Those Alien Bastards

Those Alien Bastards was my first serious game development project and the first game I ever completed. I am very proud of it. If I were to develop it today, the code would be quite different, but that’s to be expected from a first project after so much time. I have learned a lot over the years and it all started here.

Those Alien Bastards was developed at a time when I was unemployed. I was working 40 to 60 hours every week on it for 7 months (plus an additional 60 hour week to get it out the door). When I started I had no idea how to make a game, so I came up with a simple concept and taught myself through reading the Game Maker Studio documentation and active involvement in the Game Maker Community Forums. Because of this, I would estimate that at least half the development time was spent learning how to code my ideas properly.

For the art, I decided to pre-render 3D sprites using blender (which I also had to teach myself). The level curve is very meticulously designed to smoothly increase the challenge as the game progresses over the course of 20 levels. For the music, I had a track I composed myself which worked for the boss fight at the end of the game, but I was lucky enough to get permission to use a track from Achazia (check out her original compositions here). It’s not the type of music I had originally intended, but when I put it into the game to test I found that the calming nature of the song kept me focused on the gameplay while providing a feeling of travelling through the void of space. I can’t thank Achazia enough for her contibution. Without her music, Those Alien Bastards would not feel the same to play.

Those Alien Bastards was extensively tested. I want to thank my brother Mike for his help as the Lead QA Tester. With his help I was able to balance the gameplay and the level curve. And his enthusiasm for the game kept me motivated to see it through to completion. Mike was also kind enough to provide me an old Android 2 phone of his with extremely low specs (even for the time) and barely enough storage to hold the game with nothing else installed. This helped me to make sure the game was playable and fun even on the most budget of devices at the time. Thanks Mike, there’s no way Those Alien Bastards would have been as good as it is without your help.

If you haven’t tried Those Alien Bastards yet, I hope that you will give it a try. The advice I usually give to new players who want it, is to prioritize your upgrades on the Shield, then your special weapon (I recommend the Twin Beam), and then Reinforced Hull when you can. Remember that avoiding damage lets you keep your score multiplier (score determines how much money you earn) so it’s better not to get hit than to put yourself in danger to take out any enemy. Though I would do things differently if I were to develop it now, I’m still incredibly proud of Those Alien Bastards. I hope you enjoy this first game from Clandestine Games. It’s time to make those alien bastards pay!