Iron Lung cover
Iron Lung screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Simulator, Adventure, Indie

Iron Lung

Updated soundtrack
Updated the soundtrack DLC to have proper metadata and the album cover ːileyeː

Chop Goblins is out now!


You thought it would be fun to break into a nearby museum and root through the artifacts stored there. Little did you know that a dusty chest in the basement imprisoned the evil CHOP GOBLINS.

Now they're loose, wrecking bladed havok on the world once again. It's up to you to chase them through the city and across space and time, in a bespoke FPS campaign spanning the modern day, 1800's Transylvania, ancient Greece, and the not too distant future.

And you can finish it in about 30 minutes!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1935660/Chop_Goblins/

Chop Goblins is a "microshooter": An FPS designed to be completed in a single sitting, without sacrificing depth, variety, or creativity in its gameplay and level design. It's a game you can play for less than an hour, or replay for many hours. Need something to distract you from work, boredom, or grinding in other games? Take a Chop Goblins Break, with a fun and satisfying FPS campaign that only takes one sitting to fully experience.

I have a Discord server now
I started a Discord server for discussing Iron Lung, my other games, memes, general stuff, etc. If that sounds interesting, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/myDsqP4E55

Lore Update, Achievements, and Points Shop!

HOORAY AN UPDATE!


Here's the first large-scale update to Iron Lung, bringing it to version 2.X. I say "first" but truthfully this will likely be the only major content update for the game, other than potential (potential, not promised!) future quality of life updates such as controller support, subtitles, etc.

WARNING: OLD SAVES WILL NOT WORK (SEE BELOW)

MORE LORE


So what does this update bring? Well, first and foremost STORY STUFF. In the form of the C.O.I Informational Terminal, now located in the back of the sub.





Here you can query various informational documents and learn a little more about the world of Iron Lung. Not a lot mind you. This is not a giant lore bible dump. It's just a way of fleshing things out a bit more than not at all, and maybe giving you some clues about who you are, why you're down there, who sent you, etc. Go ahead and type in whatever you want to learn about, and see if it finds anything!

There's also something new to find out in the depths of the blood ocean...

POINTS SHOP AND TRADING CARDS


I'm also excited to bring you both Steam trading cards (which I know you will just sell for wallet funds to buy hentai match 3 games instead of actually crafting into badges, but that's ok) and points shop items, including this awesome animated profile background by Dusk comic artist Jacob:


animation not shown here

ACHIEVEMENTS




And if you feel like playing through the whole game again, there are now 7 Steam achievements for you to unlock. Most of these are pretty simple and just for fun, but there are two secret ones for those that really want to delve into the game and find/try things. Or, you know... read someone else's guide lol.

A NOTE ABOUT SAVES


For stupid but unavoidable reasons, saves from a previous version of Iron Lung will not work after this update. For most of you this isn't going to be an issue, but if you happen to have like... saved your game last night and want to continue today or something like that, I've provided a new branch you can use to finish your game. Simply opt into the "save_compatibility" beta branch.



WHAT'S NEXT?


I don't plan on adding any more lore or major content to Iron Lung after this, but for those who have been asking... yes, I do plan on revisiting the world in the future. I don't know whether that will be a direct followup or a completely different game set in the same universe. I have ideas for both! Only time will tell...



Thanks again for all the support, and stay safe out there in the Blood Ocean...

Iron Lung version 2.0 on beta branch
The upcoming 2.0 patch for Iron Lung is now on the beta branch, for anyone who wishes to help test it. I expect to release it for realsies in a few weeks, if you wanna wait, but if you're eager to see the changes now or grab the achievements before anyone else, well... go nuts!

Note that OLD SAVES WILL NOT WORK. This is for stupid but unavoidable reasons. When this releases officially I'll provide a version 1.2 branch for a few weeks that players can opt into if the update happens right in the middle of their playthrough and they want to continue with their existing save.

The final update will also have trading cards and points shop items, but they're still being worked on.

Changes:
- Steam Achievements!
- Added computer terminal to the inside of the Iron Lung, where various documents can be queried. This isn't really a "lore bible." It just gives more background to your situation and the overall universe.
- Added something new to find in the world.

Achievements are all hidden right now because they aren't live on the main branch, but here's a list if you wanna try getting them:

- Finish the game
- Read what the last person left
- Photograph the complete skeleton
- Photograph the anomaly
- Crash into a wall
- [hidden]
- [hidden]

And of course if you encounter any issues, please report them on the forum (and specify that you're testing the beta branch)

Thanks!

-David

A note about achievements
I'm currently working on implementing achievements for an update, and even though I've done this before and should KNOW how to do it right, I accidentally set them live for everyone to see, even though it's not possible to unlock them in the current version of the game.

The achievement update should be coming soon so you don't have to wait too long, but I just wanted to let everyone know that even though you can see a list of achievements, you can't actually unlock any of them yet. Sorry for the confusion. In my defense the Steam backend is some eldritch crap a lot of the time lol

Big thank you, and also I fixed the bugs probably!
Like many developers, I have a giant brainstorm list of many more ideas than I'll likely have time to realize. That's where Iron Lung sat following my trip to a Loch Ness museum in 2019, where a random bit of narration got me thinking about the idea of being underwater taking fuzzy pictures of some unseen creature. It sat there for a few years afterward, while I worked on projects with New Blood and DreadXP and went through a series of prototypes that all ended up shelved for various reasons. It's been hard to get any larger solo project to "stick" since Dusk, and frustrating to continually start a game only to end up stalled on it for whatever reason, with too much work in it to comfortably abandon but not enough to brute force my way toward a release.



Throughout that time I kept coming back to the basic idea of Iron Lung, and thinking "I should really just do this." It was a simple concept, befitting a short simple game. And eventually "I should really just do this" turned into "ok screw it let's just do this." I spent a few months working part time to create what was basically a small experiment that I didn't expect or need to sell very well. I just wanted to experiment with the concept, and get back into both self-publishing and serious horror, which I hadn't really done since 2015.

I expected to maybe sell around 5k copies in the first month or two and have a little following of people who liked the niche concept. At the time of this announcement Iron Lung has sold roughly 37k copies and holds at 95% positive reviews and has blown past all my expectations. I didn't expect so many people to resonate with the gameplay or the approach to horror, or be so drawn into the world (which I've always planned on expanding on at some point, so don't worry!).



So I guess what I'm trying to say in a very roundabout fashion is "thank you." I'm immensely grateful for the support you've all shown for this little idea, and I genuinely don't feel like I deserve it. Iron Lung is just an idea I thought was cool and wanted to try out, and I never expected it to be this popular. I've said this in the past, but it really does mean a lot to me that I can do stuff like Iron Lung, or Squirrel Stapler, or Dusk '82, and you guys are willing to give it all a chance and enjoy it for what it is, even when there are bugs, the visuals aren't the best, and they aren't Dusk 2.

And speaking of bugs... I just released Iron Lung patch 1.2 onto the public branch. This is mainly to address two of the biggest issues in the game: the resolution not defaulting correctly, and "The Jerma Bug" where you could accidentally hit a checkpoint while running into a wall, resulting in an effective softlock. So hopefully new players won't be running into any more gamebreaking problems.



Do what's next? Well... I plan on adding trading cards and achievements at some point soon, as well as some requested quality of life features like control rebinds and gamepad support. I'm considering the possibility of adding more lore-related stuff since people are hungry for that, but I'm not sure if I will or what form it would take. As I said, I do plan on revisiting the world in some fashion regardless. I'm not sure when since I tend to just do whatever seems like a good project at the moment, but... hopefully soon. A lot of people have requested a VR version, and I'm gonna consider that although I don't want to promise anything. Same with console ports. I'd like to port Iron Lung to consoles but I've run into some issues with porting my older games because of their short length, so we'll see.

Now... if you're new here, and are like "man I wish this guy made other games I could play" then have I got news for you! I've made a bunch of games, and hope to make many more! If you want to see everything I've done, and/or want to follow me to keep up with future releases, check out my Steam creator page

I've even got a handy bundle of everything I've self-published, if you want to splurge:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24702/The_David_Szymanski_Publisher_Bundle/

And now, a handy bundle with Dusk, Dusk '82, and Iron Lung together, if you're into fast-paced shooting action as well as horror:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25842/IRON_DUSK/

You can also follow me on Twitter, although that's mostly cursed memes and general clowning, not so much game development.

Oh and uhh... make sure to check out the Iron Lung goodies folder in the install location for some fun stuff :)

Beta branch
I've added a beta branch to Iron Lung (called, appropriately enough, "beta"). The purpose will be for testing patches before I release them, to make sure I didn't screw something up.

If you'd like to help test Iron Lung, or if you just want to see what new stuff is coming, you can opt in to the beta branch by right clicking on the game in your library, selecting "properties," choosing the "betas" tab, and selecting "beta" from the dropdown list.

Currently patch 1.2 is on the beta branch, which includes fixes for two of the game's biggest bugs (the loading softlock and incorrect resolution defaults for some players), as well as some new behind the scenes shots in the goodies folder. Refer to readme.txt for more info.

If you encounter any issues please report them on the forums, and make sure to specify what version you've been playing.

Thanks!

- David

Iron Lung is OUT NOW
Pilot a tiny submarine through an ocean of blood on an alien moon in Iron Lung, a short dread-driven underwater (underblood?) horror game

OUT NOW



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846170/Iron_Lung/

Set entirely within a claustrophobic one-man submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung," you must blindly navigate an ocean of blood to take photographs of key locations, and hope whatever lives below doesn't find you.
There is only a single porthole on the sub, and it needs to be closed due to depth pressure, so you have to navigate purely via an incomplete map, proximity sensors, sound, and a primitive external camera which can be used to take the pictures you need to complete your mission, or to get a grainy low resolution visual of what's happening outside.

Success will require resourcefulness and patience.



FEATURES



  • Experimental minimalist gameplay, where your senses are limited and anything could be lurking around you
  • Glimpse your surroundings through the lens of a grainy still camera and navigate using an incomplete satellite map and proximity sensors
  • Horror based around building dread and paranoia
  • Original soundtrack inspired by the work of Aubrey Hodges (Doom 64)
  • A short experience intended to be finished in under an hour




Soundtrack also available at https://davidszymanski.bandcamp.com/album/iron-lung-ost

Soundtrack Preview
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