An enlightened being of the advanced Koril race, you have ventured forth in the experimental Det Hulanir, a small science vessel equipped with a phenomenal new engine: the Singularity Drive.

By projecting a nano-blackhole into the space outside of the ship, you use the force of gravity to travel great distances; the computer-controlled navigation system is capable of precisely timed bursts to achieve near light-speed travel. You are safely shielded from the worst of the acceleration by your ship’s powerful gravitic shielding, another result of the best minds of the Koril Empire.

Commissioned by your people to chart and explore the observable galaxy for the betterment of all, you boldly strike out into the unknown.

…

Klaxons sound, lights flash, and you pick yourself up off the floor.

“Computer, what’s going on?”

“The outer hull has been struck by a dense object; our high-energy conduits are disrupted; we have lost the capacity for relativistic speed. Readings indicate a self propelled mass of an unknown alloy which-”

“Wait, self propelled? It’s another ship?”

“False. The object is unmanned and contains no sensors or transmitters. Its purpose is indeterminate. Perhaps it is an experimental craft?”

“Are there any others like it out there? This area might be dangerous if the locals are using it for space flight experiments.”

“Scanning … confirmed. Several other similar – no, nearly identical objects are moving towards us at zero-point-zero-ecks-five-three-seven-Cee. Captain, at a range of approximately sixteen Eptems I have detected larger objects, on a scale with myself. They appear to be manned vessels. More of the smaller objects are emerging from the vessels and moving towards us.”

“Towards us? Ship, don’t they see us here?”

“Unknown. Hold – the vessels are accelerating towards us. They will reach us shortly. It would seem, Captain, that they see us.”

…

“Captain, I have finished my compilation of the translator package. Are you ready to respond to the incoming audio transmission?”

“Yes ship, play the transmission.”

“Unknown ship! You are trespassing on Darkpants Space. Leave at once or be destroyed. This is your final warning!”

“Destroyed? For what, exploring? What insanity is this- wait. Did you say ‘Darkpants?’”

“A translator error, perhaps. However, my analysis of the ambient broadcasts has brought forth disturbing findings: this race spends a substantial portion of its time attempting to kill its own members as well as others.”

“WHAT?! They actively attempt to kill each other? That’s, that’s… that’s just insane!”

“I suspect you are correct on that point. To use the Darkpants word, we are their ‘enemy’ just because we are different from the individuals in the ship. The ships are surrounding us at a distance, but they are beginning to close in. I am concerned that this ship is not equipped to handle this scenario, and we may perish.”

You hadn’t realised you were slumping in your chair until your ship’s words triggered some long repressed emotion in you. Defeat? Some upstart civilization that chucks metal at their guests isn’t going to defeat a Koril, let alone THIS Koril, designer of the Singularity Drive! There is a solution here, all you need to do is find it.

“Ship?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Give me manual control of the Singularity Drive.”

This game requires XNA3.1 redistributable and .Net 3.5 and, unfortunately, Windows. Sorry!

Instructions:

Left click to activate your singularity engine, but keep an eye on your hull integrity (left) and your drive reserves (right). Gain points for sending ships flying into each other, lose points for colliding with those ships yourself. See how many points you can gain before falling to the Darkpants horde.

If I had started with more than nine hours, I would’ve made some kind of leveled gameplay where you can actually win; it’s a little depressing that this is a game of inevitable failure (like my previous entry) after what I think is a stirring introduction.

My high score is 314,000. This is a challenge (though I expect to be beat).

Tags: final

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 at 6:28 pm and is filed under LD #18 - Enemies as Weapons - 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.