dAST
A simple 2D space shooter inspired by the classic Asteroids arcade game.
A simple 2D space shooter inspired by the classic Asteroids arcade game. Shoot down the asteroids, collect the stars, get high scores. This is an early, alpha-quality release; features will be added over time. Feedback can be submitted through the About screen. Released 2010-11-28.
Screenshots
Notes
2011-06-??: dAST taken down for retooling.
dAST was pretty poorly rated, and was just not a great game. I'm working on porting it to libgdx and making it more fun in general. No ETA.
2011-03-04: Version 0.5 released. I'm backdating this post to the release date.
This release introduced a new "draw path" control scheme where you can draw the path that the ship should take. Early feedback indicates I should try to combine the two control schemes, perhaps with a switch, so the player can "take direct control" of the ship's travel. As of 2011-04-02 there have been 445 total downloads, 102 active installs.
I'm working on porting the game from Canvas to OpenGL, for performance improvements. The most expensive operation the game performs is drawing the background. If I can, I'll port it to libgdx, but the game is so heavily Android-centric I'm not sure how well that will go. I'm also still looking in to adding AI enemies, as that would probably improve the challenge substantially.
2011-01-05: Version 0.4beta released. This release introduces sound (off by default), achievements, an instruction screen, radar, and a bonus multiplier dependent on ship speed. The latter two features were added after I watched how some people play the game in person. The radar should help players find asteroids and bonuses (red and blue dots on the edge of the screen) and the bonus multiplier (up to 3X) encourages movement.
It's also had some other minor graphical tweaks like the bonus cooldown/timeout display. It is now in beta, meaning that I am done adding features (unless something big comes up) and am preparing for a "final" full release.
I used cfxr to make the sound effects. It's a neat tool for making basic arcade audio.
340 total installs, 105 active installs. 282 total installs, 69 active installs.
2010-12-16: Version 0.3.1alpha released. This was just a couple of minor bug fixes. A stray debug log was removed and a uses-feature attribute was added (the game requires multitouch). The latter addition shouldn't affect many people as the game requires Android 2.1 and I don't think there are many single-touch 2.1 devices out there. Hell, even the G1 had suitable multitouch.
276 total installs, 97 active installs. Releasing this in the morning on Thursday really helped the numbers.
2010-12-11: Version 0.3alpha has been released to the market. I am really excited about this release. The game now has collectible powerups: the Mega Bomb which, when activated, will wipe out all enemies (and bonuses!) within visual range; the Shield which protects your ship from enemy fire; and the Triple Gun which triples your gun power (clever name, huh?) by firing bullets in a spread.
Additionally, most of the games graphics have been completely revamped. I've redone the graphics as SVGs (using Inkscape) that are then converted in to PNGs using a makefile and rsvg-convert. This is a huge time saver and, IMO, the results are quite good. Except the asteroids. They look like cookies.
210 total installs, 72 active. Heading in the wrong direction! Heh.
2010-12-06: Version 0.2.1alpha has been released on the market. This fixes a memory leak in the 0.2alpha release related to the new background graphic.
The game is up to 199 total installs, 89 active.
2010-12-05: Version 0.2alpha has been released on the market. This release includes a greatly improved control scheme (IMO), updated graphics (score effects, lower contrast background), and there have been some substantial behind the scenes changes that should result in greater efficiency. The third control scheme I was planning did not work out in testing, so there are just the two.
Out of 147 total installs, 58 have kept it on their phone, according to Google. Not bad for a 2-star rated game. I suspect many people forgot they had it. I'm hoping to see that score increase with the new update; we'll see.
2010-11-30: All of the feedback I have received so far has suggested that the controls are not ideal. I am in the process of updating the code to include three different control schemes, with one of the new schemes becoming the default. I hope to have it released this weekend.