This is a space shooter I'm working on. It requires Java 6 in order to run. You can download the game here (or just click Open, if you don't want to save the game to your computer).

WARNING: This is a work in progress. Notice that the game doesn't even have a real name. Many ship graphics are reused, there is no title screen, and there is no sound or music.

Please send any feedback you may have to my email.

Instructions

1. Getting Started
2. Basic Gameplay
3. Powerups
4. Options

Getting Started

  W
A S D - move up, left, down, or right

Space - fire
J - autofire (press once and forget it)
K - overload (bomb)
L - mega overload (bigger bomb)
7 8 9 - switch weapons (yellow, red, blue)
Escape - return to title screen

After running the game, you'll get a mostly blank screen with three buttons in the middle towards the bottom. Press "1 Player" and you'll be ready to play.

Basic Gameplay

Your goal is to defeat the waves of enemy ships that will come at you. The premise is simple: Shoot a ship enough, and it blows up. To that end, let's describe the circled objects in the screenshot above:

• YOU: Your ship. It can move in 8 directions to just about any point on the screen.
• HEALTH: How much more damage your ship can take. If your ship is currently shielded, a shield meter will also be here, on the right in light blue or white.
• WEAPON LEVELS: The strength of each of your three weapons, rated from level 1 to level 5.
• SELECTED WEAPON: Your current weapon is brighter than the other two. Its color roughly corresponds to the actual shots your weapon fires.
• SCORE: How many points you've scored from destroying enemy ships. Every 50000 points, your health is fully restored.

Enemy fire is color coded for your convenience:

• Blue: Minor damage. Be careful nonetheless: a lot of small shots can add up.
• Green: Major damage. A few shots can take out a massive chunk of your health.
• Red: You touch, you die. (That's not entirely true, but close enough that you should play as if it were true.)

You have three different weapons at your disposal. The yellow weapon (default key: 7) is a spread attack, the red one (default key: 8) a beam attack, and the blue one (default key: 9) a ship-specific attack. Each has its own uses. Switching weapons involves a short delay, though.

In case of emergency, you can overload a weapon (default key: K) whose level is higher than 1. This results in a powerful effect that will also drain your weapon's level by 1. Each weapon overloads in a different manner. The yellow weapon, for example, releases a shockwave that floods the screen, clearing it of most enemies. If your weapon is maxed out (level 5), you can also use a mega overload (default key: L) that will reduce your weapon back to level 1. The yellow weapon, for example, releases 3 slow-moving shockwaves that will keep the screen clear for an extended period of time. NOTE: Several overloads are capable of penetrating solid objects. Keep this in mind.

Powerups

Certain types of enemies will drop powerups. There are several different types of powerups:

	Weapon Powerup: Increases the level of the weapon whose color it matches by one. Also switches your current weapon to that one (weapon delay and all). All of these powerups cycle through the three weapon colors from yellow to red to blue, changing every 5 seconds.
	Health Powerup: Restores a small amount of your health.
	Max Weapon Powerup: A rare powerup that maxes out your current weapon.

Options

There are two tabs you can access by pressing the Options button on the title screen: Controls and Game Options. In the Controls tab, you can view the current key bindings. You can also set your own key bindings by clicking on the box of the action you want to set, then pressing the key you want to bind to the action. Notice that you can bind one key to multiple actions, but this is not recommended. In the Game Options tab, you can set the type of ship you want to use. You can also skip over levels you have already beaten by changing the starting level. Notice that if you start on a later level, you will do so with full health but 0 score and level 1 weapons.

Available ships

Falcon

This ship is well-balanced, with a slight emphasis on power. All of its weapons are easy to use, and its overloads, while not outstanding, nevertheless get the job done.

Tortoise

This ship is heavily focused on defense. It is slow and has lackluster weapons, but it makes up for those weaknesses with strong overloads with varied uses.