While technically the demo went live about a week ago, we've continued to polish and update it, and excited to debut our Next Fest ready version today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3258970/Croak_Crusader_Spawn_of_the_Spore_Spectre_Demo/ The best way to understand Croak Crusader is to see it in action! [previewyoutube=3UL4zq2HPdU;full][/previewyoutube] (A huge thank you to Nicommunism for his delightful work on our new keyart!) [u][h2]Folie à Frog[/h2][/u] [b]Spawn of the Spore Spectre[/b] is planned to be a free release, opening us up to player feedback, and setting the stage for the planned full game [i]Croak Crusader: the Champion of Canada[/i]. As this release strategy might cause some confusion between the 2 protagonists, we thought it'd be best to write up some character bios: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050648/23cac9728b0aa13b3e741ef7cf0ccdb9b187fc6e.png[/img] [u][h2]Inspirations?[/h2][/u] The Croak Crusader series is a lot of things, inspired by many sources, stewed together into something new! Thematically, the game is modelled after the bizarre camp of Ed Wood movies and Golden Age Hollywood, with a healthy dose of Canadian patriotism (the lesser known of North American patriotisms). The largest influence on gameplay has actually been Mischief Makers - grabbing and throwing things around! It might not be the most obvious comparison, but Mischief Makers DNA is present throughout the game. The likes of Nikujin 2, Wario World, DOOM Eternal, and Sexy Hiking (moreso than Getting Over It, because of the increased focus on more traditional platforming) all made their mark on this game. Some other honorable mentions are Sonic the hedgehog, Gorilla tag, and Mario 63. Paytonio shared that he wished Insomniac's Spider-Man made better use of the multipurpose grappling mechanic in combat. Croak Crusader simplifies this by merging the fighting and movement mechanics into one!