Prime Mover
Prime Mover v1.2
Story
A mining research facility on Mars' moon Phobos has lost contact with Earth. The station is to be decommissioned, that's where you come in...
Objective
It's your job to enter the station and destroy it. You must find 3 keys to reach the core reactor.
Controls
You can use WASD/Arrows or a gamepad D-Pad to move. Spacebar, Z, B, or the gamepad button 0 for actions.
Tips
- Jumping before jetpack boosting can help you reach higher.
- The drill can be used whilst walking backwards.
FAQ
Q. The game runs slow in my browser, what should I do?
A. Try running the game in Google Chrome.
or
A. Download the HTML package and run index.html in your browser locally.
Version
v1.2:
- fixed an instance of elevator being in wrong position when respawning.
- energy recharges slightly faster when on ground.
- added 5 new rooms to reduce backtracking.
- added checkpoint at mines key.
- added button prompt on intro screens.
- delay skipping ending screens.
- other minor tweaks.
v1.1:
- added keys Z and B as alternative to Spacebar.
- added checkpoints at unlocked doors and key points, continue can be used 3
times.
- small changes to some enemies.
Contact
I appreciate any feedback you have so please contact me at any of the below:
Twitter : helpcomputer0
itch.io : helpcomputer
indiedb.com : helpcomputer0
newgrounds.com : helpcomputer0
gamejolt.com : helpcomputer
opengameart.org : helpcomputer
Thanks for playing!
Download
Install instructions
Works best on Chrome on the web. If you have issues try downloading the HTML package and running index.html from a browser locally.
Development log
- Prime Mover v1.2 UploadedJul 28, 2017
Comments
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any chance you could release the art or sprites? love to use them in a freeware game
I released them here: https://opengameart.org/content/zx-spectrum-style-sprites-for-prime-mover
Amazing ZX graphics
Cool game :)
Loved this, tough like it should be, great work
down key to change between rocket and drill
Controls really nice and I did have a bit of fun with it. However I wish more of the ledges would be able to be scaled using the jump as its annoying waiting around for the energy meter to recharge. Also, I wish there was infinite retries instead of continues.
Looks great in a Speccy kind of way, but am I being a noob? How do you get past the rocks on the second screen?
With the drill, see the "Info" screen on how to use the drill.
When is the ZX Spectrum (or Spectrum Next) port happening?
It'd be cool to do a Next port, when I get a Next!
Excellent Work! Spectrum perfect and great Construct work. LOVE IT.
Wonderful game!
Edit: for some reason I feel the need to return to this game.
Added to: https://itch.io/c/360634/only-the-very-best-of-itchio.
I love Love LOVE this game! I'm pretty new to the site, and this was one of the first games that really caught my eye. The controls are rock solid and I really enjoy the level and visual design. Fantastic work!
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Five stars! The title music - how did you do it? It has the exact feeling of ZX Spectrum's beeper masterpieces such as Chronos or Agent X. Incredible, man, just incredible!
Any chance that you will post the CAPX file for this to learn from? Cheers
Probably not yet. If you have any questions though ask away in the Scirra thread here: https://www.construct.net/en/forum/construct-2/your-construct-2-creations-23/pri...
really enjoyed this
Maybe the best game I have ever played from Itch.io
Wow, thanks!
No download, website only?
Hi, no download currently sorry. I'm thinking of providing one though when I get around to the next patch.
Hi, I've provided a direct download to the HTML5 version. Just inzip this and run index.html in your browser. The reason I don't upload a win32/64/Linux version etc is because for desktop versions Construct 2 just bundles the game into a bare browser anyway, and the download is significantly bigger (50-60Mb compared to 10Mb for the HTML5 folder).
Bug report: if you die after getting the second-to-last checkpoint (after going down the elevator), but with the elevator in the "up" position, the next time you enter the elevator you'll be stuck in the door.
Also, would you consider adding an alternative control scheme? Something like left/right for movement, button 1 for jump/jetpack (depending on whether you're standing or in the air), button 2 for drill? (I'm passing the suggestion along from someone else, it's not my idea, but I do think it would be an improvement.)
I knew adding those checkpoints would be a headache.
I've added an alternative control scheme to the todo list for 1.2, I just don't have much time at the moment so it could be a while before I can do it.
Bug report: if you enter the falling rocks room (after the elevator) twice too quickly, the rocks fall faster than normal.
Thanks dude. I noticed something similar during development. I think it's related to the Construct 2 engine not being deterministic and timings fluctuating slightly but I'd need to investigate more. If it's not a serious problem I'll probably end up leaving it though.
Wow that ZX Spectrum palette!
I wonder how people can afford to make games of this quality and release them for free?
great game! you've done spectrum proud.:)
I did a speedrun of this game.
I can't imagine playing this game without checkpoints. I'd probably have given up.
Some sort of warning as to when the vertical zapper things are going to turn on would make this feel more fair, I think. Without that, you just have to memorize the pattern, and also know that rooms reset when you re-enter them.
This is awesome!
Regarding the vertical zappers, do you mean those in the reactor? If so, there are four lights (or crosses when unlit), basically when they start lighting then the zapper on that side is about to come on, just as youll see all four lights go off when the zapper on that side goes off.
If you mean zappers on other screens, those are all predictable, just not necessarily all the same timing. In general you can stop between each zapper but it's slower.
Hm, I've seen the warning lights on other screens but I guess I didn't notice them in the reactor, or the room leading up to there. I also found that, in the room leading up to the reactor, the middle zapper will go off for a very short time when I get there, and it's not safe to go through.
Yea the middle zapper on that screen has the shortest time. None of those were designed to be ran through all in one go, but it might be possible I suppose if you wait for the right pattern.
Only other thing I noticed is you didn't use jump before jetpacking, that might save energy/time in places.
I made a leaderboard: https://www.speedrun.com/Prime_Mover
That was a really good run until the bad ending. To clarify, if you lose all 3 hearts after destroying the reactor it's always the bad ending. Generally I found the best reactor pattern is to go left, bottom, right, top, because the left and right vertical beams are slightly out of sync and you enter from the left so go there first. I'm sure there's an even better pattern though, without wasting time waiting on the sides.
I spent some time trying to optimize the reactor, and I wasn't able to find a better order, so that's what's in the record now. Also, today I found this amazing skip (will upload a better any% run with it soon): https://clips.twitch.tv/madewokherd/CrazyGaurStrawBeary
Nice find! That's gotta be 10 or 15 secs saved.
I also saw you damage boosting in other rooms. What you could try, because getting hit always knocks you in the opposite direction to the way you're facing (and up slightly), is right before turn away from the thing your going to hit or back into it while drilling, that way you effectively get knocked into the direction you were moving. Not sure how effective it can be in a speedrun but it's something to try.
Yep, that's a common speedrun technique. I try to do that, but it can be difficult sometimes.
I've uploaded v1.1 with the following changes:
- added keys Z and B as alternative to Spacebar.
- added checkpoints at unlocked doors and key points, continue can be used 3 times.
- small changes to some enemies.
Love the Speccy graphics!
Good game i like the concept. it look like a lot of work :)
really worth being converted to a real zx-spectrum version one day soon
Someone mentioned that over at the World of Spectrum forums too, so I uploaded all the images if ever anyone wanted to do a conversion: http://opengameart.org/content/zx-spectrum-style-s...
The thread is here: https://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/discussion/...
really excellent! thank you!!! \o/ - for sure someone will help you there in the forum, as they helped Locomalito! ;)
Very hard but I enjoyed it a lot. Very nice visuals.
Maybe make savepoints or keep the opened key-doors open when you restart?
Too damn hard for me. But really fun.