So if you've been wondering what we've been up to (and if not, why not?), we've been working on an entry for Microsoft's XNA Dream Build Play Warm Up Competition. Essentially you had 2 weeks to "mod" their starter kit that comes with XNA Game Studio Express, so we did. I've been hankering to make this game for a long time. It's a shooter, which I normally don't do, but it's this one is different. Here's the run down of what we did. You have to read all of it before peaking at the screenshots below. We'll be posting more on this as we get it cleaned up for public consumption.

Whirled! is a mod of the Spacewar Game created by Andrew Douglas and Theoretical Games, LLC as an entry to the Dream Build Play Warm-Up competition. The main features added/modified in Whirled! are:

• Cooperative Control: The 2 player competitive mode in Spacewar was dropped for a single player experience against AI controlled enemies. In addition we implemented controls and game play that makes it not only possible but advantageous to play cooperatively with a friend. This is done, not by having two separate "ships", but rather by having both players control different aspects of the same ship. We've called this "Cooperative Control" and is really the intended way to play this game.

• Single "Bullet": Whirled! is a strategic game where each ship has only a single ballistic "Blade" to use to attack opponents. Firing the blade is done with the Right trigger; however, the blade is omni-directional and the player has the option of controlling the launch direction by using the Right analog stick. After firing the blade, if the blade is spinning, the player may "recall" the blade simply by pulling the Right trigger again, otherwise the blade will automatically recall when it encounters an obstacle. If the blade has returned to the ship, the play may use it in defense by Blocking incoming blades. This requires precise timing and ship movement is temporarily limited. The key to cooperative play lays in the coordination between pilot and gunner as players try to balance offense with defense.

• Tighter control: We spent a lot of time working on improving the control scheme for Whirled! so that it was more responsive and more intuitive. For example we provided visual feedback for reverse thrust in the form of smaller engine thrust animations. We also prevented objects from "flipping" from one side of the field to the other.

• Damage and Scoring: A rudimentary hi-score value is kept and scoring is based on the difficult of the enemies killed and the number of enemies on screen. Each ship has a set amount of Structural Integrity. The player has 3 Structure points while enemies have either 1 or 2 points. If a ship is hit by a blade, their Integrity is decremented by 1 point and the speed of their ship is also effected. Over time, all ships repair themselves and top speed will return. When the player's ship reaches 0 Structure points, the game is over.

• AI and Enemy Blades: The enemy AI is very simplistic however they have a variety of blades that provide special abilities such as "Heat-Seeking". Certain AI enemies also have Structural Integrity or speed. More difficult enemies will spawn as the player's score increases.

• Bonus points go to anyone who recognizes the inspiration for the main game mechanic (including the Cooperative Control elements), though controls, visuals and aspects of the gameplay are signficantly different. Hint: it was originally developed for the Intellivision.

Special thanks to the XNA team for putting together a great, highly productive environment. I've wanted to make this game for over 20 years and I was able to build almost every feature I wanted into it in less than 2 weeks, using nothing but my non-existent spare time!

Screenshots: