Project: Starfighter Copyright © 2003 Parallel Realities Copyright © 2012 Guus Sliepen, Astrid S. de Wijn and others This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
Project: Starfighter is an old school 2D shoot 'em up. In the game you take on the role of a rebel pilot called Chris, who is attempting to overthrow a military corporation called Weapco. Weapco has seized control of the known universe and currently rules it with an iron fist. Chris can no longer stand back and watch as millions of people suffer and die. He steals an experimental craft known as "Firefly" and begins his mission to fight his way to Sol, freeing key systems along the way. The game opens with Chris attempting to escape a Weapco patrol that has intercepted him.
Installation under Linux:
tar zxf starfighter-1.2.tar.gz cd starfighter-1.2 make make install
When the game is first run it will attempt to create ~/.parallelrealities/starfighter/.
Should this fail the game will not run.
Menus
Intermission Screen
In Game
Joystick and Gamepad support
Note - Keys cannot be changed
When first starting Project: Starfighter you will see the text scrolling introduction. You can either wait for this to finish or you can skip it by pressing ctrl or space.
The title sequence will begin. Once the menu is shown (or you opt to skip to it by pressing space or ctrl) you may select from the options shown:
* will only be shown if there are saved games available
Games can be loaded from the title screen. When there are saved games available, the option "Load Game" will be shown. Selecting this will show a list of available games to be loaded. Select a game from the list to load, you will then be taken to the Intermission screen. To go back, selected Back to Main Menu.
Games can be saved in two ways. The first way is to save a game on the Intermission screen. Move the cursor to the Save Game icon and select it. You will see a list of five game slots that can be used to save a game to. Click one of these and then click the "Save" button to save the game. The second way is to use the Auto Save function. This will automatically save your game after you have successfully completed a mission. To make use of this feature you must choose a save slot that you wish to auto save into. This can be done on the title screen in the options section or on the intermission screen at the options section.
In each System, the player can get missions by going to the Comms section of the Intermission screen. Here allies will inform you of tasks that need to be performed and what planet these tasks apply to. Once the player has decided which task they will perform, they must go to the corresponding planet in the system (see Moving Around for more details). Once stationed at the planet click "Start Mission" to proceed to the mission briefing screen. The "Start Mission" icon will not be shown if the mission of the planet has been completed.
Before the beginning of each mission you will be presented with a mission briefing screen. This will outline the mission's primary and (if any) secondary objectives. It will also inform you of mission restrictions, such as time limits. Once you have read this, press ctrl or space to continue
Each mission in the game has one or more objectives tied to it. These objectives are either Primary or Secondary objectives. In order to complete the mission, the player must complete all the primary mission objectives. For example, when the game begins Chris is fleeing a WEAPCO patrol. The primary objective for this mission is to destroy all the enemy fighters. Once this is achieved the Firefly will leave the sector and the mission will be marked as a success.
One thing to note is that some missions will have both Primary and Secondary objectives. In this case, the Firefly does not leave the sector if all primary mission objectives are complete and secondary objectives remain. The player may then attempt to complete remaining secondary objectives or press Escape to leave the sector. Secondary objectives are optional.
During the mission you will see messages appearing at the bottom of the screen. These messages can be related to items that you pick up, as well as mission related information.
The Target Arrow can be used to locate enemies and point you in
the direction that the enemy craft is. You can toggle the Target
Arrow between three mode by pressing "T" on the keyboard: Off,
Mission target only, and All targets. This arrow is very useful
for finding enemies that are evasive (such as transports) on
missions that require you to destroy all present craft. Simply
follow the arrows to find the enemy. The arrows will not be
displayed when you are within the immediate vacinity of the
target. On certain missions (such as Bosses) the mission target
arrow will initially point towards a certain target that is part
of the mission objective. The target's current remaining shield
is also displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the
screen.
To play a mission in Starfighter you must be stationed at the relevant planet. To get to the planet you require, you will need to click on the planet whilst viewing it on the Show System section of the Intermission screen. Travelling between planets can be dangerous, but luckily Spirit is a peaceful place and there are no chances of interceptions, so travel is instantaneous.
Other systems are not as friendly and whilst travelling to a new destination the player runs the risk of being intercepted by a WEAPCO patrol. After Spirit the player will select a planet to travel to by clicking on it with the mouse. "Destination", followed by the planet's name will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. A new icon labelled "Go To Destination" will also appear. Clicking this icon will make the player travel to the destination planet.
Travelling to new planets is represented at the bottom of the screen by the two planets (the one being travelled from and the one being travelled to). A red bar will fill up as the journey progresses. The speed the bar fills up will vary occurring to how far away the planets are from one another. At any point during this time the planet can be intercepted (see Interceptions). Once the red bar has filled up completely the journey will be completed and you will be stationed that the new planet.
Interceptions can take place whilst travelling between two planets within a system. When the player is intercepted they will go directly into a mission-like scenario. The objective of this interception is to clear all attacking forces. Once this is done, the player will be free to leave.
Interceptions also serve other purposes - Sometimes the WEAPCO patrol may have slave transports with them. One of the objectives of a later system is to rescue a certain amount of slaves. This is only possible during interceptions.
One important thing to remember is that any damage the player receives during an interception will NOT be repaired until they have reached the destination planet. Therefore if the player is heavily damaged during one interception that damage will still be present if they are attacked again. This can make interceptions very dangerous.
During the course of the game you will receive money. Money is gained from destroying enemy craft and picking up cash spheres in game (please be aware that due to the nature of the game cash is not earned for destroying ships during Interceptions).
Money can be used to upgrade the Firefly and purchase additional ammunition for weapons. Items can be purchased from a shop on the Intermission screen.
Certain weapons and upgrades will not be available to you until later in the game, so remember to save your money for them.
When an enemy craft is destroyed they will sometimes release ammo and cash spheres. Certain enemy craft will release power up spheres that can give your weapon a temporary boost. The following are spheres that can be picked up during missions:
 |
Cash - Provides you with an additional cash bonus. |
 |
Plasma Ammo - Increases your current plasma ammo. |
 |
Rocket Ammo - Increases your current rocket ammo. |
 |
Shield Sphere - Replenishes your shield reserves. |
 |
Plasma Power - Boosts your plasma power. |
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Plasma Ouput - Boosts the amount of plasma shots you can fire. |
 |
Plasma Cooler - Increases your plasma firing rate. |
 |
Super Charge - Three / Five way spread, full power and cooling (rare). |
During the course of the game mini cut scenes will be shown after certain missions. These scenes serve to extend the plot of the game and provide the player with gameplay tips. If you wish to skip a cut scene press Escape. It is advised that you only skip cut scenes if you have already seen them.
The game is over when the Firefly's shield units are reduced to 0 (zero), or a Primary Mission objective is failed. At this point, you will see the Game Over screen. To continue, press Ctrl or Space. You will then be taken back to the title screen. In certain missions the game will end if Sid Wilson is killed.
Parallel Realities started off writing games on the Amiga using AMOS and then, later, Blitz Basic 2. Games written included the BOTSS Trilogy and most notably TANX Squadron. TANX Squadron was awarded Amiga Format's contributor prize of the month in the summer of 1999. Project: Starfighter originally started life on the Amiga but was never completed. Development began again for Linux in 2002 with this being our first C program. The game matured quickly from the initial ideas and this is the finished product. We do hope you enjoy playing it.
Project: Starfighter
Copyright © 2003 Parallel Realities
Copyright © 2012 Guus Sliepen, Astrid S. de Wijn and
others
Created using the SDL library