FAQ-work: Tinkering with a FAQ, WIP

[xyzzysqrl]

Welcome to Space Giraffe. The goal of the game is to get a very high score.

Now, this does not mean "The goal of the game is to get to the highest level". Yes, going up levels means you get a lot more enemies thrown at you, which means a higher score. However, charging ahead into high levels before you've trained yourself by getting a high score on low levels means you will quickly be overwhelmed and killed to death and thus enter a sort of "No Fun Zone" which will make you hate this game.

Please do not do that. Put on music that helps you think and tinker with the lower levels first. There is logic to this madness.

Space Giraffe needs practice. It needs visual training, so you can recognize how the flash-flash of bullets looks different from the shiny backgrounds, and how the white stem of a flower about to launch differs from the almost-white stem of a flower you should go shoot.

Space Giraffe -needs- practice at low levels. Feel I should repeat that.

So...
How do you get a very high score?

Scoring in Space Giraffe is different from scoring in, say, Tempest, or any shooter you might name. The idea of Space Giraffe is this:

You have a Power Zone, which is signified by the line moving up and down in the distance. (It looks like a horizon. At its furthest point, it is where enemies come from.)

Shooting enemies keeps your Zone extended. Jumping instantly extends the Zone as far as it will go. Otherwise, the Zone slowly retracts towards you. When you are standing still, it moves faster than when you're moving.

When you have Zone, even a sliver of Zone, you can Bull. Bulling is when you just ram your ship straight through any enemies that are up on the Rim, or the same level as your ship.

Bulling increases your score multiplier. A high score multiplier (or possibly killing more enemies) means more power ups appear. More power ups means you can jump more, which will give you more Zone, which means you can Bull more enemies and get a higher score. Meanwhile, keep shooting just barely enough enemies to keep your Zone out, so you can save your jumps for emergencies.

That is the basic premise of Space Giraffe.

--

Coming as soon as I work it out: Dealing With Enemies - OR - Killer Flowers And the Revenge of the Hippies

Comments

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

This is St. Minter, right?

[xyzzysqrl]

Indeed it is. (Who, I'm sad, is coming off as kind of highly abrasive in his interviews about this game.)

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

That's a shame! He and Peg have exchanged LJ comments now and then and he's always come off as a sweetie. It sounds like he's gotten a bit of an unfair shake from some of the industry magazines and that might've put him on the defensive a bit...

[xyzzysqrl]

It sure seems that way. He's getting -bad- reviews, and that's seriously annoying to me because it's a good game. But telling people to "man up and grow a pair" is kinda... not what I'd expect from a game dev.

(Not that I don't think he's RIGHT, but...)

[katrus.livejournal.com]

CUBE IS NOT FOR YIFFING.

I sincerely wish I could play this.

[xyzzysqrl]

I've talked to Cube. Cube says otherwise.

[ss-ebonclaw.livejournal.com]

pixplz!

[soquili-gitli.livejournal.com]

Space Giraffe?

What an odd name for a game. Still, looks AWESOME!!!