Reflex – Dev Diary 1

While the GMS2.3 beta is causing headaches for the Asylum development I have been playing around with creating a prototype for a new Reflex game.

For those that do not know; Reflex was a game I created in 2000 (20 years ago). It is a top-down puzzle game that involves firing a missile into a game grid and then using reflectors, splitters, fences and other tiles to guide the path of the missile to destroy enemy facilities (reactors, etc). The game from 2000 is now available to download via this website on the About page.

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been sketching ideas and building the prototype for the game. This prototype is coming together very nicely and I already have many of the game elements in place and complete. The missile can be fired, in place reflectors are all working as well as player built tiles. I’ve also added several new types of tile such as an auto twisting reflector that changes angle every few seconds, and an impact reflector that only changes angle after it’s been hit. There’s also some enhancements to the original reflectors with the inclusion of power levels. Some reflectors can have restricted power levels so that each impact of the missile drains them until they’re exhausted.

And there’s more new features to come. I’m planning on adding player upgrades to the mix to allow XP points to be spent on changing the way you play, whether its reducing the speed of spawned missiles (splitter tiles), or decreasing the amount of time it takes to build a new tile (oh yes, no more instant builds – plan ahead).

I hope to have some screenshots in the next week or so. I’m targeting Windows and Android for release which should be before the year is out.

Stay tuned for more soon.