Multiplayer testing

It's not easy to test a multiplayer game all by yourself, what's why I invited some friends over this weekend to help me test the multiplayer part of the game. It's was actually quite fun! It's not the same thing playing against yourself with two gamepads at the same time... It was great to have some feedback, I noticed some bugs but also some gameplay elements that clearly was missing.

Entering DBP 2008

This will be the second time I enter Microsoft's game creation competition Dream-Build-Play. Last time I entered with a shoot-em-up game called "Bullet Hell Tactics", It didn't make it to the top 20 finalists. This time I have a more casual game which is more polished and easier for beginners to play, it's also more party-play focused.

What is Ladybird Galaxy?

Ladybird Galaxy is a game currently in development by me. The game is created using Microsoft XNA Game Studio with the C# programming language. It is targeted for the Xbox 360 - Xbox LIVE Community Games (which will be released this holiday).

The game is played in a arena and you steer a small rocketship trying to pick up gems which will give you score. There are also stars floating around and they will give you a serious speedboost and add to your combo multiplier (which will give you more score). Sometimes a star is falling, pick this up to become a superstar! As a superstar you can destroy your enemies by steering into them or blasting them away. The game is over when all your rocketships has been destroyed (in arcade mode) or when the time is out (in battle mode). The player with most score is the winner!

It can be played single or -multiplayer, up to 4 players can play on the same machine at the same time. The game features arcade style of play where you play co-op against the evil enemy ladybirds, but can also be played in battle mode where you fight versus your friends.