Project Landsword
A downloadable game for Windows
The once peaceful surface of Mars has decayed into a violent battleground between arms corporations and Earthly governments.
To join the fight would be crazy. To survive would be downright psychotic.
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Landsword is a top-down mecha shooter with a heavy emphasis on destruction and gameplay that combines elements from classic shoot em' ups with contemporary action-stealth games.
Featuring fully destructible environments, players must use their wits and surroundings to outsmart and defeat enemies in combat, while still retaining an arcade feeling to its gameplay.
This early prototype demo currently includes five different missions with nine different weapons to choose from.
[ Landsword is a working title, final name subject to change. ]
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"D3DXCompile failed / Fatal Error in Vertex Shader Compilation"
Upon starting a mission, you may encounter an error screen that says a shader named shd_outline_old failed to compile. This error only occurs because your computer does not have DirectX9 or later, so please see if your DirectX driver is up to date or installed at all. You can download the driver patch directly from the Microsoft website. This will fix any shader compile errors if you are having them, and should work on any Windows version (including XP and Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit)
- If you are having the same issue on a Linux emulator, please use Winetricks to install the DirectX patch and then try again.
- A dedicated Linux build will also come eventually, but currently I do not have the ability to compile one.
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This demo is 100% free and the game is a work in progress, but any donations will go to paying for a proper soundtrack and some additional programming help for things such as shaders.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- LS Update V.0.7.089 days ago
- 60 FPS hotfix for Windows 10/11 usersNov 14, 2024
- LS Update V.0.6.0Nov 08, 2024
Comments
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Absolutly awesome 👍, but grenades should be on middle mouse or E because X is make it impossible to use while driving. Anything else is awesome.
Love the game but i do think there could be more balancing on these weapons:
Gau-678 rotary cannon - Needs slightly more firepower and ammo max, maybe increased penetration on fleshy targets since its literally just Gau-32C vulcan but worse
DP7 thermal projector - Less range, higher spread and either slightly less ammo consumption or more ammo max
K5-2 Scattergun - Higher fire rate and less damage since its supposed to be anti aircraft (on that note make aircraft have less health and more speed and non guided missile type weapons have a chance to miss it entirely)
Electromagnetic railgun - Add a sort of charge time and the more time it charges the more damage and penetration it gets, charge it too long and it explodes in your face
And make the landsword sprite change when using different weapons, e.x. a huge solid barrel when using the Electromagnetic railgun
I love this, I want more!!!!
Thank you! More is coming, I'm working on it.
Thank you, I wait with great anticipation!
Any plan on making it open source? You could get help for the Linux build.
I don't have any plans to do that right now. But I'll see what I can do for making a Linux build when I have some free time.
This is AWESOME. The feel when firing machine gun rounds was so good and I loved every minute playing the game. Also, putting a pilot UI in an appropriate size enhanced the immersion in conveying the story which I think brilliant. There are many additional things I loved but I can’t describe them all here.
I’m following the project now. Please keep up the good work!
PS Have you (or your team) built the game engine for this project? The interactions & graphics are quite amazing!
Thanks for playing and your kind words!
I'm glad you like the pilot portrait. There's a lot more planned with that and other characters, but for now it and the mission descriptions on the map are all that there is so far.
Thank you! I'll try.
I'm making it in Game Maker Studio, so it's not running on a special engine. I'm sure a scratch-built game engine could be far more efficient for performance and rendering some of the effects, but I'm not experienced enough to write one.
Unfortunately this aesthetically amazing game is not playable because the crosshair is too hard to see! Please add an option to change the color/size/shape of the crosshair. I hope your game becomes a success 🙏
I've actually finished implementing some different crosshairs that you can change in the settings menu today, so the next public build will have it be a lot easier to see. Thanks for the kind words!
This is so fun, especially for a demo. The destructability of the environment gives your mecha a lot of weight and power that is so cool in this art style. The guns are satisfying and the enemies are a good balance of difficulty (although once you get the hang of things, they get a lot easier.) Maybe a difficulty adjuster in the future?)
Excited for the full version!!
Thank you for your kind words and playing!
Don't worry, I plan on ramping up the difficulty a lot more as the game progresses. There's going to be some pretty aggressive enemies that will offer much more of a challenge to fight than the current assortment.
very awesome top downer shooter!!!!!!!!
Cheers!
Extremely talented work. Art, animations and effects are among the best.
Thank you!
Oh my God. this was Amazing. It brings back Nostalgia of playing games such Battletech on Sega, Nuclear Strike on PC, and Future Cop LAPD on Playstation.. Can't wait to play on the full release.
Thank you for playing! I'm glad it reminds you of all those classic games, I'm hoping to make something that's reminiscent of old titles like that with its overall aesthetic and feeling.
Honest Review
Map Design: balanced, fulled of cover and make sense as they're a city.
enemy AI, pretty smart. But literally stunned as soon as they see a smoke grenade.
The player controls a large mech that somehow can't get through a streetlight or a tree at low speed.
Varieties of weapons but they all mostly the same.
Difficulty...bruh. Enemies are pretty easy to kill but they hit hard just like the player. But the hard part is to keep the city damage as low as possible which used to calculate the level-end score.
Suggestions: Make the missiles fly over cover, Decrease gun spread or add a gun with high accuracy like a sniper rifle. Make the guns easier to differentiate.Make the trees and streetlights more easier to destroy.
Thank you for the review!
That's very unusual, you should be able to plow right through them without any problems.
I'm working on improving this feature, it's still a bit underdeveloped.
More variety is coming.
I know it's not very clear right now, but the collateral damage actually doesn't effect the score. The only things that do are the number of hits taken and the time it took to finish the mission.
Will do. Thank you!
Very cool game.
Thanks!
"Hi, will there be an Android version, either a demo or the full release? Great game!"
Hello. At the moment, an Android version is not planned, but maybe in the future I will experiment with it.
thought about how to make the railgun less powerful:
Enemies that have armor somewhat like you? Health with "gates" that block damage from overfilling them. A 100 Health enemy with 20 Gates would only be able to take at most 20 damage in a single hit, so a railgun would need five hits while a gatling gun would be able to quickly dispose of them.
In fluff, could be some form of super-shock ablative armor? It'd make sense since railguns and other super high impact weapons have been deployed.
That's an interesting idea. I like it, though I think I'd need to add a different perhaps lighter version of the railgun. I'd like the one in the game right now to be as powerful as it is currently without nerfing it, it'll just be a late game weapon.
Cool! I could see it.
GOOD GAME HELLO FROM ARGENTINA
Hello! Thank you.
Amazing Game
Thank you.
Full game when?
As soon as possible...
Awezomeness!!!
Thanks!
This is insane! Can't wait for more.
It is such a well executed mecha-survivor type game! You just want to try all of the combinations, already with the limited selection. So much fun!
That's what I meant to say ^^ was logged in with the wrong account
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.
Great demo!
Don't really have any problems, questions, or suggestions that others haven't already mentioned, maybe an onscreen indicator for enemies beyond a missile lock. My eyes on multiple occasions completely went past/looked over enemies on screen, as they blended into the environment, which could be the intent for all I know.
Despite it being just a demo, it's one of the best things I've played in actual years!
Really do hope this gets more content!
Thanks for checking it out!
I could try and add an additional indicator near the player mech itself to point out enemies, though I'm not sure it should be on by default.
That's very high praise, thank you.
More to come. Progress has been slow, but steady. I'll see if I can put up a post soon showing some of what's being worked on.
我的天呢！超级好的demo！
横版射击游戏真的是我的心头好，游戏体验下来感觉是硬核闯关呢，个人感觉冲刺的体力可以多一点，而且游戏热度也上来了，如果可以出新手教程的话会更好！
感谢您的美言和玩我的游戏！
我计划最终为新玩家添加一个教程。冲刺机制也会有一些升级。
😄👍🏻
Very cool game, reminds me a lot of Brigador. Can't wait to buy the full thing!
Cheers!
Cool game. I must note good sound work, weapons have a lot of oomph. Will game have soundtrack playing during missions?
As for gameplay, will there be another grenades and rocket types? Perhaps other mechs to pilot?
Thanks for playing.
A soundtrack for each level is planned, though it may be some time.
More weapon variety is being worked on. As for other vehicles to pilot - I'm still undecided. Maybe for certain special missions.
Im in love with this game, i hope it gets more content :)
Thank you! I'm working on developing it further.
Best stuff I've played for a long time.
Needs more levels and weapons.
But my fren uses Linux, make a Linux compatible version PLEASE.
I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, someone made a guide for getting it running with Proton emulator here: https://itch.io/post/12471526
I'm glad you like it!
One of the best games I've played on this website. Keep making games like that.
That's very high praise, thank you.
dear mezz
is this game 2D or 3d please?
It's fully 2D, no polygons or 3D models used.
This is a BEAUTIFUL game in terms of aesthetics, and just five missions were an excellent mix of adrenaline and some tactical thinking. SFX were great and obviously the pixel art+shaders were magnificent.
THANK YOU for making this, from one indie/retro game dev to another, and I hope to see the full version soon, and I'd be happy to pay the full price to enjoy it!!
Thank you for playing and your kind words! I appreciate it a lot.
I keep finding myself replaying the demo weekly (first played in August 2024), it's still fun and I can't find any flaws that you haven't already addressed. Maybe there's an opportunity for a mission helping friendlies assault a fortified position, defending a shuttle launch site, or a duel against an enemy landsword?
Thanks for playing it! I'm glad you've managed to have so much fun with it even in its early state. Hopefully the next public build will have double the amount of content.
This will definitely be one of the bosses in the future, maybe even against multiple at once. A mission where you fight alongside allied forces is also planned.
This demo fills the tachikoma sized hole that Brigador left in my heart.
Only suggestion is maybe add some alternate HUD colors later on, white didn't feel super readable on most of the backgrounds for me.
Thanks for playing!
I've been reworking the HUD recently to be more readable at a glance and also use a different font with darker boxes. Certain missions with limited visibility will also have it change colors to be either yellow or light green.
How to reduce difficulty? It's fun, but I keep dying constantly.
Reduce? On the contrary, I want to increase the difficulty, I went through the whole game on 20mm rotary guns at S-rank. The only problem was with the larvae, but they stop being a problem when you start to just collect them in big piles, circling around them and blowing them up with rockets. On the other levels, just take the 30mm cannon or railgun and shoot through the houses.
I applaud your exemplary skill. I still want to make it easier, because I suck at these games, but still enjoy them.
The 30mm GAU-32C will grind your enemies into dust, just point the barrel towards the enemy and hold down the trigger.
Smoke grenades work like a wall and turn off the brains of enemies on any mission except the 2nd. On the 2nd mission, just take incendiary grenades and a scatter gun.
Go, do a crime.
the flame thrower is also effective of just about everything. It has perfect accuracy for as far as you can see and it melts small enemies, just don’t hold your mouse on yourself, it leaves trails of fire that damage everything
yes
erry noice
Cheers mate!
Super awsome game my dude ! When will i have more ! i need more T_T !
Glad you like it! As soon as possible, but it may be some time.
reminds me of me of MGS4 a little.
What parts of it?
Me gustó mucho el juego es increíble, ¡es muy bueno! Espero que lo sigan actualizando :D
Gracias por jugar. Habrá una actualización en el futuro.
Props again for a great demo, MezzSoft. I'm looking forward to seeing the full version!
P.S. I know the gameplay isn't great. :P
Very nice! I like it.Thanks for making this and the video.
Cheers!
I am so grateful if it can support MacOS in future, thanks
I'll see what I can do.
but how do stealth?????
For now there is admittedly little opportunity for stealth, but enemies do have cones of vision and last known position checks. You can outsmart them by maneuvering around the buildings. I'll be adding a lot more stealth emphasized gameplay and improved AI hopefully soon.
v gud
Thanks!
This is the best game I have played in a long time!
But there are some problems: the 30mm cannon and railgun are too powerful compared to the rest of the weapons. The railgun also has 60 rounds in its ammo, which is more than enough for ALL the enemies on the map.
The rockets explode too easily on trees, bushes and other small things that they should ignore.
Smoke grenades turn off the enemy's brain. They don't even try to break through the curtain to get a view of you, or move behind cover, they usually just stand there.
On the settlement mission there are practically no weapon options except the railgun and 30mm to kill the command post before calling for reinforcements. You need to either improve the other guns and missiles, or worsen the 30mm and railgun. (I'm more for the first option, and remove the railgun's ammunition to at least 20-30 rounds.)
Also from the suggestions: Add armor-piercing top attack missiles with 12 pieces of ammunition and the ability to kill tanks with one shot.
You can also add incendiary guided missiles, about the same as grenades.
Incendiary grenades are too strong compared to high-explosive ones, I suggest either reducing their quantity or increasing their fire damage, but removing the damage and effect of the explosion, making them just grenades with phosphorus or something similar.
Also helicopters are too durable (more durable than tanks (WHY?))
I suggest you reduce the amount of HP but add to all units the ability to shoot at the player in advance, in order to increase their accuracy and maintain the balance of difficulty.
I propose adding a lighter version with 6 HP to the armor, which would increase maneuverability and speed, and have an active defense system, shooting down incoming missiles.
Thanks for checking it out and the feedback!
These weapons are going to be available quite late game, the railgun perhaps post-game since being able to use it for every mission would no doubt make all the others obsolete.
Noted.
That's fair. The longer you stay in the smoke clouds the faster they'll actually dissipate, but it might be too slow at the moment. I'll see if I can have the enemies respond faster and move-in instead of pause all movement too.
You should be able to do it with the smartgun and the flamethrower if you focus your fire directly on them at a close range. I've since lowered the health on them and lengthened the time it takes for them to send out a call though, so it'll be a bit easier in the next update.
Both of these are on the to-do list.
That's a good idea. I'll maybe change the explosion for a small one like the rockets instead of a large/regular sized one.
I figured they should be a lot more durable since the player can hit them from anywhere as long as their reticule is directly over them. When you're focusing your fire on one it only takes about a second or two to shoot down.
I'm working on some flying drone enemies at the moment which will be quite similar to that.
Thanks again for the feedback! I really appreciate it.
Correction regarding the missiles: they explode on cars, fountains, etc., which in theory should be lower than our three-story "barn".
I also forgot to add that against the background of explosion craters and debris, small gray enemies are hard to see (it's hard to tell where they are on the minimap and there's no time to look at them in battle), so it would be nice to either change the color of their hull or give the detection system the ability to mark enemies not only in the sight.Regarding the smoke screen, I usually don't even stand in it, I use it as a quick shelter that can be placed anywhere, and I mainly use it in the offensive (radars can see through the smoke anyway), but for example, the same hovercraft, whose main advantage is the speed with which they move and maneuver, simply stop when they can no longer see you because of the smoke.It shouldn't be like that, we're all like that, I didn't just run away from them and disappear from the line of sight, I released smoke and continue to fire. The opponents should be allowed to continue moving along the player's last known location, or even distribute search zones around the smoke among themselves (maybe that's too complicated?).
By the way, I would also like to see a direct connection between some enemy units, then it would be possible to implement drones or other vehicles, for example, connected to tanks, which would allow tanks to fire through a smoke screen, thanks to the fact that they have a view of the player.
Thanks for the game, I've already spent...many hours in it, definitely more than I should have and I noticed Morse code in the game's music. If I translated it correctly, it says "MARS" three times.
It's intentional. They actually will fly over cars at a very close range to lessen the chances of the player damaging themselves, but I still think it would feel far stranger if the missiles ignored cars entirely. Perhaps I'll have a "precision" munition that flies over them and obstacles like trees though, it might work as a whole new weapon.
I intend to solve this problem by varying the terrain a lot more and changing the setting of a lot of the levels. For now, the five missions are pretty much placeholder/test areas, and once I start work on finalizing assets and areas hopefully things will be a lot more readable. I think the level art in general could use a few improvements; I want things to feel more atmospheric generally.
I agree, the hovercrafts should push through the smoke. Right now the way smoke works is the object is basically parented to the same one as the buildings which enemies treat as an obstacle. When they get stuck in them they basically have no visual and are supposed to choose to either reverse out if their rear is clear, or just wait until the smoke dissipates. It's pretty cheap honestly, and I'm going to see if I can improve it. Maybe I'll have them pause only for a second or two and always charge forward, or in the case of hovercraft ignore them entirely.
I'm glad to hear it's provided so much entertainment. I've spent countless hours playing it myself, though I'm forced to since I'm the developer haha.
Good ear! You're the first person to notice that actually. It indeed spells out Mars.
As for the missile, I don't know, if I understood the scale correctly, then our launch pads are much higher than the level where civilian transport is, so why do the missiles go down to their level? Isn't it logical to just aim directly at the target? Isn't it logical to just aim directly at the target? In that case, the possibility of hitting a random vehicle only has a chance when you intentionally shoot at such a vehicle or an enemy that is behind the vehicle and low enough to hide the hull (MRAP, APC, or something similar).
And in fact, this is a banal convenience for the player, I personally do not see any point in these missiles at all, it is easier to take unguided missiles and cover an area with an enemy than to shoot missiles one by one, which it is not yet clear whether they will hit or explode on a micro-car, which you do not have time to pay attention to in battle.