Vote on Exophobia for Most Anticipated Game on GameMaker Awards!
Right on time for Steam Next Fest, Yoyogames announced their list of finalists for the GameMaker Awards, which includes Exophobia as Most Anticipated Game, and I couldn't be happier! Of course this wouldn't be possible without all of your support.
This is a public voting poll to pick the best games developed using Game Maker Studio 2.
If you are excited for Exophobia release, please consider leaving a vote on their page. Every vote is appreciated and is a huge help to get the game to more people.
It's an enormous pleasure to have a game selected by the GameMaker team and be among four excellent games. Get to know the other finalists here!
Many thanks, Zarc
Steam Next Fest June 2022 - Demo Update
Hey everyone! It's been a really hectic week, isn't it? Lots of demos, player feedback, and all of that. Hope you all have been having fun!
I just uploaded a new version of the demo, where I tried to fix all the game breaking bugs that appeared from all your gathered feedback and playthroughs I have been watching you share!
Fixes:
Saving system is working fine now. There was a key card door blocking the elevator room that sometimes disapeared, so you could just skip 80% of the demo by getting into the elevator sooner than normal. Yeah not very fun...
Found out a bug that randomly teleported you into a new game when pressing pause. Fixed now.
Boxes should not get stuck in the conveyor belts or flicker anymore, yay!
Tweaked the level a bit, so players wouldn't forget to save in the terminals as much. Please, save whenever you can, that's part of the game!
This new version includes a brand new performance system, so it might have some bugs, but run better. Let me know if the game crashes. Also, it's a known thing that if you have the window minimized on loading, it will show a warning, this is ok and will be fixed next update.
Among other many small tweaks for a better experience. Thank you all for your patience, it's not fun to see people give up on the demo because of these bugs, but I'm doing my best! And thanks to all of the commenters on the feedback discussion thread. If you are having trouble, feel free to write there or on the Zarc Attack Discord.
Have a great rest of the week! Zarc
Steam Next Fest June 2022 just started! Let's play demos!
Steam Next Fest June 2022 just started! A full week of playing upcoming games demos, including Exophobia's new demo.
We are going to celebrate with two developer livestreams, don't forget to setup reminders for those!
Here is an overview of what you can play in this demo:
In this new demo, you start at beginning of the game, no equipment at all. You'll face all the initial challenges of the game looking for upgrades and learning the basics, and if you are curious enough you can find some secret goodies! You'll fight Zarkonians topping it all up with climatic and intense ending! The demo ends once you leave the first floor of the spaceship. Estimated playtime: ~30 min.
Oh, and get all your friends to wishlist the game of course :D Have a great week, Zarc
✨ Developer Livestream: Exophobia Demo Gameplay and Q&A #1
Hey everyone!
To celebrate Steam Next Fest, I will be playing the public Exophobia demo live! Come hang out and see how intense the game can be... 👀
Of course I'll also be available to answer any questions you might have in the chat. It's going to be fun! Don't forget to set a reminder! If you miss it, don't worry, join the Zarc Attack Discord to be in touch. See you there Zarc
✨ Developer Livestream: Exophobia Demo Gameplay and Q&A #2
Hey everyone!
To celebrate Steam Next Fest, I will be playing the public Exophobia demo live! Come hang out and see how intense the game can be... 👀
Of course I'll also be available to answer any questions you might have in the chat. It's going to be fun! Don't forget to set a reminder! If you miss it, don't worry, join the Zarc Attack Discord to be in touch. See you there Zarc
Exophobia at DreamHack Beyond 2022!
Hello there, seems like events don't stop right now!
Exophobia is again this year part of DreamHack Beyond, with an excellent showcase of indie games for you to try! I ended up uploading a new demo version recently, since I thought I had uploaded one way before but it was not working (what a fail!). It just has some small fixes compared to the previous one. If you already tried the demo, why not join the Zarc Attack Discord and hype about the game there?
See you soon, Zarc
Exophobia at Indie Live Expo 2022!
Hey everyone!
This weekend, Exophobia will be part of Indie Live Expo, a two day live stream showcasing a ton of exciting indie games super fast! Exophobia will appear on the second day, May 22nd, but be sure to catch the stream for a while if you want to get to know a bunch of indie games, kind of like in a speed dating fashion! To celebrate this, we translated the Steam page to some languages, we hope it brings the attention to more players.
If you want to find any of the games showcased, check out the event Steam page (includes sales of released games!)
Oh, and I also drew their cute robot mascot in the style of Exophobia, check it out :D
Have a great weekend! Zarc
Exophobia at Digital Dragons 2022 Indie Celebration
Zarc here,
Exophobia is part of Digital Dragons 2022 Indie Celebration, May 12-13th! Along with other ~40 games with available demos. Check them out and celebrate indie games!
Best, Zarc
Going Rogue - Goodbye and follow-up!
Zarc here!
Hope you had an excellent week exploring the Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence event, including playing our demo!
Some players have found crashing bugs in the end of the demo. So sorry for that! I won't be able to fix them as I am very busy finishing the game... However, next month I will update the demo with a brand new one! It will be closer to the final game and somewhat similar to the one physically at last PAX.
So, if you are curious to see more metroidvania sides to Exophobia, I advise to be on the look out for updates. The best way of course is to wishlist the game!.
Lastly, you can join our Zarc Attack Discord, which has been more active than ever! You can find all sorts of cool stuff there!
See you there, Zarc
Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence - Can a FPS also be a Metroidvania?
Hey everyone! Exophobia has been selected to be part of a Steam festival all about roguelikes, rogue-lites, souls-likes and metroidvanias, called Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence !
I was a bit surprised to see Steam inviting me to be part of a festival with this name, until I saw metroidvanias were part of the list of celebrated types of games. And metroidvania is one of Exophobia's most prominent tag, and this is where the game's inclusion might start to sound controversial. But here is how I designed Exophobia to feel like a METROIDVANIA FPS!
Steam defines games eligible for this festival with "These games generally share mechanics of repeating parts of the game again and again, or re-treading ground once the player has gained enough experience or equipment."
Even though metroidvanias are often thought as 2D platformers, progression in Exophobia was designed to feature these ideas as an FPS with no verticality (quite a challenge!). The gameplay happens inside the spaceship, a giant map with multiple floors each having their own characteristics (look, enemies, objects,...), with multiple gated areas, designed to push exploration. The player progresses through the game by finding upgrades, that improve combat mechanics as well as uncover areas that were locked before. The more you progress, the more the map opens up, and you might even find secrets that you can now access with your new abilities as you backtrack to find your next one.
Besides this larger progression loop, you can also find other gated areas with one-way doors, key cards, movement challenging areas and even boss fights can unlock something on the map! You also have to save often in checkpoints, because that's where you return when you die, something you also see in metroidvanias.
So, in brief:
One giant map with different themed areas and checkpoints.Check
A clear player power arc and enjoyable movement. Check
Gates, boss fights and hidden secrets to reward exploration. Check
Of course, feel free to give your own opinions on the subject :) Have some great runs with the festival, Zarc
