Mini-Devlog #1: Difficulty Modes

We'd like to start sharing more about the development of BIRDCAGE here, and thought we could start with what we've been spending time on recently: fine-tuning the game to be enjoyable for players of all skill levels.

Here's an example of the differences between Easy and Hard mode, showcased by our dear friend -EXALT-, the mid-boss of Stage 3.

Thank you for your sacrifice, -EXALT-.

Our goal with Easy Mode is to help ease in players who might be unfamiliar with shoot-'em-ups but still want to see what BIRDCAGE has to offer, in terms of gameplay, story, and surprises.

Accordingly, we want to accommodate the core shmup audience and their built-in, legacy skills, hoping to provide a more hectic and challenging playthrough with Hard Mode.

We're trying to achieve all this by going in and hand-picking which patterns to adjust, along with other gameplay modifications, such as the AUTO-HYPER in Easy Mode, and increased bullet speed (and score multipliers!) in Hard Mode -- all hoping to provide different tunings of the game that still feel meaningful and fun.

Thanks for reading!

-Giannis and Barry