Z.A.P. was a game made for the Atari Gamer's annual LynxJam 2021 edition. It's a tower defence style game where waves of zombies approach your fortress.

The game jam version features a continuous attack arcade mode, with a story mode planned for the future.

The game was coded in three weeks using CC65, ABCmusic, GIMP and a couple of other support tools.

How To Play

In Z.A.P. you have to build offensive and defensive structures to keep zombies out of your fortress. You must balance your energy production and consumption and keep an eye on the integrity of your structures in order to survive.

There is a background energy generation that will fill up your energy bar, but you may need to build additional power plants to support more structures. All structures require energy to be built and all structures (except the power plant) have an idle energy usage. Structures like guns and laser consume additional energy when activated. If a gun/laser can't activate, it will power down until there is enough energy to activate it again.

All structures have a structural integrity meter (yellow bar). Once this reaches zero, your structure will fall to rubble. Zombies can attack your structures, but there is also natural deterioration of structures over time.

Controls

These are in the in-game controls.

ButtonDescriptionOpt 1Cycle through structures to buildAPlace structure on fieldBDestroy structure on selected field positionD-padChange field positionPausePauses the game Item and Enemy Stats Blaster
Damage (closest enemy)
Build energy
Energy Production
Idle Energy Use
Active Energy Use:
Structural Integrity1HP
20
0
1
3
2 Mega Blaster

Damage (closest enemy)
Build energy
Energy Production
Idle Energy Use
Active Energy Use:
Structural Integrity2HP
40
0
2
9
5 Laser

Damage (entire row)
Build energy
Energy Production
Idle Energy Use
Active Energy Use:
Structural Integrity1HP
40
0
2
15
4 Shield Wall

Damage
Build energy
Energy Production
Idle Energy Use
Active Energy Use
Structural IntegrityN/A
38
0
1
N/A
12 Power Plant

Damage
Build energy
Energy Production
Idle Energy Use
Active Energy Use
Structural IntegrityN/A
85
3
0
N/A
8 Zombie

Damage
Health1HP
4-12 Atari Lynx Development

If you are interested in developing your own games for Atari Lynx, check out The Atari Lynx Dev Wiki. Lynx is one of the easiest retro game consoles to get started coding with, and we at Atari Gamer will be running an annual game jam to get people on board. So if you have an idea for a game, don't hold back, code it for the Lynx!

Z.A.P. screenshots