Stealth Bastard Deluxe

T

transience

Member
Is anybody playing this? I hadn't heard of the game until it showed up on Steam last week and it looks pretty cool. Was curious on how other people felt about it. Looks like Super Meat Boy crossed with Mark of the Ninja, plus a nifty looking level editor, good humor and some cool tunes. I'm gonna buy it this weekend, probably.

Launch Trailer
Quick Look
Review (8/10)
$9.99
 
It's from the studio that developed Fluidity, it looks like a devilishly fun challenge, and it's on my Steam account.
 
80 more levels on top of the freeware version that was on par with Mark of the Ninja for 2D stealth?

Just hook that mess into my veins.
 
GCdkS.jpg
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Stealth Bastard = Green Bastard?
 
Just got it and beat the first level.

+ Level design is really really good. I'm only on the first set and it seems really clever already.
+ Great music and vibe. The game mocking you as you die is a nice touch.
+ Really fun mechanics which, combined with great level design, makes it really fun to play and hard to put down.
- Character is sloooow. The game has a trial by death type of game but your character moves so slow, and since you're dying a lot it can take a while to get into things, or to wait for enemy patterns to execute.
- Levels might be too long. I'm expecting levels to be these quick burst 20-25 second things but they're usually three and four rooms combined and take over a minute. Sometimes they tie everything together by looping back but others are just a new segment with a new checkpoint.

Overall, really fun so far. I hope more people check this out.
 
I'm liking the free version, but I love all retro puzzle platformers. I think I'll get the deluxe. What are the differences between the two?
 
Thanks for the thread! Didn't know anything about this game. I just watched the quick look and right away went and bought the game. I seriously can't get enough stealth games. This year in particular seems to have awesome stealth game releases.
 
I just beat world 2. God damn, this game's level design gets downright brilliant. They do so much with just a jump and an activate switch button, and I'm still only getting started. It's got that 'make you feel smart for figuring something out' kinda thing that's really empowering.
 
Rctdaemon said:
It's from the studio that developed Fluidity, it looks like a devilishly fun challenge, and it's on my Steam account.
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Fluidity...as in WiiWare Fluidity? I thought that was Nintendo's in-house studios, as in same Nintendo who won't have IPs on any non-nintendo devices (barring the pokedex for iOS).
 
One thing I haven't been able to figure out - when I restart a level 3 or 4 times, the game decides to crawl to 10fps and is basically unplayable until I quit out and start again. I don't have a knockout PC or anything but it's been able to run Mark of the Ninja and other such games, so I don't know why it struggles with this one. Is this built in Flash or something?
 
Brofield said:
Fluidity...as in WiiWare Fluidity? I thought that was Nintendo's in-house studios, as in same Nintendo who won't have IPs on any non-nintendo devices (barring the pokedex for iOS).
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Nope, that wasn't a Nintendo studio that developed it, it was us, Curve Studios. Nintendo were the publisher. We also developed Hydroventure/Fluidity: Spin Cycle (out tomorrow in the EU!)

two4two said:
One thing I haven't been able to figure out - when I restart a level 3 or 4 times, the game decides to crawl to 10fps and is basically unplayable until I quit out and start again. I don't have a knockout PC or anything but it's been able to run Mark of the Ninja and other such games, so I don't know why it struggles with this one. Is this built in Flash or something?
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You know, I've heard a couple of other people say similar things, but I can't for the life of me reproduce it. I've tried dying about 600 times in a row, restarting levels over and over, going from level to level in the menu, leaving the game to run on its own for ages and the memory and framerate stay rock solid. Can you give me solid reproduction steps? I'd love to be able to do it myself! (We've had level designers and artists running the game for 10+ hours a day for the past couple of months and no one has had it happen to them). Oh, and yeah, it's made in Game Maker.

Bidds
 
sophora said:
Picked up when it launched. Been playing a few levels here and there but damn...the puzzle design is amazing.
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two4two said:
I just beat world 2. God damn, this game's level design gets downright brilliant. They do so much with just a jump and an activate switch button, and I'm still only getting started. It's got that 'make you feel smart for figuring something out' kinda thing that's really empowering.
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I'll take those compliments! Thanks! As I mentioned above we made Fluidity with/for Nintendo, so we learned a lot about puzzle design making that. They're a tough crowd. ;)

Bidds
 
Just beat it. The ending is really something.

I thought this game's level design peaked around level 2 or 3, and after that it just kind of introduced elements that didn't add a lot. There were some cool levels mixed in for sure (The end of 8-7 was so awesome) but the core gameplay did get a bit stale. I really enjoyed the game despite that though.

onebitbeyond said:
I'll take those compliments! Thanks! As I mentioned above we made Fluidity with/for Nintendo, so we learned a lot about puzzle design making that. They're a tough crowd. ;)
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You're welcome, I guess! I really hope your game starts to sell better than it is. I don't think there are more than 500 people on the leaderboards and I keep getting top 10-20 times despite kind of bumbling through levels. More people need to play this game. Hopefully this thread gets a few new people to pick it up.
 
Finished this up last week and reviewed it here .

Really awesome game with some cool puzzles, but it can get frustrating and plodding at times. I'd say the stuff in the last chapter is the most fun, and it's a shame they didn't really expand on those concepts. The ending is pretty unexpected too (in a good way).
 
onebitbeyond said:
You know, I've heard a couple of other people say similar things, but I can't for the life of me reproduce it. I've tried dying about 600 times in a row, restarting levels over and over, going from level to level in the menu, leaving the game to run on its own for ages and the memory and framerate stay rock solid. Can you give me solid reproduction steps? I'd love to be able to do it myself! (We've had level designers and artists running the game for 10+ hours a day for the past couple of months and no one has had it happen to them). Oh, and yeah, it's made in Game Maker.

Bidds
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Missed this post. The game runs at all different speeds for me. I think I played a lot of it at like 2/3rds speed and would occasionally hit a level that played at full speed. It ended up feeling unusually fast when that would happen, heh. I don't think it's anything I'm doing, really, just the game slowly deteriorating. Every 4 or 5 levels I usually give it a restart to try and reset the performance. I guess you could compare it to what people said about PS3 Skyrim.

I have a pretty low-end laptop that I bought for $500, so it could just be my system. My PC can run stuff like Walking Dead and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet without a problem though. Stealth Bastard Deluxe doesn't seem like a game that should lag though. It's not exactly a graphics powerhouse. Binding of Isaac does the same thing to me so that's why I asked if it was made in flash.
 
Yes, a low end laptop will have problems running it. It requires a 2.5GHz dual core as minimum, with a DX8 compatible GFX card (Game Maker 8.1). GM runs interpreted code, and SB has a complex light and shadow system, therefore the specs need to be at least modest. It is difficult to enjoy at lower frame rates.

The leaderboards in the later levels may not have many people in them, but don't worry, we've sold more than 500. Could do with selling more though!

BTW we finished Fluidity/Hydroventure Spin Cycle on Aug 31st this year and then made SB Deluxe immediately after, releasing on Nov 28th. We made it in three months! There's a shitload of stuff in it too.
 
For those interested, Stealth Bastard Deluxe is 25% off in the Steam sale.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/209190/

(I wouldn't normally pimp it out like this, but Valve initially forgot to include us in the sale. :( It means we're going to miss out on any store front and list mentions, so we need all the help we can get to put word out.)
 
If the game has a chance of being 50% throughout the duration of the sale, I will buy it right then and there. If not, then I'll definitely be picking it up before the sale ends. I've been interested in it since it released on steam.
 
Deputy Dangle said:
If the game has a chance of being 50% throughout the duration of the sale, I will buy it right then and there. If not, then I'll definitely be picking it up before the sale ends. I've been interested in it since it released on steam.
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Well, although we wanted to, we now can't do any further discounts. 25% is going to be it for the duration of the sale. I hope you do pick it up!
 
JonStark said:
What is new in the deluxe version ?

Loved the free one.
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The Deluxe version is a full sequel. 80 levels, bosses, new objects and enemies, and five pieces of equipment that each change how the game is played. We've also ramped up the production values, designed a lovely UI, added a more cohesive setting/story and added 20 ish new music tracks. You also still get access to the 1,000+ community levels from the free version's database, as well as a new Deluxe-only database. The original's 28 levels are included in the community levels database too. Oh, and Achievements and Steam Cloud support.

It's 4.736x the game the original was. ;)
 
onebitbeyond said:
Explodemon is a possibility now that we have SB Deluxe up. We'd really like to get it up there. Fluidity is published and owned by Nintendo so not much chance of that! :)
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I bought Stealth Deluxe on steam. I am on the fence on buying Explodemon but the fact I may to rebuy it once on steam does not please me (as every PC gamer we are starting to become steam focused).
 
This is such a polished release that I'm surprised that it's not getting more traction on GAF. There isn't anything else like it, either.
 
epmode said:
This is such a polished release that I'm surprised that it's not getting more traction on GAF. There isn't anything else like it, either.
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Yeah. Tell me about it. We always did make the best games that nobody plays.

I busted my balls getting this game out early enough to be in the Steam winter sale, and figured having given the first one away free to 135,000 players that we'd get good support when arriving on Steam. Made sure to do an A+ job on the new version, but we're still not even in the top 100 indie titles in the sale.

It's fair to say I'm a little disheartened heading into 2013.
 
onebitbeyond said:
Yeah. Tell me about it. We always did make the best games that nobody plays.

I busted my balls getting this game out early enough to be in the Steam winter sale, and figured having given the first one away free to 135,000 players that we'd get good support when arriving on Steam. Made sure to do an A+ job on the new version, but we're still not even in the top 100 indie titles in the sale.

It's fair to say I'm a little disheartened heading into 2013.
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Well +1 to me in about 5 minutes.

Are eShop/PSN/XBLA possibilities for this title? I really liked Fluidity.
 
I bought and while I really like it, it doesn't quick have the snappiness of Super Meat Boy. Certain actions, like pushing around those statue things, take a little too long. I wish jumping from a clinging ledge was a hair tighter. Small and silly little complaints. It looks and sounds great, and has plenty of replay.
 
onebitbeyond said:
Yeah. Tell me about it. We always did make the best games that nobody plays.

I busted my balls getting this game out early enough to be in the Steam winter sale, and figured having given the first one away free to 135,000 players that we'd get good support when arriving on Steam. Made sure to do an A+ job on the new version, but we're still not even in the top 100 indie titles in the sale.

It's fair to say I'm a little disheartened heading into 2013.
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That's because you're not really on sale. People are looking for huge discounts here, so 25% is just not something most people will notice when it's next to other indie games that have a similar percieved value for 75% off. As far as I understand you missed the deadline to get a promoted spot with a bigger discount? That's probably going to hurt you the most but that's not really the fault of the audience.

No comment on the quality of the game, since I have neither played this nor the free version. I'm normally not going out of my way to look for impressions on indie games since there are just so many, and there really isn't any buzz around Stealth Bastard, so I don't even know what kind of game it is and why I should be interested.

Just my 2 cents.
 
YianGaruga said:
That's because you're not really on sale. People are looking for huge discounts here, so 25% is just not something most people will notice when it's next to other indie games that have a similar percieved value for 75% off. As far as I understand you missed the deadline to get a promoted spot with a bigger discount? That's probably going to hurt you the most but that's not really the fault of the audience.

No comment on the quality of the game, since I have neither played this nor the free version. I'm normally not going out of my way to look for impressions on indie games since there are just so many, and there really isn't any buzz around Stealth Bastard, so I don't even know what kind of game it is and why I should be interested.

Just my 2 cents.
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On the off-chance that this wasn't just a drive-by posting, this is what the game is about:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/28/wot-i-think-stealth-bastard-deluxe/

It's excellent and it would be one of the standout independent independent titles of the year if there was any justice in the world. (the same goes for Vessel, in my opinion)
 
epmode said:
On the off-chance that this wasn't just a drive-by posting, this is what the game is about:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/28/wot-i-think-stealth-bastard-deluxe/

It's excellent and it would be one of the standout independent independent titles of the year if there was any justice in the world. (the same goes for Vessel, in my opinion)
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No it wasn't and I'm making an effort to educate myself about the game because the dev is posting here and I love this kind of direct interaction. I'm just saying that it's my perception that most people don't even know Stealth Bastard Deluxe exists.
 
YianGaruga said:
No it wasn't and I'm making an effort to educate myself about the game because the dev is posting here and I love this kind of direct interaction. I'm just saying that it's my perception that most people don't even know Stealth Bastard Deluxe exists.
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I'll say it. Your coming of as kind of an arsehole right now.
 
YianGaruga said:
That's because you're not really on sale. People are looking for huge discounts here, so 25% is just not something most people will notice when it's next to other indie games that have a similar percieved value for 75% off. As far as I understand you missed the deadline to get a promoted spot with a bigger discount?
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Certainly a 50% sale would be more eye-catching, but we did only launch three weeks ago so it seems premature to sell at that price.

No, we didn't miss a deadline.

Anyway, I agree about the lack of buzz. Annoyingly, we went out of our way to make sure there was buzz, but I think the choice we made in this regard failed us. It's still early days though, I'm just venting my frustrations at how we've done so far. In truth it's a much longer thing than this first month anyway. Many months ahead of us yet.
 
I think that's a fair post, not a "drive-by". Steam sales are always about perceived value and SBD doesn't have a lot of buzz around it right now, as evidenced by the amount of people having never heard of it in this thread. Should it get more attention? I think so yeah. Is that the fault of the consumer? No, I don't think so. It just hasn't had enough buzz to really rise up above everything.

I think a good sale to get people to pay attention to it would help spread some word of mouth, but who knows.
 
Aaron said:
I bought and while I really like it, it doesn't quick have the snappiness of Super Meat Boy. Certain actions, like pushing around those statue things, take a little too long. I wish jumping from a clinging ledge was a hair tighter. Small and silly little complaints. It looks and sounds great, and has plenty of replay.
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Thanks for the feedback! I do collate these things. :)
 
olubode said:
I'll say it. Your coming of as kind of an arsehole right now.
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Why? What is so arsehole-ish about my opinion?

onebitbeyond said:
Certainly a 50% sale would be more eye-catching, but we did only launch three weeks ago so it seems premature to sell at that price.

No, we didn't miss a deadline.

Anyway, I agree about the lack of buzz. Annoyingly, we went out of our way to make sure there was buzz, but I think the choice we made in this regard failed us. It's still early days though, I'm just venting my frustrations at how we've done so far. In truth it's a much longer thing than this first month anyway. Many months ahead of us yet.
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Oh sorry, I confused you with another developer who didn't manage to get on sale in time. :X That's kind of emberrassing. I just remembered you talking on twitter about not being featured in the sale at the beginning.

I agree that 50% would have been way too early, but yeah, 25% is just not eye-catching enough. A lot of indie games had really long legs, and I don't think a few underperforming first weeks are necessarily an indicator how it will do overall. But yeah, there's no talk about it currently.
 
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