Gunborg: Dark Matters
A downloadable game
Survival Mode is out now!
Harness the power of dark energy as you, jump, slash, shoot and bombard your way through an army of alien soldiers and killer robots in an arcade style, action platformer with a slick 80's synthwave soundtrack.
Did you finish Gunborg wishing for even more action? In Survival Mode your objective is to stay alive for as long as possible in three new arenas fighting hordes of enemies. *This new mode is unlocked by finishing the main campaign.
Gameplay
Move with the keyboard and aim with the mouse, or play Gunborg: Dark Matters as a twin-stick shooter using your gamepad.
Armed with a fierce energy blade, a powerful shield and a jetpack, you will have to traverse the many traps and hazards scattered throughout the ship and destroy any foe that stands in your way. Run, jump, and wall slide your way through a variety of levels, each with their own challenges.
Level the playing field by using the weapons of your fallen enemies while deflecting and blocking enemy attacks with your shield.
Create a combat chain by killing enemies in quick succession and become infused with dark energy that causes weapons to become more powerful and shoot differently. Collect the many info-bots scattered throughout the ship to unlock additional content, including levels and a hardcore difficulty setting.
Features
- Skill-based Gameplay: Use your skills to build a combat chain and accumulate as many points as possible.
- Three Difficulty Settings: Various difficulty settings to choose from allowing accessibility to all skill levels from easy for those looking for an experience to hard for those seeking the ultimate challenge.
- Full Gamepad Support: Play with your preferred controls, Gunborg can be played either with a keyboard and mouse or an Xinput-controller (itch.io-version). The Steam version supports pretty much any controller.
- Wield a Variety of Weapons: Equip and use the many different and unique weapons of your enemies.
- Use a Powerful Shield to Deflect Enemy Attacks: Use your shield to deflect enemy attacks back at them or as a means of surfing an otherwise impassable runway of spikes.
- Become Infused with Dark Energy: Maximize your combat chain to become infused with dark energy making weapons more powerful and shoot in new ways.
- Super-Fast and Addictive Respawn Cycle: Don’t be slowed down by death. Gunborgs super-fast respawn cycle puts you straight back into the action with fair and well-placed checkpoints.
Requirements
- Windows 7 or Windows 10.
- If you want to play with a controller, you need one that uses Xinput to play the itch.io-version. Any xbox-controller will work.
- Pretty much any controller will work with the Steam version of the game. This is because the Steam client can emulate Xinput and make other types of controllers compatible with the game.
Steam release
You will be able to claim a Steam key for free when you buy the game here on itch.io
Here's how to get the Steam key: Go to the game's itch.io download page, click the button "Get Steam key".
Here's a link to the Steam store page.
Thank you!
Finishing the game was much more work than I initially thought, and your support after the release of the demo has meant a lot to me. The feedback here, and the feedback I got in e-mails really helped me out as well. I hope you enjoy the final game ❤️
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $9.99 USD. Your purchase comes with a Steam key. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Survival Mode added!Jun 02, 2022
- Gunborg: Dark Matters is OUT NOW!Mar 11, 2022
- Gunborg: Dark MattersDec 05, 2021
Comments
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Is there a way to turn blood off? Love the look of the game btw.
No way to turn off the blood. But definitely going to add options like that in my next project. Glad you like the visuals :)
Great to hear! Anyway to follow you on your next project?
My plan right now is to start working on another action game this fall. The project I did after Gunborg is a spelling game for kids called The Lettervan 😊
Packed with lots of action, the art is great, seems like an amazing game!
Thank you 😀
Lemme just drop this here. ;{)
Yes, it was great to work together! 😁 Thanks for all the help!
Bonjour,
Je recherche des createurs de jeux.
Je suis en train de créer un site sur lequel je voudrais promouvoir des jeux indépendants à travers des petites compétitions.
Votre jeu serait présenté à notre communauté et un défi serait proposé, comme par exemple le premier qui arrive à X points, ou le premier qui termine le jeu ect... Le gagnant recevrait un prix.
Je ne demande rien aux créateurs à part de collaborer avec mon equipe techniques.
Mon mail si cela vous intéresse :
David.brulin@outlook.fr
Really cool game, nice work :)
Thank you! 😊
I am delighted to see how the development of this video game is progressing. You can see the care and dedication put into this project and the respect for the video players. It is gratifying to find new updates in a short time and to see how the game experience is more fun and solid. Thank you very much! PS. Please don’t forget to offer the public a DRM-Free version of the game here, on GOG or any other site or digital shop on the day of the official release of the game. Thank you very much for the game, the DEMO and the updates!
Thank you! There will be a DRM-free version available here, and if you buy on itch.io you will also be able to claim a Steam key :)
Hey Rick, did you get my e-mail?
Thank you for telling me about the weapon that would sometimes fall through the floor! It has been fixed :)
Awsome! Glad I could help.
Is there three info-bots on the third level (FIRESTARTER)?
I was only able to find two.
Yes, there are three :) One is hidden quite well. Nicely done getting an S-score by the way!
Thank you! I was finally able to find it. =)
Very cool game! Congratulations!
Hey Rick, do you still use this e-mail 'gunborg.thegame@gmail.com' ? I'm asking cuz it's not in the update, and I don't have a youtube or vimeo account, so e-mail's the only other way to show you the video.
Yes this e-mail can be used for writing about the game :)
Wow. Just when I thought the game couldn't get any cooler. This looks great dude! No wonder it took a while, and it's still not finished? Looks like it's gonna be worth the wait though. Great work!
Glad you like it! The game is pretty much finished now and I hope I can give you an exact release date soon 🙂
That's great to hear. Cuz I was pretty disappointed to find that a lot of the scenes shown here aren't in the current demo, and the info bots are pretty difficult to get to as well, especially the last one in "Firestarter" I've only ever made it out alive once! (And I've played the game at least a couple million times since I downloaded it 2 days ago) Other than that, the game is pretty sweet. Love the new gun as well, speaking of which, do you have names for them? I already made up a few that my little brother and I have been using since I got the first demo: Arc Uniblaster, Crimson Beacon, Neon Triblaster, and Pyromancer/Flamethrower, (we haven't named the new one yet).
I found a couple of fun stuff you can do in the game I wanna show you, but my screen recorder closes every time I open the game, which one would you recommend? (I'm using Appowersoft by the way)
I think I know which info-bot you mean. The one behind all the spikes? The trick is to use the shield!
Those gun names are so cool! And they even make sense! I will call them that from now on 🙂
I don't know much about screen recording, but Bandicam has been working well for me so far. I'm curious to know what fun stuff you guys are doing in the game 😄
Yeah, I tried that, it worked, but only twice, I guess I just need to get the hang of it, and is it just me, or does the shield break more easily in the current demo than it did in the first one?
I'm really glad you like the gun names, (I was secretly hoping you didn't have names for 'em yet!) and I'm flattered to know that you'll be USING them!
I'll try out Bandicam and hopefully, it'll work!
this looks amazing. about to play it. i hope that it is as fluid as the vid made it look. ill update after i play
This was actually an enjoying demo!
Keep getting this error:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object obj_tut_jump_high:
DoAdd :: Execution Error
at gml_Object_obj_tut_jump_high_Draw_0
############################################################################################
gml_Object_obj_tut_jump_high_Draw_0 (line -1)
Hi! This happens when using older gamepads or ps4 gamepads. The demo only supports xbox controllers at the moment. But the full version will support many other types of controllers as well 🙂
Oh, thanks! Guess I'll have to use my mouse then...
Whoa this was an awesome experience!
Art is also amazing! Specially those portraits!
Hey where did you get the sound track of menu song
Hi! The menu track is called No Time To Waste, by SPMusicGroup.
All of the music in the Gunborg demo is royalty free, but an original soundtrack is in the works for the full version of the game.
One of the best games of these site, I cant wait for the full game
Thank you for playing 😊 I'm glad you liked it!
Really good game! I'm definitely buying it when it comes out. The only thing I really had an issue with is that I die a ton, and with the boss it was a little annoying to have to click furiously through his dialog. I would like a way to skip the cutscene more quickly if it doesn't already exist and I just didn't press the right buttons. :) Seriously good work man. Awesome game
Thanks for the feedback! Someone else told me the same thing, so I've fixed this for the full game :) I will update the demo with some changes later on.
SWORDS! IN! SPAAAACE!
Thanks for this 😁 I really enjoyed the video!
I really enjoyed the game! ;{D
Love it so far! My main request would be the addition of a dash and slide.
Slide:
- Uses characters current momentum (can't slide from standing)
- Allows character to go down slopes quicker
- Potential to use as a way to stun enemies for short period
- Uses "S" / Down button
Dash:
- Mainly for dodging, could be implemented with a quick double press of A/D or an extra key (probably add both options).
This would greatly improve the flow of the movement, though I must say it already feels quite smooth.
Resolution settings would be nice, and I recommend you disable interpolation to prevent the blurring of the sprites. You can either do this globally in Windows>Graphics options of the project, or anytime using gpu_set_texfilter(false).
Also props to adding so many aiming angles to the player character, the art looks fantastic!
Thank you so much :) This is great stuff!
I've come quite far with production of the game now, and I will probably not make any changes that affect the gameplay in a significant way. If I did, I would have to go back and redesign levels that I'm already done with. It's still great to hear these suggestions, and perhaps there are some small tweaks I could do to make the player movement a bit more responsive.
I'd like to explain why some of your suggestions are quite hard to get in the game.
The dash - I've seen players "double tap" A and D when trying to move into position on small platforms, so I'm afraid that they could activate a dash by mistake with these controls. Also, if I had decided to put a dash in the game, I would have wanted the possibility to aim it in different directions.
Resolution and interpolation - I've found a sweet spot when it comes to how much of the game world is visible to the player. The camera is zoomed in enough to show off the art, but still far away enough to give the player a good view of their surroundings. I've achieved this by using an unusual resolution, and the interpolation is needed to make the proportions of the pixels correct, and edges straight. I don't mind the interpolation at all, but I know that pixel artists might have something to say about that :)
Thanks again for the feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed the demo!
there should definitely be some sort of dash ability, it would help with the flow and add more movement options!
Thanks for the feedback 🙂 Someone else wrote to me about this as well. I would like to try it out, if I could find a good way to activate a dash while playing with a keyboard and mouse.
this is amazing I can't wait for the full thing
Is this gonna be on steam as well? I'm gonna get it regardless but if its on steam then I can have it in the same place as most of my other games
Yes, Gunborg will have a store page on steam in a few weeks :)
Pls finish the game i liked it a lot
Will do :) I'm glad you liked it!
Will you make some other games?
I would like to 🙂
Wow. I love platformers, but recently, I've noticed that platformers are losing their quality and I thought that they had little or no hope in today's gaming world of FPS and 3D games. BOY was I wrong. The graphics, and gameplay on this are practically flawless. Proving that (2D)platformers can still be as epic as they used to be " Making the game playable from start to finish is one thing, but making it as fun as possible is something else." - This is one thing that most modern game creators seem to forget or overlook, but you've evidently mastered in this game. Great job.
Thank you :) Glad to hear you liked the game!
Thank you for playing! I'm glad you liked the game 🙂
Thank u it was so much fun to play
Love it! From the gameplay to the soundtrack ! Nice job and can't wait for the full release!
Thank you for the video! I'm glad you liked the demo 🙂
The name is Gunborg but the thumbnail clearly shows him holding a sword.
I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
But game have guns why you think what owner use bad a name for
this game?
this is awesome tell me when the full game is released
Wow! This very cool game!
Can I help in creating this? I'm spriter and +/- programmer
Also I will try very hard! If i'm complete test XD
Also i'm bad in human spriting
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I'm not looking for help at the moment, but thank you for offering :)
Oh, okay, But if you will need help just tell me!
Thank you for testing the game thoroughly :) I will have to take a look at all my closing doors. Glad you like the game!
The game is really epic im waiting for the full version
But you need to change the requirements because i can play this on windows 7
Nice! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 Never tried it on windows 7 myself. Changing the requirements now, and hopefully it will work for other people as well!
you should download it but first make an account
hello, Gunborg the game doesnt work correctly cause, when i start and i skip the intro, the game crashes and shows me a note, with a error code.
How to solve this problem?
Hi! I can try to fix the problem if you e-mail me the error message 🙂
why is my mouse stuck lo
Hi! When did it get stuck?
pog game, definitely needs to be on full version for more fun :D
This is a sooooo beautiful and cool game) I recommend it to everyone)
Thank you :)