EGA Combat Gladiators Arena
Release type: Freeware
Release date: October 21, 2018
Levels: TBA
Author: Pixelmusement
Related games: N/A
TBA
Contents
Story[edit]
The world of enhanced 16-colour graphics is in danger!
As a Combat Gladiator you must enter the multi-level arena inside your computer and defeat all the Viruses infecting it!
You will travel through four levels in the combat ship of your choice, each more deadly than the last, but keep your eyes peeled for Powerups and Weapons to air you in your fight!
Due to the complexity of the controls you must use a keyboard to play this game.
Instructions[edit]
Controls[edit]
Use the arrow keys or numeric keypad to Move!
P, D: These keys let you Pick Up and Drop equipment!
Spacebar fires the Blaster. All ships have one!
Z, X, C, Y: These keys fire the Various Weapons you come across with unlimited ammo!
0 Ins: This key is used to fire Rockets, but you need both a launcher and ammo!
Getting hit while stationary might stun-lock you! To break out of this, rapidly press a movement key until you start moving then hold one down!
Player Info[edit]
Choose one of three various ships to pilot! The swift flying "Tanto", the damage tanking "Cutlass", or the sharpshooting "Falchion"!
Collect Batteries to keep your shields charged!
Diamonds are used as currency! Exchange them for powerful equipment!
Colour-coded locks need to be opened with Keycards. Be sure to acquire these!
Keep your eyes peeled for the Super Thursters! These will let you move faster!
Weapons[edit]
B: You start with the Blaster. Very basic, nothing fancy.
L: The Laser is fast and has long range shots.
W: The Wavebuster is very slow and short ranged, but can punch through anything!
P: The Plasma Gun will let you dispatch armoured Targets!
R: The Rocket Launcher uses explosive rockets to obliterate groups of anything, but ammo for it is scarce so be mindful!
?: There is also a Weapon rumoured to be better than any of these... but does it even exist?!
Hazards[edit]
Most enemies are red. A single shot does the trick!
Shielded enemies take multiple shots or a well placed rocket!
Armoured enemies cannot be destroyed with weak shots. Use stronger weapons!
Turrets cannot be destroyed and will constantly fire at you! Watch out for them!
Arrows push you around... possibly into danger! Be careful!
Even the floor can be deadly! Don't fly over power fields or you'll get zapped!
Credits[edit]
Game Design and Artwork: Kris Asick (Gemini)
Made with Game-Maker 3.0 by: Recreational Software Designs
Check out more Pixelmusement games and videos at our website!
www.pixelmusement.com
Background[edit]
Kris Asick (Gemini):
This was made in about a week in tanderm with Episode 250 of Ancient DOS Games which covered Game-Maker by Recreational Software Designs, an old tool used to create games without coding. Whether or not it was any good at it is... debatable. In any case, this is a DOS game so I recommended you run this either on an old system or using a DOS emulator such as DOSBox with the cycles count set to max. It also includes all of the files needed to load it up in Game-Maker v3.0 itself, which you can grab from here: http://www.aderack.com/game-maker
README.TXT:
--- EGA Combat Gladiators Arena --- v1.0 --- Copyright 2018 Pixelmusement ---
Made With Game-Maker v3.0 by Recreational Software Designs
This program is FREEWARE! Share it with your friends! :D
For the 250th Episode of my web series Ancient DOS Games, I decided to cover the lesser known game development software known simply as Game-Maker, often called "RSD Game-Maker" to avoid confusing it with other programs by the same name. In doing so, I put this game together in the span of about a week, somewhere between 50 and 70 hours of total work, half of which was probably spent butting up against Game-Maker's limitations than actually making progress. :P
All of the controls are listed in the game itself, simply run the EGACGA.EXE inside a DOS emulator or on a real DOS PC and you're ready to play!
Alternatively, I've also included the GAM file which can be loaded up in Game-Maker itself if you wish to investigate how the game plays. ;)
As this is a Game-Maker title expect it to glitch out every now and again. The most common glitch is stun locking, where the player will start taking damage repeatedly, unable to move. Just rapidly press movement keys until you start moving then hold any movement key down. This isn't guaranteed to work but is the best way to get out of a stun lock.
LICENSE AGREEMENT
EGA Combat Gladiators Arena was a very small project made in a week. Kris Asick and Pixelmusement provide no warranty towards its use and do not guarantee it will function without failure. (Heck, this is a Game-Maker game. Failure is almost assured sooner or later.) You use it at your own risk.
Although held under copyright, Pixelmusement grants permission to distribute this software free of charge however you so desire. You may not however charge money for this program, nor any derivatives made from the source material.
If you do make a derivative build, Kris Asick and/or Pixelmusement should remain credited as the original creator.
Availability[edit]
EGA Combat Gladiators Arena was produced as a test case in association with the 250th episode of the YouTube series DOS Games and is distributed on the "Small Games" section of the Pixelmusement website.
Archive History[edit]
Added on July 19, 2020, after stumbling across Ancient DOS Games episode 250 on a random YouTube search.
Links[edit]
Downloads[edit]
- EGA Combat Gladiators Arena (TBA kB)
