Dustforce -- The next great Platformer. Soundtrack out now!

General Discussion
1

Dustforce is the eco-friendly love child of Meatboy and N. Like Meatboy and N, Dustforce is a platformer that requires strict timing and some great muscle memory. The protagonists in Dustforce are just three Janitors and a Maid, except they all seem to be part-time ninja.

The controls are simple enough with only four buttons: a dash, a jump, and two attack buttons. Each character will run up walls or across ceilings when you hold Up, and they will slide down hills if you hold Down. Also available is an air-dash (you can dash Left, Right, and Down) and a double jump.

The point of the game is to clean up the levels! You do so by running over leaves/dirt/chemicals or by attacking enemies (who are typically normal animals that went mad when they were covered in dirt). You also have the option of doing a speed run in each level, where you do not worry about cleaning. Most of the levels have special shortcuts that are only used for speed runs. The normal cleaning runs and the speed runs have separate leaderboards. There are four characters to choose from. Each character has slightly different attributes, but they aren’t listed in-game. This omission is one of the few things in Dustforce that is truly annoying.

There are forty-eight levels, plus a Tutorial stage and a Final stage. Of the forty-eight levels, sixteen are Easy, sixteen are Medium, and sixteen are Difficult. All of the Easy levels are available after the completion of the Tutorial stage. In order to unlock a Medium stage, you have to earn a key by ranking a double S on an Easy stage. In order to unlock a Difficult stage, you have to earn a key by ranking a double S on a Medium stage. To unlock the Final stage, you have to earn keys by ranking a double S on all the Difficult stages.

The two videos should give you an idea of how the game plays.

Downhill – The first Easy stage
[media=youtube]1z-uMxB44Eo[/media]

Night Temple – The first Difficult stage
[media=youtube]2THUYL1nFNI[/media]

A Level Editor will be out soon! There is also two multiplayer modes, King of the Hill and Deathmatch. Each mode has plenty of maps, but currently only Local multiplayer is available. The Devs are looking into adding Online multiplayer, but they are not certain they will be able to implement it. Apparently, the Devs didn’t realize that people would actually want to play the multiplayer modes, and multiplayer was just added in as an extra in the last month of development.

The game is currently available on Steam for $9.99 (right now it is actually on sale for $8.99).

Here is a Multiplayer match from the Devs. It is King of the Hill mode. You have to stand on the platform with the silver ball until it completely turns your color and pops (which gives you a point), then the silver ball teleports to a new location. On a side note, there are four littering characters that are only used for multiplayer mode. They don’t seem to be anywhere else in the game.

[media=youtube]lAfdUkKmLWg[/media]

The other Multiplayer mode is called Survival, but it is really a Deathmatch. The idea is to kill your opponent 4 times before you die 4 times. The levels are built with spikes and holes so that you can use them to kill your opponent.

SOUNDTRACK

Soundtrack is for sale NOW! Includes three bonus tracks if you buy the full album!

2

Interesting concept; I doubt I could do the Harder stages, but from watching the first video; is the timing for jumps and taking out the leaves ‘strict’ or can you land on the patch in the middle and it’ll take it all out?

3

It kind of depends on the position of the leaves. Like, you can’t land in the middle, but you can land probably 1/2 a character length into the patch. It seems ground patches are more lenient than wall or ceiling patches.

The difficulty isn’t as bad as it looks. It just gets real hard when you are trying to Double S the levels, because you can’t make a mistake (unless it is a small one). If you don’t touch leaves (or hit a baddie) for a certain amount of time, then you lose your “combo.” You also lose your combo if you take damage. Spikes and holes instant-kill. Baddies don’t kill you at all, they just make you lose your combo.

EDIT: Updated the fist post with some Multiplayer information.

4

Is the art modifiable?

I can’t help but imagine playing as Roll in this game…

5

LOL. You could “hack” the files I guess, but I doubt there is a legit way to change the art.

6

Very interesting.

7

It turns out that there was a “Prototype” version of this game released a few years ago. It had a completely different engine, but the art was mostly the same and the game played similar enough. I’ve watched some videos of the Prototype levels, and I think they should re-release those levels as part of the full game. Maybe as DLC or something.

Has anyone else tried this yet? If not, then you’re missing out.

8

really awesome concept. gonna have to give it a shot.

9

Not to mention the art is already great.

10

Just can’t enjoy these platformers that have your main character as a tiny little spec. Looks like I’d like it more than super Meatboy, but not enough to actually buy it.

11

will these be released on xbox live?

12

Watch the videos I posted in fullscreen 720p. The character isn’t just a tiny spec. They are probably about 2x the size of Meatboy.

Currently there are no plans for Live or PSN releases. Right now the game is only on Windows, but there are Mac and Linux versions on the way. Hitbox Team said that they will look into PSN and/or Live release if the demand is high enough.

13

I don’t really want to detract from this thread too much because I think this game is definitely worth talking about, in fact I really like the art in this game and the fact that they added the ‘enemies’ you have to slash. The characters are still too small though, it’s fine for something like tohou or something like Bangai-O; the levels are designed around the actual patterns of bullets around the character. With platformers the character must negotiate the level, whereas with the shooters the level already does that for them.

Would much rather play something like this:
[media=youtube]sbn7UbUSZzg[/media]

But then again, the size of the character in proportion to the screen can’t be that big a deal since I loved VVVVVV, and he’s about the same size.
[media=youtube]sf06P-_1lkU[/media]

So I’m thinking it’s that mixed with the super small levels of death. Not to say Meatboy and Dustforce are bad, in fact I think they are both fabulously well made, just can’t bring myself to like playing them.

14

A little update on the game thus far. I’ve played and Double S’d the first 8 Easy and Medium levels at this point. None of it is really that difficult, but I did have past Meatboy playthroughs to bolster my skills. Since all the Easy and Medium levels are supposed to be about the same difficulty, I don’t think I’ll run into any problems with those. The Difficult levels, on the other hand, get kind of crazy to Double S. The final stage has not been Double S’d yet, not even by the devs. But since the game has been out a few days, I expect the hardcore players to Double S it soon.

15

I always thought using mid-air juggling a la Viewtiful Joe to navigate would make an interesting platforming mechanic. And there it is.

16

That screams Humble Bundle #5.

17

Hitbox Team said that there are no plans to have the game in any Bundles for the foreseeable future.

I’d expect it to be bundled in 2013 sometime.

18

This game is my guilty pleasure.
I’ve got over 11 hours on it and I’ve Double S’d my way through about half of the mansion after finishing the Forest/Ruins area.

And by god. That fucking music. I desire the soundtrack.

19

Really love this game so much, this hits the platforming itch that SMB never really fulfilled. Also the art/music is so fantastic, goddamn. Really love how this game feels and rewards you.

Also I think on the Steam forums, one the devs said they might look into GGPO as an online multiplayer solution, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

20

The Devs said that the last thing they’ll work on is Online Multiplayer. Someone threw out GGPO as an option, and the Dev said that he would look into it, but he couldn’t promise anything, because they are not even looking at Online Multiplayer right now.

The Devs should be releasing the soundtrack in a few days (a couple weeks at most). Each song will have a dedicated beginning and end, instead of being set-up for a loop. If you really want the songs now, you can find them in the game’s files.