Two big games, one busy developer

I have two big games on the go. The first is Pixel Pulse Arcade, a collection of 34 retro arcade games for Android, and it’s out now on Google Play. The second is Invaders Orbital Tower Defence, a tower defence game I’ll say more about in another post.

It’s been a hectic few months of building, testing and polishing both at once, and it feels great to have the first one out the door. This post is a first proper look at Pixel Pulse Arcade: what it is, every game in it, and why I think retro arcade fans are going to love it.

What is Pixel Pulse Arcade?

Pixel Pulse Arcade is 34 original arcade games in one app, built for playing on an Android phone held sideways. Each one is a fresh take on a classic arcade style, with its own name, characters and levels.

The whole thing has a neon-on-black look, like an old vector cabinet, with glowing lines, chunky pixel text and a faint scanline overlay. Every game is drawn live from simple shapes, and every sound effect and chiptune is generated in code. There isn’t a single image or audio file in the games.

You pick a game from a spinning 3D menu drum. You can star your favourites so they come first, or filter the list down to the two-player games.

The main menu: drag the drum to spin through the games, then tap one to play.

The games

Here’s all 34, grouped by style. Six of them can be played by two people on one device, and those are marked 2P.

Space and shooters

• Alien Armada. Rows of invaders march down the screen and you hold the line with a single cannon. Waves start lower each time, so every round gets tenser.
• Star Swarm. The swarm swoops in on curving flight paths, settles into a breathing formation, then peels off to dive-bomb you. Every third stage is a Challenge Stage: hit all 40 for a perfect bonus.
• Rock Storm. Blast drifting space rocks into smaller and smaller pieces in glowing vector style. When things get hairy, warp into hyperspace and hope you land somewhere quiet.
• Star Sentinel. Patrol a planet four screens wide while Snatcher ships try to abduct your colonists. Shoot a Snatcher, catch the falling colonist in mid-air and fly them home, or watch them turn into a mutant.
• Tube Storm. Ride the rim of a glowing vector tube while Flippers, Tankers and Spikers climb towards you. You get one ZAP per level to clear the tube when it’s overrun.
• Gravity Well. Fly a thrust ship over a hostile planet and take out every bunker. Gravity is always pulling and fuel is precious, so beam up fuel tanks while dodging fire.
• Sky Shield. Warheads rain down on six cities and you tap the sky to launch interceptors. Time your blasts for chain reactions, because later waves split in mid-air.
• Lunar Descent. Rotate, feather the thrust and touch down gently on a landing pad. The smaller the pad, the bigger the score multiplier.

Alien Armada: one cannon, four shields and a sky full of invaders.

Tube Storm: ride the rim and blast everything climbing the lanes.

Sky Shield: catch incoming warheads in your fireballs to save the cities.

Lunar Descent: come in too fast and the ground wins.

Arena action

• Robo Rampage. A twin-stick arena shooter: one thumb moves, the other fires. Grunts hunt you, Hulks can’t be killed, and every human you rescue is worth more than the last.
• Sky Knights. Flap to fly, steer, and crash into enemy riders from above to unseat them. Grab the eggs they drop before they hatch into tougher foes, and keep clear of the lava.
• Bug Garden. A segmented bug winds down through a mushroom patch. Shoot a segment and it turns into a mushroom, splitting the bug in two, while a spider and a flea make trouble.
• City Bomber. Your plane sweeps over a fortified city, dropping lower with every pass. Bomb ammo depots for chain reactions and knock out AA tanks to earn Mega Bombs.
• Rescue Rotor. Fly a helicopter behind enemy lines, shoot open the barracks and land beside the hostages so they can climb aboard. Tanks and jets are hunting you, and you mustn’t land on the people you came to save.
• Wire Tank. A first-person tank duel on a wireframe battlefield. Watch the radar, use the blocks and pyramids for cover, and shoot the passing saucer for big points.

Mazes, digging and climbing

• Maze Muncher. A maze chase on an original maze, with four blob bots that each hunt you their own way. Power pellets turn the tables, and bonus gems are worth grabbing.
• Gem Mine. Dig through the earth for gems while boulders and gems tumble down around you. Drop a boulder on a firefly to blow it up, then reach the exit before time runs out.
• Pump Digger. Tunnel through layered earth and pump the Puffers and Flamers until they pop. Dig under a rock to drop it on whatever’s below.
• Barrel Climb. Bolt-O the wrecking robot hurls barrels down sloping girders, and you climb the ladders to the top. Jump barrels for points, or grab a hammer and smash them.
• Cube Hopper. Hop diagonally around a pyramid of cubes, changing the colour of every top you land on. Lure the coiled snake off the edge with a floating disc.
• Neon Claim. Cut glowing lines across the field to claim territory, and claim 75% to clear the level. The Spinner kills you if it touches your line, and Sparks hunt you along the edges.

Roads and runners

• Road Hopper. Hop across a busy road and a river of logs and turtles to fill all five homes. Watch out for the diving turtles.
• Road Pursuit. A night-time road chase with machine guns. Rammers try to bump you off the road, armoured cars shrug off bullets, and shooting civilians costs points.
• Sunset Racer. Race down a neon highway towards a striped synthwave sun, over hills and round curves. Each checkpoint adds time to the clock.
• Crater Rover. Drive a six-wheeled moon buggy across a cratered plain, jumping craters and shooting rocks and saucers. Reach checkpoints A to E to clear the stage.
• City Roof Runner. An endless rooftop sprint by night that keeps getting faster. One tap jumps, a longer hold jumps higher, and missing a roof ends the run.

Sunset Racer: chase the synthwave sun before the clock runs out.

Quick-fire skill

• Brick Blitz. Smash through a wall of bricks with a bat and ball. Clear it and the wall comes back faster.
• Bomb Catcher. The Fuse Fiend lobs lit bombs off a rooftop, and you catch every one in a stack of water buckets. Each wave is faster and longer than the last.
• Night Diner. Slide milkshakes down four counters to a queue of thirsty night owls. Catch the empty glasses they send back, because a smashed glass costs a life.

Head-to-head

• Paddle Duel (2P). The original bat-and-ball duel. Play the CPU, which gets sharper every match, or a friend with one side of the screen each.
• Neon Rink (2P). Air hockey with glowing mallets. First to seven wins the match.
• Neon Trails (2P). Light-cycle racing on a grid where your trail is a wall. Hold to boost, but let go before the engine overheats.
• Tank Battle (2P). Turn-based artillery on terrain you can blow apart. Pull back to set angle and power, and watch the wind, which changes every turn.
• Block Drop (2P). The falling-block puzzle: fill whole rows to clear them, and four at once is a QUAD. In two-player mode, your clears push junk rows into your rival’s well.
• Bubble Burst (2P). Fire bubbles into the cluster to pop groups of three or more, and knock loose any that are left hanging. In two-player mode, the bubbles you drop push your rival’s ceiling down.

Tank Battle: two players, one phone and plenty of wind to argue about.

Why retro arcade fans will love it

• A whole arcade in your pocket. Shooters, maze chases, platformers, racers, puzzlers and duels, all in one app. When you want a change, the next cabinet is a swipe away.
• Pick up and play. Every game is built for short, intense sessions. You’re in within seconds, and a game over is over fast, so “one more go” really is one more go.
• Controls made for touch. Each game gets controls that suit it: drags, swipes, holds, floating thumbsticks or on-screen buttons. Nothing is a joystick squeezed awkwardly onto glass.
• That neon vector glow. Glowing lines, pixel text and scanlines throughout, plus screen shake, sparks and score pop-ups that make every hit feel good.
• Chiptune soundtrack. Every game has its own synthesized tune and a full set of bleeps, booms and jingles, all generated in code like the old sound chips.
• High scores that matter. Each game keeps its own high score table, and you enter your initials the old-fashioned way.
• Couch multiplayer. Six games let two people play on one phone, each with their own side of the screen, so you can settle a grudge on the sofa.
• Runs on modest phones. I test every game on a 2016 budget tablet running Android 6 and aim for a smooth 60 frames per second there, so older phones aren’t left out.

Every game keeps its own top-ten table, waiting for your initials.

What’s next

Pixel Pulse Arcade is live now: get it on Google Play. Meanwhile I’m getting Invaders Orbital Tower Defence ready, and I’ll share a proper look at it in a future post.

One release down, one to go. Keep an eye on this blog, and get your thumbs warmed up.