Strange Attractors: (25Mb)
A one-key Space shooter
Strange Attractors was created for a 'One Switch' competition. Just because the only button used by the game is the space bar (and Esc to exit) doesn't mean the gameplay isn't complex and unique. Remember, not everything that is simple is easy!
By pressing the spacebar, you activate the gravity drive of your craft and create an attractive force between yourself and the other objects in the game. Your goal is to sling and bounce yourself from the bottom of the level through the portal at the top.
I found the game really well made and oddly satisfying. The game concept is simplicity itself, but to actually succeed, well, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. I think this is different enough to warrant a place in anyone’s game library. You can score points by crushing the floating spaceman (yeah a little sick maybe, but it reminds me a little of Jets & Guns because of this little aspect, though in reality it’s nothing like Jets & Guns)
You can see a video of Strange Attractors 2. the game play is similar to the original freeware, but the commercial game is obviously going to be much more complex. The freeware version is a 2D version. I don’t know how many levels are available though as this was a last minute inclusion due to posting Tuesdays game on Sunday (for the dial up members who needed an alternative to Hope Springs Eternal, which was too large for many to download. You can download a demo from the developer’s home page:
The following is a quoted interview with the developer about Strange Attractors from
Quote
Dan: This is said far too much, but I truly feel this Strange Attractors deserves the compliment. It's groundbreaking. With a wonderful mix of physics, objects and dying spacemen, this game rocks harder than 10 Queen tribute bands. Put together!
Matt: It's... insane, to put it as simply as possible.
Dan: As my febrile friend has just pointed out, it is indeed 'insane'. The basic premise of Strange Attractors is to guide your floating 'gravity generator' from the bottom of the screen to the top, over a series of ever more object filled levels.
Matt: The objects in question are mostly metal spheres of varying size, vortexes of gravity and poor hapless spacemen. Pressing the spacebar will attract you to the nearest and largest floating object. Using their orbits you can manoeuvre yourself through the ring at the edge of the level, progressing onward.
Dan: I truly think the spacemen are the best part of this game. There's nothing better than using the gravity field you create to hurl a spaceman into a a floating metal ball, with the satisfying thud and spray of red claret. And if you want to get inventive you can try bashing into or projecting the smallest balls so that they smash into the poor individual.
Matt: In Strange Attractors, like in all good games, acts of horrific and insensitive murder like this will earn you lots and lots of points!
Dan: Indeed it will. Crushing a spaceman's lifeless body between two hunks of metal will earn you a nice 250 points bonus, while bashing your floating ball generator thingie into a shining blue star to destroy it garners a cool 500. In fact, along with the later grey balls, the stars are the only thing not affected by your gravity field.
Matt: One thing that took some getting used to was the fact that you only used one key to operate the entire game. The menu selections were even timed so you don't have to use the arrow keys. It begs the question... if you could get the space key to work, then why not go to the bother of getting the arrow keys working?
Dan: Strange Attractors was actually originally created for the 'One switch' game competition hosted by a site called 'Retro Remakes'. The idea was that games such as Strange Attractions which make use of only a single key can be played by people with certain disabilities which exclude them from more mainstream gameplay.
Matt: When Dan told me to download a game called "Strange Attractors" I told him NO, no more porn! But it turns out it wasn't porn, but a reasonably fun game involving gravity.
Dan: Ookay, well, I think it's clear that Matt is running out of things to say now, so let's wrap it up. I really love this nice little game, it's quirkiness really appeals to me. It has good quality graphics, especially for a home-brew, and a reasonable quality sound. Excellent dying screams for the mortally wounded spacemen, that sort of thing. All in all I think Strange Attractions is an excellent game, and I'd advise anybody to whom it sounds vaguely interesting to try it.
Reference: http://www.shock-therapy.org/attractors.htm accessed 18th January 2009
Videos:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg5CYBV7XPA (the freeware one)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OziRc27nkKg (strange Attractors 2)
Download Link:
http://www.ominousdev.com/games.php
or
http://demonews.com/download-1965.html
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Strange Attractor: (<1Mb)
This is a different game to the main game. You control your ship by using the mouse. Note the difference in the name of the game. :) The purpose of Strange Attractor is to dodge the incoming projectiles for as long as you can.
Requirements:
OS: Win XP
Download Link:
http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Strange-Attractor.shtml
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Strange Attractors Screensaver:
The Strange Attractors screensaver has nothing to do with either game I’ve posted above. It just so happened to turn it up while searching for the first game, which I found out about while considering buying strange attractors 2. While reading the information about the game, it mentioned that the developer had done a freeware version first. I was intrigued by the one key game play, so thought I’d check it out and found the whole package really well done. I’ll be posting a link in the screensaver thread for this screensaver as well.
I though it and the other four screensavers were actually really good. I’m into anything psychedelic, so a couple of them really appealed to me. The following was written by the author. You should see the page where he actually got the idea for creating this screensaver from:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/StrangeAttractor.html (yeah, I know)
I came again across Strange Attractors on MathWorld and decided to make a screen saver with the idea. I really like the organic shape of the curves and it was well worth the two hours I put into it.
You need DirectX 9.0c and Pixel Shaders 2.0 to run this screen saver.
Download Link:
http://ccollomb.free.fr/screensavers/
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Other Strange Attractors:
Finally, I thought I’d finish off with a few you tube videos of Strange Attractors. If you like cool psychedelic visuals and electronic music, you’ll love these:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWgCffiW4c&NR=1
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0WJFyImA3Aw
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3zRabFANBs8
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KQec0NULt1I
Related but not Strange Attractors:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE2n-OQSSk
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk5fMRG_bPY
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdSkTmuNWE
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u6z3nRWPlQo
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D4h9sntgj0U
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkLStV7hvE
btw, I’m not particularly into this trance music, but it does have a strange attraction sometimes. I much prefer progressive rock, world music, especially a mix of Japanese and Indian, 80’s and 90’s indie and grunge etc. Though I can listen to most music apart from boy and girl bands. :)
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