ZetaFlow

September 1, 2007 4:47 PM

ZetaFlow. Blow up a few of his spaceships, then build your own to blow up. Some instructions inside.
posted by Citizen Premier (33 comments total)

The editor is a bit quirky, but here are the control that I understand and use:
Q and T: Rotate piece 45 degrees
W and R: Rotate piece 1 degree
ESDF: Move piece
V: Lock or Unlock which piece is controlled to what. The best way to do this is to move the piece around until the line connects to the piece you want, then press V to lock the connection there.
Z, X and C: Duplicate piece vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
Space/ Del: Delete piece.

As for rotation; "rotatePart, part#, speed, minAngle, maxAngle, startingAngle," make sure you replace all text with numbers except for "rotatepart." I'm sure you can figure out the rest.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:47 PM on September 1, 2007

Zetaflow's gameplay isn't quite as tight as the ship demolition in Warning Forever, its clear inspiration - but the editing mode is terrific. Thanks, Citizen!
posted by Iridic at 4:56 PM on September 1, 2007

Level 7 took all my free guys, and level 8 finished me off.
posted by delmoi at 4:57 PM on September 1, 2007

I think that is one very pretty game. I liked the game play too.
posted by MarshallPoe at 5:05 PM on September 1, 2007

this was so boring,
posted by mary8nne at 5:11 PM on September 1, 2007

Extremely easy. The last level was dumb. After getting laser-trapped, it camped my spawn point for a long time. After it let me be born again, easy.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 5:15 PM on September 1, 2007

The fun really isn't in playing the game, it's in making your own spaceships. I should probably have mentioned that in the post. And here's a link to the main page if you want to skip the example levels and go straight to the editor.
posted by Citizen Premier at 5:18 PM on September 1, 2007

Battleships Forever is another Warning Forever derivative. Good fun.
posted by anthill at 5:23 PM on September 1, 2007

wow they're putting ads every few levels in the flash games now? time for me to crawl back under my rock.
posted by jepler at 5:27 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm quite positive I saw the term "zeta flow" in a totally different context while browsing earlier today. I wish I could remember where, as I'm going to have to search my browser history before I can play this game.
posted by chudmonkey at 5:50 PM on September 1, 2007

Those don't seem to appear in the user-made levels, jepler. I had a similar reaction to you, but fortunately Adblock Plus just made it look like it was loading.
posted by Citizen Premier at 6:08 PM on September 1, 2007

amazing what PHP can do these days j/k
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 6:11 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm quite positive I saw the term "zeta flow" in a totally different context while browsing earlier today

Pearl Jam.
posted by eriko at 6:25 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm rather proud of 'Jonah and the Whale," because it's my first tough level. For me at least.
posted by Citizen Premier at 6:33 PM on September 1, 2007

I saw this on jayisgames a few weeks ago and everyone was falling over themselves to give it a blowjob. It's an exercise in how fast you can click the mouse button....right? Wow.
posted by DU at 6:59 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm rather proud of 'Jonah and the Whale,"

It's nice if you're blue...

It's an exercise in how fast you can click the mouse button....right?

I find it easier just to hold it down.
posted by sidereal at 7:05 PM on September 1, 2007

It's nice if you're blue...

That little box is the shield generator. I know that's the tradition for this game because I've been playing it compulsively for hours.
posted by Citizen Premier at 7:17 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm rather proud of 'Jonah and the Whale," because it's my first tough level. For me at least.

It wasn't that tough (unless you're expecting people to be superhumanly good and hang out inside the gap in the middle), it just takes forever because only a few shots get through the opening each time before you have to back off and blow up the missile swarm coming at you.
posted by juv3nal at 7:21 PM on September 1, 2007

Well, I guess I should say it's my first level with any real game elements (where you actually have to do something).
posted by Citizen Premier at 7:36 PM on September 1, 2007

I did one.

Here's the same one without any movement, which makes it dead easy.
posted by juv3nal at 8:22 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm rather proud of 'Jonah and the Whale," because it's my first tough level. For me at least.

PROTIP: Hang around outside the opening (nothing will threaten you except the rockets) and just shoot bullets in as much as you can. Eventually you'll break some rocket launchers opposite the opening, which won't really reduce the rocket threat but will let you hit the backbone of the whale. It has tons of health, because the health of any piece is proportional to the amount of stuff that will blow up when you disconnect it, but eventually the backbone breaks and it's GG. I didn't even bother with the shield generator.

The hardest part was figuring out and getting used to the manual aiming so that I didn't just wail on the shielded parts. Apparently your gun will rotate to face the opposite of the direction you're moving, but your gun will not rotate while you hold down the firing key and move.

Whiskey makes the game harder.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:28 PM on September 1, 2007

RULE: Cannot post any you haven't beaten yourself. Juv3nal?
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:43 PM on September 1, 2007

I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to post that accusation. If you beat it after saving it, it should show up in the gallery... I'm afraid I have to know it can be done before I try it.
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:44 PM on September 1, 2007

How the heck do you make the manual aiming work? I can't find the key bindings for that.
posted by jmhodges at 9:02 PM on September 1, 2007

Read my other post: It's tricky, because there are no separate key bindings for aiming.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:17 PM on September 1, 2007

Ah, sorry, thanks.
posted by jmhodges at 9:19 PM on September 1, 2007

RULE: Cannot post any you haven't beaten yourself. Juv3nal?

fair cop. I haven't beaten the moving bp2. With infinite lives it must be possible, but it's pretty rough. I was just building stuff to make pretty bullet patterns more than anything else.

Actually, I reckon even the stationary version of 'bp3' is impossible because I threw in so many missiles that your shots never ever connect with the body of the ship.

I've done 'bp1' without dying though. After you clip some of the guns from the very bottom of it, there's a couple of tiny dead zones you can sit in and just hold down fire.
posted by juv3nal at 9:59 PM on September 1, 2007

OK, I just played with this for way too long and it's bedtime. I gave myself 10 extra guys and was able to beat this using all of them - if you screw up less than me you shouldn't need them all, at least once you figure out the mechanic, and I built in a bit of a move that I'm not agile enough to do that should save you time and guys if you can pull it off. I actually lost more guys towards the end than the first few stages of the boss fight. I used manual aim - I feel like with this one, auto aim would make you take longer and thus lose more guys to mistakes, but who knows.

Protip for this one: IMMEDIATELY START CIRCLING.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:58 PM on September 1, 2007

ouch. that rotate-to-ship laser in your 'tribeam' is mean, TheOnlyCoolTim.
posted by juv3nal at 11:13 PM on September 1, 2007

Tribeam was tough. I just narrowly won with my last man. I might be able to do it in one, if I try it again and again--but that's not for tonight.
posted by Citizen Premier at 11:32 PM on September 1, 2007

Ah got tribeam down now.
I failed a couple of times because once I had got the side things out of the way, I kept trying to hit the three things in the middle by circling around the outside, but it's way better to wait for a break and dash in there even if it costs you a couple of lives.
posted by juv3nal at 11:43 PM on September 1, 2007

Actually, I reckon even the stationary version of 'bp3' is impossible

It's not impossible. Trust me on this one. *twitch, twitch*
posted by fusinski at 12:25 AM on September 2, 2007

295 plays, 4% victories. I feel a sense of accomplishment.

The one called "Battlestar Galactica" is pretty fun too - 2% victories, but completely achievable.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:52 AM on September 2, 2007