Schildmaid MX
Title screen
| Developer: | HitP Studio |
|---|---|
| Music: | Ed Tremblay |
| Release date: | November 2021 (itch.io) |
Contents
Schildmaid MX
Schildmaid MX is a horizontal side-scrolling shmup created by HitP Studio and released on itch.io for Windows, macOS and Linux on November 4th, 2021. Other platforms including Steam and Switch are expected to follow at a later date.
Gameplay Overview
8-way digital movement, main shot, EX weapon, barrel roll
Controls
Controls can be fully customized and support a wide range of gamepads and sticks, as well as mouse and keyboard.
- Shot (Tap): Fire all weapons except homing missiles
- Shot (Hold): Fire all weapons
- EX (Hold): Fire the EX weapon
- Roll: Perform a barrel roll
Unlockable Secrets
Of the three main game modes, two are locked at the start and can be unlcoked by meeting certain conditions. The current final mode gives access to a new ship. Achievements and titles shown on the leaderboards can also be unlocked through gameplay but have no effect on it and are purely cosmetic.
Characters / Ships / Styles
There are three main and one secret ship for the player to choose from.
- Wivern: Description
- Hydra: Description
- Greif: Description
- Chimera: Description
Weapons
There are three main weapon types in the game, used by the player as well as enemies.
- Bullets: Description
- Lasers: Description
- Missiles: Description
Rank
The game features a dynamic difficulty system which increases or decreases enemy health, movement speed, reload time and projectile velocity based on player performance. Rank increases by 2 every time the player completes a stage without losing a life, and decreases by 1 for every life lost. In effect, gameplay becomes incrementally more challenging the longer a player is able to stay alive, but slightly reduces in difficulty in response to their mistakes. A high rank can also improve scoring opportunities in certain situations, by shortening the pauses between waves of enemies or increasing the number of golden bullets available to the player.
Example changes to enemy attributes* vs base values:
| Rank | Movement Speed | Bullet Speed | Missile Speed | Cooldown Time | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | +20% | +20% | +10% | -10% | +2% |
| 25 | +50% | +50% | +25% | -25% | +5% |
| 50 (max) | +100% | +100% | +50% | -50% | +10% |
- Note that enemy lasers fire at fixed intervals, and are therefore unaffected by changes to cooldown time based on rank.
- Green “danger” bullets from corrupted enemies travel at a fixed velocity, and so are unaffected by changes to bullet speed.
Loops
Loops/Phases
Scoring
The scoring system
Story
The story
4132 A.G.E. (After Gaean Exodus) - BRUENHILD
The planet Bruenhild in the Bruenhildian system is the only world left in the charted galaxy that's still under Gaean control. Gaean colonies elsewhere have either been conquered by the cruel Lanphereans or their complete population abducted and used as human life stock by the even more terrible Geïr. And now a massive mercenary fleet rumoured to be employed by the Red Lanpherean Empire is headed on a course straight to Bruenhild!
Bruenhildian defences are no match for this armada, but not all hope for the planet is lost! A few years ago, infamous buccaneer Naomi Lindbergh had supplied Bruenhildian researchers with an unknown, but incredibly powerful elemental energy source. And in recent months, the planet's most brilliant quantum mechanics expert, dr. Saraswati Sommerfeld, has been able to develop an advanced shield technology that is powered by absorbing and converting basic energy projectiles. The technology is still in its infancy, but dr. Sommerfeld and her team have loaded it on a small number of Bruenhildian space fighters. Tests suggest that the energy absorbed by the crafts' shields can even power their locked advanced weapon systems!
The survival of Bruenhild now hinges on this experimental technology, dubbed Schildmaid, and the pilots that will take control of the small fighter crafts equipped with it. The pilots must survive as long as possible and visit so much destruction on the approaching invaders that they are forced to abort their hateful mission or that the Bruenhildian defence fleet is able to decimate whatever is left of them.
"The Bruenhildian pilots must remember 3 things:
- The shield deactivates after a number of seconds, to prevent it from overloading. After that, the fighter craft is vulnerable until the system has rebooted.
- Concentrated energy beams drastically reduce the duration of an active shield.
- Solid projectiles or objects will still pass through the shield."
We are on the eve of Operation Schildmaid. The destiny of the last free Gaeans shall be determined in the coming days.
Development History
Development started in August of 2020, alpha and beta testing running up to the release of the game with a ton of help from the community on the developer's Discord server.
Trivia
The name of the game is German and translates to shield maiden, paying hommage to Japanese developers using German title or terms in their games. The MX part of the title refers to the original intention to make a smaller (mini) game, but the game has since outgrown this initial plan.
References & Contributors
- AlterHowdegen
