The Deep Sky is an amazing game created by Matthew Bowden in only 72 hours. Given the development time, this practically qualifies as a masterpiece. Let’s have a look.
– Christopher Newton
The Deep Sky is “A beautiful arena shooter with unique combat”, which couldn’t be more right; created in just 72 hours with Game Maker, this game somehow manages to operate almost as a work of art.
In a nutshell: you have to move forward at all times, while changing your direction either left or right. This makes the movement trickier than the usual shooter, but what makes the game unique is the weapon system. You fire balls which are attached to yourself by a line, which upon reaching their range, come back to you, similar to a boomerang. Herein lies the challenge, as the trajectory alters as you move. The game has only one mode, no options, and no sound effects. However, the Claire De Lune by Debussy, which is a beautiful piece of classic music, accompanies this game as a soundtrack – in this case, sound effects could work, but they are not needed at all.
You also have a variety of special moves to use allocated at the bottom of the screen, which are free to use but need recharging. There is also a nice variety of enemies to keep you alert. The Deep Sky does get harder as you progress through the waves, but it’s still a relaxing game that could easily be made to be more difficult.
The graphics are a thing of beauty. Although the game only contains one arena and several enemies, I don’t think it could look any better. The background has a beautifully animated fantasy feel to it that fits the theme of the game perfectly, and the glowing effect used on the player and certain attacks adds to the overall experience. I have to say that the graphics are perfect, I can see no way they can be improved, and they suit my taste immensely. And unlike most 2D shooters, the physics deserve a special mention: they’re smooth, realistic and as unglitch’d as you could possibly wish for.
The only thing that could improve this game slightly is a full screen option, as I had to play the game windowed. Besides that, The Deep Sky is a masterpiece that should definitely be played by everyone, and I congratulate Matthew Bowden for creating it. The best part is, it’s completely free!
You can download The Deep Sky here: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=523331. Windows only, folks. Enjoy!
About the author:
Christopher Newton, aka Bunnypopop, is a longstanding member of the Yoyogames forums who is always ready to review new games and give a hand to new developers. We warmly welcome him to Indiegraph!.
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WOW (Kriller here) Good job Bunny!!!