The last few years have been pretty quiet for Bit Kid, but this year we finally broke the silence with the announcement of our next title, WOLFHOUND. It may have seemed like it came out of nowhere, but it’s been in the works for quite some time now. It was honestly a bit scary to secretly work on something for so long, not knowing whether anyone would be interested in it when it was finally announced, but thankfully, the overwhelmingly positive response from you all and the world put that lingering sense of dread to rest. Now we can march towards the finish line with the confidence that we’re on the right track!

The announcement trailer did a great job of getting across what WOLFHOUND is and how it plays, but I thought I’d take a moment in this update to focus on a few key design decisions and gameplay details that may not have been so obvious.




While I’ve been striving to make each area of WOLFHOUND distinct, my goal was for it to feel like one massive, seamless locale. This meant the entire island, from the snowy mountain peaks at the top to the lava-filled chasms at the bottom, needed to fit on a single map. There are some other changes in this game as well to further enhance that feeling of interconnectedness, such as the camera panning smoothly between rooms as you explore, and no transition or loading screens between areas.




“Contravania” was a humorous (yet endearing!) term we often saw used to describe the game when the trailer was released. And while the military themes and weapons do call Contra to mind, the primary influence on everything from the art style to the gameplay was the mother of all Metroidvania games: the original Metroid on NES. Like Metroid, the pacing in WOLFHOUND is much more deliberate than a typical run ‘n gun game. The limited reach of your weapons, the reloading mechanic, and the intentional lack of diagonal firing all require you to carefully approach each encounter.




You begin your mission with only a standard-issue handgun and your trusty combat knife, but as you explore the island, you will soon build a powerful arsenal. There are three main types of weapons to find: Sidearms, Rifles, and Explosives. Only one of each can be equipped at a time, and each type has its own distinct advantages. For example, Sidearms typically have shorter reach and less punch than Rifles, but have the benefit of unlimited ammo. Also, keep an eye out for the Armory rooms found throughout the world that allow you to change your loadout, refill ammo, and upgrade your arsenal with Weapon Kits you find off the beaten path.


And that’s it for this year! We’ve gone heads down on developing WOLFHOUND, but will have further updates to share throughout 2025. If you have any more questions or thoughts, please let me know, and I’ll consider them for a future update. And as always, thanks again for all your support. We hope you have a great holiday season, and we’ll see you in 2025!

A quick update with the latest libraries, as well as some small fixes & improvements.

1.093
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- fixed graphical glitches in NPC shops
- tweaked CRT settings
- added Italian translations for Race mode (thanks hexaae!)
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 24.11

You may have noticed that It's been a while since the last Chasm update back in January. Did Bit Kid finally throw in the towel after six long years of support? Heck no! In fact, it's the opposite.

Briefly, Chasm was made with our own custom engine and toolset built on Microsoft's XNA Framework. Supporting multiple projects was never taken into account when things were first designed, so when I started WOLFHOUND I quickly began to see the issues with developing and maintaining multiple titles. To remedy this, I set out to revamp and future-proof the development environment by getting everything off the long dead XNA framework (hello, open-source alternative FNA!) and creating a shared content pipeline and set of libraries for all the games to use.

That means that while Chasm may not appear any different, the process used to build this latest release is, and careful testing was needed to ensure everything worked just as it used to. Thanks to the help of community member extraordinaire Macktion, we've done our best to verify that every pixel is in its place, and the seeds are generating the same as previous versions. And during the process we actually discovered several bugs that had went unnoticed for years!

While all that isn't particularly exciting for players, there is a bonus in this release. One of my goals on
WOLFHOUND was to step up the available video filters for the pixel art. To that end, a new CRT effect
(LottesRVM) and a smoothing filter (XBR) have been ported, and now you get a first look at them in Chasm!


(right-click and Open in New Tab to see at full resolution)

The CRT effect has 3 different settings: "Pro CRT" with more accurate scanlines that are less visible in brighter areas, "Old CRT" with a slot mask and no scanlines, and, lastly, "Digital CRT" with vertical scanlines. And for those feeling extra nostalgic, there's a new option for a rounded tube effect. In addition to the CRT effects, there's also a Smooth option that turns those jagged pixels into buttery smooth edges. I know it's not for everyone, but more options can never hurt, right?

I hope you enjoy the update, and as always thanks for your patience and continued support.
And please be sure to let me know if you run into any trouble on your journey!

-James

1.092
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- added new CRT emulation modes (Pro CRT, Digital CRT, and Old CRT)
- added Smoothing video filter
- fixed some jittery parallax effects
- fixed Random number generator re-initialization
- fixed crash on some PCs when switching soundtracks in-game
- fixed several Italian translation issues (thanks LetsPlayNintendoITA!)
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 24.09

When a clandestine NAZI BASE is discovered in the otherworldly heart of the BERMUDA TRIANGLE, there’s only one soldier for the job…

Capt. Chuck “WOLFHOUND” Rossetti, a wise-cracking, one-man army who never leaves a pal behind, is no stranger to war but his war is about to get stranger. After an Allied vessel vanishes, Chuck is deployed to infiltrate an uncharted island, discover the enemy’s secrets, and bring our boys home.

Yet this evil, shrouded island has other plans. Pitted against the stuff of nightmares — mutant insects, zombies, and other twisted creations of a mad Axis scientist — Chuck finds himself on an eerie, perilous mission unlike any he’s faced before.

VENTURE FORTH INTO THE ISLAND, scavenging for weapons and ammo to dispatch the Axis soldiers and monsters that grow more grotesque and dangerous the further WOLFHOUND goes. Unveil the sinister experiments of Dr. Steiner, and turn his tech against him. Feel the unbridled power of the railgun. Reach new heights with the jetpack. Lace up gravity boots to traverse new areas, where castles pierce the sky and crystal caverns veil wicked, fascinating mysteries. . .



After more than 200,000 recruits ventured into the procedurally-generated depths of Chasm, Bit Kid sought to return to the Metroidvania genre, while eschewing procedural generation in favor of a single, intricately-designed world. Bit Kid brought together artistic talent behind the Shantae series, Freedom Planet 2, and Sparklite along with a heroic chiptune soundtrack courtesy of musician RushJet1 (Cave Story+, Alwa’s Legacy, PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator).



“While I’ve always been a big fan of retro games and pixel art, I really wanted to dive deep into the style of NES and 8-bit gaming,” said James Petruzzi, founder and lead developer at Bit Kid. “We’re aiming to be as authentic as possible, stylistically: an 8-bit color palette, 320×180 pixel resolution, and a soundtrack composed in Famitracker which has enabled homebrewers to create authentic NES music for many years.”

WOLFHOUND will release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Steam for PC and Steam Deck. For more information, follow Bit Kid on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and join the official Bit Kid Discord server.

Another quick update with the latest game controller mappings and FNA libraries.

1.090
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- fixed ledge overhang in Catacombs bossroom
- updated game controller database (now supports PS5 Access controller)
- updated to FNA 24.01

This release is mostly library updates, but that comes with a couple much needed fixes! The audio popping issue on Windows should finally be fixed, as well as controllers sometimes not being detected without unplugging/replugging them. There are also some tweaks to Race mode to make it a little more fun. I've removed some of the rooms that make it less apparent which way to go, increased the player's level, and reduced the course length by about a third. Let me know what you think!

1.089 Change List
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- race: removed rooms with more than 3 doors
- race: reduced course lengths by roughly 30%
- race: increased player level
- race: reduced fountains to 1 in the middle of the course
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 23.10

I can hardly believe it, but Chasm officially turns five years old today! On top of that, it was over 10 years ago now that Chasm's Kickstarter was successfully funded. Where does the time go? In celebration of the anniversary, we'll be doing a giveaway today with our last copy of the Switch Deluxe Edition by Limited Run. Please join our Discord if you haven't already, and get your entry in!

I'd like to once again thank both the team who worked their hardest to make Chasm a reality, as well as all the fans that helped make it such a success. But just how big of a success was it? Well, I'm honored to say that to date Chasm has sold 200,000 copies worldwide! That is a huge achievement for an indie game, and far beyond what we ever thought would be possible for our first major title.

So, what have we been up to since launch? Immediately after launch in the fall of 2018 we focused on the Switch and Xbox ports, while trying to fix all the major issues that were reported by the community. New translations, game modes, content and much more were also released. Then in 2019, Chasm's engine & tool programmer (and longtime friend) Tim decided to leave the company. It was a major blow for me, but I continued working on Chasm throughout that year fixing bugs, adding content, and generally improving the experience until the last major update was released in the fall.


Engine Improvement: Vertical Transitions (Bonus: 8-bit style Daltyn!)

Going into 2020, I was back on my own again with no clear path forward. In a lot of ways, it felt like I was starting over from scratch. During that period, I worked on a few different prototypes while I improved the engine with new features and optimizations to speed up content creation. Among the prototypes were a sequel to Chasm that picked up right where the last one left off, a "pick up and play" Spelunky-ish spin-off, and, finally, a hand-designed Metroid-inspired game.


A character creator for a scrapped prototype.

While all the ideas showed promise, I was burned out on both fantasy and procedural generation, so the hand-designed idea seemed the most appealing at the time. All the pieces started to come together as I worked on it, and by the summer of 2021 I had a brand-new team assembled with a 30-minute prototype showcasing the intro and first area (similar to Chasm's that I used to pitch at GDC and the Kickstarter). After proving to myself the concept was solid and the new team could realize the vision, I decided to commit to it and officially went into pre-production on my next title.

Jumping up to the present, the game is now a good way into development and I'm bursting to finally announce it to the world. However, there is still that pesky little problem of the right timing! Unfortunately, it's not quite here yet, but we're getting closer every day now. Thank you again for your continued support over the years, and I'll be back in touch soon!

-James

A quick patch with more framework updates, as well as updated controller mappings.

1.086 Change List
------------------
- removed redundant loading of gamecontrollerdb.txt
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 23.07

This update includes the latest FNA framework libraries and gamepad database.

I've also been made aware of new audio issues in Windows with popping, crackling and other strange artifacts. This is due to a recent change in Windows, and has made some trouble with SDL-based games like Chasm. A proper fix should be coming along, but this update contains an optional fix if you are experiencing this.

First, make sure you are on 1.085 since it is required (check in the main menu in the game if you are unsure). With the game closed, right click it in Steam and go to Properties. Under "Launch Options" paste in the following:


Please let me know if you have any trouble!

1.085
------------------
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 23.04

This update includes the latest FNA framework libraries, a couple Steam Deck improvements, as well as the ability to set a custom key for the console.

Tilde is not convenient for everyone's situation, so now you can set your own key via the game's config file in the Steam folder. I will try to eventually add an in-game option to change it, but in the meantime just browse to your Chasm folder (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Chasm), open the config.ini file with Notepad, and add the line "ConsoleKey=F5" to the bottom and save.

1.084
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- added detection for Steam Deck
- added customizable key for console
- added 2.0 Stereo hint to SDL audio for better sound driver compatibility
- removed "Disable Gamepad" option when played on Steam Deck
- fixed window scale not allowing higher values on some high dpi systems
- updated game controller database
- updated to FNA 22.12