Demonizer G is getting a rockin' new soundtrack by chiptuner and fan tytanium654! Each track will be added to the development version as it and its stage are completed. You can hear new Stage 1 and Stage 2 themes now using the new soundtrack option! (Takes effect on the next stage load if changed in-game.) Hear more from tytanium654 at https://www.youtube.com/@tytanium654 [previewyoutube=XWGHC-CcNYg;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-07-16 01:01:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's the Steam Summer Sale! Get Demonizer 25% off and preview the upcoming update, Demonizer G!

[ 2024-06-27 17:48:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

You can now set the difficulty in the Demonizer G beta. There are again three levels: Normal, Hard and Demonic. On higher difficulty, enemies fire higher rates of faster bullets, but within fixed time windows, like so: [previewyoutube=3Ga1absZcsc;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-06-27 17:40:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed performance drops in certain areas (Stage 1 first catapults, Stage 2 crop fields) noticed when playing on low-end systems or while the system is busy (e.g. screen recording).

[ 2024-05-25 09:41:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Demonizer G development version now includes Stage 2! Like Stage 1, it is almost totally remade to be more dynamic, exciting, and, well, shootable! To try it, opt into the development beta in the game properties.






Other updates:

• Red damage tint for squadmates, and fixed a bug letting them take bullets without any damage.
• A simple attract mode when the title screen receives no input for 10 seconds.
• The little white items from defeating enemies just before they fire have been disabled until the system is refined.

[ 2024-05-10 23:25:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fun times showing Demonizer G at Tokyo Indie Games Summit 2024! One of my players happened to be Totsuka-san from Famitsu...

Read JP | Read EN (Google Translate)

[ 2024-03-06 06:02:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Good times at Tokyo Indie Games Summit last weekend! The build shown is still getting some refinement before release, but here's a sale anyway.

[ 2024-03-04 06:31:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer G is going to Tokyo Indie Games Summit on March 2 and 3, 2024! For info and tickets, visit https://indiegamessummit.tokyo/ Try the next development build with Stages 1 and 2 at Kichijoji Tokyu REI Hotel, booth RD-2b!
Stage 2 peek: [previewyoutube=b-YxoHS4qOM;full][/previewyoutube] (Please set 720p60 or higher quality)

[ 2024-02-23 02:54:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Halloween and Demonizer's 3rd birthday! A short recap and reflection is up at itch.io.

Read

[ 2023-11-01 00:31:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some QoL updates for the development version.

• New menu designs are more readable and understandable.
• Boss dialogue can be advanced with any of the 3 action buttons/keys, or skipped with the Start button or Esc key.
• Option for smooth movement at any screen refresh rate. Found in Screen options menu.
• Improved intro cutscene art, courtesy of 2dpixx.de

[ 2023-10-09 19:11:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

So how did Shmup Fest go? A peek at the coming Stage 2 v2.0 says it all! [previewyoutube=mUz7MBdOac4;full][/previewyoutube] Also a name has been chosen for 2.0. When It's Done, this game will be reborn as Demonizer G! Thanks to Steam and all fellow devs and players!

[ 2023-10-02 22:35:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

In the development version, the options menu is now accessible from the game pause menu. Also, the Enter key is now hardcoded to activate the selected menu item. If you assigned any game action to Enter, you may want to reassign it.

[ 2023-09-28 01:13:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Shmup Fest is on from 9/25-10/2! Get Demonizer 25% off and get a taste of the upcoming 2.0 update in the Stage 1 development build. Get it in the Shmups Fest Pack with Assault Shell, Wings of Bluestar and Railgunners and save an extra 10%! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35230/Shmups_fest_pack/ The revamped Stage 1 is a far more interactive and target-rich environment with more dynamic enemies, more scoring opportunities, graphical updates, and a new hidden mechanic. [previewyoutube=tXqZ7H5s4EI;full][/previewyoutube] To access the development build, opt into the "development" beta in the game properties. After the Shmup Fest ends, it will remain available and be updated with more stages and features as they reach a playable state. Comments, questions, feedback, and issues are welcome in this announcement's discussion thread.

[ 2023-09-25 17:00:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Audio was not playing on Manjaro and possibly other Linux distros. This has been fixed. Issue thread

[ 2023-04-03 06:58:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's another Steam Autumn Sale! -25% OFF until Nov 29.

[ 2022-11-22 17:53:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

For the 2nd anniversary, I wrote about what's next for Demonizer. The next update will be 2.0.

Read

[ 2022-11-02 17:00:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer 25% off for Summer Sale 2022! Lasts until July 7 10am PDT.

[ 2022-06-23 21:39:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

For a little more monstergirl shmup action try my latest game jam game Honey Guardian! https://ioribranford.itch.io/honey-guardian Made in 1 week for Gunner Parade '22 hosted by devs of Assault Shell.

[ 2022-06-21 19:28:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Valve has verified Steam Deck compatibility for Demonizer! 25% OFF until May 16 1pm PDT. If you can prop up your Steam Deck on its side and connect a controller you should be good to go!

[ 2022-05-13 20:02:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer joins the 2022 Lunar New Year Sale! 25% OFF until Feb 3.

[ 2022-01-27 21:53:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

The last sale of 2021! $8.99 until January 5.

[ 2021-12-22 17:55:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer is 25% off once more for the Steam Autumn Sale! $8.99 until Dec 1.

[ 2021-11-24 20:20:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

A technical article about where I am on the next update, and why I decided to remake the game engine and how it's paying off.

Read here

[ 2021-10-31 02:15:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer is 25% off for the Steam Halloween Sale and its 1st birthday. Welcome to the new players!

[ 2021-10-31 02:10:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer joins the Steam Summer Sale! $9.95 from today to 7/8. Try new leaderboards, sound effects, and balance fixes!

[ 2021-06-24 19:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Minor online leaderboard fixes:
  • Non-Latin characters were missing from player names. Now the full Basic Multilingual Plane is supported. to the top Demonic Amy player at time of writing.
  • When requesting your own score, the leaderboard could start on the wrong page depending on your ranking.
• Replaced one more sound effect. Thanks to Taira Komori

[ 2021-06-24 02:10:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch Shootaro and the gang at CAVE check out Demonizer on stream! https://www.twitch.tv/cave_shooters

[ 2021-06-11 13:04:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Local scoreboards are now split by character and difficulty.
• Steam leaderboards added, also split by character and difficulty.
• Both player characters' shot damage increased.
• Demonic difficulty a bit less demonic. Enemy fire rates are now the same as Hard difficulty. Bullet speed is unchanged though.
• Enemy waves improved in all stages. Enemies were moved, tweaked, and cut to reduce spam attacks and cheap shots. Late game bosses, especially the stage 6 boss, saw the biggest improvement.
• Many sound effects replaced and a few new ones added. (Most importantly, a distinct "bomb filled up" sound.) From https://soundeffect-lab.info/
• New wallpaper based on the current cover art. Select background style "ART2" in Picture settings.

Just in time - CAVE is streaming Demonizer very soon! (in just over an hour at time of writing) https://www.twitch.tv/cave_shooters

[ 2021-06-11 12:25:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Took some time off to reflect on the game and here are the results. A long read of thoughts, memories, lessons learned, and future plans. https://ioribranford.itch.io/demonizer/devlog/249756/a-moment-of-reflection

[ 2021-05-06 23:15:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new beta branch has been created for public testing. Opt in to try the new Steam leaderboards. Go into the Demonizer properties and select the beta branch. There is no password.
The in-game leaderboard view is found at Campaign > High Scores > Online Scores.

You can also view leaderboards on the web here: https://steamcommunity.com/stats/1091390/leaderboards/ Also new in this version: scores are divided by difficulty and character. Therefore this version does not write to your score file. A score in this version is posted to leaderboard if it's a new high, but not saved locally. Being not fully tested, these and other new features may have bugs. Please comment if you encounter anything.

[ 2021-04-14 21:01:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an occasional crash triggered by the midboss and boss firing their laser beams in the castle stage.

[ 2021-03-12 18:33:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

RFGeneration have selected Demonizer for their monthly Shmup Club! Visit their forum thread to discuss and participate: March 2021 Shmup Club - Demonizer Watch GuruGameBoy/MetalFRO play on stream through the month: https://www.twitch.tv/gurugameboy A few words from RFGeneration on their selection: [quote=RFGeneration.com] When shooting games started out in the late 1970's, everything was done by small teams, engineering solutions, designing arcade hardware, and coming up with fun game concepts that were easy to pick up and play, but hard to master. As the 1980's shifted from arcades to home consoles and the market diverged, game design teams grew in size, and games became more complex. With the advent of more powerful arcade hardware and consoles in the 1990's, shooting games became even more complicated, with high production values, and involved scoring systems. Fast forward 25 or 30 years, and shooting games have shifted again, back to smaller design teams, and small indie studios, but often retain higher production values due to more readily available tools for small developers to see their visions come to life. That brings us to game developer Iori Branford, and the recently released, indie shoot-em-up, Demonizer, which takes cues from many 90's shooters, but has a decidedly old-school look and feel. Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in March 2021, as we take on humanity in Demonizer! [/quote]

[ 2021-03-04 00:13:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer bonus content collection is up on my own site. https://ioribranford.com/#demonizer-bonus This includes not only the comic book and key illustrations, but a variety of fun art commissioned over the course of development.

[ 2021-02-24 22:03:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

1.1.0b

• Fixed variety of strange game-breaking behaviors when starting at checkpoint or boss in single-stage mode.
• Fixed awkward camera speed transition when approaching stage 5 boss.
• Fixed attract mode always playing Stage 1 even in full version.
• After Snow defeats Stage 7 boss, show the castle destruction scene but without Amy. Without it there was no payoff for the castle shaking.

1.1.0a

• Fixed error out when starting single-stage mode.
• Removed extra medal slot on campaign menu.

[ 2021-02-18 08:13:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

The first content update is here! We have new playable character Snow and a new Boss Rush game mode. If you are updating from a previous version, the unlock requirements for the new content are waived, and you'll be able to play them immediately. Thanks for your support!

Snow

Snow is a flying mermaid imprisoned in the capital canal. Loosen the grate with a couple bombs, or one perfectly-placed bomb, and she can escape. She will be selectable in the Campaign, Single Stage, and Boss Rush. She shoots sonic waves that not only penetrate enemies and cover, but turn their bullets against them. Shoot the bullets until they turn green, then they will damage enemies instead of you. For her bomb she emits a sonic shout, throwing bullets back at enemies very fast. Because she is slightly more powerful than Amy, she can only have half as many demons at her command.

Boss Rush

This unlocks when you finish the campaign. Starting with full resources, fight all the bosses in a row. You recover some resources with each boss defeated, but no extra lives, except for a couple of 1UPs from later bosses. You can earn the same medals as in the campaign stages, but there is no high score table yet.

Rebalancing

• The mines in Stage 4 will show a warning before exploding. The warning duration is shorter on harder difficulty.
• When Stage 2 midboss comes downstairs, he no longer moves into the bottom half of the screen. Instead he hides inside the house.
• Reduce feather drop rate of final boss wings to make infinite bomb loop harder.
• When you collect a red heart with your demons maxed out (20 for Amy, 10 for Snow), the bonus points are increased on harder difficulty.

Bug fixes

• Fixed crash when pressing Back alone with quick restart option enabled. Thanks to keitoushi for reporting this issue.
• Fixed some enemies firing too fast on Demonic difficulty.
• Fixed demo crashing from trying to load Stage 2 which is no longer included in it.

Misc.

• Campaign high score table is now 20 pages, showing a total of 100 scores.

[ 2021-02-17 02:25:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer joins the Lunar New Year sale (on time this time!) $9.95 until 2/15. Also, next update coming in a couple days.

[ 2021-02-11 18:00:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Interview with Fragments of Silicon podcast is starting soon. Join us to hear more about Demonizer and my game dev journey, or catch the VOD afterward, here: https://www.twitch.tv/fragmentsofsilicon

[ 2021-02-11 01:39:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to all new demonizers discovering the game through Electric Undergrounds Top 10 Shmups of 2020. These balance and QoL updates were planned for 1.1, but with the recent influx of players its best to release them now.

• Reduce power loss on death: -1 level, or -2 at max level, instead of all. Inebriator minigame is adjusted similarly.
• Autobomb protection when holding max bombs. When hit, throw a bomb instead of dying, at the cost of losing all bombs. Does not apply in Inebriator.
• In pause and game over menus, you can now choose to restart at the checkpoint or at the beginning of the stage. (Before this, if you failed a stage medal and wanted to try for it again, you had to return to the main menu and choose the stage again.)

[ 2021-01-15 21:04:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

With most requested features done and major issues fixed, development is going on holiday break. (barring any critical fixes) Updates will resume in mid or late January, switching to a monthly cycle to allow time for bigger changes (and exploring new game projects). These are the major features planned for the near future.

Boss rush stage

Fight all bosses one after another. Start with max resources and gain some back with each boss defeated. Dont let the timer run out. Unlocked by beating the campaign.

New playable characters

Snow the siren, with sonic attacks that penetrate the enemys cover. Unlocked by freeing her from an underwater prison. (She was started before release but had to be pushed back.)
Fallen Angelina turns her triple arrow against her former brethren. Unlocked by beating the campaign.

Mission mode

Short challenge stages, demanding skillful use of specific game mechanics or combinations of such. Intended as a more fun way to learn advanced mechanics not covered in the basic tutorial.

Additional polish

Character portraits, voice clips, and other touches to help the game feel more alive.

[ 2020-12-23 18:00:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer is part of the Steam Winter Sale! Save monstergirls and turn hateful humans into lovable demons for $9.95. Sale ends Tue 1/5/21.

[ 2020-12-23 00:31:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

The last update of the year mainly fixes some enemy encounters that were weak or unbalanced.

• 2.Village
  • Fix some enemies hanging around the bottom edge of the screen where they were too hard to hit.
• 4.Dungeon
  • Smoother start, with demonstration of how land mines work and better enemy escalation.
  • Fix off-center land mine explosions when triggering them.
  • Fix 1UP item being obscured by the wyrm girls laser when she uncovers it for you.
• 5.Highway
  • Smoother start. More javelin cavalry but their health is reduced.
  • Darker background for bullet visibility.
• 6.Capital
  • Church midbosss orbs fire more.
  • Add flying armor to the cavalry run.
  • Boss disappears and continues moving when hiding underground from player bomb, so player cannot wait for her or track her easily.
• 7.Castle
  • Add more guards at the end, before the princess fight.

Etc.

• The pause menu in campaign mode now shows the stage medal status: already earned, can be earned, or failed. If a medal is failed, you must restart the stage from the beginning to try for it again. (So if you reached a stage checkpoint, pick End Game instead of Restart Checkpoint.)
• Fix occasional case of player dying and creating a new demon simultaneously. Creating a demon is supposed to protect the player.
• Remove extra console window on Windows. It was not useful for the player and if closed, would close the game with it.

[ 2020-12-22 23:52:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

• By request, you can now choose a stage starting point In single-stage mode: the beginning, the boss, or the checkpoint if there is one.
• Add left and right arrows to make option settings visually distinct from buttons.
• Add more force to some camera shakes.

Bugs fixed

• On some old or uncommon controllers, moving in certain directions could also fire weapons or bombs, depending on the button assignments.
• High score was recorded when beating final stage in single-stage mode.

[ 2020-12-13 22:02:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

• For portrait screens: a new vertical HUD outside of the game canvas, and a proper vertical background artwork.
  • The HUD options have changed to Inner HUD and Outer HUD. When Outer HUD is on, the game automatically chooses the horizontal or the vertical outer HUD based on the screen dimensions. When Inner HUD is AUTO, it will show only if neither outer HUD is enabled or available.
• When you press the bomb button, you are invulnerable in the short period until the bomb comes out.
• Ending a game takes you back to the submenu of your chosen game mode, instead of the main menu.
• In 7.Castle the midboss and bosss laser beams will now destroy bullets, both enemy and friendly.
  • Gives the bosses some more defense
  • Fixes the issue of the beams covering some bullets so you couldnt see them coming
  • Briefly gives a little more space to move after the beams finish

[ 2020-12-05 05:08:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Demonizer has managed to jump on the last 2 days of the Steam Autumn Sale! US$9.95 until the Autumn Sale ends 12/1 11AM PST.

[ 2020-11-29 19:31:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Highlights of this update are the requested single-stage mode and persistent in-game achievements to add some replay value. The normal game mode is now called Campaign mode.

Single-stage mode (a.k.a. practice)

Play any unlocked stage with as much power and resources as you want. Use it to practice a stage under specific conditions, or give yourself full power and take out your frustration on that stage you've been struggling with. This mode does not save scores or medals nor advance stage progress.

Achievement medals and bonuses

For each stage and difficulty level, you can try for these four achievements to earn bonus points and persistent medals. - Don't die - Don't miss a heart - Don't lose an ally - Save all friendlies (where applicable) These are not Steam achievements, but when/if Steam achievements are implemented, these should convert easily.

Other stuff

- Pause menu tells you where you will restart, and that ending the game loses your checkpoint. Reduced hold time of restart and end buttons to 1 second. - Halved ally shot damage. - Fixed cases of zombies coming up from behind without warning before the 6th boss. - Slight final boss adjustment.

[ 2020-11-27 22:23:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Hitbox visibility option by request. Options are ON, OFF, or during focus fire (FOCUSFIRE).
• Quick stage restart options by request:
  • Enable restart with Start+Back buttons in Controller options
  • Bind a key to restart in Keyboard options
• Primary fire burst length option. Ranges from 3 to 5 shots per button press.
• Enemy bullets can no longer spawn on top of player, killing her before the bullet has even appeared onscreen.
• Certain late-game enemies gained abilities to avoid or destroy the player bomb.

[ 2020-11-20 21:37:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Having mostly recovered from the rush to 1.0, heres 1.0.2. This update addresses the most reported issues with the game and fixes a couple others.

• Restarting at a mid-stage checkpoint is now easier. You will start with some extra bomb and power level.
• Inner HUD elements turn transparent to avoid covering the player.
• Fixed possibility of cheap swordsman sneak attacks. If you were close to a swordsman who was just offscreen, he would wait there, and when you moved away from the edge he would dash back onscreen and attack without warning. Now, swordsmen going offscreen will just disappear.
• Small game over UI improvements.
  • State whether the game will restart at the checkpoint or the beginning of the stage.
  • State that the checkpoint will be lost if the game is ended.
  • Changing difficulty no longer changes the displayed difficulty level you were playing on.
• Fixed player still able to be killed after defeating stage 6 boss.
• The link to my itch.io site was replaced with a button to open my Twitter. Some stores require games to not link to other stores.

[ 2020-11-13 08:25:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bugs fixed:

• The stone golems in the Castle could spawn bullets off-camera.
• The wurm in the Dungeon fired flames from her center point instead of her mouth.
• The end-of-demo screen showed after beating Inebriator.
• A copyrighted voice clip could be heard when bombing in Inebriator.
• The cutscene at the end of the Castle was cluttered by the stage end bonuses. (and the vertical HUD if it was enabled)
• The pixel artist of the Castle boss was left out of the end credits (Bonnie of Pixel Pajama Studios).

[ 2020-11-01 08:57:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

After finishing the castle stage, players options were mistakenly shown in the cutscene which was confusing. And the end-of-demo screen was shown instead of what should come after. These have been fixed.

[ 2020-10-31 05:16:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

I finished and released the game today. Big thanks to all artists, audio designers, tool developers, and developer communities whose work and support got me here. Enjoy!

Whats next

My ideas for continued development:

• More playable characters.
• More language support.
• Achievements.
• More stages - timed challenges, missions, etc.
• More and better graphics - more character animations, dialogue portraits, etc.
• At least one console port.

[ 2020-10-31 00:05:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

I realized that basic enemies were tanking a little too much damage, which could make them quite hard and not very rewarding for players to defeat. I lowered their health to more reasonable values.
2 Lv0 bullets / 1 Lv1+ bullet (was 3/2)
5 Lv0 bullets / 4 Lv1+ bullets (was 8/6)

[ 2020-10-10 00:18:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

The demo was patched to address some gameplay feedback and issues.

• Reduce bomb warmup a bit.
• Reduce Stage 1 boss health a bit.
• Increase Stage 2 midboss bullet spread so it's more reasonable to weave through.
• Fix some catapult enemies facing the wrong way.

[ 2020-10-08 11:14:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the Demonizer demo! Demonizer was born from a love of pixel-age shmups and female fantasy characters, and aims to capture the twitchy fast close-quarters bullet battles in the arcades at that time. I also thought "What if all those fantasy monsters just got a bad rep for defending themselves from adventurers?" and decided to show the other side of a typical monster hunt. In Level 1 take on the kingdom army invading your homeland. You'll meet the common enemy troops and have a chance to build up your demon party and your power level.
As your power grows you inspire your turned companions to go on the offensive, harvesting more hearts and then engaging the enemy themselves. But they can get hurt doing so, so when things look too hairy, keep them safely in formation with the focus fire button. In Level 2 take the fight back to the kingdom starting with the peasant village and their lord. If you can get here with full power this is the place to let it rip!
Afterwards try Hard or Demonic difficulty if you feel brave. There's also a small silly drunk minigame I made for a game jam. If you enjoyed this demo, look forward to five more levels in the complete game. The target date is Friday, October 30. Hope to see you then.

[ 2020-10-08 03:00:10 CET ] [ Original post ]