Enemy Starfighter Is A Friend To Fans Of Space, Roguelikes
Someday, I would like to meet a friendly starfighter. We'd go on adventures together, support each other through tough times, and buy each other presents occasionally - just because. Without a doubt, he'd be the friendliest starfighter in all the land. But today is not that day. No, right now, we're dealing with Enemy Starfighter, and this one's quite a menacing, conniving fellow indeed. Planning's the name of the game - or it would be, if it wasn't Enemy Starfighter - and a randomized single-player campaign with loot and harsh death conditions adds roguelike flair to the proceedings. See it in action after the break.
As you can see, positioning and pre-planning for the task at hand is key, as haphazard space-Ramboing will just get everyone killed. Permanently.
"The game is a random single-player campaign about planning to shoot things in space, shooting things in space, and using loot from your last strike to make you better at shooting things in space. If you die, that’s it, game over. If one of your units dies, it’s gone (steal another one!)."
One-man intergalactic mastermind (and former Bungie dev) Mike Tipul has only been working on Enemy Starfighter for three months, but it's already at a point where he can "put the controller in someone’s hand and ask them what they think about it." He hopes to eventually rope the entire Internet into the testing process, but there's no set timeframe for that yet.
It's a really neat concept, though - not to mention something far more focused than the current crop of space revival games, which seem to be locked in an arms race over who can make the infinite reaches of space more infinity-er. I'm certainly looking forward to giving it a go. How about you, friendliest of all readerships?