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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now

@mommysbestgames.bsky.social

660 followers 280 following 820 posts

#GameDev since 1994. I do action mechanics with a twist! Making "ChainStaff" https://tinyurl.com/chainstaff Made Shoot 1UP, Serious Sam DD, Pig Eat Ball, Bumpy Grumpy. Worked on POSTAL, Resistance Fall of Man, Ratchet n Clank. http://www.mommysbestgames.co

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · Jan 29

Hi new followers! I'm Nathan, I'm making a new action-platformer called ChainStaff. You get to shoot, but you also get swing and spear baddies!

store.steampowered.com/app/2976260/...
If it looks cool, please wishlist it on Steam.

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 15h

PS, the pub was cool about working with me to get the back.
It just took this long with the red tape at both console places to work through the process.
store.playstation.com/en-us/concep...
www.xbox.com/en-us/games/...

Buy ChainStaff | Xbox

ChainStaff is a brutal action-platformer with a transforming spear and grappling hook, blazing weapon upgrades, and a rocking soundtrack. Aliens have taken over the Earth! Swing, shoot, and spear your...

www.xbox.com

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 15h

I can't believe, I finally have control over my Playstation and Xbox store pages again for ChainStaff!
Back in June my publisher went out of business, and they had registered the games to Xbox and PS.
And it's taken this freaking long, but I finally got them both back!

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Reposted by Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 15h

💥💥SURPRISE!💥💥

You can play Earth Must Die *right now*

We just launched a huge demo for the game on Steam -- an entire hour long slice of it. See how @danthat.bsky.social's latest is shaping up!

store.steampowered.com/app/4057540/...

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 1d

Question of the Day:
What are some cool Achievements you'd like to see in ChainStaff???

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Reposted by Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now

merritt @merrittk.com · 2d

this is how the LAN Party book came about!

Kurt @ Hardcore Gaming 101 @hg101.bsky.social · 2d

For anyone lamenting how some goon was able to get a publishing deal - put together your own book! Create a solid concept, do some planning, create a design, and pitch it! Most publishers don't have open pitch seasons. They want to see someone that can see a full project to completion.

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, today is Explosionade's birthday!
I released it 14 years ago 😁on the Xbox 360 with only 40 levels.
Now it's HUGE with 60 levels and 3 difficulty settings with unique level layouts.
Proud that we got it on Xbox, Switch, Playstation, and Steam! mommysbestgames.com/explosionade...

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

I love pixel art and then sometimes it just blows my mind.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

It all is seriously depressing but I got a genuine laugh from this part:

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

I remember a great Old Man Murray post about KISS Psycho Circus saying "It's a KISS game without the KISS"

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

I love that game too, and I love your books!
I hope you're thinking of doing a book on it :D

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

I think some of Galaxy 2 had some really inventive level design, I remember one about surfing on a big sand bird.. platform.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks for the info!
I never got to play Rayxanber, and it looks R-Type 2 esque which seems great to me. Man, I'd love a triology port to modern consoles.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 4d

Can you please just wave your magic wand and fix this one and everything I don't feel like moving again it sucks

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 4d

Looks pretty cool!
Data *West*?
OK, I know it’s not Data East. But what else did they do?

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 6d

Nice find! Love this on its own, but also felt like I booted up a Psygnosis game and the title screen was animating.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 6d

Those were the good ole days when you spelled it "GRAFX"

GIFS GALORE @gifs-bot.bsky.social · 6d

THINGS/FRED5.GIF

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 6d

Adorable Spooky Season has begun!

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 6d

Really instructive how the 3D element played into level design heavily. Notice how no level is very wide. They are all almost perfectly square (width to height)!

Max (VGCartography) @vgcartography.bsky.social · 6d

someone shared a hi-res scan on archive a while back and i had tried cleaning up the models + combining the multi-page ones together since i loved them. nintendo then copyright-struck the archive scan after some articles popped up about it, weirdly

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

One more: The game is primarily an action platformer, with a story, and cool upgrades.
Buuuut, with the deep-skill grappling hook controls and hand-designed level layouts (no randomization) it will lend itself well to speed runs.
So please tell all your speed-running friends about it :D

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

And your choices do matter--sorry about the soldier shooting the wrong bullets. You were right, it's a bug, already fixed it. I'll update the actual demo version soon.
Thanks for finding it!

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

Plan is that you can't get all the upgrades on one playthrough, and there's actually 3 endings, so playing at least twice will be the best way to see most of the game.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

Also I saw another bug--the soldiers that hate you (because you killed their buddy) should definitely be able to shoot you! Not sure about that one, gonna look right now why it's broken.

Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

All upgrades are permanent, if it makes a big deal out of it, it saves it. So weapons you unlock, hearts, guns, etc. But if you grab a new shield that's just a "pickup" and you get one more up to the max. But yeah, all the max increases carry over.

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 7d

Hey I just noticed you made it across the branch in level 1 where the "heavy fog" won't let you cross! Uh-oh... yeah, you weren't supposed to be able to do that.
Hmm.. trying to decide if I'll let you sequence break or not.
Probably not on your first run! But maybe on second run with longer staff.

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Nathan Fouts - ChainStaff Demo Out Now @mommysbestgames.bsky.social · 8d

Oh man I played this with my teen kids (we took turn on puzzles, or solved them together) and it's amazing!