Bit Shifter Status Update
Bit Shifter Status Update
Introduction
A big hello to the Desura community from Plastic Games, we are happy to be here. to all the great games on Desura. My name is Paul Dana. I am the lead programmer on Bit Shifter. I will tell you a little bit about the game, explain what features are available right now, and outline where we plan to go next.
Summary
We call Bit Shifter an Action/Strategy game.
The overall goal is strategic: stop the Virus from reaching the Datastream by flying (shifting) your Bits to the right locations. The Virus is a red infection that spreads on the circuits of your computer world. The Bits are little robots that clean up the Virus.
But achieving this goal involves a lot of action: You pilot the Scandisc, a saucer like spaceship that is fun to fly and easy to learn. You have a Tractor Beam for helping you pickup Bits. Then you fly to points of infection and throw the Bits down so they can clean up the Virus. The virus spawns unpleasant things that shoot at you and your Bits. As you clean up the circuits you power up different "parts" give you things that help you, such as Health and more Bits.
Long Term Plan
The alphafunding version will be available to play on Desura on December 31st, but you can pre-order it now.
The long term plan for Bit Shifter looks like this:
- Episodic single player content divided into eight "Systems" labeled A through H
- An average of nine maps per System totaling over 70 single player maps
- Comic characters and story line for the single player maps
- Five Weapons
- Two Power-ups
- Five Bombs with special powers
- Two type of collectible "coins": minor bugs and major bugs that unlock "Lore"
- High Scores
- Achievements and Awards
- Multiple levels of difficulty
- Modding Tools for user created maps and Systems
- Cooperative play mode and maps
- Multiplayer competitive play mode and maps
- Leaderboards
Features Available Now
- First episode, System A
- Six regular maps and one Boss map
- Comic characters and story line
- One Weapon
- Two type of collectible "coins": minor bugs and major bugs that unlock "Lore"
- High Scores
- Achievements and Awards
- Multiple levels of difficulty
Features in Next Episode
- Second episode, System B
- Six regular maps and one Boss map
- New story line
- One New Weapon
- New Boss on final map
Questions
- How often will you update?
- How long will you be in alpha?
- Will the price go up for beta?
- When will modding be available?
- When will coop and multiplayer be available?
Answers
- We will put out an update every two weeks.
- We hope the Desura community will help us figure this out.
- Yes the price will go up so it's a good deal to buy while the game is still in alpha!
- After Systems A - D are complete we will work on making user created maps available
- After all the single player maps are complete, A-H, we will begin working on multiplayer.
