VECTOR VOLLEY

Two neon armies. One screen. One commander to protect.

Lose your commander, lose the battle.

Vector Volley is a two-player battle game inspired by the 2 Player Battle in 3BL’s Forged in Formation, reimagined as a chaotic, over-the-top arcade showdown in glowing vector lines. Lead the Red or Blue army, outmanoeuvre your opponent, and unleash devastating volleys in battles where every formation, every shot and every split-second decision counts.

Play head-to-head on one screen, take on the computer, or forget the enemy entirely. When night falls, the dead come marching.

Welcome to Graveyard Shift.

HOW TO PLAY

Eight units. One army. Your command.

Each side fields eight distinct units: a commander in an oversized plumed hat, musketeers, bayonets, cavalry, a cannon, a sniper, a grenadier and a brawler. Cycle between your units with a single button and take direct control of the fighter who can turn the battle.

Your units never turn. Wherever they're facing is where they aim. Positioning is everything.

Three formations. Choose wisely.

• Column — Fast and compact, built for crossing bridges. But only the front pair can fire.
• Line — Spread out and unleash a full volley. Maximum firepower, minimal subtlety.
• Square — A defensive wall that stops cavalry charges and fires in every direction. The catch? You'll crawl across the battlefield.

Switch formations at the wrong moment and you'll pay for it.

Make every shot count.

Hold fire to aim the cannon and grenadier. The longer you hold, the farther the shot travels.

• Cannon: Detonates on impact, wiping out everyone caught in its blast radius. Friend or foe.
• Sniper: Line up a target and watch the aiming ring close. When it closes on the first soldier in the firing line, it's a hit.
• Powder kegs: Explosive barrels that devastate anyone nearby. Set one off and the rest can follow in a spectacular chain reaction.

One well-placed shot can turn a losing battle into a massacre.

Three battlefields. Randomly generated.

Every battle takes place on one of three fields, selected at random.

• The Ford — Water offers a way across, but soldiers in the water can't shoot. Time your crossing or become easy prey.
• The Chasm — Two narrow bridges span a deadly gap. Charge recklessly and your troops will fall.
• The Sand — Each commander begins inside a square of stakes. Break through, hold your ground, and protect the one unit you cannot afford to lose.

1 PLAYER BATTLE

No opponent available? Take on the computer instead. Choose Easy, Normal or Hard and see whether your tactics hold up against an AI-controlled army.

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

The battle is over. The nightmare isn't.

Forget Red versus Blue. In Graveyard Shift, the two armies stand back to back as the dead swarm in from both flanks. The waves never end. Neither does the pressure.

Three kinds of undead will make sure of that:

• Shamblers — Slow, relentless and always closing in.
• Chargers — Fast-moving packs that sprint straight into the fight.
• Bloaters — Walking bombs that burst and take everything nearby with them.

Team up with another player or let the computer hold the other army while you fight to survive. Work together, keep the horde at bay, and push your high score as far as you can.

Your best score is saved. How long can you last?

ALL-OUT ARCADE MAYHEM

This isn't a quiet afternoon of military manoeuvres.

Expect shell-shock slow motion, screen-shaking impacts, expanding shockwave rings, soldiers flung spinning through the air and powder kegs detonating in glorious chain reactions.

The battlefield glows with neon vector lines, backed by pounding rave music in battle and creepy, code-generated piano in Graveyard Shift.

Every explosion hits harder. Every mistake hurts more. Every victory looks ridiculous in the best possible way.

PLAY YOUR WAY

Two players can share a keyboard, grab gamepads or play together using touch controls on a phone. Prefer to fight alone? The computer is ready.

Gamepad: Left stick or D-pad to move · A or RT to fire · RB / LB to change unit · X to change formation · Start to pause.

Phone: Drag to move on your half of the screen. Tap FIRE, UNIT and FORM to command your army. Pause whenever you need to regroup.

MADE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Vector Volley is made by 3BL_Indie, based in County Down, Northern Ireland, where the Battle of Ballynahinch was fought in 1798.

The game's rules are inspired by the 2 Player Battle in Forged in Formation, available on Steam.

Credits

• Design, direction and testing: James Bell, 3BL_Indie
• Engine: Godot Engine (MIT licence)
• Fonts: Orbitron, by the Orbitron Project Authors, and Share Tech Mono, by Carrois Type Design — both licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1

Find more at gamesdevni.site.

Two armies. One commander. Endless ways to go spectacularly wrong.