Trapped in the Sky

Beta Three is here!

Hello! I'm pleased to announce the released of the third beta of Trapped in the Sky. Just like the last beta, this one is pretty full of new things to play with.

Here's the trailer:

So What's new?

In short there are: 9 new hacks (including 4 new weapons), 2 new enemies, 2 new playable crimes, a completely new level and the introduction of the crafting mechanic.

Crafting

Another new mechanic has been implemented: the Crafting mechanic. While 'hacks' enables the player to make special items when they find the recipe and the standard items needed, the crafting mechanic enables to player to modify standard items by combining them with other standard items. Unlike 'hacks' the player can craft right from the get go. For example, combining a Data item with the Datapad will reveal a random section within the datapad. At least four other crafting combinations have been implemented in this beta, but I am not going to tell you what the rest are, you'll have to experiment with the mechanic.

9 new 'Hacks' recipes, including four special weapons.

The last beta introduced the 'hack' mechanic where special items can be made from the standard items you collect. This beta expands the number of useable hack by 9 by adding:

- 'Skill Tonic' hack - gives you perfect shooting accuracy for 90 seconds.

- 'Auto Shotgun' hack - makes a shot gun that fires like an automatic rifle.

- 'Electro Handgun' - makes an hand gun with electric damage. It can also open closed doors when you fire this gun at them.

- 'Field Scanner' hack - makes a tool that increases the number of items found when searching. This can be combined with the 'smuggler' crime.

- 'Exploding Bullets' hack - makes bullets that do double the damage.

- 'Laser Rifle' hack - makes a rifle gun that uses power cells as ammo.

- 'Flame thrower' hack - makes a flame thrower (obviously) that uses fuel as ammo.

- 'EnviroSuit' hack - makes a suit that allows player to access failed sections. If you have made this item, the game will not end if the escape pod section fails.

- 'Omni Tool' hack - makes an item that can fully repairs a section.

Two new playable Crimes:

- The 'Smuggling' crime can be unlocked by completing the game while carrying over 100 items. Playing as a convicted smuggler increases the loot you recieve when searching objects.

- The 'Robbery' crime can be unlocked by completing the game having unlocked over 100 doors by using lock-picks. The lock-picked door total can be accumulated over multiple play-throughs. Playing as a convicted robber allows you to open all doors without the need for keys or lock picks.

Breakable Items

Some collectable items now break. Or more specifically keys will break after a number of uses. My intension is to extend this mechanic to other objects, such as the guns, but I haven't implement that yet.

Two new Enemy types

The 'Guard' NPC type. What kind of prison ship would be void of guards? Not this one. These enemies are always armed and will also attack other inmate NPCs.

The 'RoboSpider' NPC type. What kind of sci-fi game would be void of robo-spiders? Not this one. Like the guards, these enemies are always armed.

New Explorable Section - The Bridge

This new explorable section is different to the previous explorable sections in that you cannot access the whole section. By this I mean that you can only explore the left half of the section by entering by the left hand doors, and the right half by the right hand doors. The section is also unique, so that it will only appear once in a map.

A few other visual and audio features have been added such as:

- Cloth, Stone and Wood footstep sounds when walking on carpet, stone and wooden floors.

- 8 searchable items: Kitchen sink, Hob, Bathroom sink, Double bed, 2x plants, gunrack, 4x ward beds, operating table.

- Visual echos have been added to indicate the location of unseen NPCs.

- Blood pools have been added where old dead bodies lie.

- Exit arrows added to levels to show where the exits are.

What is this all about?

You are a prisoner on a crippled spacecraft. You have 30 minutes to find the last escape pod, repair it and save yourself.

You have been sentenced to 8 years service in the Helium-3 mines on the Lunar surface. As the prison transfer craft approached the Moon, the Ion drive exploded, knocking you out and sending the craft into an escape trajectory away from Earth.

You wake up in your cell with all prisoners released from their cells and the craft's systems failing around you. You need to find a way off the failing vessel before the guards find you or the oxygen runs out.

It's a spiritual incarnation of the board game Forbidden Island only single player. And set in space. But fundamentally the elements are the same i.e. the game area decays over time, the player needs to collect various items to escape and the player has a special ability chosen at the start that will help them in specific areas.

Where did the idea come from?

The game was originally an idea for short story that I thought up when I was 18 and has evolved over the years to become "Trapped in the Sky".

The key mechanics are:
Character Specialisation: At the start of the game you pick a "crime" that grants you a unique ability that can help you make it through the game. For example pleading guilty to "murder" grants you with improved weapon accuracy while admitting to "smuggling" grants you increased loot when searching objects.

Random Map Generation: The game world is randomised each time the game is played by creating a grid of sections. The sections are pre-designed, but also contain random elements that vary with each play through. Each section represents a specific area of the craft such as Prison Cells, Cargo Bay, Escape Pods, Guard Accommodation, Engineering, Bridge, etc. The player moves between each of these sections.

Map Decay: As the game progresses the individual sections begin to fail. First to emergency power, but if the section is not repaired in time, the section fails completely and becomes inaccessible. If the section fails completely when the player is in the section; death follows. The player can restore the health of a failing section by using the items they have collected to repair it.

Item Collection and Use: As the player moves around the map they can search objects and collect objects to help them complete their goal. Some objects are purely functional, such as Guns, Pain Pills, Keys, Datapads, etc. while others are required to repair the failing sections and ultimately the escape pod needed to complete the game.

Talk technical to me
The game is a top-down 2D shooter built using tier 1 of AGK v2. The plan is to release it on Windows, Linux and Android. The game can be played with Mouse+Keyboard, A Dual-Stick Controller or Touch-Screen.