SuperLuminauts
is a local-multiplayer spaceship shooter with tight controls of a new mechanic: every projectile leaves a trail in space-time.
To start playing, all you need to know is how to move, shoot, and dodge, but from that stems a deep well of strategy and skill. At its simplest, SuperLuminauts is chaotic fun as trails ricochet and break and fly around you in a vibrant chain reaction. But it takes more than that to land a perfect bank shot that triggers a trail you fired 10 seconds ago to come crashing into your opponent. It takes the skills, the brains, and the guts of a SuperLuminaut.
Easy to pick up, with tight and simple controls, the time-trail mechanic offers a new dimension of play.
Instead of bullets, every ship fires trails that ricochet off of walls and friendly trails, but shatter enemy trails and damage enemy ships. Because of this, trails aren't just simple missiles: in the right hands they're walls that can trap enemies, shields to protect yourself, and destructive projecticles that collapse your opponent's trails.
This offers a deep well of stategy for advanced players, and also a vibrant chaotic spectacle for casual players.
SuperLuminauts has a fleet of twelve ships fitted with the same stats that each have full hue customization.
To match this new mechanic are 3 new game modes that aren't your boilerplate deathmatch.
Dive - Your trails make the map. After each round, your trails expand and spin and become the walls of the next map as you dive deeper into space. Maps generated by play here can also be saved and replayed in Galactic Tour
Galactic Tour - Build a playlist from 25 hand-made maps, whether it be a short and simple 3-round grudge match, or a tour across the galaxy and back.
Chaotic Anomaly - A series of rapid-fire rounds where trails kill instantly and accelerate after each bounce. You'll need quick wits or fistfulls of luck to win this.
SuperLuminauts is best enjoyed with 4 players using 4 controllers, but can also be played with 2 people using just a keyboard and mouse.
In a time when local multiplayer seems all but abandoned by AAA studios, SuperLuminauts was made with the wish to bring people together like an old console with tangled controllers on a crowded couch would. It's simple to pick up, but dense in possibility, and you don't even need controllers to enjoy breaking space-time with friends!
The music and sounds of SuperLuminauts were done by Cameron Konner (LoadCard). You can listen to the full OST below.
SuperLuminauts is the first game to come from LampFire, 3 friends from college & high school scattered around New Jersey, NYC, and Philly.
Tom Lum handles the game-design, programming, and art, and also any inquiries. Before this he's done a handful of artsy fartsy narrative games for a handful of game jams. He's now located in NYC.
Cameron Konner makes the sounds & music, when he isn't making his own tracks as LoadCard or helping everyone else as a freelance audo engineer in Philly.
Ernie Suarez is this game's (and most games') biggest critic. Notebooks and whiteboards with Ernie & Tom are where SuperLuminauts got its feel and look. He's currently wrapping up his degree in Psychology in Poughkeepsie.
At the end of the day we just want to make games that are fresh and bring people together, because those are the games we love to play. The kind of game that stretches your brain, that has honest care and charm, and that can make a couch of friends feel like an olympic gold medal match.
