ShooterGame is a space-themed 2D top-down shooter set developed by James Burgess. The point of the game is to control your customizable ship to avoid enemy projectiles while shooting them with your own. There is no end goal other than surviving as long of possible. Rather than a set story, this game is endless until you die.
Fun Factor
ShooterGame is quite fun and entertaining to play. The game gets progressively harder as waves of enemies get bigger and bigger. The length depends on your skill. battles could be a quick five-minute battle or possible up to 30 minutes each game. The graphics are quite pleasing to look at and the sounds and music suit the gameplay, contributing to the fun factor of the game.
Controls and Gameplay
ShooterGame has basic control and gameplay. The player’s ship is directed with the mouse, following your cursor with a steady rotation to give it a smoother feel to the controls rather than an instant snap. The primary mouse button (left click) is also used to shoot projectiles from your ship’s Centre with a forward velocity. The 1,2 and 3 keys are used to upgrade the ship’s stats which are displayed within the lower left corner of the screen
The gameplay involves some basic mechanics including enemies, upgrades, powerups, health and energy, and waves which is covered in further detail below.
Enemies
Enemies are spawned once a new wave commences, the number of enemies spawned increases for each wave. This adds a challenge to the game as it will constantly get harder until the player dies. This is a good thing, as the upgrades add a bonus to your strength and it would be unfair if the same number of enemies spawned each time.
The enemies’ behaviour mainly consists of a swarming technique where they surround the player to attack from all angles. The enemies steer away from the player when they get too close, but also head towards the player when they are more than a certain distance away. The enemies also avoid each other by steering away from them. This behaviour seems to be effective in large numbers as it can get quite overwhelming when not in control of the situation as the enemies surround you from all directions and can’t avoid getting shot at.
Upgrades
There are three upgrades in ShooterGame: Health, Energy, and Damage. These upgrades can be bought with in-game currency. This currency can be earned by destroying enemies. Each enemy destroyed rewards $100.
- Health – upgrades your ship’s max health allowing you to take more damage before being destroyed. Health has an initial cost of $100 and increases by $100 for each level.
- Energy – increases your max energy level, so you should shoot more projectiles before needing to recharge and Energy has an initial cost of $150 and increases by $150 for each level.
- Damage – increases the damage at which your projectiles deal to the enemies upgrading this can kill enemies quicker. Damage has an initial cost of $300 and increases by $300 for each level.
Powerups
At the start of each wave, single use power ups are spawned around the map. To use these power ups, you collide your ship into them.
There are two types of power up:
- batteries – restore the player to max energy when used
- spanners/repair – restore some of the players health when used,
Player Health and Energy
The player’s ship has a health and energy bar at the bottom-centre of the screen. These bars indicate your health and energy levels. The green bar represents your health, and the blue bar represents your energy. The colour of these bars gradually fade as their value changes.
Graphics
The graphics of ShooterGame are low res 16-bit style. The game’s graphics are set in a futuristic space theme with a galaxy background and spaceships spread throughout the map.
User Interface
ShooterGame’s user interface has a clean and smooth style, which is easy to read and understand.
Main menu
The main menu’s interface consists of the play button and the customization panel. The play button is an indigo colour, clicking this will start the game with the selected ship colours. The customization panel has a ship preview to the left and the colour choice to the right. You have a choice of customizing the colour of the body, the wings and a secondary colour which is a strip down the ship. To customize the colours, three bars are can be dragged to increase or decrease the level of red, green or blue. Each of the ship’s sections are separated into further panels to make the interface easier to understand as well as give it a cleaner and more professional look.
In-Game
The in-game user interface consists of the main information panel, the health and energy bar and the upgrades panel. The information panel is at the top-centre of the screen and this display provides important information to the player including the current wave, the number of enemies remaining on the current wave, and the amount of money the player has.
The upgrades panel on the bottom left consists of the Health, Energy and Damage upgrades. Next to them is the cost to upgrade and the current level of the upgrade.
End Game
The game over screen shows information about the match including which wave you reached and the number of enemies killed. This screen displays for about 10 seconds.
Main Game Graphics
The main graphics within the game include the background spaceships and particle trails. The spaceships have a sharp look to make them intimidating and dangerous. The enemies are always red to display to the player that they are the enemies. All ships have a trail behind them, coming from their booster. This leave a cool effect which is pleasing to look at. The projectiles are blue balls with a particle trail behind them, and when they impact on a ship they explode.
Sound
The sounds of ShooterGame fit the game well. When the projectiles are shot, they play a futuristic and simplistic sound, though when the projectiles hit they have a rough “bang” sound which could be a bit smoother. The background music suits the game and has a futuristic feel to it and matches the intense battles.
Replayability
ShooterGame has a lot of replayability. Every match is always different, but eventually the game could become boring and repetitive as the enemies have the same behaviour. Despite this, you should have a significant amount of play time for how small and simple.
Downloads
- Project files: ShooterGame-13olx7l (9.7MB)
- Executable: ShooterGameExecutable-13mjlgh (15.3MB)
