Smack Studio

About

"Smack Studio is a sandbox fighting game currently in Early Access, featuring Kickstarter-funded creation tools to transform 2D sprites into 3D animations. Battle it out with up to 8 players in offline mode or 4 players online, with fast-paced gameplay, smooth game feel, and high combo potential. Play against friends or CPU players, and export your animations for use in your own projects."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Co-Op Team up with friends to complete levels or missions together
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
PvP Player versus Player - Fight against other players in real-time, often in arena-style combat
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 428 reviews

gameplay21 positive mentions

stability8 negative mentions

The character creation tools are intuitive and allow for a high degree of customization, making it easy for players to create unique fighters.
The gameplay is smooth and reminiscent of classic platform fighters, providing a fun and engaging experience.
The community is active and supportive, with many players sharing their custom characters and providing feedback.

The game suffers from bugs and crashes, particularly in the character editor, which can disrupt the creative process.
There is a lack of essential features such as a training mode and comprehensive tutorials, making it difficult for new players to learn the game.
The online multiplayer functionality is not yet available, limiting the game's replayability and social aspects.

gameplay
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
48%
7%
The gameplay of the platform fighter is generally well-received, with many praising its smooth mechanics and accessibility for beginners, reminiscent of titles like Super Smash Bros. and Rivals of Aether. While some players note issues with controls and bugs, the core gameplay is considered fun and engaging, particularly highlighting the character creation features and new mechanics like chargeable aerials. Overall, the game shows promise for further development, with a solid foundation that could evolve into a standout title in the genre.
- “When I first tried this game pre-alpha at PAX West 2021, what attracted me to the game was its gameplay - it felt surprisingly smooth and responsive.”
- “Smack Studio delivers on exactly what it promises: a tight platform fighter with a good foundation of mechanics (including some new ones) that shines the brightest in its character creation.”
- “The core mechanics feel as good as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Rivals of Aether, or Nick All-Stars Brawl (all, in my opinion, excellent platform fighting games with variances in control).”
- “It's not exactly a great game; the content is extremely sparse and the combat mechanics are much simpler compared to other games in the genre.”
- “The mechanical identity of the game is not very unique at the time of writing, the most unique being ultras, a super move that you get after dealing a certain amount of damage to the opponent.”
- “Button remapping broke the game for me; gameplay tries to emulate Smash Bros.”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
67%
13%
The graphics of the game are praised for their vibrant pixel art style and detailed animations, creating a visually appealing experience reminiscent of titles like Octopath Traveler. However, users express concerns about performance issues on lower-end systems and specific graphics cards, which can hinder the character creation process. While the character editor is highly regarded for its depth and customization options, there is a call for more graphics settings to accommodate a wider range of hardware capabilities.
- “You can truly create completely unique, fully-custom characters with custom skeletons, animations, visuals, and logic all within the game's editor.”
- “The attention to detail is remarkable, and the art style is both charming and distinctive.”
- “The pixel art visuals on a 3D background are beautiful, reminiscent of Octopath Traveler.”
- “The editor is meant to accommodate the 3D movements of characters, and 3D is made mandatory, meaning there's this huge 3D room that always has bright colors cycling by default (even if I change this, my in-editor preferences are never saved permanently) and it's killing my computer, even on the lowest graphics settings.”
- “I'd really like to give this program a good review but instead found out a couple of hours too late that 3080 Ti and above have a consistent 3D rendering graphics error giving the appearance of black outlines where there shouldn't be and missing pixels. Very unfortunate.”
- “Well, the editor doesn't actually work on certain graphics cards; it's something that's getting worked on, but up until it actually gets fixed, I cannot recommend this knowing that its biggest and best aspect is basically impossible to use on some systems.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The music in the game is widely praised for its energetic and engaging soundtrack, which enhances the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. However, some players have noted issues with the volume levels being excessively loud upon startup, detracting from the enjoyment. Overall, the sound design and music are highlighted as standout features, with requests for additional customization options like a background music editor.
- “The soundtrack has me bopping in my chair.”
- “I love the general atmosphere, the sound effects, the music.”
- “Decent gameplay, amazing sound design and music.”
- “The first issue you'll be greeted with upon launching the game is the damage your eardrums will receive when the game blasts its music at 2000% volume with no way to lower it in-game.”
- “Also release the damn OST on YouTube, tired of booting this game up to jam. I don't care if it's not release v1.0, the tracks are bangers!”
- “Just please add a background music editor, I'd like to be able to make my own character with her own battle theme!”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting significant bugs and instability during both online and solo play, often requiring restarts. While the character creation tools are praised for their power and ease of use, the overall experience is marred by glitches and a lack of customization options. However, the development team's responsiveness to these issues is noted as a positive aspect amidst the instability.
- “The online mode is super buggy and very unstable; even in solo play, I had to restart my game a few times because it got stuck loading the stage.”
- “Very buggy, and needs a lot more documentation or tutorials for advanced use cases.”
- “Game is somewhat buggy, as to be expected.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with users reporting significant performance issues, particularly in certain stages and the editor, where frame rates can drop considerably. While some players express frustration over the lack of optimization, they remain hopeful for improvements in future updates, appreciating the overall fun and rewarding experience despite these technical shortcomings.
- “Although the game has performance problems, I believe it will become a much better game over time.”
- “Had a few performance issues, especially in the editor where I was getting around 30fps, while in regular in-game I was getting a solid 60; but more than forgiven, given the early-access status and how fun and rewarding the experience in the editor was.”
- “Also, this game is not well optimized.”
- “I'm sorry, but I'm really frustrated about the performance, especially since the game could work just fine if it had a more simplistic and less intensive style for the stages, and if the lighting was simpler or nonexistent, or if the bloom wasn't there.”
- “Good game/game maker, but I'm having some performance issues in the character creator and in the main menu. Also, please add audio options; this game is very loud.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
Character development in Smack Studio is praised for its creative character design features, allowing users to easily create and export sprites for their own projects. However, the experience is marred by bugs and design flaws in the editor, which can lead to frustration despite the smooth and responsive gameplay mechanics. Overall, while the character design aspect is engaging, technical issues detract from the overall experience.
- “Smack Studio is a gem of a game that blends platformer fighting with the creative joy of character design.”
- “When you look at the character design, you wouldn't expect it to run so smoothly, but damn, movement is tight and responsive, fights feel frenetic, so you never feel like things are going too slow or like the pixels are blocky.”
- “Unfortunately, however, the game and its editors are riddled with bugs and questionable design choices that may just make your experience in the editor frustrating regardless of how easy the game makes character design.”
- “I'm reviewing the character designer aspect of this software; the game element is not really something I've been using the software for.”
- “I watched the online character designer tutorial after hearing about this software and that you could export sprites for use in your own projects.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, often requiring significant time investment that detracts from the enjoyment of online play. The character creation process, while praised for its quality, is marred by cumbersome tasks that can lead to game crashes, further complicating the experience.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “It's so disappointing that the main drive of most fighting games and their communities, online play and just playing with others in general, becomes an incredibly tedious experience that really takes away that joy of beating the hell out of each other.”
- “You have to go through the tedious process of deleting everything, which you can't do all at once or it crashes the game before you even start to set up your own character.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
Players consistently highlight the game's high replayability, citing a vibrant community, customizable characters, and a stage creator as key features that enhance the experience. The combination of a solid starting roster and extensive user-generated content ensures that the game offers endless fun and long-term engagement.
- “I love it! The community is great, and the replay value offers pure endless fun!”
- “These custom characters add significant replay value to the game.”
- “It's a fun, well-made platform fighter with tons of replay value and a good starting roster.”
- “The promise of a stage creator and the vast multitudes of characters on the workshop already proves this game will have replay value far outlasting the cost of the game.”
- “These custom characters add much replay value to the game.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a story, with multiple users noting the absence of any narrative elements.
- “No story.”
- “No story.”
- “No story.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its quirky character designs and the amusing glitches, such as crashes during character finalization, which players find ironically entertaining. Additionally, the experience of playing with friends and embodying comedic characters like Peter Griffin adds to the fun and laughter.
- “Finalizing characters can often crash the game, even if what you're finalizing isn't that intensive, which is really funny for software dedicated to pixel art.”
- “Just want to play a platform fighter with funny characters you've seen the community create?”
- “It's very funny to play with friends, and all of us go full Peter Griffin.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy for the game effectively utilizes social media advertising, particularly on platforms like TikTok, to showcase its unique pixel animation feature, which has garnered positive attention from users.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the effective sound effects and music that enhance the overall experience.
- “I love the overall atmosphere, the sound effects, and the music.”
- “The game's atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into its world.”
- “Every detail contributes to a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere that keeps you engaged.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the game's editor is highlighted as its main attraction, players find that the emotional engagement and value of the game extend beyond this feature, making it a worthwhile purchase even for those who may not utilize the editor, thanks to the vibrant Steam community workshop.