In other news, I've updated the build on @itch.io (swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...) to match what I demoed at #cigs2025. The full release is on Steam (store.steampowered.com/app/3941030/...), but that older prototype will be free on itch forever. It's, um, VERY different.

Continuing baby steps with #DaVinciResolve this week. Last week we saw lots of characters dying, so this week let's see them winning! #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

This week, we're wrestling with #DaVinciResolve! So please enjoy this montage of player characters being obliterated in a variety of methods and locations. #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Continuing the series of bots from last week, we have this quite-sharp Cyberninja. TBH with the armor I'm not sure if he's made of meat, and I'm afraid to ask. Art by @wurmfud.itch.io #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #ninja #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

Everyone stop what you are doing, I have a fresh shipment of vicious robots to peruse. This is the Tank! He chases and pushed you around the map painfully. Maybe too painfully actually, I just died, nerfs inc. Art by @wurmfud.itch.io #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

As a player, I'm never happy to receive incomplete information. But if a game tells you everything in advance, it feels front-loaded and hollow. So, now I'm telling you less about future locations. You're welcome! #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

🔊Help I can't stop dragging the slider back and forth to change the layered track from high-intensity to low-.🔊 www.instagram.com/mkgameaudio/ knocked this out of the park, you should hire him too. #vgm #roguelike #autobattle #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Here's a new retro-Final-Fantasy-style death animation, for your viewing enjoyment. Now that I see it in context, I see I'll need to speed the rotation up just a smidge, OH WELL, SENDING IT. #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

I've been annoyed that, while trying to balance SOLARFLARE, it was always either too hard for newbies or too easy for veterans. I'm embarrassed that it took me this long to remember the obvious solution: a Difficulty setting. #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #autobattle

Another new biome: the Tower. I like the blue lines in the background but I'll be honest, I don't actually know what they are. Other towers? An elevator shaft? Extremely slow laser beams? Art by @fervirgames.bsky.social. #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #autobattle

Implemented a new biome this week: The Station™™™. The transparent panes of glass, and the scrolling background, were both last-minute additions; do they work for you? Art assets courtesy of @fervirgames.bsky.social. #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #autobattle

This week, I made a combat log! See it in the lower-right of the screen. It was surprisingly tricky to get the right scrolling behavior out of #Unity. #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

HMM what's that empty space in the middle there? (also, great work; let's call this today's #screenshotsaturday post) #autobattle #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev

This week, playing around with limiting the number of distinct Upgrades you can buy in a run. As Matt declared, "limitations are the something something of creativity." #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

OK no more graphs/spreadsheets, time for more #pixelart. I need a simple icon that can appear inline text, to represent Barrier, a status effect that reduces damage taken. It should probably look a like a shield, right? Two candidates: #roguelike #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #autobattle

More #gamedesign this week! I think I want a LOT of these because scrolling through long lists looking for synergy is joy. #roguelike #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #autobattle

Y'all like pairwise matching #graphs? Here's a pairwise matching graph. I'm standardizing status effects so they can easily interact in interesting ways, and trying to match each Discipline to a few status effects to strengthen theming. #roguelike #autobattle #gamedev #gamedesign

Happy #ScreenshotSaturday! You guys liked the last round of "Guess what this icon means", even though no one won, so let's do it again. The hypothetical winner gets a very cool sticker (next time you go to an event I print stickers for that is). #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev

If you like poring through a bunch of different abilities to find explosive synergies, you probably like ✨filters✨. Me too! #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

oops here's the less distorted version

Happy #ScreenshotSaturday! Let's play a round of "Guess what this icon means"! The winner gets a very cool sticker (next time you go to an event I print stickers for). #roguelike #autobattle #pixelart #gamedev

Greetings, #PitchYaRogue. Would you like to defend your planet from megacorp bots? ⚙️Combine 20+ (or 80+?) varied upgrades to make a busted build ⚔️Fight through 25 #roguelike levels 🤖Be a #robot or a 🦊 #foxperson or a 🪨 #lithoid Wishlist SOLARFLARE now! store.steampowered.com/app/3941030/...

I'm playing around with an #autobattle version of SOLARFLARE, and I guess this is why Backpack Battles has Fatigue. #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Showing SOLARFLARE off at #CIGS2025 was validating and all, but the collective effort of 100 playtesters have generated, let's see, about 10000 Trello cards. Thanks anyways! See you guys at #CIGS2026, and maybe also #CIGS2027 and #CIGS2028, probably.

Bubblegum generously volunteered to be featured on a sticker. Drop by our booth at #CIGS2025 tomorrow, play one run, and take them home with you! Oh, but Bubblegum says not buy more than 2 ranks of Sniper, that's a rookie mistake. #axolotl #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev

One more week until #CIGS2025! Look, we have a beautiful sign now. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

It was a long, long checklist, but we're on Steam now! store.steampowered.com/app/3941030/... If, like me, you enjoy most #coop #turnbased #roguelikes, I suspect you'll enjoy this too. Wishlist today, and find out! #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

If you're wondering why I'm editing a trailer, it's because SOLARFLARE will have a booth at Chicago Indie Game Showcase (CIGS), hosted by @indiecitygames.org, on 9/6! Stop by, fight robots with a friend, and tell me which character is your favorite (it's Bubblegum) and why (they're an #axolotl).

It's tricky to convey "this game is #co-op" visually, especially when it's #turnbased. I have a white outline that moves to the current player, but think we also need to display the player name above their character's head. Any other suggestions? #roguelike #pixelart #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

This is Fox (no relation). He made equipment for the big armory corp, until SOLARFLARE raided it and he left with them. He likes talking about philosophy, even though his team stopped listening about an hour ago. #foxes #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

This is <UNPRONOUNCEABLE>. She was a subject of the big bioengineering corp, until SOLARFLARE shut the lab down. She is very shy, but knows a lot of jokes. #golem #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

This is Ed. It was created by the big #robot corp, but they left a security vulnerability in its code that it exploited (oops!), so it left. It sometimes stares at people for a long time, with its massive unblinking iris. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

It's time for SOLARFLARE's July update! I hope you enjoy characters, lore, and detailed statblocks. Details here: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p... #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Goggles make it tough to convey expression! We were aiming for 😱 on the Tech-Fox but this (pic #1) looks a bit like 😀. Do sweat-drops (#2) or dizzy-eyes (#3) help? #conceptart by www.instagram.com/maeribee/ #roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Working on UI clarity this week! I needed a white outline to indicate whose turn it is, which surprisingly required #shaders, so... I kinda learned HLSL. There's an unannounced art asset that snuck in, oh well, don't tell anyone. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

OK, I guess you guys really liked this little guy's #conceptart, so here they are in RESPLENDENT COLOR #pixelart, courtesy of @wurmfud.itch.io. Any suggestions for their name? Currently thinking Bubblegum, for um obvious reasons. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #axolotl #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

A teeny-tiny fragment of www.instagram.com/maeribee 's #concept-art for SolarFlare's key art. Here, we witness an annoyed lithoid demonstrating the business end of their plasma sword to a very mean #robot. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

This cutie didn't make it in as one of the starter characters... but they'll be unlockable. #axolotl #conceptart by www.instagram.com/maeribee #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #OrIsItSunday?

Hi #PitchYaGame! Would you like to defend your planet from megacorp bots? ⚙️Combine 20+ (or 80+?) varied upgrades to make a busted build ⚔️Fight through 25 #roguelike levels 👥 #coop with your friends (or not) 🤖Be a #robot or a 🦊 #foxperson or a 🪨 #lithoid Follow swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p...!

June update is here! New upgrades, new metaprogression, new #devlog! Demo: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p... Devlog: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p... #roguelike #turnbased #coop #robots #pixelart #gamedev

More #conceptart for #screenshotsaturday, by the inestimable www.instagram.com/maeribee. It's surprisingly hard to make #robots look like protagonists, without making them humanoid! #roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev

Some aliens are made out of rocks, and that's ok. This concept art brought to you by the magnificent www.instagram.com/maeribee, for #screenshotsaturday ! #roguelike #turnbased #coop #golem #gamedev #indiedev

Drillbots sound very different than cyber-foxes. Observe this nature documentary, with sound on: #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #robots #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday (SFX by itch.io/profile/mkga...)

It's not suitable for the wildly complex Upgrades that I'm fond of, but... we don't want EVERY Upgrade to be 3 paragraphs long, right?

This will not do the numbers that our art does, but YOLO posting it anyways because I think it's neat. It usually takes a few hours to implement a new Upgrade, so I put together this Upgrade-by-recipe system to speed that up! #roguelike #turnbased #coop #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

BAG 14 dropped today! We feature dev logs from the creators of the upcoming games Phasebound: A Hero’s Journey and SolarFlare. Other articles include Jesse Boruff's thoughts about Nintendo, Nat Quayle Nelson's journey revamping Blades of Exile, art by Philemene and more! tinyurl.com/backalley014

@wurmfud.itch.io was understandably aghast at my magenta rectangle grid (posted last week), so here is their vastly superior version. #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

SolarFlare's April update is live. Now, you can actually win the game, instead of striving eternally! Behold our beautiful UI of missing textures. Demo: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p... Changelog: swarmforge.itch.io/solarflare-p... #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #robots #gamedev #indiedev

If you want to hit hard from far away, you'll want to buy the Sniper upgrade. But that means you need to reload between attacks, so you'll want to buy something like Aim to increase your damage every time you reload/pass. Synergy! #ScreenshotSaturday #roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #indiedev

🤝 🤖 🔢