It’s finally here! The Alien Up Pre-Alpha demo is available in the shop and will cost you nothing. Just 10 to 20 minutes of your time. Alien Up is an indie pixel arcade style shooter video game by Black Streak artist Justin Raimey.
Alien Up–Pre-Alpha Game Demo (Windows PC)
In this fast-paced survival shooter, space mechanic Chelsea Crisp fights off hordes of alien enemies, with some help from her elite squad members!
Compatible with Windows operating systems
Use of a game controller is highly recommended. Please leave feedback and contact us if you have any issues playing the game. Press start and select at the same time to restart the game.
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Is this demo the full game?
NO! This demo’s purpose is to show a concept for a full game. Feedback is very important. I want Alien Up to be a fun game and that may not happen without some player feedback. Many countless things will change as I continue to make the game. This demo is not the final product, keep that in mind.
Windows PC
The demo is for Windows PCs only. If I knew how to make it available to other systems I would. The game is made using Pixel Game Maker MV and I’m currently limited to how the game can be played. That being said, I have nothing against other platforms. That’s just how it is right now.
Controls
If you have one, please use a gamepad for this game. Some may find using the keyboard for a game like this to be pretty tough on your fingers. If you insist on using the keyboard and you don’t like the default control setup, you can change the mapping by going into the top menu bar. Remember to press start or enter to see what the controls are ingame.
Music
Most of the music in the demo is of the royalty free variety. I plan on having someone else do the soundtrack for the real game. I’m looking into a track full of high energy lo-fi, 8-bit, 16-bit chiptune etc. kind of music. A game’s soundtrack is very important and can change a player’s gaming experience for the better. If you happen to be a musician that specializes in the genre mentioned please contact me justin@blackstreakent.com. Same goes for the sound effects.
Story
The game is an arcade style shoot ’em up, so the story isn’t going to be deep. Alien Up will not be a very long game. Maybe, 2 to 3 hours, but don’t hold me to that.
The gist of it is, a space colony gets invaded by aliens. The main character, Chelsea Crisp, is just a space mechanic caught up in the invasion. She’s no soldier or ex soldier or anything like that; just your average woman. To keep the pace of the game up the story will not be all that important. Her coworkers will come in as assist characters. As you can see in the demo they all have their use.
Gameplay
There is a lot to say about the gameplay. I want the game to be fun. The demo features two kinds of level layouts. One is the normal shooting levels where you have limited movement. The other is a quicktime pattern type. Alien Up will have 100 levels total with a new alien type introduced in each level. This may change in the future but that is what I have in mind right now.
There are only two kinds of stages in this demo, but I am going to create a number of different stage types for this project. I want to make different level types that still deal with shooting aliens or just survival in general. Stages that don’t feel like filler but something that you want to play.
As you can see in the demo the levels are short. That is by design. Keeping the pace up means short levels, and 100 levels might not be enough so I will see how that goes. What kind of different levels do I have in mind? Think of stages that rely on the gameplay stylings of Dragon’s Lair/Time Gal, horizontal shooter games, or run and gun Contra games. If you like this demo, there is much more to come with your support!
Art
The background designs in the demo are only temporary. Therefore, I will either need to redo them myself or hire someone else to do a better job. The sprites and the all around pixel style will stay the same. Also, this demo is a 1080p game. If your system does not support that kind of resolution the images may look a bit jagged.
If you have not tried the pre-alpha demo out yet, please do. The Alien Up pre-alpha demo was created to hopefully get the word out about the game; so please tell others about this game via Twitter, YouTube, word of mouth, etc. If you have any questions or feedback to give, please contact me at justin@blackstreakanime.com