The Scale

The Monstergirl Scale

For determining if a game is like Vampire Survivors

-1 to 1 in 60 categories

Genre

1. Rogue-Lite 2. Auto-Shooter / Auto-Battler 3. Real Time 4. Top-Down or Isometric 5. Direct Control of Single Avatar Camera Usually Centered on Player 6. Arcade Style (Little Plot) 7. Bullet Heaven A Many Player Shots 8. Bullet Heaven B Few Enemy Shots / Damage on Touch Focus

Simple Movement Focused Controls

9. One Handed Play (With Controller) 10. Move Only 11. No Dash / Dodge 12. No Trigger 13. No Special Move Button 14. No Aiming 15. No On Attack / On Aim Movement Penalty

Survival Game Modes

16. Timed Survival / Boss Mode 17. Endless Mode 18. Unannounced & Organic Waves 19. High Enemy Count / "Horde"

Power Progression

20. Level on XP Gain Run Event 21. Streamlined Level Choices 22. Currency Based Meta Unlocks 23. Goal Based / Find Based Meta Unlocks

Depth of Buildcrafting

24. Build Crafting 25. Impactful Level / Item Options 26. Weapon Combination / Evolution 27. Interesting Weapon, Item & Ability Synergy 28. Invincible / Broken Builds Possible

Map / Level Features

29. Explorable Map 30. BIG Maps 31. XP / Currency on Ground 32. Health on Ground 33. Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 34. Treasure Chests / Loot Events 35. Vendors on Map / Run

Depth and Breadth of Content

36. Enemy Variety 37. Elites & Bosses 38. Many and /or Interesting Characters 39. Many Challenges 40. Multiple Stages 41. Difficulty Modifiers 42. Bestiary / Lore 43. Achievements 44. Secrets

Aesthetics

45. Retro / Pixel Art Style 46. Damage Numbers 47. Lo-Fi Charm 48. Bumpin' Music 49. Unique / Fun Names / Writing 50. Subtle Humor

Gameplay Vibe Check

51. Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 52. Over The Top 53. "One More Run" / Short Runs 54. Difficulty Ramp 55. Fun Ramp 56. Low Price 57. Technical Check / Functional Polish 58. Controls Check 59. Fun Check 60. Feels like VS

How to Tally

-1 to 1 in 60 Categories
Scoring in 10ths
(example: -.4 or .8)

1: Feature Fully Present
0: Feature Missing
-1: Critical Difference

Tip:

Rely Heavily on Vibes!

Report as number out of 60,
Or Convert into 10 Point Score.

The scale "assumes you're
ranking a very "similar game.
In theory a final score can be negative.

See Definitions for a full explanation of every category on the similarity and review scales. See scoring guide for detailed examples.

Comparison Scale Examples:

Vampire Survivors

10.0 | 60

Halls of Torment

9.0 | 53.9

Chess Survivors

8.0 | 48.0

20 Minutes Till Dawn

6.8 | 40.8

Risk of Rain

5.1 | 30.7

Hades

4.4 | 26.3

Returnal

3.2 | 19.4

Rogue

1.0 | 6.1

Elden Ring

-1.9 | -11.3

Call of Duty 2

-3.8 | -22.9

Fun at Home!

Score games yourself with The Scorecard!

Argue about it on the playground!

Patch Notes Archive

Home » Updates » Patch Notes Feed » Swarmcade » Update #5: Stage 2 Released!

Patch notes are imported from steam. There may be errors. This mostly exists so I can stay on top of them to update the features in our tags and scoring categories (which I do manually), but since many of you liked the idea of staying up to date with all the games in one place I'm working on making this data automated (right now I manually hit it every couple days) with better info and linking in with the game views.

There will be more data and proper atribution here (original author, steam link, original post date, etc) real soon, I promise. This is just like a technical test to see if they're coming in ok at all.

Swarmcade » Update #5: Stage 2 Released!

The fifth update for Swarmcade is now live, and it’s a major one. Yes, as promised, Stage 2 has arrived!

The map is called Arcadia and is a 30+minute run (to complete all waves and kill the boss). It contains all new enemies, elites and final stage boss. On top of that there are 2 awesome new tracks (composed by Miguelangell960)!

The new stage is a pure love letter to old school arcade gaming (even more so than the first). I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I did making it! And don’t be fooled into thinking you’ve seen the whole level by just the first minutes…

How to unlock Stage 2

To unlock Stage 2, players must survive 5 minutes in Stage 1 (normal). This is not retroactive, so even those of you that have beaten Stage 1 must do this first. Still, this will be extremely easy for anyone with even just a few upgrades and only takes 5 minutes. Stage 2 is a little harder than Stage 1 (even more so on hard difficulty), so it is recommended you have some upgrades under your belt.

Elsewhere in the update, there’s a few quality of life tweaks and bug fixes. Full notes follow.

V0.6.0
 Patch notes:

  • NEW map added, Arcadia
  • NEW regular enemies added

  • NEW elites added

  • NEW boss added

  • NEW Music tracks added

  • QOL – Added Master Volume setting to options

  • QOL – Turned down brightness on some weapons

  • QOL – Changed some weapon/item icons
  • Tweak – Elite movement improved
  • Tweak – Final Boss fights give slightly longer to prepare before spawning
  • Tweak – Changed Ultimates’ chest spawn logic (now rewarded upon elite kills)
  • Balance – Lil Dragons’ attack range increased slightly
  • Bug fix – Some instances of hearts drops showing incorrectly

  • Bug fix – Some incorrect death explosions triggering
  • Bug fix – Some crash instances
  • NEW – 3 Achievements
 (requirements):
    -Survive 30 mins in Stage 2 on Normal
    -Survive 30 mins in Stage 2 on Hard (unlock hard mode by completing Stage 2 on Normal)
    -Kill the Stage 2 final boss (any difficulty)