Maelstrom

The 1990s classic returns in a variety of formats with all the excitement from the past. Protect your ship from the onslaught of metal bodies and asteroids for as long as possible.

How to play

The game is best played with a keyboard using the four arrow keys (movement) and space bar (fire).

For gamepad, use the left and right triggers for thrust and breaking. The mini joystick for rotation and the A (Xbox)/X (PS) button for fire. For touch devices, the buttons should appear on-screen.

Breaking is imperfect to keep it interesting and there are subtle variations between desktop and mobile For example, health canisters can be shot on mobile but will explode if shot on desktop. Mobile also has longer non-wrapping shots. Free ships must always be caught not shot regardless of platform.

What's new?

The latest version updates the web edition to create a full-fledged game featuring: high scores, an introductory story, several bug fixes, better skipped frame protection as well as mobile and gamepad support.

The downloadable versions are still not available but will return soon. The code for these are available on my Github. That Github also includes all extracted assets ready to make your own web-game. Because Maelstrom's art and animations are under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (unported), the source code for the web edition is not required and not yet available.

Credits

The game is originally by Andrew Welch and Ambrosia Software. The SDL port and bulk of the code is by Sam Lantinga. Ian Gilman and Mark Lewis did the artwork. NASA's JPL provided the cool header graphic. Yves Guillou provided the basis for the modern icon. I realize the original icon was never meant to look like a brain but it always did to me. Cosmo Myzrail Gorynych created  Ct.js - the game engine on which the web version is based. ChicagoFLF - a font used by the web game - is by Robin Casady. The story drum beat was generously released by kiddpark to the public domain. The story itself is edited from Ambrosia Software's original.