I only intended to add a few more effects to my Visual FoxPro experiment.
Tonight I added a boost button.
Nat said the ship needed a way of nipping out of trouble, and she was right. The boost makes the ship much quicker, gives the controller a gentle rumble and burns through fuel at a fairly alarming rate.
It feels great.
Hold it for too long and the fuel gauge changes from green to orange and eventually red. Once the fuel is gone, so is the boost. You might escape the asteroid directly in front of you, but you could be creating a much bigger problem for later.
The massive mothership now comes slowly into view after the asteroid field. It fills most of the screen and completely dwarfs the player’s little ship. The entrance music plays, the player gets control back and then everything goes quiet.
Tomorrow, the first small craft will leave one of its hangar bays.
The current idea is that it might not actually be attacking. We already have a radio announcement telling the player:
“You will come aboard our ship via shuttlecraft.”
If the player cooperates, something happens.
If the player shoots it, several hangar bays light up, the battle music starts and a swarm of fighters comes pouring out from both sides.
That means the battle may not simply begin because the game says so. It begins because the player accidentally—or deliberately—starts an interstellar incident.
This has officially become my hobby.
I’m writing an arcade game in Visual FoxPro 9, and tomorrow the mothership fights back.