LdDB
Ludum Dare #31compo

DOS Defender

by skeeto
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.76
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.83
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.24
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.90
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.44
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.87
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★57%
DOS Defender is a DOS arcade space shooter. It's intended to run on DOSBox with a gamepad/joystick for control. Mouse input is supported but discouraged. It should work on any 386 running DOS, in case you wanted to play it that way, too. It should work fine with DOSBox's defaults, but bumping up the emulation speed will eliminate the occsional graphical artifacts.

The entire game is just a single binary with all assets (sound, music, graphics) embedded: DOSDEF.COM. There's no ending, it just goes on, increasing in difficulty, until you die. The only long term goal is to maximize your score.

More about this game: http://nullprogram.com/blog/2014/12/09/

screenshotscreenshot

Comments28

ranseur
ranseur8 Dec 2014, 18:09
Loved it. Picking up the old dos is always so nostalgic.
frondeus
frondeus8 Dec 2014, 18:21
How to run it? Have Windows 8.1 and it says that this is not for my computer.
Proximal Pyro8 Dec 2014, 18:25
Can't test on my laptop because it requires 64-bit
kiiro948 Dec 2014, 18:27
Oh my god. Loved it. Awesome graphics for a DOS game!
BtheDestroyer8 Dec 2014, 19:12
Great for a DOS game. I actually got DOSBox a while back so I could play ZZT but this is way better xD
skeeto
skeetoauthor8 Dec 2014, 19:28
@frondeus Run it in DOSBox just like you would play an old DOS game. While Windows will sort of pretend like it might be able to run it -- because at one time it could still run these old DOS games directly -- it won't work that way on any modern system.
pjimmy
pjimmy8 Dec 2014, 19:38
love the use of a (now) uncommon format, well done
LegacyCrono8 Dec 2014, 20:30
Whoa, a DOS game! Damn, this is fantastic! It took me a few tries to understand what the heck was going on, and the mouse controls is not exactly great. Sadly I didn't had a gamepad to test it with...
Man, if this was a thing back in the DOS age it would be so damn popular. Well done! My record was 6350 :D
KrisDevelopment8 Dec 2014, 20:32
Nice retro style game. Really enjoyed it :)
Morgawr
Morgawr8 Dec 2014, 21:39
Fuck yes, DOS! Nostalgia trip right there, kudos to you!
wavertron
wavertron8 Dec 2014, 21:45
DOSBox - neat idea. Didnt quite feel like I was getting hit/dying from the enemy bullets, but that DOSBox. Back in the days when there were no Windows, and all you had was one screen. Who woulda thunk it.
arg-games
arg-games8 Dec 2014, 22:38
Awesome, love it! Great you are developed this in DOS! I've taken a look into the sourcecode, nicely done.
frondeus
frondeus8 Dec 2014, 22:38
Ok. I got it... great work dude! :)
arzi8 Dec 2014, 22:43
Haha, I've been tinkering around with DOS code (in Turbo-C) lately and also considered doing a DOS game for the LD. The theme is a good fit for that. Nice little game, and always a feat when you don't have a modern easy-to-use engine to work with :)
Thermite
Thermite8 Dec 2014, 22:44
Very nice, and genuinely retro.
AGausmann
AGausmann8 Dec 2014, 23:06
This is a very great game! I had a lot of fun playing this and I loved the retro graphics and audio (which I attempted to reproduce in my game with less success). The hardest part about the game was that if you're aiming at an enemy, that also means you're moving toward them... That led to some interesting strategies though!
cxsquared
cxsquared9 Dec 2014, 01:07
Super fun. I've never played a dos game and that was really cool.
Wakka10 Dec 2014, 14:52
didnt recognize my gamepad :(
Techblogogy
Techblogogy10 Dec 2014, 20:24
Love playing games codes for DOS in 2014. Amazing job1
sP0CkEr211 Dec 2014, 04:08
thanks for that blast from the past
Chaoseed14 Dec 2014, 20:06
It says mouse input is supported, but if I run the game (using DOSBox) I get 'Move joystick around its full range, then center joystick and press button A'?
Si1ver17 Dec 2014, 20:23
There is no school like the old school!
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