Phil Peron Flash Platform Developer and Game Development Hobbyist

S’troidz!: Week 5 Update

It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks. Unfortunately, not so much for S’troidz! The good news is that I accomplished the goals I set for myself, was mega-productive at work (or my “real’ job) and managed to retain some semblance of a life outside coding. As difficult as it was to stay away from S’troidz!, the break actually served me well and the batteries are charged for another push.

OK, so what’s new in S’troidz! r5? Let’s see!

Because of my busy schedule, I thought I’d go ahead and spend a boat load of cash on advertising now in hopes of building up some early hype. In fact, I hired one of the more prestigious ad design experts around and am quite pleased with the results:

The folks at Evony better LOOK OUT!

The other two tantalizing items you’ll notice this week are a new alien bomber and a core attractor power up.

The alien bomber is the third of four total alien types that make up the family of baddies in S’troidz! The bomber either drops from the top or rises from the bottom of the screen and (you guessed it) drops a bomb in it’s wake. Be sure and stay clear of the explosion as it destroys you instantly.

So as not to just make the game more difficult, I’ve added a core attractor power up. Cores are harvested from smaller s’troidz and once you’ve collected enough of them, a new life is granted. The attractor greatly increases the velocity by which the cores move toward your ship, quickly boosting your count and helping you get the most out of the bonus points available.

OK, enough yappin’. Play DISCREETLY on your browser NOW!

S’troidz! r5 Changelog

• Added Bomber Alien.
• Added Core Attractor Power Up.
• Fixed a nasty alien movement bug.
• Started work on game difficulty progression.

The big item up for development this week is the obligatory hyperspace! Once that’s complete, I’m going to try and nail down a better form of gameplay progression and finally lay the groundwork for the last alien type. (Martijn, if you’re reading this… I’m sorry but no high scores next week. )

Finally, to anyone who (like me) works full time on other things yet still wants to be a productive game developer, let me offer you this piece of advice:

Get something done.

Even if it’s something small like tweaking a game value, play-testing or doing a sanity check on your design. You may not be as productive as you’d like but don’t brush aside an opportunity to get something done… even if it seems trite.

Thanks for stopping by!