Space 2

## Background

   Space is a combat simulation where the player controls a spacecraft that must destroy as many enemy ships as possible. Money is accumulated for whenever a ship is destroyed, which leads to the player being able to purchase certain ability power-ups for their ship.

Space 2 is a remake of Space, adding many more abilities, features and up to two players can play simultaneously.

The game was created by Dylan Kay and was released in November, 2016.

## Gameplay

At the beginning of a game, the player(s) face one lone enemy ship. If the ship gets shot by a player, they will graduate to round two, which has two enemy ships. With each completed round an additional enemy ship is added.

Players only get one shot at a time, with a second shot a couple of seconds later.

Along with each round reached, each destroyed enemy is worth money, which can be used to purchase special abilities for players’ ships. Most abilities, when activated, will last for several seconds, although it will be several seconds before the ability can be used again (which is denoted at the bottom corners of the screen; see next section). Only one ability can be used per game and they can be changed in between games if the player wishes.

If a player gets hit by a ship or its firepower or the aftermath of a Nuke then the game will end. Colliding with an enemy ship does not count as a hit.

## Abilities

The following abilities can be purchased except for Boost.

* **Boost**–automatically included. This causes the player’s ship to thrust very quickly.
* **Shield**–makes players’ ships invulnerable to fire and allows enemy ships to pass through them unharmed.
* **Spreadshot**–fires three shots simultaneously.
* **Fastreload**–players can fire two shots in a short time frame rather than just one. This feature is automatic and does not need to be manually activated.
* **Cloak**–allows players to disappear from the enemy. Players' ships also totally vanish when played in Versus mode.
* **Lasersight**–creates a line of sight to aim with. Automatic feature that does not need to be manually activated.
* **Piercing**–shots can destroy several ships at once; with normal firepower a shot will detonate once it comes in contact with an enemy ship. This feature is automatic and does not need to be manually activated.
* **Flash**–causes the player's ship to reappear elsewhere on the screen.
* **Rebound**–causes players' shots to rebound once it hits a screen edge. This feature is automatic and does not need to be manually activated.
* **Shrink**–causes players' ships to shrink in size and turn quicker.
* **Hodges**–increases your speed when traveling backwards. Allowing you to easily shoot enemies on your tail.
* **Freeze**–causes ships to stop in their tracks and not fire, which includes the other player's ship that did not activate Freeze when playing in Co-Op mode. Once a new round starts and the Freeze has not run out it will not effect the new set of ships, however.
* **Gattling**–player's ship will automatically fire many shots for several seconds.
* **Ricochet**–causes players' shots to bounce after they have destroyed a ship.
* **Nuke**–this fires a much larger shot that, when hitting a screen edge or a ship, will cause a large explosion that will destroy any ship (including any player's). Pressing the ability button a second time before the nuke makes contact with a ship or wall will also cause it to detonate.

## Additional features

The base can be purchased for $1000. This allows the player to change the base color of their ship. Changing the fuel trail of their ship is also available, although the player must make it to round eight during a game in order for this ability to be unlocked. There is also a Prism special that ties in with these, as it is a real life purchase skin that changes color with ship trails.

Statistics for the highest round reached, the number of kills, and Co-Op record is automatically tracked. There is also a brief bio from the programmer along with contact address.

There are also variations for Co-Op and Versus modes for two players to play simultaneously. Co-Op mode is the two player version of Single player mode, although if one player dies during a round and the other player is able to clear out the remaining enemy ships, then the player that lost their ship will have it reinstated for the next round. Once both players lose their ship during a round the game will end.

In Versus mode, no enemy ships are present, as it is just a one-on-one battle between players. Once one player destroys the other then the game will end. An additional stat is shown at the top center of the screen with how many kills are made per player.

## Controls

* Start game–Return key or clicking on Launch button
* Mute sounds/music–click on mute button
* Pause–P key
* Reset–click on reset button

### Single player

* Move ship forwards–W key
* Backwards–S key
* Turn ship left–A key
* Turn ship right–D key
* Shoot–spacebar
* Ability–E key

### Second player

* Move ship forwards–I key
* Backwards–K key
* Turn ship left–J key
* Turn ship right–L key
* Shoot–Slash key
* Activate ability–Quote key

Note: keys can be remapped.

## Trivia

* There were many minor changes from the original Space game, as it had only six special abilities that could be purchased whereas Space 2 has 15. The purchase prices also differed and no ability was included for free with the game unlike with Space 2. Sound/music was also added this time around, the game pace was slightly sped up, firing control was tightened, rather than only having stars, planets and the Death Star from the Star Wars movies appeared onscreen (which also changed with every new game), controls became remappable, the interface was changed and expanded, enemy ship behavior was slightly changed, two player options were included, a Base could change players’ ships’ colors and their fuel trails and a Prism skin feature was also added.
* Players' ships will bounce back when they hit a screen edge, rather than wrap around to the opposite side of a screen.