Developed by Toronto native Miguel Sternberg, They Bleed Pixels is set to release in a couple of days on Steam. August 29th, to be exact. Previously the game was meant to release on XBLA, but complications arose and Steam turned out to be a better option for the developers. Judging by industry sentiments regarding the ease of working with Valve, this shouldn't be surprising to anyone.
The best way to describe the game is it's what you get if you take Super Meat Boy's fiendish difficulty, Dustforces' physics and Bulletstorm's special kill system (which emphasizes style above all else). It's a gothic lo-fi platformer that takes the premise of a young girl who is haunted by a mysterious book. Lots of deadly creatures that might've been waiting in your closet when you were a child await, and an endless array of dangerous gears await you in this devilishly difficult game. Typical nightmare stuff, really.
And unlike other games, They Bleed Pixels features a special saving system that is dependant on a meter. The meter fills up the better you play the game–this means killing creatively. Button-mashing will not do, which is interesting since the combat system only requires the use of one button. Once the meter fills up, players can set down a checkpoint wherever they'd like.
To hype up the release, Spooky Squid games–the development team–is releasing a number of photos and wallpapers which showcase the artistic talent of a number of artists from "games, comics, animation, costuming and photography." These can be checked out at the official site, here.
Collaborations with other artists doesn't stop there, though. The game has a number of special levels created by different game designers and artists, including the famous Ponycorn creator. These are unlocked as you play, along with a bevy of other special unlockables.