I’ve finally come up with a name for the space game: Icarus. Icarus was the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology who dared to fly too close to the sun. The name itself doesn’t bear any meaning right now, but later on it will make more sense so just stick with it for now.

You can play the latest version of the game here. Note that it’s not the same link as the previous two blog posts!

Game Updates

There have been a plethora of game updates, even though the game doesn’t seem to have changed much when you play it.

  • Bugfix: Player ship no longer has continuous movement after a collision. I’m not entirely sure why this happened, but it should be fixed now.
  • Enemy ships are always moving. Previously, enemy ships that were calculating AI pathfinding remained immobile and fired randomly. Now they will move as the AI is working.
  • Asteroid chunks now fly away from the object that hit the original asteroid. In other words, whenever you shoot an asteroid, the chunks fly away from your bullet, whereas previously they flew off in random directions. This update also works if your player ship or an enemy ship collides with an asteroid.
  • Health power-ups spawn 2% more often and only after an enemy ship is destroyed.
  • Enemy ships move at variable speeds. This might still need some tweaking, as they still bunch up and move like a ‘hive mind’ at times.
  • Physics has been overhauled, meaning enemy ships now “bounce” from collisions.
  • Starfield scrolling occurs in direction opposite to player movement. Due to the game taking place in a fixed window, I may remove this feature.
  • Enemy health reduced from 5 to 4. A number of people complained the enemy ships took too long to destroy.
  • Player ship is now more responsive. The ship will no longer ‘drift’ after an acceleration, and ship turning also speeds up as the left or right arrow keys are held down (up to a max turning speed).
  • Gameplay audio is now randomized across three Clearside songs. Many thanks to them for allowing me to use their music.
  • A sound will now play when the player ship is shot by an enemy.
  • A sound will not play when an enemy ship is shot by the player.

Graphics Preview

I’m still working with the artist on the final art assets for the game jam, but for now here is a preview.

MockUp_V6

The Near Future

Most of what I want to accomplish for the game jam has been implemented. For now, I am waiting on the artist to finish the art assets.

  • Replace placeholder artwork with the final artwork.
  • Implement touch-based controls.
  • Enemy ships leave debris behind after destruction.
  • Player ship can pick up debris and will gain bonuses as more debris is picked up over time.
  • Add shield power-up.

I have also gotten in touch with some sound artists who have expressed interest in contributing to the project, but haven’t really heard back from many of them so I am uncertain as to whether there will be any new sound assets when I submit to the game jam.