Illvelo Swamp

Illvelo Swamp

Nintendo Switch game logo

Developer:	RS34
Music:	Daisuke Nagata
Program:	Manabu Matsumoto, Takahiro Kawachi, Hayato Okabe
Art:	Daisuke Nagata
Release date:	November 1, 2021

Illvelo Swamp is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up developed and published by RS34 for Nintendo Switch in 2021. Like Radirgy Swag, it plays in horizontal orientation, with a slightly angled perspective.

The game's title and general aesthetics draw from the original Illvelo, though this game introduces new mechanics and has a radically different stage structure. There are 100 stages in total (as a reference to the 100 bonus stages in the original Illvelo)

Gameplay Overview

Illvelo Swamp is a twin-stick, four-button game with one playable ship. The left analog stick is used to control the ship (with uniform speed) in any direction, or with the directional pad in a total of eight directions. The right analog stick can be used to control the detachable Doll (modules) independently from the ship.

Controls

Buttons are configurable in the options menu.

• Shot: Shoots a forward-facing shot
• Doll: Various Doll-related features
  • If Doll are docked to the ship : Launches Doll/Activates Megalodoll
  • If Doll are detached : (Hold) Moves the Doll in the same direction the ship is moving/(Double tap) Returns Doll to the ship
  • If Megalodoll is activated : (Double tap) Deactivates Megalodoll and returns Doll to the ship
• Megalophaz: Generates a circular field around the ship that grants temporary invincibility, absorbs all bullets that touch it, and collects items. Equivalent to a bomb in other games.
• A. Shot: A toggle to turn continuous shot on or off. With this toggle enabled, the ship (and Doll) will continuously shoot as if the shot button is pressed down. This can reduce finger strain for the player.

Also, a shield appears in front of the ship and Doll if the shot button is not pressed for a short time. The shield remains in front of the ship and Doll and absorbs bullets until either the shot button is pressed again.

Doll

Your ship is a modified TRAX called Xenostrepsi. It has a pair of circular modules called Doll. Doll are very useful for defense as Doll delete most hazards upon contact.

You can detach Doll from the ship by pressing Doll button. After being detached, Doll launch in the direction the ship is moving or to the front if the ship is not moving. Doll shoot normal shots even when separated from the ship. To move the detached Doll, simply use your right stick. In this way, you can move Doll more freely than the traditional method, which is to hold Doll button and move the ship. Also you can move Doll faster if you use your right stick. The speed at which Doll move can be configured in the Doll settings menu.

Double-tap Doll button to return Doll to the ship.

Attribute

There are three attributes of attack you can perform in this game: shot, shuriken, shield. Normal shots the ship and Doll fire has the shot attribute. The shuriken attribute attack occurs when you are holding the Shot button and detached Doll are on a enemy. When that happens, Doll turn green and start to deal contact damage. At the same time, they shoot a spiraling wave of shuriken. When not firing the ship deploys a shield in front of itself and Doll also obtain shield attribute. You can deal damage by hitting enemies with shield (you do not take damage when the ship touch an enemy), but with enough leveling you can reflect enemy bullets and shoot "ref-shots," another shield attribute attack.

In later stages you will encounter enemies with attribute barriers. An enemy with such barrier do not take damage unless it gets hit by Megalophaz or attacks with the attribute specified by the color of barrier.

Level-up Mechanics

You can increase the attack power by getting EXP and leveling up each of the attributes. You can get EXP of one attribute by hitting or defeating enemies with attacks with said attribute. You can also get a small amount of shield EXP for deleting enemy bullets with shield. Oddly enough, you get shot EXP for destroying parts of mid-sized enemies even with shuriken or shield attribute attacks. You do not get EXP for destroying enemies with Megalophaz. For efficient leveling, you can get three types of bonuses regarding the type of enemy you destroy.

Leader Badge

	Leader First: Usually for each formation of flying enemies there is one leader signified by a leader badge attached to it. If you destroy the leader before any other enemy in the formation, a thumbs-up icon appears and you get a Leader First bonus.
	Formation: If you defeat all flying enemies in a formation, a thumbs-up icon appears and you get a Formation bonus.
	Parts All: If you destroy all parts of a mid-sized enemy and then defeat it, a thumbs-up icon appears and you get a Parts All bonus.

Leveling up does not only make attacks stronger, but also changes attacks' property. For shot attribute, the fire rate increases and Doll starts shooting more shots in more directions at once. Shuriken slows down on contact with enemies at very high level. For shield attribute, refshots get bigger and changes their design.

For each attributes level starts at 0 and is capped at 300. At the end of every game, The levels for all attributes and the sum of them are recorded in rankings. The maximum ship level, 900, is barely reachable.

Items

An item spawns when a leader is defeated, or all enemies in a formation of flying enemies are killed, or a middle-sized enemy is destroyed. Items are attracted towards the ship if it is close to them. Item names below are based on ones shown in the logs of the DEV mode in Illvelo Swamp Happy Together.

	Score item/Hi-Score item/Sp-Score item: Worth 1000/10000/100000 points respectively. Point values are tripled in blue stages.
	Unfortunate item: Nothing happens when collected.
	Level up half item: Unlike what their name and the appearance suggests, it gives a quarter of the EXP gauge of the attribute with the lowest level.
	Level up item: Unlike what the name and the appearance suggests, it fills up a half of the EXP gauge of the attribute with the lowest level.
	Level up double item: Unlike what the name and the appearance suggests, it gives you 1 level for the attribute with the lowest level and keeps the EXP gauge.
	Mail item: Generates a random email at the bottom of the screen.
	Shot erase item: Erases all enemy bullets on the screen.
	Shield deploy item: The ship deploys a shield even if it is currently shooting. This effect lasts for 10 seconds.
	Invincible item: Gives the ship temporal invincibility for 10 seconds.
	Megalomajill item: Instantly fully recharges Megalomajill gauge, enabling Megalodoll or Megalophaz.
	Extend item: Increases your life count by 1 (up to 5 lives).
	Random item: Gives you the effect of randomly chosen one of the 19 items described above.
	Key(bronze/silver/gold): Spawns at the top of the screen when a key order is cleared. Required for unlocking the stage branches. Comes in three valiants: the standard bronze one, the silver one worth 5 keys, and the gold one worth 10 keys. Even if you fail to touch and collect a spawned key, it is considered collected when it disappears to the bottom of the screen.

Unlocking Stage Branches

Map Orders

Each stage has a total of 9 map orders: 3 key orders and 6 sub orders. You have to pause the game to see the detailed explanation and the current progress of the orders but you can get what they require based on the icons. These icons also have functions as the progress bars for their respective orders. There are orders that require defeating enemies and ones that don't.

Others

There are orders that don't require killing enemies.

	Move [up/right/down/left]: Requires a total of 15 or 20 seconds with a directional input in the direction the icon indicates. The ship does not have to be actually moving as long as the directional input is there. Since this game implements analog directional input, a small amount of deviation from the required direction is allowed.
	Do not move: Requires a total of 30 seconds without a directional input to move the ship.
	Stay on the [top/right/bottom/left] of the screen: Stay at indicated edge of screen for a total of 20 seconds.
	Use: Activate the feature indicated in the bottom right of the icon a certain number of times (usually 5 or less). Doll/Megalodoll is considered used once when the Doll are released from the ship, so spamming the Doll button can help.
	Do not use Megalophaz: Do not activate Megalophaz in this stage if you want to clear this order.
	Get items: Requires getting a certain number of items.
	Delete enemy bullets: Requires deleting a certain number of enemy bullets using Doll, Megalophaz, etc.
	Receive Messages: Requires receiving a certain number of messages. You can get more messages by staying in the upper area of the screen.
	Get Hurt: Requires getting hit by an enemy bullet and lose a life (twice in later stages). Only appears as a sub order in a boss stage.

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References & Contributors

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