Space Fighter - Vertical Scrolling Shooter

A pygame implementation of a vertical scrolling space shooter game with multiple weapon types, upgrades, and enemy types.

Game Features

• Player Ship Controls

  • Movement: WASD or Arrow keys
  • Fire: SPACE or Left Mouse Button (rate limited to 5 shots per second)
  • Hyper Dash: SHIFT key (brief invincibility and speed boost)
  • Energy Shield: E key (absorbs damage while active)

• Power-Ups & Upgrades

  • Health (Green): Restores player health
  • Shield (Blue): Refills energy meter
  • Weapon (Yellow): Upgrades weapon level or changes weapon type
  • Drone (Purple): Adds support drones that fire with you

• Weapon Types

  • Normal: Standard bullets that upgrade to multiple shots
  • Spread: Multiple bullets fired in a spread pattern
  • Bouncing: Bullets that ricochet off walls and enemies while targeting the closest enemy
  • Homing: Smart missiles that track and follow the nearest enemy

• Drone System

  • Intelligent drone positioning based on quantity (cardinal or circular formation)
  • Drones fire the same weapon type as the player
  • Chance to fire bouncing bullets regardless of current weapon type
  • Maximum drones varies based on difficulty (6 on Easy, 4 on Normal, 3 on Hard)

• Difficulty Settings

  • Easy: More health, natural health regeneration, more resources, slower enemies
  • Normal: Balanced gameplay experience
  • Hard: Less health, faster enemies, tougher bosses, limited weapon types

• Combat System

  • Basic Enemies: Small ships with simple attacks
  • Elite Enemies: Larger, tougher ships with more complex attack patterns
  • Specialized Enemy Types:
    • Cloaked Ambusher: Becomes invisible and unleashes burst attacks
    • Splitter Drone: Splits into smaller drones when destroyed
    • Shield Bearer: Protected by regenerating shields
    • Energy Sapper: Drains player energy with a beam weapon
    • Blade Spinner: Rotates and fires spiral projectiles
  • Mini-Boss: Barrier Goliath with protective barriers and shield system
  • Boss Fights: Unique boss encounters at the end of each sector
  • Combo System: Destroy enemies in succession to increase your score multiplier
  • Enemy projectiles despawn when their source is destroyed

• User Interface

  • Fullscreen display with properly centered gameplay
  • Interactive menu with buttons for game start, controls, and difficulty selection
  • Dynamic weapon indicator showing current weapon type and level
  • Resource counter and detailed game statistics
  • End-of-wave shop portals that players can enter when ready

Installation

1. Make sure you have Python 3.x installed
2. Install pygame using pip:

pip install pygame

Running the Game

Run the game using Python:

python space_shooter.py

Game Controls

• Movement: Arrow keys or WASD
• Fire: SPACE or Left Mouse Button
• Hyper Dash: SHIFT key
• Energy Shield: E key
• Enter Shop: E key (when next to shop portal)
• Navigate Menus: Arrow keys/WASD, ENTER to select, ESC to back
• Exit Game: ESC

Game Mechanics

• Your ship appears at the bottom center of the screen
• Waves of enemies scroll down from the top
• Avoid collisions with enemies and their bullets
• Collect power-ups to upgrade your ship and weapons
• Build up combos by destroying enemies in succession
• Progress through increasingly difficult waves and sectors
• Defeat the boss at the end of each sector to advance
• Enter the shop portal after defeating bosses to purchase upgrades

Objective

Survive as long as possible while destroying enemy ships and achieving the highest score possible. Defeat the final boss in sector 6 to complete the game.

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• pygame

Credits

Made by Alexander Dial and Gavriel Rodriguez