wasmga.me
Language: English
← All games

Beam 'Em Up

ArduboyArcadeGame jamExternal

Beam 'Em Up

By clicking Start you download the game from Arduboy Collection (raw.githubusercontent.com). The game isn't hosted on wasmga.me.

Loading sources… all files

    Overview

    Beam 'Em Up is an Arduboy game by Ben Combee: pilot your squid ship over a pastoral landscape, trying to bring all the cows together while dodging meteors. It's like herding cats, but with cows.

    He made it for Arduboy Game Jam 5 in 2020. It grew from an idea he had in the late 90's, a Windows 98 screensaver of saucers beaming up cows from a pastoral landscape, and from the Atari 2600 game Cosmic Ark. He first wanted dropped cows to splat, but chose a subtle bounce as more friendly to the player.

    Made by
    Ben Combee (unwiredben)
    Released
    2020

    Controls guide

    Playing

    Button and keyAction
    Left / RightSpeed up left or right; the ship keeps drifting and slows down when you let go
    Up / DownRaise or lower the ship
    AXHold for the tractor beam
    AX + BZHold A and press B to go back to the title and start again with 3 cows

    Title

    Button and keyAction
    AXStart

    Cheatsheet

    How it works

    Goal
    Get every cow in the level into the beam at the same time
    Counter
    Top right: cows in the beam right now, out of the cows in the level
    Levels
    3 cows at first, then one more each level, up to 15
    Field
    Four screens wide, scrolling as you fly
    Beam
    Reaches 14 pixels below the ship and shuts off quickly when you release A
    Lifting
    Cows rise only when the ship flies a little above its lowest height; at the very bottom the beam counts cows but cannot lift them
    Carried cows
    Float just under the ship, pulled toward its middle and moving along with it
    Grazing cows
    Wander off on their own now and then
    Meteor
    Flies back and forth across the field; a hit knocks the ship aside and cuts the beam for half a second
    No game over
    There are no lives, no timer and no score; the levels just keep going

    Tips

    1. Fly a little above the ground with the beam on to pick up a cow, then carry it over to the next one instead of chasing cows one at a time.
    2. The ship is barely wider than a cow, so the herd has to be packed tightly under it. Gather cows into one spot quickly, before the ones left on the ground wander off.
    3. The ship slides on after you let go of Left or Right. Let go a little early to stop over a cow, and move gently while carrying one so it stays under you.
    4. A meteor flies in from the far end of the field and is only 8 pixels tall, so a small move up or down gets you out of its way.
    5. Dropped cows just bounce on the grass, so a meteor hit only costs you time.