Gravitic Mines is a thrust/physics/arcade/puzzle game being developed using the RAPTOR API by Lawrence Staveley and Ander Lex with a musical score from Roald Strauss, and will be published by AtariAge.
The game is now complete and should be available via the AtariAge store in a few months.
In the meantime we have put together a Demo ROM featuring some levels for you to download. The full version of the game offers much more than this short teaser version and we hope you will consider purchasing it when it becomes available. Your support means a great deal to us.
Download the demo rom here:
Please note, this ROM is locked to Skunkboards and RetroHQ’s Jaguar Gamedrive boards – and will not run if made into a real cart or used on an emulator.
Prologue….
The ‘roids are closing in from all sides. You knew you had put up a brave defence, but now, after hours of stressful piloting you cannot take any more. Reaching forward you reboot the navigation circuits one more time and initiate the Hyperspace Engine, knowing it will not work for long. Hoping for something better.
Blackness. Then a brightness so blinding you are unable to block it out. The universe feels like it is being dragged through you. Everything goes completely silent. There is nothing. Endless, infinite darkness.
You wonder if you are dead. And then the darkness explodes into a billion points of light, which slowly fade.
Adrift in space, again. Great. A faint glow on the scanner indicates a planetary system nearby. A strange energy signal is allowing you to lock the Hyperspace Engine and set co-ordinates. With no other option you jump again, to appear in a… hanger?
It appears deserted but the power is still at low levels and the atmosphere is breathable. Exiting the EWS you take stock of the situation, rest and inspect the ship. It is badly damaged, punctures in the hull tell you it will never fly again.
Exploring deeper into the hanger you find what appears to be an old fighter craft. It is intact but was clearly being repaired here before the base was abandoned. It seems familiar somehow…
The scanners are the least damaged, so you set to work to bring them online first. Good to know where you are, right? Energy signatures! ones that you have seen before… when they attacked the home-world. This must be where they came from! Repairing the communications array now becomes the top priority. You have to warn command of this! Days pass before you get a response to your signal requesting backup, time which you use by fitting the hyperdrive system from the EWS into the fighter. It will be perfect for sneaking past their perimeter defences!
Once the call for help was received things move quickly, and the base is swiftly transformed into a forward attack point. Now you begin to plan how to take the fight to them and make sure they can never threaten your world again.
To get you started, here’s some short documentation:
At the top left of the screen is the ENERGY bar. Using the main thrusters burns energy. Using the Reaction Control thrusters mounted on the sides of the ship also burns fuel, but at a slower rate. If the fuel runs out gravity will take over. The outcome of that event is left to the imagination. You can re-supply your energy by returning to a HOME PAD (Indicated by green flashing arrows!)
When you get low on fuel the bar will turn RED and an alarm siren will sound to give you notice that you need to find fuel quickly!
Next to this is the MISSION TIMER.
Finally, at the top right is the BATTERY COUNTER. You will be unable to exit some missions due to a defensive shield blocking access to orbit. Collecting the required number of batteries will drop the shield briefly, allowing you to return to base – the computer will not trigger the deactivation sequence until you have completed the mission objectives.
Every time you collect a battery the count on this line will decrease. Mission objectives for a given map will change the number required to exit.
At the bottom left of the screen we have a row showing how much AMMO you have remaining. You can replenish your ammo by returning to a HOME PAD.
Next to this is the rescue counter. WHITE represents how many are remaining on the map, YELLOW symbols means that rescue is in the ship hold and needs to be returned to a HOME PAD (See later), while GREEN denotes that the rescue operation is complete. If you die while carrying a rescue in the hold then that rescue is lost. This might cause you to fail the current mission objective, so consider these rescues as precious cargo!
Lastly, at the lower right is the count of reserve ships you have remaining. If this is blank then you might want to consider not crashing.
Controls: Standard Jaguar Controller
LEFT/RIGHT: Rotate craft
C: Auto-Rotate
B: Main Thruster
A: Shoot
7: Convert Ammo to Energy
9: Convert Energy to Ammo
4: Reaction Thruster (Left)
6: Reaction Thruster (Right)2+8: Self Destruct
Pause: PAUSE
#: While in PAUSE – Reset level
* + #: Abort mission
Controls: Pro Controller (Recommended Control Method)
LEFT/RIGHT: Rotate craft
C: Auto-Rotate
B: Main Thruster
A: Shoot
Z: Convert Ammo to Energy
Y: Convert Energy to Ammo
Left Shoulder: Reaction Thruster (Left)
Right Shoulder: Reaction Thruster (Right)2+8: Self Destruct
Pause: PAUSE
#: While in PAUSE – Reset level
* + #: Abort mission
Controls: Rotary Controller
Spin LEFT/RIGHT: Rotate craft
C: Auto-Rotate
B: Main Thruster
A: Shoot
7: Convert Ammo to Energy
9: Convert Energy to Ammo
4: Reaction Thruster (Left)
6: Reaction Thruster (Right)2+8: Self Destruct
Pause: PAUSE
#: While in PAUSE – Reset level
* + #: Abort mission
Please feel free to discuss this game with us in the Gravitic Mines thread on AtariAge here.