Fasteroids Remix

Note

No Windows version yet. The download is a Linux .AppImage. Linux users may have to set the execute permission to run the game. If the game asks you to open the game with another program, you need to set the execute bit. In a terminal where the download is located type: 

sudo chmod ugo+x Fasteroids2.AppImage

This is Asteroids implemented at 1280x720 based on Shaun Spalding's Your First GameMaker Game for GameMaker Studio 1.x. I created this version using the latest beta of GameMaker Studio 2 under Xubuntu Linux (so I haven't implemented a Windows version yet, but the HTML, and Linux AppImage are here).

Controls

A/D or LEFT ARROW/RIGHT ARROW - rotate the player ship
SPACE - Fires
W or UP ARROW - thrusts the ship forward in the direction you're pointing

Enemies
LARGE ASTEROIDS - worth 50 points
SMALL ASTEROIDS - worth 100 points
UFOS - worth 150 points

What's different from Shaun's implementation?

Not a huge amount. Shaun uses hard coded values in a few places where I've used variables. UFOs were never a part of Shaun's implementation. GameMaker Studio 2 has changed how instances of objects are created. I've created separate layers for major objects like Asteroids, the player, and UFOs, though it won't be visible in this implementation, except by the fact that some objects can pass over others. I added a few sounds where Shaun's code doesn't have them. I also implemented the outside room effect for the player, asteroids, and other objects differently from Shaun.

Other Plans

Shaun's tutorial was the tutorial that got me into making retro games. My first game, Fasteroids, was based on Shaun's code, but I took it to extremes and over-scoped the game to the point that the code was so messy that a lot of things started breaking. With a few more simple games under my belt I decided to start from scratch again, this time slowly implementing features.

My plan is to stop before over-scoping. Things you won't see in this, that were in my original game: 

• Settings to change the difficulty of the UFOs, Asteroids, and speed of the player.
• A bunch of different UFOs (I plan to add a smaller UFO, like the original Atari game with similar behavior), no borg-like UFOs, or multi-coloured UFOs.
• No automatic fire - I did this in the original Fasteroids and it really made the game less fun.

Things that might get implemented in the future

• A Windows .exe version - this is a definite will be implemented. I don't use Windows at home or work, so versions will lag behind a bit, but I'm definitely going to provide some binaries so you can download this Fasteroids remix on Windows.
• More precise turning - you'll notice the player turns a little wide and it can be difficult to shoot things precisely. I'm working on it. Currently the method I'm using doesn't work as the ship turns to slowly. I'm working on the problem and this is likely the first thing to be fixed.
• Power-ups. You may have seen some in other GameMaker tutorials, but the original Fasteroids I made actually had power-ups long before those tutorials came out. I'm not sure which power-ups, but likely I'll implement something similar to the power ups in my original Fasteroids (my implementation of the laser never worked great, so I'm going to look for a different approach).
• Scaling (1280x720, 1600x900, 1920x1080, and possibly 4k)
• Controller support - the game is simple enough.
• The planned small UFO will fire bullets, and might take a more dynamic path through the sky.

Tools used to create this remix

Xubuntu Linux 22.04 - my operating system of choice. I use it at work and home. I like Xubuntu because it's lightweight, customizable, and I know a bunch of hot keys, so I save myself a lot of time not mousing around. I also dislike all the telemetry in Windows, the marketing that's been added lately, and the sluggishness of updates. This is just subjective of course, but having used DOS, OS/2, Windows, FreeBSD, and Linux, along with a host of other systems over 40 years, this is just what I like. You do you, and don't let others tell you what to use, use what you like.

GameMaker Studio beta for Ubuntu - I bought GameMaker Studio 1.x (for Windows) on a humble bundle many years ago. A bit after 2.x came out I upgraded. When I learned that the GameMaker Studio beta now worked under Linux, I decided to buy a year's subscription (which turned out to be just before GMS went to a flat fee for Professional, but the excellent folks translated that into a Professional license). The Linux version cannot compile to Windows, but apparently can do almost every other export on the Desktop side of things. I've only used the GX Games, Linux AppImage, and HTML exports under Linux, so your mileage may vary.

Aseprite - I purchased a license of Aseprite, also through a Humble Bundle, and it came with a Steam key. Aseprite runs wonderfully on Xubuntu Linux.

Sfxr - Thanks to @popey for snapping the great sfxr sound effects tool. On Xubuntu 22.04 sfxr is available by typing in a terminal: sudo snap install sfxr

Audacity - I used audacity to paulstretch the exploding sounds you hear when anything explodes. The sound was initially created with sfxr, then stretched in audacity.

Firefox - my browser of choice, used for checking out the HTML version.