It wouldn't surprise me if you haven't heard about Flight of the Icarus. I mean, I've not posted that muchabout it anywhere really. But I figure, since I'm getting close to a release-able build of the game I should maybe out some pen to paper (or bits to pixels, I guess?) and explain exactly what Icarus is.

So, what is Flight of the Icarus?

Flight of the Icarus is a game I'm making.

That was rather concise.

Oh, sorry, did you want more?

Icarus (short name I'm using for it because it is like a baby to me) (don't tell my wife I said that, I know I have an actual son who loves and needs me) is an arcade style game primarily for mobile devices where you control a small ship that has to avoid loads of bullets that are trying to destroy you. I've been trying to make up a weird, 80’s style arcade story for it (given it's very 80’s style arcade) but that really sums it up quite nicely. The best way I've been able to describe it is an infinite runner + a bullet hell - you being able to shoot = Flight of the Icarus.

So it's a small game then?

Yeah, it's pretty small. The TL;DR of it (I'll explore the full trappings in a later post) is that when I had a workable game I wanted to make it into a small score attack game that could be played in bursts, such as when you're on the bus to work or sitting on the toilet.

What did you make Icarus with?

A computer. Most video games are to be fair.

*ahem* Not really what I was asking.

Oh! Oh, right.

Icarus was built in LibGDXusing java. The reasons were I wanted to get back into developing using LibGDX after my son was born, to pass the time between feeds and nappy changes, LibGDX uses java to code which is very easy to learn and use and, finally, the code is portable so I could run it on PC and Android while developing with no fuss. The graphics were all made using AsePrite using a Pico-8 palette and the sound effects made using a small Adobe Air app called Bfxr.

Cool. When are you releasing Icarus?

When I've finished it, basically.

I've got most of the main parts of the game completed but there are still some things I want to get done and polished before I send it out into the big bad world. The menus are functional but still look pretty basic, for example. They also work really well with a pointing device (such as a mouse or your finger) but not so much if you're trying to use a keyboard (which could very well be the case on PC, to be fair). Keep an eye out on my twitter, but I'm hopeful the end of March 2019 is realistic.

What's Icarus being released on?

I'll be releasing on Android via Google Play and PC/Mac/Linux via itch.io.

What about iOS devices? You not releasing on that platform?

Long and short of it is money. First, it's in the order of $100 a year to publish to the Apple App Store - it's $25, one off, to publish to Google Play, a fee I paid 5 years ago. Also, to actually make the app itself you need a MacOS computer (although you can code the app in any environment, it has to be compiled on a Mac). That's something I don't own, nor is it something I can afford to buy just now. Maybe sometime in the future, but not now.

How much will you be charging for your game?

Absolutely nothing. I might have ads in the app (nothing intrusive like full screen videos though, those ads always annoy me) but you won't have to spend a penny to play.

No in-app purchases?

Nope! It's not really a game that lends itself to anything like that anyways so no in app purchases will be present.

I hope that answers any questions you might have about Flight of the Icarus. I'm working on putting together a devlog-style post to go through the inner workings of how this game came about so keep your eyes peeled for that. Keep an eye out on Twitter as well as I'll be updating more in the coming days and weeks as I try to get the game to release.