LOCUST, U.S.A
A downloadable game for Windows
Uncover the dark secrets of the small American town of Locust, by breaking blocks and hitting switches. Gameplay mechanics inspired by Arkanoid clones and various weird pinball machines, and aesthetics inspired by Stranger Things, World of Horror, Tron, etc...
Optional Random Battles and Random Events can make or break a run (or can be disabled in the Options menu).
Collect all the L,O,C,U,S, & T letters for a bonus (Score bonus & immediate increase in Paddle Length).
Nudge the board to adjust the ball trajectory (like pinball, except there are no penalties for doing this often).
Controls:
- [Arrow Keys/D-Pad] - Move/adjust menu selection
- [Z/A] - Launch Ball, confirm Menu choice, hold to slow Paddle
- [X/B] - Cancel Menu choice, Nudge board
- [ESC/Start] - Pause
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Comments
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Absolutely recommended - what an unexpectedly perfect fit of a genre mashup on this great breakout-style game. Please keep on keeping on!
Any progress?
Great game, would be nice to have a full screen option though.
How goes dev?
We are excited to discuss LOCUST, U.S.A tonight @ 7 PM EST on Indie Game Club!
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/potionsandpixels
Had to catch the recording since I think this was midnight in UK time, but great discussion :) I'm glad the options for customising all the cosmetic visual fluff were appreciated
I really enjoyed this! Thanks!
Great job on the game, Sir! I'm impressed you took a chance with a different kind of gameplay, and the result is very polished. I hope you continue working on this and make more adventures for our intrepid youngsters. Cheers!
Thanks for playing and providing the in-depth commentary :) I'm really glad everyone seems to enjoy the Tron fight
Finally they managed to make Breakout fun (hehehehehe).
The Stranger Things Influence is very strong here. Kudos to that!
Awesome game as a tron, WOH fan. I did a video to highlight. Any plans for a full version?
Why is there no Fullscreen option? Super badass game, btw!
Gave it a Let's Play, then saw it was basically a demo D:
Thanks so much for playing :) Even if the RNG decided you will get Paddle Length events and ONLY Paddle Length events.
It's not explained properly in the game itself, but reaching max monies ($2000) nets an extra life then the score resets :)
Incredible work, tell me you plan on finishing it! this is absolutely the kind of game I would love to play and buy a collector's edition. great work!
now talking aboutnostalgic! :) that bend in the screen is amazing
Thanks for playing :)
The retro screen effects are all thanks to this shader - really nice 'n easy to implement
awesome
I love this game it is such a unique idea. It takes pinball/Breakout, horror and combines them with boss battles that's simply genius. I really hope you make this fully also I hope you put it on steam early access in the future a game like this would benefit from that for sure. So thank you for making this but please continue developing on this badass game.
I love it when games take a different approach to things and this is about as far away from regular horror that you can get and I LOVED it!! I was gutted when it ended!
Thanks for playing :) Really enjoyed your video (you highlighting the objectives and random events bar makes up for my unforgivable lack of a tutorial...)
Haha, we'll call it accidental teamwork! I really did love this!!
Saw this on AlphaBetaGamers channel and honestly this is amazing, the sound design in particular just gives the game a sort of solid feel, like it really does feel analogue. Well done!
Amazing! Just amazing from the music and sound effects to the gameplay and crispy graphics! Just one thing: cant go fullscreen. Am I missing something? ALT+Enter does nothing too
Thanks for playing :) Glad you had fun,
Unless GMS2 has some build-in shortcut for fullscreen I don't know about, just maximising the window might be the closest you'll get
This is really cool! It keeps crashing after the random battle after entering the castle though. The last thing you see is the text "Fighting your way through winding stone hallways, a wall of fetid air blasts you as you reach the heart of the castle...". Then the screen goes black and nothing happens.
The entrance to the castle was the last stage I'd worked on, in the first build I uploaded to itch I had forgotten to take the player back to the main menu afterwards, soooo that's completely my fault, sorry :P
Ah cool, no worries, thanks for the heads up! It's a fantastic game! Love all the little details in each environment and the soundtrack is superb! :)
Game crashed on a black screen for me after entering the castle. Mostly enjoyed this (although I did have to use both mouse control and easy mode to have any chance at all) but the luck events felt like they came up too often. As they interrupt play, they got quite irritating, especially late in a level when you're trying to hit one last block and you don't want to have to keep stopping for an event that isn't really going to change anything.
Honestly I was wondering if they worked for the genre or not. I wanted to include events in a way that was inspired by World of Horror, but I guess pausing the main gameplay isn't to everyone's tastes. Good to know for the future though!
Thanks for taking the time to play - you can turn off the Luck events completely in the menu btw