Defend the Earth - Bosses and Lasers Update
*New Update*
You survived once against regular alien ships, but can you beat the boss? New boss ship added to the game that spawns around the 7 minute mark. If it reaches the Earth, it will deal maximum damage and the game will be over!
To aid you in your fight, you can now purchase a defensive laser that fires from the Earth's surface. This laser, available once you reach level 10, will automatically shoot at the nearest ship to the Earth.
Due to changes made in this update, highscores from previous versions will no longer be eligible. See description for new Dev Highscores to beat.
Description
Defend the Earth is a 2D space survival shooter with Innovative Controls! Your mission is to defend the Earth from aliens trying to attack it. As the game progresses, the Earth's population will grow; the maximum population reached will be your final score. As you grow, you will earn upgrades that can improve your ships weapons, engines, or the planet.
How long will you survive? Post your highscores, final level, and the difficulty you played at in the comments below.
Estimated play time: 5-15 minutes.
Controls
Mouse Position - Control Ship's Rotation Left Mouse Button - Fire
WASD - Move Ship Spacebar - Boost Forward
ESC Key - Pause/Unpause F11 - Fullscreen
Devs Highscores To Beat!
Normal mode - 89,458
Hard mode - 54,642
Additional Credits
All graphical art assets (excluding background), sound effects and custom fonts - Kenney https://kenney.nl/assets
Main menu and End screen music - Brandon Morris (HaelDB) https://opengameart.org/users/haeldb?page=3
Main Game Music - yd https://opengameart.org/users/yd
Boss Music - AudibleDread https://audibledread.wixsite.com/audibledread
Background Stars - Bonsaiheldin https://opengameart.org/users/bonsaiheldin
Constructive criticism, feedback and ideas for new features encouraged and appreciated.
Development log
- Bosses and Laser UpdateOct 29, 2022
Comments
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Hi Maelstrom, finally got around to trying this game. Not bad!
Around level 50, I actually started taking damage, and for a moment the game was right in the "sweet spot." Meaning, under pressure, but possible to overcome. After going backwards a little I managed to get one more level to 51.
The problem is before and after that beautiful moment, the game was sort of "decided." Again there is a clear better choice with the upgrades: earth every time. There's just not enough pressure at the beginning to make any difference. And once you get the laser, forget it - I was struggling to find enemies before they were automatically vaporized.
Then once I survived long enough, the enemies became overwhelming and the upgrades were long dry. I did not have the radar again, but it was clear that there were just too many ships for all my firepower.
It was right in the groove for a short time, so I think that could be extended to the rest of the game with better balancing. More pressure to start, and more upgrades once it gets really crazy. Also the ship is -real- slippery, which didn't matter all that much since you can't crash, but you might want to try out more "traditional" movement (we could assume the ship has auto-braking thrusters). Or maybe limiting the player's top speed.
On a non-gameplay note, the window was way too big for my screen. Still playable but it would help to have the choice to resize!
Hey, thank you for all the feedback.
Contrats on the highscore!
Sorry about the Window size being too big. I believe for this game I configured the UI and build incorrectly (I do my development on a 1440p monitor, which is quite large).
I see there are a couple of themes in this and the your previous feedback; The ship's controls needs tightening and balance is off at different points in the game. I do agree with these and will try to work on them in the future.
Thanks again for the feedback. It is much appreciated!
Roaming Maelstrom