Game Idea: Space Jacker! 2600

[salstadt]

Well I've tried to lay off the mockups lately because no coders really seem to have free time for a new project. But I just had to get this one down on paper. Er, on the net.

 

So anyway, this one's a space shooter title. Gameplay is sort of puzzle-like in that there's a steady deluge of enemy drones and asteroids scrolling at you at an even pace. The drones you can blow up, the asteroids you cannot, so you have to blow away your foes and find an opening (sort of like Frogger with a gun). And a lot of times, because you can't shoot around an asteroid, there's only one path to follow in order to make it through unscathed (see screenshot 1, where taking the far left path would cause you to run through an enemy). Each level is completed when the player is able to simply survive to the end of the area.

 

 

Where it gets interesting is that there are two meters at the top - your health, and your ship's health. You take hits to your health by running into asteroids or enemies (as levels progress, the speed and abundance of the oncoming obstacles will increase). But as long as you're in your ship, only the ship's health will go down. However, it's almost impossible to make it through a level with perfect health, or even a single ship, so every now and then you'll have to ditch yours.

 

When you ditch your ship, you're floating around as a tiny spaceman and your ship will slowly drift away (not too fast, in case you ditch prematurely). Strategically, you should wait to ditch until you come across a new ship. These new ships are just floating around in space, left from when the drones ravaged the area. Move your spaceman over any ship and he'll hop inside.

 

 

There are five standard ships in addition to your own (all behave identically) - Anchor, Deco, Forked, Nucleus, Charge. In addition, there are four secret ships. These can be discovered by achieving specific goals for each level, such as killing every enemy up to a certain point, or taking no damage, etc:

 

The Barrier Ship has a force field that rotates around it (more slowly than in the pic). Hit anything with the forcefield side, and the enemy or asteroid is destroyed with minimal damage to your ship. This is great for getting in areas sideways (like the left path in screenshot 2) or just going right through the rocks. The Super Suit is invincible to everything, and causes the level to scroll by at double speed, but will only last for a short while (it's sort of like going to warp speed). The Puzzle Ship occasionally contracts for a few seconds of easier maneuverability. And the Planet (obviously not a ship) cannot fire, however it can take quite a bit of damage before you must ditch it (so you pretty much plow through everything).

 

Controls

 

Joypad - movement. Your ship will auto-fire repeatedly anytime you stop. While you are moving however, firing stops. So the idea is to line yourself up with an enemy, let go (and fire) then move on.

 

Button - Ditch out of your current ship.

 

So...feel free to comment on the idea, art, etc. Hopefully there's a chance someone might be interested enough to team up on this, as I think it would be pretty effective on the system and can really be boiled down if necessary (the real key component is just hopping out of your ship and getting in a new one - almost everything else can be simplified quite a bit).

 

- Adam

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Really an interesting idea.

 

But you are using to many colors for the ships and asteroids (at least for the Atari 2600, other platforms should give less problems). When doing this with playfield graphics, you have only two colors (foreground and background). So you either have to flicker them (not good for such large objects) or give them the same color.

 

And don't be too disappointed about us coders. I am sure, eventually someone will start doing one more of your games. You just have to be patient. With Infogrames around, your chances have even increased here.

 

BTW: How about some mini puzzles you have to solve when talking over a ship? Or bonus objects you can pick up which give you a key for special ships?

[~llama]

Wow... that's a really awesome idea. I wish i had the proficiency to code it but... i dont but... man. You come up with the most original mockups that i've seen on these forums. Hope this one becomes a reality... I'd buy it!

[salstadt]

"BTW: How about some mini puzzles you have to solve when talking over a ship? Or bonus objects you can pick up which give you a key for special ships?"

 

I'm always open to suggestions. Chris completely redesigned the direction of Fade Out and really added a lot of depth for that game. I tend to think core idea more than specific details, so yeah, depending on who's coding anything's possible.

 

- Adam