StellarF(x): infinite space shooting game

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#1

Hi, I’ve been working on this game for quite a while
Instead of shooting bullets, you can either shoot linear graphs or missiles
Your goal is to take out the enemy mothership (battleship-carrier hybrid) by destroying all of it’s turrets
Beware of the enemy fighters, don’t let them swarm you

This is what I have right now

http://s14.postimg.org/jwlyudab4/LOL.jpg

Download link:

Controls
W,A,S,D: movement
Double tap W to boost in a direction
LMB: fire weapon / lock missiles
Use number 1 and 2 to change weapons
Z,X,C: use abilities
Space: pause game
Hold TAB: show radar on top of HUD

Press ESC to quit the game at any time
Press 0 to toggle fullscreen

Key Features

  • fire mathematical graphs at enemies
  • use the “proton sword” to sweep over enemies and lock missiles on them
  • featured replay and highscore system

There are three bars to the bottom left: shield, hull and energy.
When you take damage, first your shield drains, then your hull goes down. Game over when hull reaches 0.
You spend energy when using abilities.

There’s still a lot of work to do before the game is actually complete, currently there’s only one level and two types of weapons.

Planned Features

  • multiple levels, greater variety of enemies
  • upgrade and loadout system
  • ability to fire sin,cos,tan graphs

I would really like some feedback as to how I can improve the gameplay, as well as whether you guys think the concept of a math-themed space shooter will work out :slight_smile:
and kudos to Mario Zechner for the awesome LibGDX framework

#2

Awesome concept, great gameplay, I really enjoyed playing this one it’s looking awesome! (especially love that replay feature at the end)

Just a little idea from a fellow maths nerd, maybe you could make ships shaped like the mandelbrot fractal or the julia fractals sticking with the theme of complex numbers.

Still awesome game, nice to see even game programmers innovating with pure mathematics!

#3

Very addictive

#4

If Geometry Wars was a good indication, math shooters are definitely possible to be loved by the masses! This one is no exception. Played around with it for a solid 15 minutes. Even in its early stages, it is an enjoyable game. :slight_smile:

- Graphical Glitch -
The edge of the front of the ship (maybe a pixel or two in width) seem to appear in the color shown below. Not sure what’s causing it. Clipping, maybe?

At times, it was a flat line at the front of the sprite. Other times it was chopped up lines like in the picture.

- PERSONAL BIAS INCOMING -
There is quite a bit of visual clutter; more specifically, the yellow arrows pointing to off-screen targets. It made it tricky to stay focused on shooting the enemies. This could possibly be remedied by expanding the native world size a bit? I am playing on a 1920x1080 screen and it felt quite small. Resolution could be adding to my dismay.

Movement felt smooth but tricky because of the turning speed being slow relative to the forward velocity. Maybe that was your intention. Regardless, I still wanted to play!

Overall, a well-made (early) game. Looking forward to seeing where you take it. I love math and I’m positive I’ll love this. :slight_smile: