Resolution

I have been unable to source the resolution of the original Asteroids arcade game. So I have chosen to render my Asteroids clone at a resolution of 640x480 pixels.

Controls

The player controls a space ship which looks like a triangle.

Rotate left/right. The left and right arrow keys will rotate the players space ship.

Thrust. The up arrow key will fire the thruster on the players space ship allowing them to start moving in the direction they are facing. With out continued thrust the player will eventually come to a halt.

Fire button. The space bar will fire the players gun. A player can have a maximum of four bullets in play.

Hyperspace. The down arrow will launch the player into hyper space. The player is temporarily removed from the play area and moments later replaced in a random position. While in hyper space the player is safe from asteroids, bullets and flying saucers.

Lives

The player will start the game with three lives. When all lives are lost the game is over.

Every 10,000 point will result in the player gaining an extra life.

A life is lost when ever one of the following events occur.

• The player collides with an asteroid of any size.
• The player collides with a flying saucer.
• The player collides with a bullet.

Asteroids

Asteroids come in three sizes.

Large

Medium

Small

Asteroids will float in a straight line in a direction picked at random when they are spawned. In the original Asteroids the asteroids float straight through each other and don't bounce one collision.

At the start of each level all the asteroids are large ones. A large asteroid will break apart into two medium asteroids when shot. A medium asteroid will break apart into two small asteroids when shot. A small asteroids is completely destroyed when shot.

As the asteroids get smaller they will move faster.

Flying saucers

Flying saucers come in two variations.

Large

Small

The large flying saucer will will enter the screen from the left or right hand side. It moves around fairly randomly and shoots in random directions.

The small flying saucer
will will enter the screen from the left or right hand side. It will try to actively harass the player, aiming it's shots at the player.

Rounds

Each round will start with a number of large asteroids on the screen. When all the asteroids have been shot apart the round is complete and a new round begins. Each progressive round will be made harder by increasing the starting population of large asteroids.

Scoring

• Large asteroid: 20
• Medium asteroid: 50
• Small asteroid: 100
• Large flying saucer: 200
• Small flying saucer: 1000