Drone War

Entry to MelonJam 4 (2023). Theme: Corruption.

A retro arcade inspired space shooter game. Was built over 2 days in C#/Monogame. Note that whilst it should be compatible with Linux and Mac, it has only been tested on Windows.

INTRODUCTION

There is currently a war in space between two factions. The battles are fought with sophisticated drone ships, operated by humans back at base. Your fleet has found themselves deep in enemy territory, with backup too far away to help. 

Your goal is to take out as many enemy ships as you can, to help future offensives. 

However you do personally control a secret weapon, a drone ship with the ability to emit a corruption field. Any enemy ships caught in this field will have their software corrupted and made to fight for our side. Charges are limited to 3 at first, but you gain an additional 3 per level.

CONTROLS:

• UP ARROW for thrusters.
• LEFT/RIGHT ARROWS to rotate.
• SPACE to shoot.
• DOWN ARROW for corruption field.
• ESCAPE to quit.

The game is over when all friendly ships are destroyed, not just your own.

Green ships are friendly, red ships are the enemy. You play as the white ship in the centre of the screen.

• HP is your ship health
• CF is how many corruption field charges you have left
• LVL is the current level
• Green numbers - friendly ships left in your fleet (including you)
• Red numbers - enemy ships left in their fleet

TIPS:

• The start is very quick - practice flying around first then try again once you have the hang of the controls.
• Save those corruption field charges, they carry over into the next level. The first level only needs 1 use of the corruption weapon, giving you 5 on the next one!
• Let your fleet do the work - if you already outnumber the enemy by a significant amount you are usually good for the next level.
• Try to spot which enemies are tracking you and don't get too close, especially when a group forms - you will lose HP quickly.
• Don't forget to use your cannons, you can shoot more quickly than the other drones if you hold down SPACE. You can turn a losing battle around if you are quick and accurate enough.