A lean, fast-scrolling shooter that grew from one coder’s spare-room prototype into a Steam release powered by break-neck beats and plenty of late-night bug hunts.
Download soundtrack HERE
Where it all started
My friend Kirill Stoler (@stolaire) spent years hand-crafting a custom “2.5-GO fuckyouself” engine because existing ones felt too slow, too bulky, or just plain boring. I sat in the virtual back seat as his unofficial QA: breaking levels, logging crashes, and nagging him until the physics stopped exploding.
On 12 March 2025, all that caffeine and C++ finally hit Steam under the name Full Effect.
Story: in and out—no spoilers
A few years after the collapse of the Silverheaven syndicate, one of its splinter factions seizes the Greywater Science Centre. Central Command sends a lone operative—Ages—to scout, sabotage, and soften the target before a full assault.
That’s all you need to know up front. Everything else arrives organically through radio chatter, the occasional on-screen prompts “Patrol helicopter—they’re aware you’re out here”, nudge. Hostage rescues, jammer hunts, and a potential bio-hazard push the stakes higher without drowning you in lore. The plot is direct: get in, do the job, survive long enough for exfil—simple framing that keeps the action moving while leaving room for expansions down the line.
The game loop
- Fast-Paced Combat – Blink and you’re done. Wall-slide-jumps, grenades that bounce just right.
- Challenging Campaign – Straightforward missions, no hand-holding. Learn the patterns or hit reload.
- Diverse Arsenal – Find what works, then keep moving.
- Bosses That Hit Back – EXTREMELY aggressive AI, short telegraphs, high damage.
- Replay Hooks – Multiple difficulties, modifiers, New Game+, achievements.
In short: run, gun, adapt, repeat.
Music went from placeholder to showpiece
Early builds sounded like a broken fax machine. I talked Kirill into a full rewrite:
- AI-generated stems – I fed a detailed prompt (neurofunk, dark ambient, my own weird references) into a Music-AI generator to get raw material.
- Hand mixing in Audacity – Manual EQ, saturation, glitch edits, the works.
- Level-based themes – Every zone has its own track: heavy breaks for refinery floors, moody pads for flooded tunnels, calm drones between firefights.
- Engine hooks – Music shifts with combat states—quiet to chaos without a seam.
FLAC soundtrack here (🔗).
MP3 soundtrack here (🔗).
Pro tip: Set your player to repeat one track for the intended loop.
SFX and cut-scenes
With the score done, we rebuilt every sound effect—layered gunshots, positional reverb, timing, impact bass for melee hits. Cut-scenes were storyboarded together; every bass drop lands on a punch, not five frames later.
Steam Direct: the paperwork
Because Valve can’t pay Russian developers right now, Kirill couldn’t ship the game himself. I stepped in as the official publisher of record: filled out tax forms, paid the $100 Steam Direct fee, linked the bank account, and pushed the build live. Glamorous? No. Necessary? Absolutely.
What’s next
- Map Editor & Workshop – community levels and custom assets.
- Mod Support – custom textures, weapons, sounds, scripts, shader swaps.
- Balance Patches – the usual 💀.
Jump in
If tight movement, loud drums, and tough fights sound good, give Full Effect a spin. Leave a review, report any weird bugs you find, and keep the soundtrack on loop while you work—just maybe not during Zoom calls.
UPDATE: We’re not shipping vapor
- Engine work: Kirill is stripping out hard-coded logic and laying down a data-driven core. This unlocks custom companies (mods) as first-class citizens instead of hacks.
- Tools: a level editor is in active prep so creators can build and iterate without touching code.
- Audio: I’m expanding the OST. More tracks are lined up and will drop as systems stabilize.
This isn’t the end — it’s the runway. Once the de-hardcoding is complete, updates get faster, modding gets easier, and the whole thing scales without duct tape.