Slime Buster Naru
A downloadable game for Windows
Welcome to Slime Buster Naru
Adventuring is tough,
but who would have thought you’d get lost on your way to your very first quest? While taking a shortcut through a dark forest, novice adventurer Naru has a chance encounter that flings her into a one-hundred-year-old mystery filled with strange creatures, mysterious individuals, a haunted chateau, and a cursed… duck? Help Naru fight, climb, jump, swim, and explore over half a dozen vibrant and enchanting areas in an open and interconnected map filled with enemies, puzzles, and rich characters. Discover that shortcuts in life are rarely short, things are seldom what they seem, and self-worth will make you more powerful than level-grinding ever could.
Now, take up your magical sword, the Runebuster, unravel the curse of the graveyard duck, and make it to your first quest on time!
About
Slime Buster Naru is a retro-style action RPG sometimes referred to as a “metroidvania.” Inspired by a host of classic games like Kid Icarus, The Goonies II, Rygar, Faxanadu, Castlevania (of course), and many more, you’ll find a game filled with brightly colored, hand-drawn pixel art, a nostalgic VRC6 style chiptune soundtrack & sound effects, and painstakingly responsive and intuitive controls. At the same time, Slime Buster Naru is not limited by the technology of the games from the 80’s and 90’s from which it was inspired. Where appropriate, some rules have been broken to improve the game while preserving the nostalgic retro-feel. For instance, sound effects do not cause certain music channels to drop, sprites do not flicker or slow even when there are dozens on the screen, and additive lighting and multiple parallax background effects are beyond what older consoles could have accomplished. All of this is done with great care to capture the feeling of gaming in the decades when a golden age of great classics were just being born. At its heart, Slime Buster Naru is a classic homage to great games that made us all love gaming. It has no specific gimmick to try and stand out, but instead enshrines these most important game aspects: super-tight gameplay, art, music, storytelling, a lot of love, and, most importantly, fun.
As a personal note, Slime buster Naru is a solo-dev game. In other words, I’m developing this game almost entirely by myself. This isn’t my first game, but it is one of the first I’ve done solo. As such, I know very well that it would never see the light of day if not for all of your support, feedback, and enthusiasm. For that, I can’t thank you enough. Please continue to follow along on this journey as I develop the first of what I hope are a series of games featuring our heroine Naru. Let’s have some fun!
Controls
Control Naru with Keyboard or Gamepad
All controls are fully customizable, remap buttons as you wish!
- Move: Arrow Keys, D-Pad or Analogue Sticks.
- Left/Right: to run.
- Dash: After acquiring Wind Boots, double tap left or right to dash. Watch your stamina.
- Crouch: Press Down.
- Jump: X Key or A Button.
- Double Jump: After acquiring Pegasus Feather, jump while in mid air.
- Attack: Z Key or X Button.
- Air Attack: press attack while in mid-air.
- Upward Attack: Hold Up while attacking in mid-Air.
- Hang: Hit a ceiling with an upward air attack to hang.
- Climb: Press Up to climb ladders, vines, or even your sword while hanging from certain platforms that can be jumped through.
- Low Attack: You can attack while crouching, and even attack diagonally downward by holding down and forward to attack.
- Back-Dodge: Press Y Button or V key to quickly dodge backward. Repeatedly dodge to move backward faster than a run, but watch your Stamina. Some small pits can be dodged over.
- Offhand: Tools and equipment will be added in a future build. This button will allow you to use them. Throw a bomb, shoot an arrow, or maybe fling a boomerang?
- Block Breaking: Attacking certain blocks with your sword will destroy them --once you have acquired the Mattock that is. Look for secrets everywhere!
- Map: The map can be activated with the Enter key or Select/back button once it has been found.
- Pause/Menu: Pause your game and access your subscreens with the Spacebar or Start/Menu button.
- Interact: Press Up to talk to NPCs or enter doorways.
- Health: Naru starts with 3 red health crystals, each worth 100 health. This is represented by the Red Health Bar. As Naru takes damage, the health bar will deplete until a crystal is used up. The bar will then refill to show the health of the next crystal. When all crystals are empty, and the red bar is depleted, the adventure is over. There are no healing items. You must level up or find more crystals to heal. (Hot spring healing rooms will soon be implemented. You will come across them throughout your adventure. Stop by these rooms to heal, or fill a crystal flask or two with their healing waters.)
- Stamina: Your stamina is represented by the green bar. Using certain abilities like sprinting or dodging consumes stamina. Stamina gradually recovers on its own or when eating red coffee berries dropped by some enemies.
- EXP & Levels: Defeating enemies increases your EXP. When your EXP reaches the amount shown in NEXT, Naru will gain a level, causing her abilities to increase and her health to recover. Picking up the large E bags dropped by enemies will give Naru a larger amount of EXP than that enemy would normal grant.
- Runes: Runes are power-ups that can be found throughout the game. They will add permanent abilities when collected, like dashing or double jump. Each rune can be viewed in the Runes menu to show it's description and function with the exception of the map.
- Lum: Lum is the currency of the realm. It can be increased by finding coins or gems. Lum will be used to purchase items in shops in a future build.
- Saving: A wandering minstrel named Edgar will save your game for you. He can be found in certain safe rooms throughout the game.
Cheats!
- Invulnerability: CTRL-I will make Naru invulnerable until the next area. Be careful not to do this after getting hit (when you're already invulnerable!)
- All Items: CTRL-Numpad 1 will give you all the runes and the map. Dash, break rocks, and double jump to your heart's content. Test out abilities you haven't found.
- Slow Time: CTRL-T will slow time almost to a crawl. Not as useful for playing, but good to watch something closely, like a glitch or animation. This same command will remove the effect. Things that restore the normal time scale like pause or changing areas will also end the effect.
- Reset: CTRL-R will reset the game to the title screen. This will restore the resolution if it becomes bugged (very small) but all unsaved progress will be lost. This is exactly the same as resetting from the pause menu options.
Features
- Original, hand-drawn sprites and artwork: All artwork is original and no AI is included in this game or its key-art. While AI is increasingly becoming a tool for many developers, I have opted not to use it in my own games. I love pixel art, and each area is thoughtfully crafted, each character lovingly animated. I truly care about the characters and this world, and I strive to add sense of charm and wonder to it all.
- Original Chiptune music and sounds: All music and sounds were composed or created by me. I may include additional music in the future by musicians I know and admire (shout out here to my friend Inverse Phase!) I use Audacity and FLStudio for my audio with the fantastic Nintendo VST, I also use Milkytracker and Famitracker, but have not utilized these tools for this project at this time. I will enthusiastically disclose any other musicians who are added to this (currently solo) project.
- Razor-sharp controls.: As a solo dev, if a control feels wrong, I can and will obsessively tweak it until it feels perfect. If there is any gimmick or feature that makes this game stand apart, I absolutely want it to be this. I believe that the best games are the ones where your brain thinks "Go up there and grab that power up! Kill that slime!" as opposed to "I pressed Jump! Why didn't I jump??" I want you to be able to mentally disconnect from your controller and just navigate the game naturally, and I will always make this my priority to make the game more fun.
- Fully customizable controls: should be in every game, I believe.
- Nostalgic Retro without limitation: Pixel art and sprites without slowdown, retro sound effects that do not cause the chiptune background music to cut out, and challenging, retro gameplay that does not punish you or endeavor to consume your quarters.
- An adventure in-game and in game-dev: This is an early, raw build, with all of the hilarious quirks and bugs that come with it. We take it for granted, but that's not something you could have done in the 80s or 90s. Play it now while it's a diamond in the rough! This version will be gone forever as new updates are released.
- Easter Eggs and secrets: They'll be everywhere. I wonder how many will catch every one?
- A game I want to play: Slime Buster Naru is exactly the kind of game I want to play. It's a classic-style metroidvania done precisely the way I feel they should be done. There are no new or "original" gimmicks to make it stand out, that's already been done exceptionally well by a host of other titles in this genre. Instead, I'm focused on what made the term "metroidvania" become a genre in the first place. Every little feature I loved, every animation frame cancel that lets Naru get in an extra attack, everything that makes these games addictive, I'm cramming it all in. If I'm the only human to ever play this game, I'm going to make it fun and be content with that. I'm already loving this game, and I hope you will, too.
Planned Features for Next Build
- Hot spring healing rooms.
- A larger map with the first water areas.
- Offhand tools: Bombs, Bows, Flasks
- Music Test mode.
- Fix known bugs and finish Mac, Linux and Steam support.
- More Enemies (Bats and Slime variations!)
- A much better looking Itch.io page here! Just waiting for custom CSS approval from Itch.io. Until then, please excuse the wall of text. I'm prioritizing uploading the game before making things pretty here.
Future Features
- A better intro
- More cut scenes and story
- Redraw Thorns and some other sprites.
- Overhaul the HUD
- More NPCs
- Shops
- More abilities like air dash and downward attacks.
- Grappling hooks and zip-lines
- Equipment
- Spells
- More options and menus. Graphics and sound settings, save slots, and access to menus in-game.
- Stable Mac and Linux builds.
- So much more!!
Installation Instructions
Download and unzip the game from this page. To do this, right-click the ZIP file from the directory you chose to save it to, then select Extract All from the drop-down menu.
Double click on the SlimeBusterNaru.exe file to run the game.
To create a desktop shortcut to the game, hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and then drag and drop the SlimeBusterNaru.exe file to your desktop. The words "Create Link in Desktop" will appear. Release the mouse button to create the link. You can also drag the file to the task bar or start menu to create a shortcut there.
Donations when you download are always appreciated but not required!
Known Bugs
- There may be a few instances where Naru becomes temporarily invulnerable until entering a new area. Most of these causes should be fixed.
- Rarely, certain simultaneous events may cause Naru to slide or moonwalk until she is hit by an enemy or other change in vector.
- Alt-Tab or changing focus away from the game window can cause the game to display at a very small resolution with large letterboxes on some systems. Resetting or quitting fixes the display. I'm investigating a fix as soon as possible.
This Build
This is a raw, early demo. It's short (maybe 30 minutes to an hour or more your first time.) It's going to have glorious bugs. It's also fun! Feel free to leave comments, record video, even stream if you like. Consider permission granted. If you do, I'd love to see it and link to you.
When you download the game here on itch.io, the platform recommends a $2 donation, and while that's extremely appreciated (and honestly helpful, I need a lot of coffee) it's a free demo, and you should feel no obligations to donate or guilt if you don't. I'm truly grateful that you're here with me as I make something fun.
Follow Along on the Journey!
If you enjoy playing this little demo, please consider adding it to your collections and following along here on itchi.io. I have no plans to crowdfund this game. To support Slime Buster Naru, one of the best things you can do is to follow on your favorite social media platforms and let friends know how much fun you had. Following here on itch.io will also notify you whenever a new demo comes out for PC and other platforms, when you can wishlist on steam, and when the full game is released. It's also a great way to become part of the process and see parts of the game no one else will have seen after the full release. I'll also open up the Discord and Reddit channels as soon as I round up a few more mods. So comment, share, like, and join in. I hope you'll help Slime Buster Naru have a successful release.
Visit
SlimeBusterNaru.com
for more socials.
©2024 Dave Lister
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Comments
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Hi! I was happy to finally have time to play the game. It was fun, although it felt a little like it was missing a hook... I don't quite know what. I don't want to come off as negative, but It just feels like it needs more of a "wow." Maybe there just needs to be more game, I dunno, I'm just a dude so it's very possible I'm just flat out wrong!
I took some notes while I was playing, so I'll add them here (please forgive the use of "pickaxe" instead of "mattock"):
(I understand any of the above may just be due to this being a demo, but felt it would be helpful to mention anyways.)
Please don't take the long list as being largely negative, I did have a good time, and I thought making the first boss not be a simple "keep hitting them" was cool, you had to pay attention to your surroundings! Plus, I felt the platforming besides the couple strict jumps was fun, the sort of go a bit forward to start at lower branches, then left and right to advance, very nice.
I look forward to seeing where you go with the game :)
Thank you!! This is all fantastic feedback. The menus in particular are a part of the game that are still evolving and changing, and don't get as much feedback.
I'm right there with you with those thorn bushes. They're actually listed here on this page in the "Future Features" section above as something I'll be re-drawing before the next build. I do think you'll be happy with some of the new the new sprite animation cycles I worked on this week for Naru:
Naru will now have the ability to attack in multiple directions on ground and in air. These abilities will be upgrades you'll find or learn as you go (which was the original intent, but they were left unlocked so you could try them out in the demo.) This way, you'll be taught to use them in the same way the Mattock gives you a little "tutorial-without-the-tutorial." That is, a chance to use the ability right away as you find it without forcing you read a lot of immersion-breaking text.
I'm always tweaking and fine-tuning the controls and overall feel of the game, so again, thank you for the valuable feedback! I hope adding more story and interaction with NPCs will help portray more of a hook and some extra charm to the game. The lost village is right around the corner, and will introduce shops, story, and more quests. I hope you'll give it a try in the near future!
Very nice demo! I have 3/4 secrets, but that last one I'm at a loss for. There's a patch of green platform-y grass under the ground in a map area nearish the start, but as far as I can tell that's just a bug resulting from mislayered textures for the nearby dead tree that's part of the same tile. There's also the log in the ghost area which, if it is moveable, I have no idea how to move.
I quite like the different movement options especially the air-hook uppercut thing, although that's presently useless lacking moving platforms not to mention a downwards aerial attack. The base run speed is a bit slow, and the pegasus dash hardly helps since you lose dash state when attacking, but you can quickstep backwards across maps pretty quickly if you really want to and I can put up with the slow pace mostly. It's most annoying when backtracking through previously explored areas looking for secrets, because although the movement is fun when dealing with obstacles enemies are quickly not a threat (except for the lack of healing options making even trivial damage annoyingly persistent if allowed to accumulate), yet still take a long time to deal with just because of the self-hitstun and inability to attack and move/dash and in some cases the elevated spawn rates. It really is a minor issue, though; the game is quite fun overall.
If there's a way to beat the boss without just tanking a bunch of hits, I don't know it, but tanking a bunch of hits worked fine. He's a bit tall to jump over without taking damage, and his attack where he briefly goes underground both doesn't have him underground for very long and doesn't have any way to trigger it that I can tell.
I had fun with the secrets so far, but would appreciate more. Like, it would be cool to have a secret area accessible from at least one of: the Pegasus feather room, the dash boots room, the secret hp up room near the mattock. Maybe a combat trial or an obstacle course or something.
Anyhow, thanks for making this and good luck on the next update.
Thank you! It sounds like you were really close to that 4th secret!
A lot of item rooms will be going away soon as the map is much bigger in the full version and items are spread apart. I wanted a way for everyone to try the items early in this small demo, sort of like a vertical slice of the full game. Adding combat trial is a good idea! I’ll definitely take into account more abilities to attack on the move, and I think one ability that’s already in the works will make you happy, it lets you burst forward even in air, like an offensive back-dodge, but forward. Oh, and did you know that you can also climb up onto jump-through platforms you’ve hooked onto from below by pressing up? You’re right on the money with using that ability in the future for floors that move or disappear/re-appear. I think it’s going to be good as a boss mechanic as well, a way to get out of the way when the floor is unsafe from an attack or maybe a lava flood? With the current boss, you can also force him back. Attacking him may not directly hurt him, but it pushes him out of the way until your target is clear. Just be ready to dodge when he starts to swing. His big throw attack also has a very important trigger. :) I bet you’ll catch it next time you beat him, now!
The log was just my idea of a spooky looking bridge, but I love the idea of being able to push/roll a log out of the way to open a new area! Thank you for all the great ideas and for playing! Every bit of feedback helps make the game even better. I love your ideas!
Still looking for that fourth secret. What I've found so far:
There's no light puzzles in the game as far as I can tell. I'd guess a light puzzle with the jack-o-lanterns to open the glitched grass floor if there was anything that could be a hint for it, but I'm not seeing anything.
You can up-hook the top of the screen in both ghosty forest rooms but not in other rooms. You can't crawl up after hooking in any of the spots I could reach, however.
The first ghost forest room, the one with a lot of ghosts, keeps playing ghost sound effects even after all the visible ghosts are killed. Perhaps there's one in a secret somewhere? You can hook the underside of the big block that divides the screen on the right, but again you can't climb up. The log isn't anything based on the last comment, but that's in the room, too. The crow in the boss room has sounds playing even when it's not there, though, so maybe this is similar.