Myriavora is a roguelike swarm action shooter. You unleash a storm of fire and ice upon giant spiders, dodging their frantic attacks via cool moves.

A million years in the future. Evolutionary pressure has turned spiders into a far superior species. Humans are now close to extinction. The last survivors rely on remains of powerful technology they didn't invent and barely understand. You traverse this lonely, hostile world in search for a safe home.

Key features
  • Vicious enemy swarm AI
  • Shoot to shoot faster: each shot temporarily boosts your rate of fire
  • Agility based combat: run, slide, jump, dash, and glide to prevail
  • Powerful skills and semiautomatic defense units that allow for deep strategies
  • Roguelike with meta progression: you lose all progress when you die, but you get to keep your gear
  • Customizable clothing
  • Input method: mouse & keyboard (rebindable)
  • Supported languages: English, German
Potential issues
  • Realistically animated spiders: If you're arachnophobic, skip this game.
  • Violence: Spiders die graphically. No visual injuries to human characters.
  • Nudity: You can undress your character. Anatomic accuracy can be adjusted. No sexual content.
  • NO intentional jump scares (but it's an action game—be careful if you're sensitive)
  • Gameplay NOT dependent on color vision (to my knowledge—let me know if I missed something)
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Myriavora keeps growing! In January I made six maps, eight clothing items, and a few improvements. The game now includes a total of 62 varied maps. The number of clothing items has grown to 57 and all of them can be customized using materials and pigments.


The defense of Camp Famis consists of three jump pads, each connected to a group of three fetchers. Whenever you use a jump pad, the associated fetchers are activated for one second. This is a delightful combination because the spiders get teleported right into the jump pad's blast wave.

There are no cooldowns, i.e. you can use the jump pads as often and for as long as you want. Just keep in mind that they don't protect you from taking damage. I recommend using each jump pad only once or twice in a row and then switching to a different one.

Camp Famis Camp Famis



The mountainous terrain at Camp Pruniæ can be tough to maneuver. Fortunately, there are six powerful thermal turrets to support you. They activate upon entering and stay active for 10 seconds after leaving. If you're fast enough, you can have multiple or even all of them active at any one time.

Camp Pruniae Camp Pruniae



Camp Vigilantia is defended by three small but very powerful resonators. Using them effectively isn't always easy, but when you do, they can be devastating.

If something goes wrong, you can try to get some distance from the enemies in the forest. But it isn't dense enough to get more than a few seconds out of it, so better don't rely on that.

Camp Vigilantia Camp Vigilantia



Camp Nivium essentially consists of a sinkhole with an enormously powerful turret at the bottom. You activate the turret by entering it. It stays active for 60 seconds after you leave it.

The main strategy is obviously to lure the swarm into the pit and let the turret do its job. Just keep in mind that spiders can climb walls. So, don't worry, watching them die won't be your only activity.

Camp Nivium Camp Nivium



There are six big traps at Camp Gladii, half of which are active at any one time. Every 15 seconds they switch over to the other half. Although the camp has no armament, it is easily defendable if you keep moving and watch the timers.

Camp Gladii Camp Gladii


When testing Camp Gladii, I noticed spiders getting stuck occasionally. It was always at the same spot: near a tree that was suspiciously close to the wall of one of the traps. After some investigation, I realized this was no coincidence.

The problem was that traps were implemented as a kind of force field that pulls trapped spiders inwards when they try to leave. It's the only thing in the game that works that way and the spider AI isn't really prepared to deal with that. The algorithms are robust enough that it sort of works most of the time, but when it doesn't, spiders get stuck.

I contemplated improving the AI, but then I realized that changing the traps to work like actual barriers was a much better idea. That's because the AI already knows very well how to deal with barriers. It does so all the time as rocks, trees, and collisions between spiders are implemented that way.

Of course, it wasn't exactly trivial to change the traps. They don't work like normal barriers as they have to actually let in spiders and allow trapped spiders to roam inside. That's the reason I implemented them as force fields in the first place.

So, in the end it took me a couple of tries to get it right. But once I did, I immediately noticed an unexpected but welcome side effect. Since the spider AI is aware of barriers, it can now sort of "feel" the trap and tries to find a way out instead of banging its head against the wall. It's a relatively subtle change in behaviour and you probably won't see a difference unless you know exactly what to look for and take the time to do so. But at least I can see it, and like a proud father it just makes me happy to see my "babies" deal with their world just a little bit better.



Camp Successus provides six frost shocks for defense. They each activate 3 seconds after entering and have a cooldown of 50 seconds. Since there are so many facilities to choose from, the long cooldown doesn't matter much in practice unless you're really rushing it.

The delay, on the other hand, is something not to be underestimated. During test play, I experimented with different values and was surprised at how much I had to adjust my strategy each time.

In the heat of battle, every second feels like an eternity. Two seconds is already hard to bear, three seconds is simply torture. And yet I had a lot more success with three seconds! That's because a longer delay gives more spiders a chance to enter the facility and get caught by the shockwave.

So in the end I decided to go for a three second delay. Yes, it's more challenging to deal with and can be outright infuriating at times. But I guess that fits the game perfectly.

Camp Successus Camp Successus



punk belt & wristbands


I've created a belt and wristbands that match the punk-style neck band from the previous update. As always, they drop with random materials and pigments, so you'll probably need to customize them to get the studded look as depicted. I'm using black rubber for the band and white crystal fabric for the rivets.


leg straps milano leg straps madrid leg straps koeln leg straps london


I've started to experiment with ideas that might add a sci-fi look to Myriavora's clothing collection. These "leg straps" as I call them are the first result. They probably wouldn't be practical or comfortable when made with contemporary technology, but I can easily imagine some high-tech to make them work.

They're also perfect for customization as they're compatible with most clothing. This means you can use them as decoration on boots, socks, and pants. So, feel free to mix and match.

I think, this is a promising concept and I will try to develop it further in the future.


arm bands milano arm bands london


I also made arm bands. The pair on the left fits the Milano gloves, on the right you see the London version. As with the leg straps, you can actually wear them together and with all gloves, shirts, and jackets.


Other improvements include:

  • Defense units now have a grey name & outline when they are inactive due to cooldown.
  • The reticle for precision turrets is now significantly larger so it's not as easy to lose sight of in the heat of battle.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented spiders from taking damage when they get teleported into an area attack (like energy flash, frost shock, blast wave, etc).
  • Fixed a bug that made the health bar sometimes show an animation when you equip or remove Flash Healing.
  • Fixed a bug that made the minimap place the range indicator for the aimed attack (red line) at a slightly incorrect position.

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #6

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #6

News

I've created nine maps and a piece of clothing in December. Let's have a closer look.

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #5

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #5

News

I've added new maps, hairstyles, clothing, and features in November. Let's have a closer look.

Play my demo, beat my highscore, get my game for free!

Play my demo, beat my highscore, get my game for free!

News

The first ten players to beat my highscore in the Steam demo get my game for free!

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #4

Myriavora Early Access Progress Report #4

News

I've added six maps, five hairstyles, and a few features in October.

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Myriavora Demo v8093

Myriavora Demo v8093

Demo 1 comment

Standalone version of the demo - doesn't require Steam. Limited to 12 camps (same as the Steam demo), but otherwise fully playable.

Myriavora Demo v8051

Myriavora Demo v8051

Demo

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Myriavora Demo v8027

Myriavora Demo v8027

Demo

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Myriavora Demo v7980

Myriavora Demo v7980

Demo

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Myriavora Demo 7938

Myriavora Demo 7938

Demo

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Myriavora Demo 7612 Installer

Myriavora Demo 7612 Installer

Demo 3 comments

This version is outdated! Please check the file list for the latest version!

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 41)
ns-mars
ns-mars - - 601 comments

Keep it up on the updates

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juehoffmann Creator
juehoffmann - - 43 comments

working on it

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tristeangel727
tristeangel727 - - 1 comments

no mames
chido

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Shockwave528
Shockwave528 - - 162 comments

Probably one of the most best games i've seen recently! It's absolutely worth giving a try.

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juehoffmann Creator
juehoffmann - - 43 comments

I agree 😄 Also, thank you for the review, you made my day! 👍

Reply Good karma+1 vote
ns-mars
ns-mars - - 601 comments

Cool af

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juehoffmann Creator
juehoffmann - - 43 comments

Thank you 😄

Reply Good karma+1 vote
juehoffmann Creator
juehoffmann - - 43 comments

Twitch streamer SquidleWiddly has played my game! 😄 He seems to enjoy the experience despite the steep learning curve. The video is 46 minutes long.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
drcaustic
drcaustic - - 1 comments

Tried your steam demo. Awesome game. My only criticisms are these. A) Poison pools can be a little hard to discern from grass (maybe make them purple or some other shade of green?). B) The emergency teleport is a little sudden and pulls you pretty far from the edge (this could be exploited) Maybe add some kinda tether that pulls you back into the area? Lastly C) Inventory menu is a little hard to comprehend (maybe im just dumb lol).

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juehoffmann Creator
juehoffmann - - 43 comments

Thank you very much for the feedback! Just to understand, were these issues serious enough to spoil the fun?

A) The poison puddles are green because that's the color most people associate with poison. I agree that a contrasting color (like purple) would be easier to see, but it might confuse players. I don't think a different shade of green would help, because there's various types of grass in the game with a wide range of green and brown. Maybe I can find a way to make the puddles visually stand out more clearly (like swirls of other colors mixed in). Alternatively, I could offer an option to change the color. I'll think about this.

B) Yes, the emergency teleport can be used to escape a hairy situation. I do it myself occasionally. But if you do that too often, you'll find that the spiders have ways to deal with that, at least on harder difficulties. So, I wouldn't consider it an exploit. However, when I watch people play the game for the first time, I do notice that they often get surprised by the emergency teleport. Often, they'll fly full throttle towards the spiders' spawn point, overshoot the camp border (not knowing what it is), and get teleported back within fractions of a second due to the enormous speed they've built up. I realize that this is confusing and maybe that's the bigger issue. But it seems it doesn't take long to figure it out, so I'm not sure I really need to change it.

C) Ugh, yes, the inventory is very convoluted. I wanted to create a loot-based meta progression that enables you to customize your skill set as well as outfit. I wanted it to be flexible but also require the player to make decisions. It took me many iterations to achieve all of that, but eventually I did. I'm very happy with the inventory from a systems persepective, but I don't like that it's so hard to figure out for new players. It seems most people just give up eventually, which is disappointing for everyone. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of ideas on how to fix this. Footage of players interacting with the inventory is rare and doesn't provide enough insight for me to figure out what exactly players are struggling with. I would highly appreciate more detailed feedback on this issue (from you or anybody else).

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Latest posts from @myriavora

RT @IndieDB: January progress bodes well for the roguelike swarm shooter, Myriavora: @myriavora Indiedb.com T.co

Feb 4 2022

PSA: Someone has uploaded a malware infested version of my demo to @gamejolt & @sourceforge. Legitimate versions c… T.co

Jan 3 2022

RT @IndieDB: New features are discussed for the roguelike shooter, Myriavora, in its latest devlog: @myriavoraT.co

Dec 10 2021

The first ten players to beat my highscore in the demo get my game for free! How to participate:… T.co

Nov 17 2021

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Aug 17 2021