To celebrate the release of Operation STEEL on Switch here is a small patch to make the game a bit more friendly for new players! Thanks everyone for your support! Changelog:

• Increase player health on Novice mode
• Changed boss/miniboss health pools a tiny bit (most have slightly less health now)

[ 2024-06-22 02:40:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

To coincide with Operation STEEL being released on Nintendo Switch, the Steam version's price is being reduced to match the Switch version! The new price is $10 USD. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in the past!

[ 2024-06-19 07:00:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog: A few fixes for high refresh-rate monitors (First miniboss in Planet X, particularly.)

[ 2024-03-22 21:02:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Increased some UI text sizes for better visibility on small screens.

[ 2024-03-05 08:47:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Fix tutorial not resetting game mode
• Fix tutorial achievement not triggering correctly
• Fix menu allowing multiple inputs in quick succession

[ 2023-10-02 22:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• New Accessibility option for auto-shot. Now you do not have to hold the shot button, and but you can hold it to stop firing
• Accessibility menu is now closed if escape is pressed (bugfix)
• Seed is now always shown between levels
• Backshot buffed
• Big Phoenix miniboss health reduced again because everyone hates this guy

Bonus!

Also another bonus to celebrate Shmup Fest... Operation STEEL now has Steam Community items available! Hopefully you've now got some trading cards if you've played the game a bit. Badges, profile backgrounds and emojis are now available - including a special Bullet Heaven emoji kindly donated by Ed of bullet_heavenbullet_heavenbullet_heaven Bullet Heaven! bullet_heavenbullet_heavenbullet_heaven Go get it in the Steam points shop!

[ 2023-09-27 08:13:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Shmup Fest is upon us! Not only is Operation STEEL going for a historic low price for this week, the fantastic Sophstar has joined the Indie Shmup Bundle: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30034/Indie_Shmup_Bundle/ The bundle discount has increased so you'll get even more bang for your buck too :) Celebrate Shmup Fest by showing some indie devs some love!

[ 2023-09-25 00:29:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Corgi no longer gets confused by volcanoes (Bug reported by DrMooCowz)

[ 2023-07-09 04:18:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm happy to announce that Operation STEEL is no available in a bundle with two other awesome shmups released in 2022 as part of the Indie Shmup Bundle! If you don't have Dead End City or TerraFlame yet I highly recommend picking up the bundle and getting them at a discount :) In other news, I have been trying to get Steam Deck Verified status for Op. STEEL - very close right now but there are still some in-game text that is too small (OK, there are a couple... but nothing that is important while playing the game.) I'll make another update if I take another pass and get the verification. Thanks for reading!

[ 2023-02-12 01:18:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog Sorry, nothing too exciting today!

• Added ability to enter Seed without needing a keyboard
• Some minor text size increases for better readability

[ 2023-01-04 02:42:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Weapons are now always dropped in level 1 and not afterwards (still offered in shops though)
• Hard mode "item drop not spawning in level 1" modifier replaced with "faster enemy bullets"
• Hard mode enemy health increases significantly reduced (less Euro...)
• More points are awarded on hard mode per modifier added
• Flamerthrower has significantly larger range
• Repairbot now heals either when the boss dies or at end of level (so you don't need to think about whether you need additional heal)
• Option no longer makes a firing sound
• Devastator fire rate and rocket speed increased
• Score/armour HUD fades out faster when moving over it

[ 2022-10-14 03:21:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• I've upgraded the engine to the latest version of Godot, hopefully some performance improvements might come through. If you see any weird new bugs that might have been caused by the update then please report them on Discord or the discussion board :)
• Slightly reduced later boss health (level 4 onwards)
• Slightly reduced miniboss health
• Slightly increased Dash and Flash item cooldowns
• Attempted to soften the coin SFX a touch

[ 2022-09-18 03:09:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Balance updates, fixes and quality of life changes! Changelog:

• Start game in full-screen by default (on first run)
• Repair pickups spawn slightly more often
• Cobra ship starts with Bomb-bot in Novice mode (instead of Repair-bot)
• Bomb-bot now only triggers at 1 health remaining
• Repair-bot triggers at end of level, rather than beginning of level
• Buff 3-way weapon
• New Difficulty (Rank) graph to show dynamic difficulty
• Fix upgraded Flamer motion at level higher than 1
• Fix [REDACTED]'s final attack blocking some shots unintentionally

[ 2022-07-27 09:12:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi, I wanted to coincide a sale with the Shmup Slam 5 event but it was a tiny bit too close to my game's launch to be allowed... so here it is slightly late! Shmup Slam is an event where a bunch of players play a bunch of shoot-em-ups live and commentated - you can check out the VODs on The Electric Underground's Youtube channel!

[ 2022-03-17 19:57:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Fixed leaderboard submission bug (I hope)
• Reduced charge SFX volume

[ 2022-03-07 08:04:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Novice mode now starts at minimum rank to ease people in more
• Show current weapon level on HUD
• Show which mode is being played in-game
• Show why high-score wasn't uploaded if there is a reason

[ 2022-02-25 08:47:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Novice mode added! A slightly easier mode for people who are new to shmups!
• New Accessibility options menu (found under main Options)
• Restarting the game with a custom seed will now re-use that seed
• Maybe fix bug where you cannot sell weapons/items in shop

[ 2022-02-19 08:35:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Fix Bomb-bot autobomb still occurring after selling him
• Make Volcano lava destructible
• Brief splash animation before pirahna enemies emerge
• New snowflake bullet graphics for visibility reasons
• Text indicator to show when item is off cooldown
• Buff Crossfire
• Avoid spawning weapon upgrade if weapon maxed
• More weapon/boss interation fixes

[ 2022-02-14 22:00:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a small patch today. Changelog:

• Fix Blade weapon dealing less damage against some bosses
• Fixed minor scoring exploit in normal mode

[ 2022-02-10 08:17:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Pods now lock when firing
• Bombbot provides autobomb
• Dash doesn't go on cooldown if used while not moving
• Speed Up cost reduced
• Shotgun and Blade weapons buffed
• Lava bullets more visible
• Armour changes colour when Shield is active
• Fix dim level interactions with fire background
• Fire level optimisations
• Fix Escape from entering Seed taking you to wrong menu
• Fix Time Attack bosses having more health than intended
• Adjust/fix boss health scaling (thanks 4[v4[/V5!5)

Coming soon(ish):

• More accessibility options for photo-sensitivity

[ 2022-02-07 01:41:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog:

• Reduced contrast of some level backgrounds
• More background dimming options
• Reduced boss/miniboss health a little in later stages
• Reduced Starmap completion requirements
• Libra's patterns shouldn't overlap so much now
• Buff Flamer
• Fix unlock icons not appearing
• More reliable Steam achievement unlocks

Coming soon:

• More accessibility options for photosensity

[ 2022-02-03 08:53:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Couple of fixes:

• (Hopefully) fixed an issue where it was possible to sell all your weapons
• A few fixes for high refresh rate monitors (>60fps)

[ 2022-01-29 09:05:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed a crash in Time Attack Mode

[ 2022-01-27 21:42:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's happening! This has been a passion project for me for the last few years, and my dream to create my first game for a lot longer. Now that dream has come true! Thanks to everyone who has supported me on this journey. I hope you enjoy the game :)

[ 2022-01-27 07:39:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi folks, one last demo version before the full game is released (I hope!) Version 0.11 has a handful of small tweaks based on beta-testing feedback, including visibility updates, GUI changes and additions, and generally a bunch of nice-to haves and polish-ups. Thanks for your continued interest! -Ben

[ 2021-12-21 09:01:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a small patch to fix some issues with high refresh rate monitors.

[ 2021-10-20 00:30:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new demo version is here! This should be the final version before the full game release... barring any bug fixes needed of course :) Update highlights:

• Japanese localisation courtesy of @mojilove !
• A new item or two ;)
• New art for the forest level, shop and dialog UI
• Some new options, including vsync on/off (might still be a work in progress though, trying to optimise it if I can in future)
• Minor performance upgrades
• Maybe bugs related to the above... please tell me on Discord or Steam Discussions if you find anything :)

[ 2021-09-27 08:54:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a couple of bug fixes in here around control rebinding and display. Nothing exciting, sorry :)

[ 2021-06-14 08:32:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 0.09b is live. It's a small update fixing a few bugs found in the Time Attack demo, also adjusted the Time Attack mode slightly which should result in a slightly higher score cap.

[ 2021-06-09 03:55:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

In anticipation for Steam Next Fest, the Operation STEEL demo has been updated with a new Time Attack mode! Blast enemies as quick as you can in this new frantic mode, and see how high you can climb on the new leaderboard!

[ 2021-06-05 09:00:40 CET ] [ Original post ]