NeonBlast!

Protect planet Neon from the relentless assault by asteroids, comets and UFOs. Try to survive as long as you can and amass a high score in this 'planet defence' type game with an early 80's arcade aesthetic.

Controls

Action	Keyboard	Xbox controller	Playstation controller
Start/Pause/Resume	S/P/R	Start/Menu	Options
Rotate	A and D/J and L/Left and right arrow keys	Left and right on D-Pad or analogue stick.	Left and right on D-Pad or analogue stick.
Fire	Spacebar	A	Cross
Bomb	B	B	Circle

Gameplay

Points are multiplied by the shield percentage, so try to keep it high.

Small asteroids

Basic asteroid.

Shield damage: 3%

Shots to destroy: 1

Points: 10

Large asteroids

Split into 3 small asteroids when destroyed.

Shield damage: 12%

Shots to destroy: 1

Points: 20

Comets

Move faster that asteroids.

Shield damage: 15%

Shots to destroy: 3

Points: 50

UFOs

Drains your shield.

Shield damage: 15% per second

Shots to destroy: 5

Points: 100

Pods

Replenishes 33% of your shield and gives an extra bomb (up to 3 in total) if your shield is at least 90%.

Shots to destroy: 1

Points: 200

Background

NeonBlast! was created over the course of about about a week and a half taking a couple of hours each day. I made it as a sort of simple 'palette cleanser' after having spent a long time getting the demo of my last title, Frank&Steve ready to release.

I had the idea to make a slight twist on the planet defender formula by having a shield that changes thickness. A thicker shield gives more protection and a higher points multiplier but also reduces the amount of time you have to react to incoming asteroids before they strike it.

My original idea was to have the shield split into sectors that would change thickness independantly as they were hit or absorbed a power pod. When a sector was breached and an asteroid struck the planet there I was going to have that part of the planet on fire with the player unable to move through it. This would have continued until the player was in a sector  of the planet that was hit by an asteroid. I dropped that as being overly complicated after making a basic prototype.