When making Outbound, I added a light popup text tutorial that reads out the objective of the game- a feature that apparently broke sometime before release since it doesn’t show up! I figure I can make a small tutorial/strategy guide in text here!

Some verbiage:
Beacon

• Located at the Crash Site in the center of the map.

• Enemies move toward this location! Once it’s destroyed, you lose the game.

Generator

• Located on L.Generator and R.Generator maps.

• Enemies will stop to destroy these. Once a generator is destroyed, enemies will spawn in the room it was in as well.

Recharger

• Located on L.Recharger and R.Recharger.

• You can recover 50 HP per wave of the Generator it belongs to.

• Requires Double Jump to access.

Wave

• A wave is a period of time where new enemies have spawned.

• The number of waves the player has to endure is set on the title screen with left/right. Default is 5

• The more waves played, the more difficult the game becomes and the larger variety of enemies.

• Setting the “Wave” to “1” will result in the game being extra easy- you won’t have to leave the first room. This isn’t recommended unless you’re just trying to get a feel for controls.

Loadout Shop

• Open for business when you die.

• Double Jump item stays with you for the rest of the game, shield and weapon upgrades do not.

• Loadout shop only lasts until you respawn. You cannot access it while you’re alive.

Manual

Controls:
A = Jump / Confirm
S = Shoot
Up/Down/Left/Right = Move / Navigate Menu

The objective of the game is to protect your Beacon from the hordes of enemies that spawn from either end of the map. Enemies will become more overwhelming the longer the game plays out, so it’s best to go back and forth to clear out enemies while you can and die as little as you can, as dying gives the enemies time to advance while you wait to respawn.

When enemies spawn, you’ll see skull icons on either side of the screen. These let you know there is an egg hatching, and the side they’re on. It’s advised to be aware that those icons only show up when there are active eggs waiting to hatch, not that there are active enemies. No icon could mean an enemy is advancing toward the beacon.

Before the enemies can advance to your Beacon, they need to destroy your Generators first. Your Generator will lose health when attacked, and eventually explode. Generator health is indicated in the upper left and right side of the screen on it’s respective side. When your Generator is attacked, an alert will show up under it’s health bar. It’s up to you to prioritize when you should take the time to go to that side of the map to clear them out. Making a wrong move could cause you to lose a Generator.

If your Generator is low on health, there are Recharger rooms available to you once you have the Double Jump ability. Shooting the Recharger will refill your Generator’s health up to 50 HP per Wave.

After the Final Wave is over, the Beacon will disappear and a rescue ship will land at the Crash Site. From this point forward, there is no way to lose- just hop on the ship and leave the planet, or let the waves ride out until eternity. Up to you!

Tips/Strategy

During the pregame wave, camp out near either L. Hive or R. Hive (where enemies spawn), and destroy the eggs that spawn on Wave 1. Eggs yield a lot of coins (minimum 16), and destroying an entire wave’s worth of eggs early on can get you upgrades to make the game a lot more manageable. Eggs are designed to be hard to destroy, so be careful to mind the opposite Hive’s eggs and enemy activity so you don’t become overwhelmed.

You can also jungle by killing Crabbens- the crab enemies that walk back and forth and hide in their shells. They create up to 8 coins, or even a random powerup to your weapon or shield!

If you’re having trouble dying, buy a shield at the loadout screen. It will allow you 1 free hit from an enemy, and give you invincibility frames for a short while. It comes in handy in a pinch.