If the game doesn't load, try to disable third-party cookies. Also, we recommend you play the game in fullscreen mode. Story:

You just got yourself a brand new ship and now you have figured out how to get away with an insurance scam with no risk whatsoever: simply run out of fuel in enemy territory! Although you're smart enough to find loopholes in legal codes, unfortunately, you're not wise enough to see how much of a terrible idea this is! In the unlikely event that you manage to survive, riches will await you home!

Inspired by a ( not so ) true story.

Controls:

Arrow Keys/WASD to move. The spaceship will orient itself towards the mouse. You can also bounce off of the edges of the screen to quickly change direction without losing much speed. Press space to immediately stop.

As you move, your fuel will start decreasing, which is what you want, but as your fuel decreases your ship will also become slower, making it more difficult to dodge enemy lasers.

The crosshair follows your mouse, and if you left-click, you will shoot lasers.

Enemies spawn naturally, and as you progress, they get harder. Once you beat level 4, you'll unlock endless mode where you can fight an infinite number of enemies without having to think about running out of fuel. The password to unlock the mode will be revealed to you once you finish the game, but if you want, you can see it at bottom of this page. In any case, try to beat the game first ;)

The Devs and The Jam:

This game was made by two people, Zero Bytes and EmpowerAnimations. We're both new game developers and this is our first released game and first-ever game jam.

This jam was challenging, to say the least, but as much as the theme was a limitation it was also an inspiration. After an intense round of brainstorming, we had decided on how the theme will shape our game.

First, and most obvious, is the base gameplay mechanic: running out of fuel. The Less is more theme can be interpreted in two ways: The less fuel you have the closer you are to beating the game, but also the game becomes more difficult as the initially trivial task of dodging your enemies becomes harder and harder in the same level. Your speed is the only thing keeping you alive, and without fuel, you are basically a sitting (space) duck.

Second, we attempted to implement the "Less is More" philosophy into our game design. We have opted for simple pixelated textures that concisely tell you what the game is: You're a spaceship and baddies are firing at you. Similarly, the SFX and Music were created as to not be over the top - why have overcomplicated sounds and an orchestral composition when a couple of instruments and a simple synthesizer does the job as well? This idea also leads to the "arcade" feeling of the game - no raytracing, and no hyper-realistic textures - just you and a challenging game.

This was a great learning experience for both of us, and we hope you enjoy our little game!

Spoilers: The password to unlock endless mode is "GIVEMEMORE" without the quotation marks. Enjoy! :D

Out of Order (EmpowerAnimations, Zero Bytes) screenshots