Richaoshet

Can be played HERE, and the source code is available here.

Warning:  Particle effects, the trails/tails are unfortunately a bit flickery, and there's a lot of dots and circles flying around the screen, and the camera is fixed on the spaceship, which has sudden fast movements when the spaceship are hit.

You can disable the particle effects and trails/tails in the settings.

How to play

WASD	Move the spaceship
QE	Rotate the spaceship
Space	Shoot a bullet (which splits into two bullets)
P	Pause
O	Restart from the beginning

You can change the controls in the settings; some people find QE uncomfortable to use. You can also change the volume, mute the game, or disable particle effects in the settings.

Winning Condition: Destroy all the asteroids to advance to the next level! While there are theoretically infinite levels, we've only managed to reach level 9 so far.

Losing Condition: Unlike traditional games, you don't have HP. Instead, you lose if the spaceship goes too fast due to you losing control. There is a nice drag effect which helps you control the spaceship, but when you get hit it is disabled; you can still control it, but you have to be more careful. Getting hit many times will only make it harder to control. At higher levels, the drag is lessened, which makes you feel more free... and makes it harder to control your spaceship.

Summary

A game where you destroy asteroids with a couple of extra features; 

• The geometry of the space is that of real projective plane. 
• Bullets ricochet from the asteroids. 
• Your own bullets hurt you! 
• You don't have lives, instead you have to keep your control of the spaceship when you get hit. 

This is an entry for the GameMaker's Toolkit 2020 Jam.

How does the theme come into play?

The crux of it all is drag, which we all take for granted. In space, there is no drag, so the spaceship has an automated system which simulates drag. When the spaceship is hit, though, the automated system shuts down for safety reasons, which means there's now no more drag.

You could feel a bit "out of control" without the drag, but you're still able to control the spaceship and bring it into "manual" control.

If, however, you're too "out of control", the spaceship's speed is too large and the spaceship explodes. This is the only losing condition; it doesn't matter how many times you're hit if you manage to keep the spaceship under control (the more you're hit, the harder it is, though).

That's not all, though. As you shoot more and more bullets, the asteroids and bullets make the situation become "out of control". This is mirrored in the soundtrack; while you have full control of the notes when you shoot, the notes when an asteroid is hit are randomized. Shoot too much to "feel in control", and you'll find yourself that the situation might go out of control too fast.

As levels progress, the drag, or "safety training wheels", is reduced; and more and more asteroids are present... again, making the whole situation feel more and more "out of control" as the game progresses.

Achievements

While we did not have enough time to implement achievements, we encourage you to try to get the following, both to experience the game in different ways, and to challenge yourself.

New ways to play the game:

• Pacifist: Defeat the first level without touching a single bullet.
• Oops: Die in the first level.
• Asteroid Combo: Try to stay in the dragless state, without dying,  by combo-ing off asteroids. It's easier to do so in higher levels. How large a combo can you get?
• No Bullet Wasted: Defeat level 3 with no 1st generation bullets left flying around.
• I'll finish it myself/I'll take one for the team: Defeat a level with no bullets flying around!

Challenge yourself:

• Speedrun!: Beat level 1 to 3 as fast as possible.
• What's this bug??: Die after defeating a level, before the next level loads. 
• Spooky Music!: Reach level 5.
• It's over 100 000!: Have a score of 100 000 or more.
• Is this level even possible?: Beat level 8.

Special Thanks

To welhtataum for helping with the brainstorming and playtesting! Be sure to give 'em a follow!