Noscape Kiacity

^ Click the title above to give focus to the game, and press any key to begin.

Escape Velocity was a 1996 Mac OS game by Ambrosia Software. This nonsensically-titled game of mine is a demake / clone of that.

This was made in 2022 (Feb 5-13) for NOKIA 3310 JAM 4, in which games are (superficially) limited to the aesthetics of the classic Nokia hardware -- namely two colors, 84 x 48 resolution, 12-button keypad controls, monophonic sound.

The theme of the jam is 'UPGRADE'. So: You can upgrade your ship at the outfitter while planetside on "Backwater"... though I didn't have enough time to make a nice scrolling shop interface with icons and all that, so it's just a linear series of upgrades that ends in infinite missile capacity increases.

Sadly I wasn't able to work on it as much as I would have liked, but I've done most of what I set out to do for the jam. Still, it should be said that there's no jumping to other star systems, missions, friendly or neutral ships, factions, cargo space, shipyards, resource trading... there's just one enemy type, and numerous other limitations. But if you want all that stuff, go track down the original EV games -- they're classics.

I wanted to try to make some sound effects in bfxr or something, but again, no time, so thank you to Trix for the sound pack provided in the jam resources.

This game is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan.

Thank you for playing!

(This game has been updated to v1.1 as of 2022 June 10.)

Controls

• Arrow keys to maneuver. (Formerly WASD)
  • The rear key rotates the ship opposite to the ship's current direction of movement. It does not provide any reverse thrust.
  • These buttons are also used to navigate menus.
• 1 is a modifier key.
  • If pressed during forward thrust, 1 activates the afterburner, if the player has purchased it. It has limited fuel but fills back up after a short delay.
    
  • 1+2 selects the nearest enemy target, instead of cycling through them in order, and clears the target if that one is already selected.
  • The 1/2/3 keys are also hotkeys in planet menus.
• 2 selects enemy ship targets.
• 3 selects planetary targets.
• A auto-rotates toward the current target. (Formerly Q).
  • Also toggles audio mute, if paused.
• E lands on a nearby planet, if moving slowly enough.
  • Also selects menu options while planetside.
• Space Bar (formerly C) is used for primary fire, and Z for secondary weapons, if they have been purchased.
  • The secondary weapon has limited ammunition and can be restocked by landing.
  • The primary weapon, the turret,  auto-tracks towards enemies, but requires an active enemy ship target.
• X opens a pause / stats menu.
  • X also closes menus.