We've been hard at work on the next major content update for Iron Meat, and we're super excited to finally be able to show you what we've been up to!
Let's jump right into the MEAT of it all:
NEW CONTENT
New Modes
1. Boss Rush
Challenge the fearsome, gore-tastic boss monsters from every mission in the game! Choose what weapons you want to equip at the start of every fight. Like the normal playthrough mode, your life count will be based on what difficulty you select beforehand. However, lose all your lives and you'll be given the option to start at the VERY BEGINNING once again, or you can call it quits! Pick up your favorite pair of weapons and go hunting for those boss monsters!
2. Arcade
As a highly requested mode by you, our community, we've added an Arcade mode to the game. This mode will establish a limit on how many Continues you can do, which will vary based on the difficulty you select. As it stands, you will have: 6 Continues on Easy, 4 Continues on Normal, and only 2 Continues on Hard. Otherwise, the playthrough is largely the same--you'll still gain a new life every 20,000 points, and you'll still encounter the same enemies, weapon drops, point drops, and upgrade drops as you would in a normal playthrough.
3. Mutation
Experience Iron Meat in a whole new way in Mutation Mode! Add even MORE infected Meat humans to join the fray, choose which weapon upgrades appear across levels--and which ones appear as just point drops, turn on AUTOMATIC FIRING, or summon forth a whole swath of Meat Hands that will truly force you to Run and Gun! Here's a list of every setting that will appear in Mutation Mode:
Arms Race: Giant Meat Hands chase the player from the left of the screen. Players can alter how many actual hands appear.
Bubble Trouble: Normal infected enemies can produce toxic bubbles on death. You can set how prolific these toxic bubbles will be--you can also set whether enemies produce small or large amounts of bubbles on death.
Blats Party: Adds flying enemies (i.e. Blats and Dragonflies) into every applicable level, where you can also set how many you want to see appear (only one at a time, or a group that appears frequently).
Horde Control: This setting alters the frequency of common Meat-infected humans appearing on screen. Use the slider to increase or decrease their overall quantity.
Favorite Weapon: Pre-select your starting weapon that you'll begin every level with. Note: Setting this to active will only allow you to pick ONE (1) weapon to start with at the beginning of every level. You can also choose to start with a weapon at its 2nd tier (Green Projectiles)!
Active & Nonactive Weapons: Pick and choose which weapon upgrades will change into Score Pick-Ups instead of Weapon Pick-Ups.
Firing Speed (Slower or Faster): Set a custom rate of fire for any weapon you use to be slower (set slider to the left) or faster (set slider to the right) than normal.
Enable Auto-Fire: Setting this to active will allow the player(s) to never stop firing the weapon currently active.
Infinite Upgrade Time / No 2nd Weapon Slot: This setting allows players to keep their Supercharge upgrade (Rapid Fire), retaining their red projectiles as well. However, setting this to active will also remove the second weapon slot, so you will only be able to have a single weapon equipped at any given time.
Set Custom Life Count: Choose the default number of lives players will always start with at the beginning of every level.
We are pleased to serve players a fine platter of customizable settings, and we hope you enjoy all that these (and future?) settings have to offer!
New Weapons
"F" Gun (The Flamethrower)
A unique weapon first seen in Iron Meat's end credits animation. We decided to retool it to function with multiple fireballs that will follow the player's aim. While obviously ineffective when facing enemies at a range, the Flamethrower serves it purpose in controlling massive hordes of Meat-infected humans running onto the scene from either side! Starting out, this weapon's base color is orange. Upgraded once, it'll turn a bright blue. Upgraded a third time, or by obtaining the Supercharge pick-up, its color will change to an otherworldly green hue! Turn up the heat against the Meat with this all-new weapon!
"P" Gun (Particle Gun)
This weapon rapidly fires the energy stored within its rounds into smaller bits encased with lethal plasma. Like its other weapon brethren, this model is outfitted to fire blue-tinted rounds, with its upgraded version changing them to green. However, unlocking this weapon's third tier through Supercharge will somehow change its projectiles into dark red Meat rounds, which a few deranged agents of ours have colloquially coined as the "Bacon Gun."
New Enemy Type
Wall-Crawling Zombies
Officers infected by the Meat will appear in either foreground or background elements to either jump down or pull themselves up onto the stage area! Be on the lookout for those Meat-ified humans donning officer uniforms and take them out before they run into you!
And there you have it! We hope you'll look forward to trying out all the new modes, playing with the new weapons, and facing down those crawling Meat zombies in Iron Meat's next major update!
This update is live RIGHT NOW and will be available for all other platforms very soon!
And check out our update video on YouTube that goes through what's in this update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUz4LWgrTv4
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more! https://store.steampowered.com/developer/Retroware
And, for one WHOLE WEEK, you can get Iron Meat now at 25% OFF as part of a Steam Daily Deal! Play the newest update to the game today!
From shooting an eyeball, to dodging projectiles from MULTIPLE eyeballs, we're back this week to give you the lowdown on three more achievements: "Concentrate Your Fire!", "Eye See You!", and "...Why?"
1. Concentrate Your Fire!
To earn this achievement, you'll have to destroy every Meat Generator that appears in the final phase of the Monster House boss fight. There's four of them, but be careful--the boss's eye will shoot projectiles faster the more Meat Generators you destroy!
2. Eye See You!
Keeping up with the EYES, on the Moon level, you'll encounter multiple Eyesticks jutting out from the Meat-encrusted walls and ceilings! For this achievement, you need to kill the brain on the ceiling without destroying any of the Eyesticks!
3. ...Why?
Moving to the Sky level, you can earn this achievement if you happen to destroy every destructible engine piece on the side of the airship! To put it simply, just shoot at any object that can explode!
Check back here for even more updates! Iron Meat is available now!
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
We're super excited to release the first major update to Iron Meat! From a new color added to show off when Supercharge is active, to a MIRROR MODE, in addition to minor bug fixes, you can take on the hordes of Meat monsters in a whole new way!
Updates List:
Mirror Mode has been added - Unlocked after completing the game for the first time. You can now play through every level of the game with the x-axis flipped. Enemies and bosses function the same, but this time you'll be running to your LEFT!
The Supercharge mode (Rapid Fire) will now automatically activate if you collect a third copy of an already equipped gun.
Bullets fired while in Supercharge mode will now appear as RED.
Sections of all levels have been slightly changed to be more fair to the player (example: Meat Worms are now killable in Base the second they appear, the Meat Mouth door spawners on Train are now killable).
Increased the default damage of the "E", "U", and "M" guns.
Enhanced background visuals (i.e. helicopter firing on Meat monsters in Forest, added spikes to miniboss on Base, surviving pilots added to credits animation scroll, explosion impacts from meteors on Train).
You can now keep any extra lives you earned if you finish a level with more lives than you started with.
MI-24 helicopter boss fight has been retooled to be more clear.
More MEAT has been added to Moon Base.
We hope you'll enjoy challenging yourselves in Mirror Mode, blasting enemies with Supercharge, and all the other updates we've added to the game, and be on the lookout for when the next major update drops!
Following his triumph over the menacing Carrionvoy train monster, Vadim arrives beneath a military research base infested with Meat. Unaware of its current operations, Vadim enters the base--desperate to find any human survivors of the ongoing attack.
With Meat tendrils and spores overgrowing along the corridors and within ventilation shafts, Vadim faces off against new Meat monster forms: Grub Eggs on the ceiling that drop their newly hatched critters to the ground, Meat Worms hanging on chains and crawling out of floor crevices, equipment boxes morphed into mouthy monsters that spawn either smaller Grub eggs or Blats, and more.
Vadim also witnesses the active degradation of the research base, as malfunctioning security turrets are deployed and fire at everything, along with fiery elevators crawling with infected humans.
As he pushes further into the base, Vadim encounters another new Meat monster, this time in the form of a skeleton-like creature that burrowed into one of the base's server room! Upon noticing Vadim, the creature utilizes the security system to mount a cascading offensive of laser attacks against the supersoldier! But with persistence, Vadim kills the monster in the wall and continues on...
After shooting his way through a whole horde of monsters and passing through even more obstacles, Vadim finally stumbles upon a handful of surviving soldiers and scientists--the latter of whom have begun hasty work on an antidote to make humanity immune to the Meat.
But soon after meeting the scientists, Vadim is immediately dropped to the lower levels of the base to take down a HUGE monster lurking below--the Big Rig Carnarach!
But with his superior skills, Vadim is able to dispatch the monster and pacify the base. Taking an airbike from the Carnarach's corpse, Vadim flies off to follow a distress signal of an airship nearby...
Check back here for even more updates!
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Today, we'll be taking a look at three achievements you can earn only on Tower: Unsanitary Conditions, Keeping It Polished, and the And Stay Out! achievement!
1. Unsanitary Conditions
For this one, we're focusing on our responsibility as good soldiers to clean up all the Meat monsters clogging up the vents on the broadcast Tower! Destroy a full set of these Meat Chains (about 10 of those links) stretching from one side and you'll earn the achievement! And yes, you could just keep shooting at a vent...I mean, if you want...
2. Keeping it Polished
Next up, we've got the second Tower achievement where you have to survive against the three Meat Bulbs halfway through the level. As long as you don't lose a single life from colliding with any of the yellow light pillars, you'll get the achievement!
3. And Stay Out!
Lastly, you'll want to destroy every door with a Headthrower standing in front of them. You'll find these to the left and right of the Tower. There should be four doors in total, so be on the lookout for them!
That's all for now! Check back here for even more updates!
Iron Meat is available now! Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
Interview: Understanding Iron Meat's Art and Atmosphere with our Art Director!
This week, we're chatting with Xander Arnot, Art Director at Retroware! Check out his insights into how the visuals of Iron Meat convey its unspoken story...
Please introduce yourself and describe your involvement in Iron Meat's development.
Xander: Hey, I’m Xander Arnot! I work as an art director at Retroware. At the start of my involvement with Iron Meat several years ago, I was tasked with creating storefront assets, early trailers, and promotional materials for the game. As time passed and the game’s characters and story began to evolve, I couldn’t help but jump in, and draw what I thought Ivan’s in-game sprites would look like beyond their pixel form. That’s where my involvement with the game’s art really began!
In hindsight, I got to do a lot for the game, including: storyboarding for in-game cutscenes, concept art for a majority of the game’s unlockable skins and UI, and designs for characters like Sasha! But I give the most credit to Ivan, and the pixel artists for their excellent final implementation of these concepts.
What do you think sets Iron Meat's aesthetics apart from other titles in its genre? How do you think taking inspiration from Contra and other classic titles helps the game establish a unique art style of its own?
Xander: Gameplay aside, a large part of Iron Meat’s genius is how quickly you understand exactly what you’re getting into before you even pick up the controller. Even players unfamiliar with games like Contra, can immediately recognize the great amount of influence from other sci-fi properties and how well they’re re-contextualized here. The visuals (in tandem with the great soundtrack) feel familiar but new at the same time. The cool tones of the metal, and the bloody masses of meat monsters really pop! And come on, who doesn’t want to fight against a never-ending horde of meat monsters in the dystopian future?
From its early days in development to now, what were your thoughts as you saw Iron Meat's art style evolving over time to what it is now?
Xander: Every time we’d get a new build from Ivan, it was a blast to see just how “meaty” everything became over time. You probably could have played a game trying to predict which metal death machine would be even more infected the next time you played.
At some point, the flesh and teeth became a crucial design language that beyond just looking cool communicates a very simple, easy-to-understand message to the player: If it’s covered in Meat, shoot it! There were undoubtedly a few times we sent a note or two to “meat-ify” something!
Do you have a favorite level based on its art style alone? How about a favorite boss design?
Xander: Each level of the game has something cool going on in context, but the Forest really jumps out as my favorite level design. It’s Iron Meat firing on all cylinders, throwing you right into the action. It’s like level 1-1 in Super Mario to me at this point. I know every jump, upgrade, and enemy placement. Every strategy! To the point that I kinda feel like a badass! (Well, on normal mode at least…lol)
We understand you did concept art work behind a bunch of the in-game skins. Which skin(s) do you like the most?
Xander: I’m proud of a lot of these designs! And interesting challenge to decide when and how to break the rules of the Iron Meat design language. On aesthetic alone, I think the Cthulhu and Flaming Skull Head Guy might be my favorites! But, the buff shark in jorts that runs on its tailfins, might sweep the list! I’d love to design more skins in the future.
Lastly, as an artist, what are your thoughts on Iron Meat's use of visual storytelling to convey the dire in-game invasion situation to players without needing any spoken character dialogue?
Xander: I think it’s appropriate for a game like this to keep a level of narrative detail to a minimum. The final version of the game does that very well. It keeps its focus on the gameplay you came for, and makes you want to stay with the events that unfold around you as you progress. It’s nice we’ve been able to “flesh out” the narrative in greater detail on the Retroware YouTube channel.
That's all we got for this round of updates! Check back here for even more!
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
Today, we're taking a look at the all-consuming, interdimensional collective that is the MEAT! Let's take a look at where this entity came from and how it unleashed itself upon humanity...
Its Origin
Established as a hyper-intelligent, universe-sized entity of pure flesh existing in a dimension separate from our own, the Meat desires nothing more than to consume the energy of other universes, as well as sentient life, to prolong its own, collective existence.
It is this desire--this hunger--that causes the Meat to release one cell, just one of its spores, to infiltrate our dimension through an accidental breakthrough from one of Yuri Markov's portal experiments. The Meat spore allowed itself to be collected by Markov, being brought to his lab and feigning rudimentary sentience.
Study and Breakout
Intrigued, Markov studied how the Meat could be used to not only enhance his research with new ways to generate portals, but the Meat could also hold the secret to an infinite supply of raw energy! But as Markov corresponded more with the Meat spore he collected, he began to learn of the entity's true nature--its ability to consume anything from Iron-rich metals, to lab rats, and even human cadavers.
The larger the Meat grew, the smarter it became, until the spore began to crave brain tissue. And the perfect meal was already in front of it: Markov himself. Seizing on the right opportunity, the Meat breaks out of its containment and assimilates Markov.
Rise of the Monster Hordes
As the Meat-controlled Markov flew off to infect more humans, Sasha, a veteran soldier stationed on the lunar base, attempted to warn Earth of the impending invasion, only to be driven away by a horde of Meatified humans!
With its assimilation capabilities, the Meat quickly adapted to human technologies and flesh, rapidly evolving into new, grotesque forms more terrifying than the last!
The Iron Meat
As hordes upon hordes of Meat monsters spread across a region of Earth, the original Meat spore pulls in parts and components of the surrounding lunar research facility to construct a colossal body for itself. Though visibly incomplete, the spore becomes nothing more than a figurehead for the true Meat hivemind in its own dimension--limited in ours with its giant, grotesque form.
As the Iron Meat colossus focused its influence on the Moon and Earth, it would be Vadim, a supersoldier part of the hastily formed Earth Counter Invasion Force, that would be the one to confront this boss monster--hoping to end the Meat's invasion once and for all...
Check back here for even more updates! Iron Meat is available now!
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
Interview: Sitting Down with Our Senior QA Tester!
This week, we chat with Christian Czmar, our Senior QA Tester, as we delve into what it was like in the earlier builds of Iron Meat and what's it like post-launch!
Please introduce yourself and describe your involvement in Iron Meat's development.
Christian: Hi! I'm Christian "Siz" Czmar, I'm the Senior Game Tester at Retroware. My involvement with Iron Meat for the last 2 years has been trying to break it and then try to figure out how to make sure that I can't break it the same way again.
How does it feel to see a game you tested from its earlier builds to now where it's available to the world?
Christian: It's incredible, especially with the reception it's gotten. I was also on the Prison City team and that felt great, too, but to have people be so passionate this time around has been a nice cherry on top.
What were some notable bugs you found during the early builds you tested? How about a bug or two that you noticed later on in the near-final builds of the game?
Christian: By the time Iron Meat had gotten into my hands it was already way ahead in terms of polish, Ivan had been working on it already for years so a lot of the basic stuff I'm used to finding had been worked out. I think the most notable early bug was player 2 and player 1 having different hit boxes. I'm not sure what caused this to happen but some attacks were impossible to dodge as player 2 in those first builds I got. For example the laser attack on the first boss--even ducking, player 2 would die there no matter what. Between then and now, it was mostly just layering bugs--the player appearing in front of foreground assets and such. The last major bug (hopefully) was one a few people certainly noticed with Sasha not showing up at the end of the game. Apparently, she didn't like it when players took lives from their friends after the final boss fight. The worst part of the job is there's always something you didn't run into that eventually will be found in the thousands of other playthroughs that happen after release.
As a Senior QA Tester, how would you describe the experience of testing the game across multiple platforms?
Christian: I mean, it's not fun haha. We tried to get this out on as many platforms and distributors as we could, and each and every one of those has different requirements and expectations that they absolutely need or they won't let you release. Whenever some backend change is made to some version of the game to meet a requirement, that means there's a new build and that means I need to do another test to see if that change broke something somewhere else. I swear there was like 20 builds for PlayStation in a row where there was no visible change on my end but were all essential to being approved.
After going through the game countless times, which level do you think you've run through the most? Any favorite or least favorite bosses? And your preferred weapons?
Christian: I think it would be Tower. That had a few achievement hang ups that left us confused on what the issue was. That happened a few times, I think every achievement in Tower, besides the one for beating it, were bugged at one point or the other, haha. My favorite boss is probably the Carrionvoy; it just has such a great presence. My least favorite is probably Big Rig; that's probably just 'cause it's given me the most Game Over's besides The Iron Meat itself. My go-to weapon is for sure is the Spread Shotgun (S). Get that baby fully upgraded and you've got such a wide burst at long distance and can deal crazy damage up close. You can't go wrong with it. Thank me later.
Lastly, if you could add a new feature to Iron Meat, what do you think would be a great addition?
Christian: If I could add a feature it would probably be something like an Iron Man mode where your lives stay at a consistent count between levels. I'm glad they reset each level by default because we want as many people as possible to play and enjoy, but I can see the sickos out there who want to challenge themselves, yes you I see YOU! If it's in the cards to happen, I think it would make some people happy.
Check back here for even more updates! Iron Meat is available now!
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
In hopes of contacting the rest of the Earth Counter Invasion Force of the Meat's assault on his Forest sector, Vadim attempts to climb the Meat-infested broadcasting Tower!
In this level, you'll face monsters growing from within vents and infected humans running across walkways!
As soon as you enter this level, you'll quickly get a sense of Tower's verticality. With turrets and enemies positioned on the left and right walls, you'll have to be extra careful as you make your ascent!
You'll also see tons of Meat Chains slowly making their way through vents from one side to the other. Destroying these will allow you to continue on--and destroying a certain number of Meat Chains might even reward you with an achievement!
Be wary around rotating turrets, since they can track your position and shoot projectiles as you get closer to them. Not to worry though--you'll find plenty of weapon upgrades and passive abilities to help you clean up the mess inside this Meat haven!
In addition to the Meat Chains appearing from left to right, you'll also encounter malfunctioning plasma lasers that'll activate then deactivate after a set interval. Time your jumps right to avoid getting blasted by these, too!
And arriving at the midpoint of the level, you'll face off against three Meat Bulbs--each in control of a unique security system! Avoid more plasma lasers, shoot at Meat spores appearing through vents, and evade red lasers coming down at you to proceed!
Overcoming the three Meat Bulbs and continuing further up will get you to the top of the broadcasting tower, where you'll meet a certain mad scientist seeking to enhance his powers...
Check back here for even more updates! Iron Meat is available now!
Be sure to follow Retroware's developer page to stay up-to-date on all our games, news, and more!
This week, we're bringing you an interview featuring a member of Iron Meat's development team! Today, we'll be sitting down with Ryan Rasing, a game designer and writer.
Please introduce yourself and describe your role in Iron Meat's development.
Ryan: My name's Ryan Rasing, I'm a game designer and writer here at Retroware. I worked on roughing out some of the UI elements, level ideas, and I wrote out all the achievements in the game. That goes along with helping out with QA testing whenever the need arises. I've also done backend work writing for the game, both in terms of supporting Ivan, the lead developer, and for marketing, storefront copy, and Steam posts...like this one!
Wait, so you're the guy writing all the Steam posts?
Ryan: I am.
So...you're interviewing yourself right now?
Ryan: ...Is there a problem?
Anyway, what do you think makes Iron Meat unique compared to other titles of the run and gun genre?
Ryan: Iron Meat takes a classic style of gaming and mashes it together with a gory aesthetic and premise, coupled with your typical modern features like in-game achievements, remote play capabilities, unlocking and customizing skins, and, well, you could also say that enabling local 2-player co-op is kind of a redux of a classic feature. For that, I'd just hope people can enjoy playing games with their friends and family in-person like many of us did years ago.
How would you describe Iron Meat's development from the perspective of its mechanical design?
Ryan: I think the game's evolution can speak for itself. The mechanics are simple: You run to the right and shoot at anything and everything that looks like it wants to devour you. You can also stand still and aim--a mechanic I noticed a lot of players missing out on at some conventions we attended. Admittedly, I enjoyed watching people think they could literally only RUN and GUN and not possibly stand still and aim/shoot. It's obviously a core mechanic, so I wonder if there could've been a world where a short tutorial sequence was made (or maybe a visual button prompt?)--but I'm much happier with what we ended up with. It's simple enough to learn.
Were you there since the start of the game's development?
Ryan: No, I joined the team after the preliminary work was mostly done and the game was like 30% of what it was now. I wasn't aware of just how many past iterations there were before this current build, so it's pretty cool to see how the project went from Point A to Point B in its visual and mechanical evolution. I started out doing only QA testing, but I was moved up to design several elements of the game and support its work and eventual release with my writing.
Do you think there's anything you wish you included in the game that isn't already there?
Ryan: So there was an idea before about potentially having a "gallery" menu option available. It would've been great if we had something like this in the final version, so everybody can see the amount of conceptual work and past ideas we came up with, not to mention having convenient access to the opening 2D animation and maybe every animated cutscene in the game. That way, you wouldn't have to play certain levels all over again just to watch an in-game animation--but that's just my opinion. I just feel having a gallery would've been a cool ribbon to the already cool present we gave to players.
Based on some comments on previous Steam posts, I have to ask: Are we there yet?
Ryan: Absurd question. We have always been there.
Uh, no, you guys haven't..?
Ryan: Shh, shh...
Ugh. Final question, is there--
Ryan: I decide when's the last question.
Now, hold on, you can't just--
Ryan: --interrupt you?
Just answer me this: Will there be a sequel to Iron Meat? Maybe an Iron Meat 2?
Ryan: ... ... ...
Is that a Yes?
Ryan: I think we're done here. Thanks for the interview, me! Enjoy this gameplay gif:
Hey! Don't dodge the question! The people have to know! THINK OF THE PEOPLE!
Ryan: Of course, I do think of the people. That's why YOU can experience the Meat's invasion of Earth NOW in Iron Meat! Play through 9 levels of gore and--
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they know! EVERYBODY knows that already! Answer the damn question!
