Minty Abyss

Minty Abyss is a short and simple single-stage vertical shoot 'em up. Pilot the fighter Mint, blaze a path through the Abyssal Fleet, and don’t let a single enemy escape. 

This game is balanced around a no-miss run. Try to clear it without taking a hit, and save a high score! For a more casual experience, you can choose to continue up to 9 times after dying, at the cost of your score.

This project began with the creation of a very basic prototype in October 2024, but 95% of development work occurred across 9 days in January 2025 for TWG’s The Worst Game Jam. This is the first game I’ve developed, and I approached it with the goal of familiarizing myself with Shooting Game Builder.

Scoring 

Base score values for enemies/medals:

• Small enemy: 5000
• Medium enemy: 10000
• Large enemy: 50000
• Medal: 5000

Scoring is based on two mechanics: formation destruction and bullet cancels 

Formation destruction bonus: groups of 3-4 identical enemies moving in unison comprise an enemy formation. Destroying the entire formation will yield a score bonus equal to the combined score value of the enemies in the formation. For example, destroying a formation of 3 small enemies will yield a formation destruction bonus of 15000 points. Don’t let anything get away!

Bullet cancels: destroying large enemies will cancel all onscreen bullets into medals. If you allow a large enemy to linger onscreen, it will fire large numbers of slow-moving bullets, while shooting at you and providing cover for incoming foes. Can you hold out for a lucrative bullet cancel, or will you destroy these threatening enemies as soon as they appear?

Controls 

(xbox)/[keyboard] defaults

• (analog stick or d-pad)/[arrow keys]: move ship/cursor
• (A)/[z]: fire/confirm/continue 
• (B)/[x]: cancel/give up (from continue screen)
• (X)/[c]: access rankings (from title screen)
• (select)/[space]: pause
• (start)/[esc]: open config (remap controls, screen settings, exit game)

Replays

Highlight a score on the rankings menu and press the confirm button to view a replay 

Steam Deck 

This game should work on the steam deck. To get it running:

1. In desktop mode, download the game and extract the folder to your desired location 
2. Open steam → games → add a non-steam game to my library 
3. Navigate to the game’s folder and select the game executable 
4. Return to gaming mode and locate the game 
5. In the game’s properties, force the use of proton experimental 
6. Launch the game 

Credits 

Art drawn by me in Clip Studio 

Game design by me

Sound effects created by me using Chiptone by SFB Games 

Music is Silver Lining by Yousuke Yasui from the ESCHATOS soundtrack, “arranged” (if you can call it that) by me in FamiStudio using a transcription by sidedishes and sazandora on hooktheory.com

Developed in Shooting Game Builder 

This game was principally inspired by Cho Ren Sha 68k, as well as by ZeroRanger, Mushihimesama, and other classic STGs 

Thanks to TK for hosting the jam, and to everyone else in the TWG community