REVO Launch Rundown

Scramble the fighters

REVO is out now! What an exciting thing to say! After six long years of work, REVO is finally in stores and people all over the world can enjoy it. In case you missed it, REVO was published on August 24th to Steam and Itch.io as the debut title from Cosmic Misfit Studio.

Two big updates were made that got us from July’s REVO to the final release version. It was very intense work for a solid month. Let’s take a look at those updates in short form and then talk about how the launch went.

v0.45.0 Reglow Update

REVO underwent a major effort that focused on visual clarity across the entire game. This helped to bring critical threats and important information to the forefront and make everything else more subtle. Generous feedback from the community helped identify the most important needs like this.

Additionally, general gameplay tuning and other polish were applied to ships, weapons, and levels, plus new gameplay opportunities were introduced for asteroids and mines. Some of these unexpected improvements were old ideas that took a long time to finally find their place in game.

There was actually so much done for this update that I’m not going to even try to squeeze most of it into a summary here, so be sure to peek at the detailed list of changes for this and all other updates past and future.

v1.0.0 Release Day Version

This went very well but was also a high pressure update. REVO was scheduled to launch on the very same day a bunch of nontrivial items were finished including the remaining cinematic story elements, actual Steam Cloud implementation, and several significant refinements to the core gameplay.

Again, there is an awesome Change Log for those curious. It’s actually a pretty good read.

Launch Experience

No doubt, your burning question is how REVO is doing now that it’s available in stores. In short, it has been selling and people like it. It’s not a hit, and it was never expected to be for a small, niche game coming from an unknown studio with minimal marketing, but everything has been positive. Even before it sold its first copy, it was a success for the studio as well as a triumph for a solo developer because a game was finally shipped.

Press Coverage

Don’t take my word for it, just check out some of the wonderful reviews REVO has received on gaming websites, in review videos, and featured on podcasts. In fact, not only was the game featured on The SML Podcast recently, but they soon after brought me on for an interview! Even the occasional friendly criticism has been fair and appreciated, but judge for yourself if people have understood REVO and given it a fair shake.

• Articles
  • “A highly energetic shooter that’s as fast as it is colorful.” — HardcoreGamer.com >> Read the article
  • “Absolutely dripping in style.” — GamingOnLinux >> Read the article
• Videos/Podcasts
  • “Very satisfying, fun game.” — K4rn4ge >> Watch the video
  • REVO reviewed by Linux Game Cast >> Watch the video (Skip to REVO @ 58m) / More options
  • REVO reviewed by The SML Podcast >> Listen: YouTube / iTunes / Spotify (REVO @ 1h:48m)
  • Drew interviewed by The SML Podcast >> Listen: YouTube / iTunes / Spotify

It’s not over yet

There is more work left to be done on REVO such as fixing any newly discovered bugs, refining the experience based on player feedback, and possibly some small features that didn’t make the release day. A couple updates have already been made post-release which are also included in the Change Log.

Furthermore, not enough people have discovered the game, so there is still plenty more work to be done just telling people about the game through additional press coverage and other marketing efforts.

Join the fun!

The simplest way to show your support now is to get REVO on Steam or Itch.io, have a blast with it, and leave a review. If you encounter any problem with the game, please submit a support request. It’s easy, quick, and very helpful.

If you otherwise have any questions, simply wish to say hello, or would like to meet other fans of REVO, I’d encourage you to join the conversation on Discord. This is where both developer and players hang out on a daily basis and share every little bit of news and fun as it happens.