Astral Defense Press Kit
Description
Astral Defense is a tiny pixel art space shooter designed for mobile. Each wave randomly generated and endlessly scaling with difficulty. Collect power-ups and conserve special ammo for more troublesome Alien Vessels. Inspired by retro arcade classics such as Galaga.
History
On May 7, 2019 self taught indie developer and Co-Founder of Pixel Pajama Studios, Derek Sonnenberg (fedellen) tweeted “heavy wip, but I drew/coded all of this tonight” in reference to his newly created but unnamed pixel art space shooter prototype.
Within days Astral Defense was given its name, a procedural generator coded together, several additional enemy types were brainstormed, and playtesting was underway. Very positive feedback from initial playtesters quickly transformed this into into a priority for polish and release.
Features
- Six unique Enemy Vessels
- Endless Waves of Scaling Procedural Generation
- Shields and Ship Power-Ups
- Retro Themed Art, Sound, and Chiptune
- Three Special Ammo Types
Videos
Astral Defense Press Images
Astral Defense Logos
Astral Defense Press Coverage
Featured in:
Pocket Gamer – Cameron Bald
Games Press – David Teraoka
Happy Gamer – Edmund Dorsey
Letem světem Applem – Pavel Vařenka
App Advice – Brent Dirks
About Pixel Pajama Studios
Pixel Pajama Studios is a tiny indie game studio based in Minnesota USA. Co-Founders Derek Sonnenberg (fedellen) and Bonnie Thompson (abonbon) initially began their pixel art journey as an enjoyable hobby to share together in late May of 2018. The idea emerged to turn their art into a game soon after.
Bonnie, being a classically trained artist, was the perfect fit for Art and Animation; Derek took it upon himself in September of the same year to begin learning how to program and build a game with an engine called Stencyl. Adventures of Duck Guy prototypes were being playtested within months. The long term goal, to create beautiful Pixels in their Pajamas, obviously.
In May of 2019, daunted with the upcoming task of level design, world building, and animation, Derek switched gears; using what he had just taught himself to solely develop and release a game. Pixel Pajama Studios became Pixel Pajama Studios LLC and Astral Defense was polished for release.
Throughout the summer and fall of 2019 Pixel Pajama Studios began development of a new project together, Sonar Smash. Initially the idea was to “clone” Astral Defense in a different theme but Sonar Smash quickly evolved into it’s own game with numerous unique features.
Team
fedellen . Derek Sonnenberg — Pixel Art, Animation, Programming, Chiptune, Sound, Game Design, Marketing, and Community Management
Tools
Stencyl – Game Engine
Aseprite – Pixel Art and Animation
FamiTracker – Chiptune
Bfxr and Audacity – Sound Effects