I\'ve added new bosses for level 1 and level 2: CARPY DIE \'EM and MAW MAW.

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45651965/116a0aa8b006f44a3c95148f18c99d56d127d8c8.gif\"][/img]

Currently they spawn randomly on any run after you\'ve beaten their respective levels once. That\'s proven pretty torturous in testing. In the next patch I plan to let you choose which boss you fight before you get to that part of the level.

As I mentioned earlier , I\'ve got a lot more updates planned than these bosses, and I\'ll be going over those shortly. But first, this alpha\'s change notes (alpha 0.8):

• Levels can now have one of multiple bosses. Defeat one to unlock the next!

  [/*]

• Added fish boss: CARPY DIE \'EM

  [/*]

• Added factory boss: MAW MAW

  [/*]

• Increased level 1 boss healths

  [/*]

• Improved spear squid attack hit detection

  [/*]

• Improved enemy beam attack canceling

  [/*]

• Improved level randomness for repeated runs.

  [/*]

• Fixed Perry\'s parry potentially persisting past player press

  [/*]

• Fixed enemy bullet z-order conflicts just after firing

  [/*]

• Fixed unexpected behavior after some enemy deaths

  [/*]

What\'s Next

My next major focus is going to be improving level pacing and giving you more decisions mid-level.

I\'ve got plenty of ideas for how to better detect \"gaps\" in levels, either because of generation or an especially murderous player. Then I\'ll have the level spawn things earlier or outright fast forward the level\'s scroll progression. We\'ll see what works best!

This first implementation of mid-level decisions will be represented via friendly targets that fly up to you in world for you to activate, either to pick a route/boss or purchase an item with your coins. It\'s simple enough, but I hope it\'ll add extra choices without pulling you out of the gameplay as much as another menu would.

While I\'m excited for that general focus, content additions like more player upgrades, more enemies, and more minibosses are also planned for the next alpha! Increasing player choice should make playing with all of that a lot more fun!

Thank You!

Thanks so much for playing Match Shot Chimera, and for your feedback! I hope you enjoy these new bosses and have a good holiday season.

I will be moving over the holidays, which will be hard. But eventually I\'ll be spending a lot less time working on moving and selling house. I\'m looking forward to it!

- Levels can now have one of multiple bosses. Defeat one to unlock the next!\n- Added fish boss: CARPY DIE \'EM\n- Added factory boss: MAW MAW\n- Increased level 1 boss healths\n- Improved spear squid attack hit detection\n- Improved enemy beam attack canceling\n- Improved level randomness for repeated runs.\n- Fixed Perry\'s parry potentially persisting past player press\n- Fixed enemy bullet z-order conflicts just after firing\n- Fixed unexpected behavior after some enemy deaths

Along with a few fixes and improvements, Match Shot Chimera has 2 more bosses coming:

Carpy Die \'em

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45651965/f1dcb1b8545c8f8dc8ee1192d5bcb8dc80287bcc.gif\"][/img]

and MAW MAW!

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45651965/ec23d5a4caf1deb0befa160e0604bc5baf6000c8.gif\"][/img]

I\'d hoped for more features in this release, but I\'ve been swamped by a move that wasn\'t planned when I was picking the game\'s release date(s). That\'s wrapping up now, which means I\'ve got even less time to spare at the moment! I don\'t recommend moving your family over the holidays.

I\'m looking forward to being done with the move! And I\'ve still got lots of things to add to Match Shot Chimera after this next update; I just wanted to release these two soon so that there\'d be something new for you all to play with!

Happy Holidays!

alpha 0.7.4 Patch Notes:\n\n

\n
• Unity Engine security update\n
• Removed player movement acceleration, (more shmup-like movement, instant stops)\n
• Improved UI handling of ultrawide displays\n
• Level 2 laser enemies no longer fire while off-screen\n

Match Shot Chimera\'s out now on Steam Early Access!

It\'s been a lot of work, and I plan for it to be a lot more work after this!

Compared to the demo there are lots of new things:

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45651965/f384fcf92f1255554c7d09e5ba82f813b5254550.gif\"][/img]

• New character: Wally (shield bubble, makes shield walls)

  [/*]

• New character: Perry (parries enemy shots on swap!)

  [/*]

• New level: SPACE!

  [/*]

• New enemies: alien-shaped baddies. Lots of brain jars and strange new enemy attack styles.

  [/*]

• Ichor upgrade shop: permanent progression between runs

  [/*]

• Multiple difficulties: stronger enemies, faster enemies, longer levels.

  [/*]

I\'m eager to hear what you think! How\'s it play? Favorite characters? Is blocking in a shmup a crime?

I\'m happy with the game so far, but it won\'t last you for ages at this point. Multiple characters and difficulty levels to play with is a start! Future releases will focus strongly on improving replayability and the overall content amount.

What\'s next:

• More upgrades, for more varied runs!

  [/*]

• More control over your mid-run upgrade choices

  [/*]

• More characters

  [/*]

• More enemies

  [/*]

• Difficulty-specific enemies and wave designs

  [/*]

• More unique enemy behaviors and formations

  [/*]

• More beautiful and evil bullet patterns to dodge

  [/*]

• Better level backgrounds

  [/*]

[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45651965/03d1f6fc364e2bed775efaf0b1636097e4940009.png\"][/img]

Match Shot Chimera has been delayed to September 24.

Sorry for the delay. Match Shot Chimera was ready for September 9th but there were some things out of my control in Steam\'s backend.

I\'m happy to have more time to polish and promote before release, though! Match Shot Chimera will be coming at you better than ever September 24th!

Match Shot Chimera\'s coming to Steam Early Access September 9th! Wishlist and tell your friends, tell your mom, tell your pets!

Here\'s a trailer with some new footage of the next level and boss. There will be more!

It's been great getting the latest version of the demo out to everyone for Steam Next Fest. I wanted to show you all what I've been working on for the full version of the game lately, starting with new characters and persistent upgrades!

New Characters

The starting character, ever-heroic Jeremy, has a pretty simple charge skill: Focus Fire. For the second character I wanted to have a skill that pretty dramatically changes the play-style.

Meet Wally and his shield!

It only adds to your break meter when taking a hit, but two hits will be enough to break a block entirely. On break you drop a temporary shield wall.

A shield's pretty powerful in a shmup, but this is also much larger than your standard weak spot (the pupil). I think this is a fairly balanced place to start, but will certainly keep an eye on how this plays out.

This is Perry!

Persistent Upgrades

You'll be able to spend the ichor you accumulate across runs on persistent upgrades. They'll make you more powerful and give you more options on your next run.

The best way to show that off quickly is... a gif of UI. Delicious.

Besides what's pictured I'm also planning on upgrades that affect the kinds of encounters that spawn, your ability to reroll your upgrades on level-up, and a good few other ideas. But these six are a good place to start for now!

I'll be posting about the game's third level and new enemies/minibosses next. Thanks again for your feedback, wishlists and demo reviews! They're a huge help for this tiny team.

Tyrus Peace plays Match Shot Chimera! Don't worry, I'll fix that bug later. And that one, too.

As always, you can get the latest version of the Match Shot Chimera Demo right here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3730320/Match_Shot_Chimera_Demo/

If you haven't tried the demo yet: please do! It's the best way to try out this lil' match-3 shmup at the moment, and I'd love to hear what you think so far.

I've improved the effects for matching blocks and player damage explosions quite a bit in this update, which should improve the game's feel and make getting damaged much more noticeable!

I've used some of that same tech to improve the "colored vector" render style, as well!

There are a lot of other changes I've made recently which are focused on the upcoming early access release. I'll detail those in another post soon! But there are many fixes and improvements to the demo in this update, as well. I've included more comprehensive patch notes below.

alpha 0.6 Patch Notes

• Improved effects for match explosions

  [/*]

• Improved damaged player effects

  [/*]

• Improved colored vector render style

  [/*]

• Improved UI scaling, especially on Steam Deck

  [/*]

• Fixed enemy bullets disappearing early

  [/*]

• Fixed unreliable break meter display

  [/*]

• Title screen now only plays cutscene on first load

  [/*]

• Settings UI arrow buttons now repeat while mouse down

  [/*]

• Added controller binding for style swap

  [/*]

• Fixed UI hang while generating keyboard binding graphics

  [/*]

• New save data format

  [/*]

• Ichor is now awarded at the end of a run (not spendable in demo!)

  [/*]