coming few months and look forward to sharing more at Tokyo Game Show 2023 this week.
Thanks to CYGNI fans for all the continued support and patience, we're almost there and won’t keep you waiting long!
Follow the CYGNI social channels on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news and info on the game.
CYGNI: The Story
We recently launched a brand new cinematic story trailer, in which we witness the armed forces of CYGNI preparing for their last stand against unknown alien forces! With this latest exciting insight into CYGNI: All Guns Blazing’s world, there’s no better time than now to dive deeper into the game’s plot… without any spoilers, of course!
CYGNI, THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET.
Planet CYGNI holds a unique secret. Within its barren landscapes, humans have stumbled upon the remnants of an ancient alien civilization. These ruins, brimming with advanced technology, have become the lifeblood of the colony. The scavenging of these artefacts has propelled human society forward, allowing for incredible advancements in technology and power.
In CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, you’ll be able to see this incredible technology in action, wielded by both the Orca you pilot, and by the humans that fight alongside you. Unfortunately for the humans, the alien entities boast some incredible technological power themselves…
ALIEN AWAKENING!
Encamped within the remains of a long-lost civilization on the planet CYGNI, a human colony is decimated by a surprise attack from a powerful, biomechanical alien race that emerges from the depths of the planet. They may be the original inhabitants of CYGNI and have come to reclaim their ancestral land!
These aliens are powerful and numerous, with some being truly ginormous in scale. This is a war in which humanity is truly battling against the odds. Can survival even be possible?
THE FIGHT FOR HUMANITY
As Ava - a pilot in the "Air force" division of the CYGNI Armed Forces - you embody the indomitable spirit of resilience and courage. The force you belong to has multiple “Aircraft carriers” to help deal with the alien threat, with your squadron being on carrier “41”, also known as “Leviathan”.
However, help is limited. With reinforcements being too far off to help, and Ava being one of the last pilots remaining in the fleet, you are the first and last line of air defence against the unyielding alien bombardment. Ultimately, the fate of humanity rests in the hands of the armed forces of CYGNI
Only YOU have the power to shape how this story continues.
Follow the CYGNI social channels on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news and info on the game as it hits. Be sure to drop us a message and let us know if you’re excited for the game!
Dev Diary #5: Face the Enemy
During gamescom we released new content that has never been seen before. We wanted to take this opportunity and introduce you guys to the enemies at CYGNI Prime.
Ava is set on a mission to protect humans from the alien threat that has risen on the planet. During level one you are introduced to Fighter Swarm Type A in a formation, shooting a single shot projectile. When shooting them remember to change between offensive and defensive – and pick up the power ups!
The second alien you encounter is The Wasp, which is a mini boss. The Wasp has a shield bubble where you must break through, however it comes up with a large laser and follows you. You must make sure to stay ahead of the laser and shoot when you have an opening. Keep an eye on the life of the alien.
You are then able to see a few ground enemy units below you, this is where you can shoot and kill the Fatdroid which shoots mines at you. Healer droids will always try to heal the shield of the Fatdroid, so make sure you destroy the healers in order to kill the Fatdroid easier. But be aware, you might get attacked!
The Hawks will appear in three with shield bubbles as they will surprise you with double laser shots. This is where you must make sure you are defending yet attacking them to kill them one by one. Using your missiles would be useful for these aliens.
The first boss battle you will encounter is The Scarab, one of the two larger bosses you will encounter in stage one. To kill it you must shoot the claw like arms/tentacles first and make sure you avoid the laser! Then it goes into second mode of combat which sees Scarab come up-close, once the shield is down, you’re able to fire at its core to kill it. Be careful and do not get caught by the Scarab. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the battle below you as well.
In CYGNI, we’re introducing a real time crowd system. They will play differently depending on the different scenarios on the ground or battle engagements. There is an actual battle going on and as the player you feel you have to help. By using the various ground weapons, you can help the battle on the ground by killing as many ground enemy units as possible, such as The Beetle. This will also generate pick up points for you to replenish your health and to upgrade later.
Finally, we are left with the final boss, The Sandkeeper which emerges from the ground. You will have to wait and find out what is in store.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing – Everything that happened at gamescom 2022!
It was awesome to meet some of you at gamescom in Köln this year! Not only did we reveal some news, but we were able to give the public the chance to play the game for the first time!
If you were not able to attend, do not worry! Here is what happened:
We partnered up with TikTok to demo the game live on their main stage and broadcasted it as a live event on @tiktok_deutschland.
We had people from all over the world play CYGNI on the TikTok booth over the next few days.
We also released an exclusive trailer with IGN to confirm the platforms that CYGNI will be available on next year! You can watch the new trailer below to check out the brand-new boss fight gameplay.
IGN also invited us to their studio where we met Brian Altano, who shared his passion for Shoot’em ups and his excitement for our upcoming release. Check out the interview below.
Thank you for being a part of our journey! If you want to check out more of our content at gamescom, head to our TikTok channel and feel free to ask us any questions on our Discord channel.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing – We are going to gamescom!
We’d like to share some exciting news with our community − CYGNI: All Guns Blazing will be featuring at gamescom this year! We’ll have a CYGNI game demo available to play on the TikTok booth and can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! Everyone at KeelWorks has put in their heart and soul to create this and there is still a lot more work to be done.
Here is a sneak peek of the new environment you’ll discover in the demo!
One of our Founders and CEO Meher Kalenderian will be on the TikTok main stage on Wednesday 10:30 a.m. CEST for a playthrough and a Q&A session where you can learn more about us and the game’s development.
Dev Diary #4: Shooter games: legacy and evolution
In Dev Diary #4 we look back at the legacy of shooter games to uncover how they shaped CYGNI’s inception, and what innovative elements the team is hoping to bring forth in CYGNI!
Keelwork’s founder and CEO Meher Kalenderian exchange stories with Game Director Nareg Kalenderian; Richard Jones, Development Strategy Manager and veteran at Konami Digital Entertainment Europe, joins the discussion.
Are there any shooter games that made a mark on the way you are choosing to narrate the story and build the world of CYGNI?
Meher: Perhaps not shooter games per say, but more so space strategy games and adventure games in general. We love “Master of Orion”, “Homeworld”, and “Starcraft”. But of course, these games are very large and have deep narratives. CYGNI’s narrative is more confined and wrapped up in a much smaller package. But certainly, these games have made an impact on us and on storytelling in sci-fi games in general.
Are there any themes or aspects of traditional shooters that you looked forward to seeing in CYGNI?
Richard: The mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat is one that we love whether in Xevious or RayForce. The chance to tackle that feature using modern methods was really exciting. Player-managed power-ups are always cool, they give players the opportunity to develop their own loadouts and techniques, so we wanted to come up with a fun way to incorporate those into CYGNI.
What are unexpected or lesser-known shooter games that you got inspiration from?
Meher: We have played lots of shmups and arcade shooters, we enjoyed them a lot, from raptor to Metal Slug. Even a few titles on systems like Amiga. Those all made an impact on us. Funnily enough, it's always more about these old classic games than any new releases. Must be a subconscious thing we experience growing up, as well as the fact that they are genuinely good games with a lot of heart put into them. The interesting thing about this is that if you play some of these games today, maybe you won't experience them as you once did long ago. Maybe as a kid your mind interprets the images and experience differently, and as you grow up, that interpretation grows into a larger-than-life image, and that could get influential in all sorts of ways later.
Are there any games whose legacy impacted CYGNI’s design choices on weapons, power-up and battle mechanics?
Meher: CYGNI has been inspired by many games, shmups or otherwise, which we played over our lifetimes, and we became inspired to create something that carries elements of a shmup at its core, but it’s a hybrid of a few different genres.
