Hi everyone. Almost a year spent on this. 52 Pickup, my first release here, was the getting-to-know Flash/Actionscript/HaXe game. This game, I'm all in.

In the 90s, I loved the X-Wing games. So this is modeled after those but as a 2D shooter. Play missions as the story evolves. It's quite unique (I think) in that you fly a small fighter along with a large multi-cannon mother ship. You dock with the mother ship to end each mission, but more importantly you learn to depend on its cannons to get you out of tight fixes.

Then there is the story. Originally it was much bigger but I trimmed it down. The story board gives more details than the mission descriptions and there might be a bit more on the web site (clusterchaos.com). I would add even more story but I'm not sure anyone actually reads or cares about story anyways.

I did my best to find a balance with respect to difficulty. Obviously I got quite good at the game so it got hard for me to decide when things are too hard or too easy. I hope it's okay.

The mission design (code-wise, HaXe/actionscript) I like. Very flexible. I tried to vary what can happen in missions. Kinda like a DJ - things are the same for a while, then some from left-field should surprise you a bit. Some missions are about shooting everything to bits, some are about patience (I'm a little worried the patience missions will bore some players, but such is life navigating a mine field). I did not include a mission designer because I like the flexibility of code.

I LOVE drawing planets. I use GIMP for that. I would do it all day, all night. I especially like the planets TeaAte and Zoyano. I had Aaron over at FGL do my title logo and most of my ships and all of my icons. I had a rough mother ship down and he really brought out the 3D texture in it. The title logo really makes all the difference to me, that was the clencher in having Aaron do the graphics for me.

Voices: I'm the guy voice. My sister-in-law in the girl. I'm sorry I'm not a better voice actor. She is pretty good though. I have to do a bit of work on my sound editing. I have some voice with a short-wave radio distortion, and some without - because both got mixed reviews (preferences). So I mixed it up. The next game will be better.

Sound: Maybe next time I'll hire/buy sounds.

Tutorial: There is a tutorial you gotta do right off the bat. Shouldn't take more than 2 minutes. It just makes sure you are used to the wasd/arrow controls and that you understand how the mother ship works with you. There are also extra practice missions in the tutorial, but those are not mandatory.

I use GamerSafe because I really like the work of the guys at Flash Game License. The first campaign of 10 mission is the main game. You can buy 2 more campaigns (and ship upgrades) from GamerSafe. Oh, and high score boards too.

The game is made entirely of free software. See the help credits for a list. Help also contains trailers for the next 2 campaigns.

I really want this game to justify 2 sequels. Yes, trilogy - the last would be epic - probably MMO. I know what needs to be improved for next time but I really hope you like this one.

Have Fun,
Derek.