PersiaTron

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PersiaTron
PersiaTronTitle.png

Release type: Freeware
Release date: July 19, 2014
Levels: 1
Author: Azurelore Korrigan
Website: Glorious Trainwrecks
Related games: Teatime Game, Terror Tower, Blipp in: Power Panic!

PersiaTron is one of four games designed for a game jam held by the Glorious Trainwrecks community, in celebration of Andy Stone's release of Game-Maker's source code. All four games were assembled over a short span on the evening of July 19th, 2014, while the authors chatted and exchanged design tips over IRC.

PersiaTron-sprite.png

I am always surprised there aren't more games using a Robotron control scheme. So, for this jam I chose to try out that scheme, crossed with a Zelda style dungeon design. To the latter end I had been thinking of a way to open a room's doors upon clearing the room of monsters, and I wanted to see how well it worked.

For a while Alan Caudel and I had been playing around with an NES inspired palette (used in Dummy Duck 7, Byron Solomon, Bubble & Squeak, and others). Shortly before the jam I had put together a palette based on the Sega Master System, so again this seemed like a good opportunity to test it out. Possibly in turn, I found myself thinking of my favorite Game Gear game, Defenders of Oasis. Qualms about cultural appropriation aside, I shrugged and went for it. Persia has been an aesthetic since the Greeks. Could be worse.

The project took way longer than I expected; Teatime Game and Terror Tower were finished, and I had barely started my level design. Granted, I spent way too long writing some vaguely (not really) Arabian music and animating the character and monster sprites. I don't know how to manage my time, it would seem. Eventually I just cut the design short; I had much grander plans for the dungeon, but I felt my choices were either to keep going all night or to just complete the first few screens, and to move the exit tile to just beyond the first major obstacle.

PersiaTron didn't turn out quite as I hoped, but I think it is pretty playable, and I managed to experiment with a few things here.

- [Azurelore Korrigan]

Story[edit]

Zapping the ghouls in [Azurelore Korrigan]'s PersiaTron

Foil the ghouls!

Find the treasure!

Escape with your life!

GO! DO IT!

Instructions[edit]

Arrow keys: Walk

WASD: Fire

Space bar: Pick up

Credits[edit]

By [Azurelore Korrigan]

For the Glorious Trainwrecks Game-Maker Source Release Jam / KotM #85

July 19th, 2014

Background[edit]

Top-down action game, sort of inspired by a mix of Robotron, Gauntlet, and Defenders of Oasis. Shoot all the ghouls to move on through the silver doors. Clear all the ghouls in the area to move through the gold door.

This was my first KotM game. Developed from scratch in four hours, using a Sega Master System palette that I threw together earlier. Design moved much more slowly than I intended! After four hours I capped it off and called it done. Maybe I'll pick this up again someday.

Availability[edit]

Produced for and available from Jeremy Penner's "tribute to postcardware" community, Glorious Trainwrecks.

Archive History[edit]

Produced on July 19, 2014 for Glorious Trainwrecks' Game-Maker Source Release Jam, in celebration of Andy Stone's July 11, 2014 release of the Game-Maker source code.

The game was entered into the archive upon completion.

Links[edit]

Downloads[edit]