Keeyai.com

Minimalist is my LudumDare 11 entry. You can see all my development posts from the competition here: http://keeyai.com/tag/minimalist/. This includes both my coding journal and my food journal.

Downloads
LD Final Submission — Source - Minimalist Final (162)
LD Final Submission — EXE - Minimalist Final Exe (153)

High-Res Time Lapse Video - LD11 Time lapse - Screenshot and Webcam (160)

About the Game:

• Overview:
  The theme was ‘Minimalist’ (clever name, I know) and I tried to apply that everywhere I could. The entire game is in a single file less than 64k in size (at the final version for LD) and depends only on python and pygame. Everything is stripped down to the basics while still being fun and intuitive: enemies turn more and more red as they get hurt, you get more blue the closer you are to leveling, bigger bullets do more damage, etc.
• Gameplay:
  • Difficulty:
    Minimalist has three difficulty settings.
    • Easy is capped at 30 FPS, which effectively halves the game speed. You also get a HEFTY damage mitigation bonus, the enemies shoot less often, and there are only a maximum of 6 enemies on screen at once.
    • Medium runs at 60 FPS. It reduces the damage you take and enemy firing speed, but not as much as on easy. On medium, there is a max of 7 enemies at once.
    • Hard also runs at 60 FPS. You have no bonuses of any kind and the enemies shoot at full speed. On hard you can be fighting up to 8 enemies at once.
  • Movement:
    You can use the arrow keys or WASD for pretty standard movement - W/UP accelerates, A/LEFT and D/RIGHT turn, and S/DOWN brakes (in a weird but helpful way). You shoot with space or ctrl (or space AND ctrl if you want to be awesome).
  • Enemies:
    Enemies look just like you and shoot like you. As they get damaged, they turn more and more red. When you hit them enough, they lose a level, downgrade in size, and spit out a piece of loot.
  • Loot and Leveling:
    You collect loot to gain XP. Loot dropped by higher level enemies is worth more, but you can’t tell it apart from other loot so you have to pay attention. Also, loot decays over time, so the faster you pick it up, the more you will get. Finally, your ship has a tractor beam that will attempt to pull nearby loot in. However, if you are going too fast, this usually just results in your beam grabbing and throwing the loot as you speed past it.
  • Hints:
    There are definitely certain things you can do to make the game easier on yourself. One of the most helpful things you can do is use both space and ctrl to fire if you can manage it. This provides a kind of chain-gun effect that really helps tear enemies down fast. Another good strategy is to shoot some enemies down to level 1 or 2 but not kill them. Since there are only a limited number of enemies at one time (and the larger enemies hit MUCH harder) this can really help you survive. These and other tips cycle across the bottom of the screen while in game.
• Screenshots:
  
  Title Screen
  
  

  
  Generic Gameplay
  
  

  
  The Stats Page
  
  

• Videos:

  
  My LudumDare timelapse video. It has both my screen and a webcam, so it is best watched in fullscreen.