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[GeometriX]

Hi everyone. I feel like a bit of a noob posting among all these other brilliant looking projects, but I'm hopeful that I can raise my abilities from utter beginner game dev to something more respectable by surrounding myself with people who actually know what they're doing :P

Astro Cab is a project that I've been working on for a little over a month. It's basically the furthest I've ever got in developing my own game, and started as a project that I knew I could do entirely on my own as a means to learn Construct 2. It's inspired by

and

.

It's still very much in development; I've just finished getting all the (very) basics done and I'm at a point now where I can generate new levels very quickly.



I aim to complete this game and launch on iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Linux, and maybe in-browser too if I can figure out a proper way to handle transactions. At this stage, I think I'll attempt to sell it, probably for a dollar or two. Not necessarily to make money, but to make a game that people are willing to pay for.

Current build can be played in your browser here [1.8MB; Chrome or FF is recommended].

It includes most of the core systems: saving/loading, briefing screen, vehicle selection and upgrades, vehicle upgrades, two stages and a score screen. Visuals are very rough. Background image is liberated from NASA.

Very brief gameplay overview
- Cursor keys to control your ship. Space to boost.
- Your goal is to pick up passengers indicated by the glowing green orbs, then drop them off at the red glowing orbs as quickly as possible.
- You need to hover near the pickups/dropoffs for two seconds to complete the teleportation process. Breaking teleportation resets it.
- Missing too many pickups or dropoffs during a level causes you to fail it.
- Try not to smash into things.

Input, feedback - all are welcome!

Immediate development goals
- Implement a second-tier upgrade system (unique upgrades, kind of like COD-style perks) to complement the basic stat-raising upgrades.
- Finish chapter 1 by designing the next three levels.
- Improve controls - they need to be smoother.
- Work on the UI, getting all the necessary elements in place.

[GeometriX]

Update!

I've been tinkering with the visuals or, more accurately, working on an artistic direction for the game, and I think I've settled on one. It'll feature a retro sci-fi pulp magazine look: torn up, old, you know the sort.

An example of some of my experiments (this is the Eden Project garden station from the second level):


I've also been working on the game mechanics, and I've now almost finished the scrap upgrade system. Basically, the player will find pieces of scrap that periodically appear during the levels. If they pick them up, they'll add to their scrap total. As your total scrap increases, you'll unlock access to bolt-on upgrades that act like perks, giving a variety of benefits to suit different playstyles and particular level challenges. You can only choose three at a time, and I think I'll have about 12 available in total. It's XP, really.

That's about it for this update, which you can play here.

Just one more thing to add with the upgrades and then I can start fleshing out a few more stages and creating more assets, working with this visual style as I go along.