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swarmforge.bsky.social
Swarmforge
@swarmforge.bsky.social
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Hi! We're Swarmforge, a miniscule indie #gamedev studio in Chicago.

Wishlist SOLARFLARE here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3941030/SOLARFLARE/
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swarmforge.bsky.social
Swarmforge @swarmforge.bsky.social · Sep 24
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/...
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
November 16, 2025 at 1:37 AM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
November 8, 2025 at 4:07 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
November 1, 2025 at 5:09 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
October 25, 2025 at 7:18 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
Mysterious icon
October 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
October 11, 2025 at 6:47 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
oops here's the less distorted version
October 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
October 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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/...
September 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
September 20, 2025 at 6:40 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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.
Two people at a table, playing SOLARFLARE. A sign between them says "CO-OP | TURN-BASED | ROGUELIKE".
September 14, 2025 at 10:12 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
September 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
One more week until #CIGS2025! Look, we have a beautiful sign now.

#roguelike #turnbased #coop #pixelart #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday
August 30, 2025 at 9:36 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
August 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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).
Flyer for Chicago Indie Game Showcase, listing all the games and sponsors. Bubblegum the axolotl is only murderous when they need to be, which is frequently.
August 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
August 17, 2025 at 7:23 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
Pixel art fox with wrench and goggles, standing on a shore
August 9, 2025 at 10:05 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
This is . 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
August 2, 2025 at 5:29 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
A robot with yellow gloves and a long red scarf, standing on a hex grid.
July 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
A character sheet with a bunch of different abilities and stats.
July 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking excited A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking anxious(?) A fox wearing overalls and goggles, looking dizzy(?)
July 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
July 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
Pink pixelart axolotl with goggles Pink axolotl with goggles faces off against robots on a grid, in pixel art.
June 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
swarmforge.bsky.social
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
An annoyed lithoid demonstrates the business end of their plasma sword to a very mean robot with wheels.
June 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM