BLASTR

THE GAME

The year 20XX has arrived. A herd of ugly aliens. are rushing from outer space. Crime rate skyrockeded! Neo-Manhattan is ruined! Therefore, The US government called "Cassiopeia" for the massacre of the aliens. Cassiopeia is a killer machine. Wipe out all 1.2 billion of the aliens! However, on Jupiter there was a secret project in progress! A project to transform the deceased Z'patharr Prime into an ultimate weapon!

Sorry for the Hong Kong 97 opener. Play as Cassiopeia, the military's deadeye sniper, and fend off a horde of aliens over the skies of Neo-Manhattan, all with only 5 bullets - can you achieve this with only your finite ammunition? And can you set off the ultimate chain reaction?

THE INSTRUCTIONS

The controls and instructions are as follows:

• Click to shoot a bullet
• Try and hit the aliens
• The aliens will explode into more bullets, which will hit more aliens and so on, so try and aim to set up chain reactions in this way!

MEET THE ALIENS

K'TANN-2

The backbone of the alien fleet, these little red fellows are the most common alien you'll see flying around. When not invading other planets, they enjoy golf, painting, and rollerskating, though not all at once.

FLIKILI-LI

Similarly common, these aliens are the speedier cousins of the K'tann-2. Their high speeds are often an issue when it comes to navigating around walls and other hard objects, so they quite enjoy the mostly clear earth skies.

MOHENJONO

Big and slow, the Mohenjono command respect from their subordinates with their imposing figure and much cooler spaceship. Despite this, they're quite gentle on the inside, and tend to gardening as a hobby. They often pride themselves on their tulip beds.

DKINI-NI

Related to the Flikili-li, these aliens have succeeded even further when it comes to velocity, and have similar issues with running into walls. They utilise their speed, however, to excel at street racing in their free time. They're less common than the other aliens since they keep flying too fast off into the depths of space by mistake.

AUBANOWA

Often considered the most eccentric alien variety, the Aubanowa have discovered that one can travel up and down as well as left to right - they now utilise this power to great effect, travelling in sine waves, and are tragically shunned by other aliens for their unorthodox behaviours. They get along well enough with the Dkini-ni, however, for being equally as rare as them.

MY THOUGHTS

I'm really happy with how this game turned out; I like how the artstyle's a little bit different to the usual (particularly with the line boil, or is it called squiggle vision?), I love all the effects that happen when you shoot an alien, and the mechanics are pretty fun (I lost a lot of time in development just by playing my own game!). And, for once, the idea seems mostly rounded off, since I couldn't really add much more to the game without changing what it is fundamentally - of course, adding boss fights or upgrades would be pretty fun, but it'd take away from the arcade-y feel the game has. Still, that would be a good idea if I wanted to do that! One thing I especially liked about the development was the aliens and their designs, since when I started drawing them I had no clue how they'd turn out, but they ended up looking good in the end! I like the personality they have as well, so I'm pleased with that.  I suppose the only things I'd really change about the game are a bit of polish around the edges (e.g the starting screen could do with some improvement), as well as maybe a bit more flavour to everything, like a few more aliens, or more scenery in the background. I really enjoyed making the game, though, and I hope you had as much fun playing it as I had making it! What's your highscore? I'd love to see how everyone did!