Fresh from delightfully subverting expectations with firefighting action game Station 37 (go play it if you haven’t already), FrankieSmileShow and Chef Boyardee are back with another quirky little freeware gem. This time, ALTCODE, an ASCII shmup with a persistent element. The number of enemies in the game is constantly growing (even when you’re not playing) in synch with your computers internal clock, and only by playing it can you reduce this number. Help it reach zero, and you get to fight the final boss and potentially unlock a fourth and final playable ship.

Developed largely over the course of a single day as part of a 4-hour Poppenkast development competition, Frankie kept refining and tweaking the design over the course of the next week, evolving it from a short experimental piece to a more fleshed out game, and is currently looking for feedback from this release. Give it a try, readers – did you enjoy it? What parts of the design worked, and what didn’t? Share your thoughts – here, or with the developer himself.

Personally, I love it. Although I may just be biased because the music is ridiculously catchy and has burrowed its way directly into my brain already. I’ll be humming this for days. It’s pretty slow-paced for a shooter, with a generous health bar, and less evasive combat than most. For the best, really, as the chunky, slow-moving ships probably don’t lend themselves too well to weaving between bullets.

[Altcode]