Xeno Assault: Survival
Made with:
GameMaker Studio PhotoShop SFXR |
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Features:
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Developed for Windows 8 touch devices
(tablets such as the Surface) and their design criteria, which no longer work
under Windows 10.With a recompile the game is still playable under Windows 10
using a keyboard, however the swipe commands no longer function and touch
areas are off for resolutions above 720.
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Story:
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Xeno Assault: Survival began as a
learning exercise for C# and the XNA framework. Just as I got the working
prototype finished support for XNA was dropped. Thus, I stopped development
as I pondered the idea of switching to C++ and DirectX.
Shortly thereafter Microsoft held a
little competition, in cooperation with YoYo Games, to make more games
available on the Windows Store. Despite discovering the competition only two
weeks before deadline, and having no experience with GameMaker, I decided to
undertake the personal challenge of getting the game finished and published
for the competition.
I got the game finished and submitted
for certification the day before the deadline. Sadly, the game was not
certified until the day after the deadline. That disappointment was very
quickly overshadowed when the game was listed in the “new” section of the
Windows Store. Just like that I went from dreaming about making games
to having a finished and published game. By the time I de-listed the game in
2016 the game had been downloaded 887 times in the US, Canada, UK, and
Australia.
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Design:
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Quite a bit of effort actually went into
designing the game. I knew that I wanted to target tablets and incorporate
touch controls. I also wanted to incorporate advertisements. One of the main
complaints of onscreen touch controls is that they typically obscure some of
the game. The same is often true of advertisements.
The solution came to me as I considered
the type of game I was planning to make. The game is quite simple and reminiscent
of the top down shooter games of early ‘80s arcades. So, I decided to make it
look like an arcade cabinet. In this way I could incorporate the onscreen
controls in a fashion that made them look like a part of the game, rather
than spectral buttons floating above everything. As banners commonly adorned
the sides of cabinets and the areas around the screen it made the perfect
place to put the games HUD elements and advertisements. The red banner on the
left is actually advertising space, which is precisely sized for a specific
size of advertisement.
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