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Aether Drift is a throwback to arcade games and bullet hell shoot 'em ups of the 1980's - with a modern twist.  It features an endless arcade mode with 8 themed arenas to challenge your skills, couch co-op and local multiplayer game modes, as well as a plethora of modifiers and challenges to spice up the gameplay! Features: Fast-paced, challenging gameplay with tight, responsive controls; Swap between dimensions at will; 8 Different Arenas to Test Your Skills; 6 Unique Guardians to Play As ( and 1 Secret Character ); Two Intense Bossfights; Competitive Online Highscores for Each Arena; Moon Launchers ( They Shoot Moons at You! ); Insanely Hard Challenges; Cheat Codes; Controller Support; Local Splitscreen Multiplayer;

Presskit

Factsheet

Developer:
Toxic Sasquatch Games
Based in United States

Release date:
August 26 2018

Platforms:
Windows

Website:
toxicsasquatch.com

Description

Aether Drift is a throwback to arcade games and bullet hell shoot 'em ups of the 1980's - with a modern twist.  It features an endless arcade mode with 9 themed arenas to challenge your skills, couch co-op and local multiplayer game modes, as well as a plethora of modifiers and challenges to spice up the gameplay! The 7 playable characters, Aether Guardians, can swap between dimensions at will to pause time, defeat inbound phantoms, and gain a tactical advantage. Players can dash about the arenas to parry attacks, reflect incoming bullets, and slice up their quarry with deadly precision. Survive for as long as you can against Mobius's army!

History

Aether Drift started as a prototype for high-fidelity motion. We wanted to create freedom of motion that allowed users to move quickly, and exactly as desired. To do this, the two-dash system was created. A 'dash' would move users in the direction they were walking, and a 'lunge' would jab them towards the cursor. This dichotomy was great, and simply moving the test cube around was a blast.

The game's prototype name was 'Lightsword'. Originally, the game was designed to increment the light value every time you swung your sword. As the world got brighter, different enemies would appear or disappear. You could also toggle your weapon into dark-mode, which would instead make the world darker. Light would decay as you weren't swinging, so that you could return to the starting point. Swinging too much would cause white-out, and vice-versa. Some enemies would be pure-black, and others pure-white (phantoms), making them only visible in certain levels of light. The phantoms could move through walls, and would cause a permanent threat to the player.

This proved to be way too annoying, so we scrapped the idea in favor of the 'Aether Slip', an ability which allows Jhin and the other guardians to switch dimensions at will. Going into the Phantom dimension pauses time in the Aether, allowing for complex maneuvers and dodging of bullets. It also makes you invisible to other players not already in the phantom, making it great for sneaking around in multiplayer. The phantoms were made invisible as long as you were in the Aether. They latch onto you and slow your movement, or bump you around to be annoying, so you constantly have to be watching out for their approach on the radar, or by swapping dimensions.

Of course, you can't stay in the Phantom forever. After a short bit, Lurkers will start to chase you, these terrifying monstrosities that look and sound like saw-blades of death. If one touches you, it's game over, regardless of your remaining health.

Local multiplayer was actually an add-on that we decided to make later in production, but it quickly became our favorite part of the game. Nothing beats the satisfaction of landing a perfect parry, or outsmarting your opponent as one of the higher-skill characters.

Then of course, Duncan insisted we have cheat codes, which change gameplay in ridiculous ways. One of my personal favorite modes we call 'Nuke Survival', in which all enemies are massive, all bullets become bombs, and the bombs are HUGE. A single bomb could cover the whole screen, so co-op players have to shout to each other where one is going to land. The possibilities with cheatcodes are grand, and we hope people have fun with them. Of course, to unlock them one has to beat challenges, which in their own right are very entertaining.

Features

  • Endless Arcade Mode
  • Intense Local Co-op
  • Bosses and Enemies inspired by Bullet Hell
  • 70+ Cheatcodes to Modify Gameplay
  • 20 Insanely Hard Challenges
  • 7 Unique Playable Characters
  • Slip Between Dimensions

Videos

Gameplay Trailer YouTube


Images

Download all screenshots & photos as .zip
4Player_Rift_3_1.png
Control_Schemes_1.png
LurkerKill.png
MultiplayerScrnsht.PNG
PistolFire.png
Runner_2018-07-30_11-12-36-48.png
Star_Guardian.png
perfectParry.jpg

Download logo/icon assets as .zip
logo
icon

Monetization Permission

Toxic Sasquatch Games allows for the contents of Aether Drift to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from Aether Drift is legally & explicitly allowed by Toxic Sasquatch Games. This permission can be found in writing at https://www.indiedb.com/games/aether-drift/presskit.


Soundcloud
Listen to the soundtrack, and download for free! soundcloud.com/toxic-sasquatch.

Official Website
Toxic Sasquatch Games home: toxicsasquatch.com/aether-drift.

YouTube
YouTube Page: youtube.com/user/1StupidRatCreature.


About Toxic Sasquatch Games

Boilerplate
Toxic Sasquatch Games is an indie game company founded in Wisconsin, USA. We make games that stretch what it means to be a video game, we also do random fun stuff. Frankly, we just make games that we enjoy to play. This company was founded by Brendan Larson, and has currently released titles such as Bridge and Aether Drift.

More information
More information on Toxic Sasquatch Games, our logo & relevant media are available here.


Aether Drift Credits

Brendan Larson
Programmer / Musician

Duncan Larson
Artist / Designer


presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks