With apologies to both Sun Tzu and the Bee Gees, I guess.

I've released a new retro arcade game - so retro it uses actual rectangles instead of sprites! - but when there are two or three hundred of them bearing down on you at once, I think you'll be less worried about what they look like and more concerned with... well you know, staying alive.

20 levels, 5 game speeds, 2 game modes and a challenge mode to play through all 20 levels if you dare.

https://captaind.itch.io/the-ancient-art-of-staying-alive

That made me laugh out loud.

Thank you for the link.

I received an email about it and took a look. Definitely not my type of game, but good luck with it CaptainD!

Post stickied and game now on my PC.

Sort of reminds me of an ultra simple version of Defender. You should add a one shot bomb that takes out a % of the squares at the higher levels. Now I want to fire up a game of Asteroids or Centipede! Takes me back to the old arcade days - I used to go around checking vending machines and phones for coins when I was a kid to get money for the arcade.

@Marian - ha glad you liked it!
@oldbroad - glad to know the Itch promotion thingies are working! It's certainly not for everyone, hopefully those in the very small niche who will find it appealing will find out about the game somehow.
@Trail_Mystic - thank you so much! I'll add your suggestion to my ideas for expansion. To be mentioned in same breath as Asteroids and Centipede is high praise indeed - though to my mind it's more like Robotron without the shooting (or the flashing, or the sprites...)

I'll post in this thread when I upload an updated version with some new features.

My first though was its a game about dancing to the Bee Gees.

Its very said only one is left. Even their mother has since died.

Hah!

Now I have THAT song stuck in my head. Plus Images of John Travolta in that white suit.

Sorry guys the game has absolutely nothing to do with the Bee Gees apart from the tenuous link in the title!

Ah, I forgot all about Robotron! Even though it's just squares without any shooting, just evading, the swarming aspect and sound effects gave me that defender feel. You know, these retro games do pretty well. Would be cool if you played around with the concept a bit more, adding more shapes and colors. Maybe even a "boss square"

Hmm... the idea of a "boss level" intrigues me, especially since I could fit it in as a bonus level after every 5 levels of the Challenge Mode (my already planned updates will already pretty much take up the whole rest of the menu screen!!).

But how to do it... I'll have to think about this.

Am I showing my age by saying that your game reminds me of the game tables we used to play on in University pubs? Great memories from those days! A drink, some good friends, and a game.

It does show your age mate, but in a good way!

However I wouldn't advise too many drinks before playing this game as you'll need your reflexes sharp and your wits about you...

@hagatha and @Trail_Mystic - I can't thank you both enough for your amazing generosity, I really hope you enjoy the game! (Especially after the update I'm currently working on.)

Having to have my wits about me probably disqualifies me from the get go, boozed-up or no!

Haha I'm sure that's not true!

v1.2 has been released:
• You can now change the background colour, some truly horrific colours available for true retroheads (some nice ones too of course!)
• You now choose how many times you can teleport per level
• You have bombs that clear a small area around you, also choose how many of these you can use in a level
• You can add obstacles to the level to help you – naturally you want to avoid bumping into these though!

Videos showcasing the changes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_t3EW9exjE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJ1m2zzUPs

Very cool CaptainD - Those additions definitely take it to the next level.

When you have a ton of pursuing squares in the higher level, and they gang up, I've seen unintentional patterns when they move in unison. I wonder if that "boss square" we were talking about could be a beasty formed by joining a bunch of the squares Voltron-like.

Argh, matey! Avast threw your game into the brig and interrogated it.

However, the game has been found completely innocent and was released back into my custody for installation.

Glad you liked the updates TM! Still thinking about how to implement a boss level...

Avast was just being diligent Hagatha but happy to know it cleared my game of all charges!

Oh, yes. I was more amused than worried. And of course now your game is in their database as being safe.

I'll load it up and give a play later today.

v1.4 released!

- Synthesized speech for each level start

- High score table added


Linux version coming later today now available.

https://captaind.itch.io/the-ancient-art-of-staying-alive

Cool, thanks Captain D!

TM

I have just uploaded v1.41 for Windows.

For left-handed players (or those who may merely prefer it!) I have added WASD as a control mechanism. Part of the reason for this was trying the game on my laptop and realising how impossible it is to use the cursor keys for gaming on some laptops due to the keyboard layout! O and M can be used for Teleport and Bomb now.


Just don't try to use both control mechanisms at once!! :-D


I will include this in a later update for Linux - next thing I want to add it a title screen with 8-bit loading border ;-)

https://captaind.itch.io/the-ancient-art-of-staying-alive

Cool, thanks Captain D! Yeah, the WASD is my preference, just cuz most of the movement controls on the other games I play use those.

TM

Great TM, don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place - duh!!

Hope you have a stab at beating my high score (currently 61450)

v1.54 released for Windows (Linux update will follow shortly):

- Optional 8-bit loading screen complete with horrible screechy sounds :-)

- High score table for Challenge Mode as well as normal

- Animated characters

- Some more synthesized speech


https://captaind.itch.io/the-ancient-art-of-staying-alive

Steam store page coming soon! (If you have already bought it on Itch, you will be able to claim a Steam key after release)

Linux version is now the latest build too.
https://captaind.itch.io/the-ancient-art-of-staying-alive