Critically acclaimed in the press, Glyph, from studio Bolverk Games, realizes the transition from Nintendo Switch to Steam today (Monday, Aug. 9th). The lively marble game/ball roller where you play as a mechanical scarab, fighting to restore an ancient civilization overrun by machines gone mad, is welcomed as a fresh take on the genre by platform game enthusiasts.
"It is great to be rolling out on Steam with confidence after having been so well received on Nintendo Switch. Our 3d platformer is now more bouncy than ever, and we're excited to share Glyph with a wider audience on PC," says CEO Bo Bennekov.
But actually, this isn't the game's first transition.
"For us, this is a dream come true. Glyph started as a small VR title (now retired, red.), then made its way to Nintendo Switch after a total overhaul of the game and a huge injection of new content. Launching Glyph on Steam is a milestone for us and something we've been looking forward to for a long time," says Lead Game Designer Jesper Halfter.
Ice Eagle: 100+ free skins can be found in hidden levels within levels.
Fan base growing As the launch date approaches, more people have become aware of Glyph. The versatile platformer draws in speedrunners, completionists, and exploration fans to the Glyph discord channel, now sporting 1500+ members.
Likewise, the game's Twitter following added 700+ people in the last few weeks.
"We have almost reached the critical point where our Discord server is buzzing with Glyph players 24/7. Insect pun intended. Jokes aside, though: I look forward to welcoming all new future players with good gaming vibes, weekly Glyph challenges, silly content, and more," say marketing manager Rasmus Jensen who greets fans on Discord under the nick ARJAY along with Bolverk Games' other marketing guy, Rasmus Stouby, flying under the nick Scooterman.
"It's a very active server, and we are fortunate to have the devs, the CEO, our music man, and, basically, everyone involved with the game takes part in the discussions there," says Rasmus Stouby.
A giant mechanical centipede lurks in the background.
Mad Marble Game To no one's exact surprise, fans have long been into both platformers and ball rolling games. Glyph is a modern iteration of a ball rolling platform game.
The main character, the Glyph, is a sphere that rolls but have several extra features unlocked in the tutorial. Like in the first marble game, the iconic Atari/Midway title from 1984, Marble Madness, momentum is a strong force in Glyph. Utilizing it can get you higher and farther than most other platformers - making it ideal for speedrunners.
This puts some pressure on the player to learn all the many movement combinations possible in Glyph. Still, it also opens up the vast levels to further exploration and collecting if you're not exactly a speed demon.
A handful of new features have been added to the Steam version, such as a more accessible level selection system, full controller support and mouse+keyboard, screen adaptability, and more. Any changes improving the game directly will also be implemented in the Switch version.
The floor is lava, so tread carefully.
Back to hidden gem? The first version of Glyph to hit Switch in January was quickly reviewed as quite the indie find but a very difficult one. After substantial player feedback, Bolverk Games decided to listen and adjust to flatten the learning curve and make the game more forgiving. This was a worthwhile decision as the game's popularity seems to be growing.
So, now the big question everyone at Bolverk Games is surely asking themselves is if some of the Nintendo popularity and current attention momentum will lift Glyph into the much sought-after Steam algorithms.
Or if this momentum-filled double jump-drift lands just short of the platform. In that case, it's fortunate that players no longer lose all collectibles upon death but get to carry over most items to the next attempt - smarter and wiser.
Your trusted helper, the NPC Anobi, is ready with helpful tips along your way.
New ideas, new mechanics For those new to Glyph, the platform game combines breathtaking aerial maneuvers with tranquil exploration and lots of collectibles. The end goal is to restore the ancient Temple City, overcome by the desert, which functions as the game's non-linear hub world. Glyph has:
* 80+ levels in Exploration mode mean you'll have to put serious effort into the game before you've seen it all. * 30 blazing hot levels put your skills to the test in Time Trial mode. * 100+ secrets and upgrades are all part of the game from the beginning. With Glyph, you won't have to pay for extra skins or cool unlocks. * A wicked mean final boss... * Glyph appeals to both chill-out players and speedrunners as the open-world allows creative ways to move through the many levels available with the release.
Vast open levels invite creative and instinctive decisions. Can you land the jump?
Copenhagen indie studio The game is made by Bolverk Games, a self-supporting indie studio based in Denmark and generally focused on VR games and software. Over the past two years, though, Bolverk Games has developed this exciting 3D platform game for the Nintendo Switch console and PC.
"We make the games we want to play ourselves - beautiful, challenging, and immersive," says CEO Bo Bennekov.
Bolverk Games was among the first to realize how VR gaming could be more than a novelty and have created titles such as the Dick Wilde shooters and Kittypocalypse tower defense.
Win a GeForce RTX3070 with Glyph today
Hello Kittypocalypsies,
It’s been excruciating to find quality graphics cards this spring and summer. The chip shortage has taken its toll, and gamers all over the planet suffer from the drag of yesterday's hardware: The horror!
But hold on! What is that? A tiny beam of light in the all-consuming darkness in-between frames that are much, much too far apart!
Bolverk Games freely offers the high-value GeForce RTX3070 graphics card from Nvidia (Inno3D version) at a value of USD1100 to platforming fans around the world willing to enter a no-purchase necessary competition.
To participate, interested good folks must wishlist Glyph on Steam, take a screenshot of the completed action, and post it on the Glyph discord channel.
Enter the competition here (hosted by gleam.io): bit.ly/RTX3070-Glyphaway
Then... Go and click wishlist here: bit.ly/GlyphOnSteam Hit Shift+windows_key+S to screenshoot Go here: discord.gg/4GxcWPtnzT Ctrl+v Profit!
If you have already added Glyph to your wishlist. Well, simply paste the screenshot to prove it. Then you too are part of the RTX3070-Glyphaway!
Good luck.
Introducing Glyph! A new 3d platformer from Bolverk Games.
Glyph’s gripping gameplay, which combines breathtaking aerial maneuvers with tranquil exploration, will be making its way to Steam this summer!
[previewyoutube="HzVzwOqk6Ds;full"]
As some of the keenest among you will observe, this new Glyph game builds upon our old VR version and is at first glance similar in name, appearance, and gameplay.
However, our new Glyph title has been thoroughly refined and improved over the last two years to become an entirely new game experience that does NOT require a VR headset to enjoy.
Start your journey by adding Glyph to your wishlist today! 👇
1. Small level balancing tweaks
2. Fixed lightmaps on all levels
3. Upped the performance of all levels
4. Improved handling of control schemes, makes for easier loading of the Desktop version.
Have Fun!
MAJOR UPDATE! Kittypocalypse 1.1 is live!
**Please note: Have your VR Gear ready when launching Kittypocalypse. The gear you have as "ready and green" in Steam´VR will determine which mode the game loads in**
We have great news for you, commander! Kittypocalypse has been updated, bugfixed, rebalanced and polished just for you. This is the headlines:
- Oculus Touch support
- Playable without VR goggles in a desktop version
- Weapons animations completely revamped and upgraded
- Kittens and weapons renamed and re-styled for more distinction and easier learnability
- A plethora of new and improved sounds
- Community balance patch - Including re-balancing of Tuldigon on Easy and Normal
- Upgrade to Unity 5.5 for performance gains and many fixes
- 100s of bugfixes, including:
- We finally squashed the infamous sound bug
- Blinky kitties are now gone!
- Kitty logo aligned to the player
- Fixed cheat, that enabled player to complete any mission by quitting it and going through the tutorial
- Player can now check Kitty info after a loss
- Fixed menu crash on Vive
- Fixed Oculus version some times crashing after removing the headset
- Fixed old savegames to new save format
Kittypocalypse patch notes 1.0.06c (2016/09/02)
Hotfix to ensure that kitties cannot (in rare cases) get stuck under spawn-bubbles, making the level unwinnable.
Kittypocalypse patch notes 1.0.06b (2016/09/01)
- Performance hotfix to improve framerate (and thus reduce the number of frame-drops) on levels with hordes of kittens and many towers
Kittypocalypse patch notes 1.0.06 (2016/08/30)
Bug-fixes:
Both Vive & Oculus:
- Fixed placement of kitten spawn-bubbles that caused some kittens to get stuck on a particular skirmish-level
- Fixed bouncy snow causing bouncy kitten behavior on 2 winter levels
- Reduced kittens propensity to get stuck on objects
- Improved fast kitten control point taking behavior
- Reduced kitten propensity to suicide when their movement is being hindered by slower kittens ahead
Kittypocalypse patch notes 1.0.05 (2016/08/25)
Bug-fixes:
Both Vive & Oculus:
- Fixed looping weapon sounds when pausing the game
- Fixed weapon upgrade UI icons that misreported weapons locked/unlock status
- Fixed bug where kitties would get stuck on 2 particular levels
- Fixed misaligned tree on a particular level
- Removed empty slot from Missile Launcher tech tree
- Improved visibility on a desert level (slightly less aggressive duststorm)
- Fixed some achievements on Steam that were not being updated properly
Vive only:
- Capped max player-distance to world for improved comfort, and to avoid having the player end up very far from the world when someone in the real world walks by the player, temporarily blocking the laser beams from the Vive Lighthouses
- Removed Oculus specific level-lost text
- Restricted moving below the world, to avoid terrain-clipping
- Fixed player scale in Main Menu control room
- Fixed selection beam in control room main menu
- Removed unnecessary blue controller beam in control room
- Fixed erroneous playing of main-menu music rather than in-game music when in-game
Oculus only:
- Fixed crash bug (due to error in Unity 5.4) that occurred when taking the mask off
Features:
Vive only:
- Added in-game stats to Vive version
- Added mission achievement award statuettes
Kittypocalypse patch notes 1.0.04b (2016/08/19)
- Hotfix to prevent Oculus specific functionality from running under Vive, causing the player to get stuck
