So a lot of you have been wondering why I haven't been around here lately, am I right? Maybe I just died or went into an early hibernation? Well I'm pleased to say I haven't died…yet. I've just been busy, with life, writing, and a new game.

Behold, Project Falconwing. This is a little shoot-em-up game I came up with about a month or so ago.

But what happened to Lixies and all those other games?

They're postponed, as usual. This being for a contest, I've got to finish it within a month or so. That makes it my first finished game (almost). Yaaaaay.

So here's the demo download link:

http://64digits.com/users/Kilin/Falconwing.zip

Demo consists of one stage comprised of nine waves and a boss.

Let's go over a few things…

First, we have our movement and controls…

Arrow keys to move, Z to fire. Easy, isn't it?

Now there is a full tutorial already finished, but since I have no menu system yet, I don't really feel like putting it in now. So you'll have to read closely.

-You collect laser powerups to change your bullet patterns and later, your bullet power. The laser powerups are red.

-Shield powerups are blue. The highest you can get is a level 9 deep purple shield. Remember that shields do not protect you from charged antimatter laser cannons, which the boss is conveniently equipped with.

-Health powerups are easy to pick out. They're flashing red/white + signs.

Score is another matter. By killing multiple enemies within a second of each other, you gain combo, which acts as a score multiplier for the next enemies you kill after it.

At the end of a stage, you will get an examination rating based on how well you played the entire stage. Included in this are:

Time Bonus - This isn't a countdown defining how long you have to finish the stage. It merely affects your score. The longer you take, the smaller your bonus is. Note that the time it takes between waves is not counted on your timer.

Powerup Bonus - Picking up powerups doesn't give you a set score per powerup. It multiplies with your status. Weapon powerups multiply based on your current weapon level. Shield powerups multiply based on your current shield level. Health powerups multiply based on the amount of health you have.

Damage Penalty - For each damage point you take, with or without a shield, 10 are subtracted from your final score.

Max Combo Multiplier - Takes your max combo and multiplies if by your score, then adding it to your final score.

Here's an example screenshot:

-As you can see, my initial score was 2940. This is based on enemy kills and combo.

-I took 472.83 seconds to clear the stage. Mostly, I played until the boss, then left it autoshooting while I wrote this blog. Single shot takes a very long time to kill the boss.

-Since I took so long, my time bonus was very low. It will never go negative, but you can usually get a bonus of 10,000+.

-My luck was very low during the entire stage. 594 for a powerup score is low.

-Since I left to work on my blog, not only the time went up. The boss hits very hard if you don't move around constantly. Normally I get a damage count of 100-300, but 3771 is just ridiculous.

-The damage penalty is ten times the damage taken.

-My max combo was 4, although I have gotten 8 before. It's all a matter of which enemies you kill first. For example, weaken a stronger blue enemy, then when it's close to a red one, destroy them both. Higher powerup levels means higher combo as well. The max combo is multiplied by the base score and added.

I mentioned luck as well. That goes up with enemy kills and combos, but resets when you are killed. Keep that in mind, as it affects item drop frequency.

So enjoy the game and tell me your suggestions. I'd appreciate it.

Also post your scores on this blog. I need to find out whether to increase or decrease the difficulty. Thanks.