Downloads

You must download the following software in order to play this game. It's kind of a pain, I know. Games created with XNA require all kinds of libraries but the API itself makes it so easy to create fun games.
.Net 2.0
DirectX 9.0c
XNA Runtime 1.0
Missile Defender

About The Game

Missile Defender is a fast paced game set in the near future. The world is at nuclear war and missiles are flying in every direction. As a player, you are stuck right in front of four of them. Don't worry! These missiles are on their way to destroy the enemy. Your job is to protect these missiles at all costs. The enemy will send special ships that will drop floating proximity mines towards your missiles. Fortunately, you have great technology at your disposal. Your missiles have powerful shields that can take a significant beating. They will not last forever, though. That's why your ship is equipped with a magnetic field. This magnetic field will pull mines towards your ship. If used correctly this magnetic field will alter a mine's course enough to miss your friendly missiles. Obviously, your ship is equipped with some powerful lasers to destroy your enemies. Supplies will be provided to you after you completely destroy an enemy wave. These supplies can recharge damaged missile shields, or give your ship powerful ablities.

How To Play

It may be confusing at first how to play Missile Defender, so here's some instructions on how to kick butt. Controlling your ship is just like any vertical scrolling space shooter. Your left thumbstick (or the arrow keys) moves your ship up,down,left, and right. Press the A button (or spacebar) to shoot your lasers. The left or right triggers activate your magnetic field. The left and triggers are analog. This means the more you press down on the trigger the more powerful your magnetic field will be. I strongly suggest using an XBox 360 controller for this reason. However, you can use left "alt" or "v" to active the magnetic field if you're using the keyboard. You can pause the game by pressing start or left control on the keyboard. If you want to change the angle of your camera view, move your right thumbstick up or down (or use page-up and page-down).

Keyboard Controls

• Ship Movement - Arrow Keys
• Fire Lasers - Spacebar
• Activate Magnetic Field - Left Alt or 'V'
• Pause - Escape

Useful Information

• The score you get from destroying an enemy is multiplied by the number of missiles your currently
  
  
• Power ups last for 15 seconds.
  
  
• The E powerup gives you invulnerabilty and a more powerful magnetic field.
  
  
• The W powerup gives you a more powerful set of lasers.
  
  
• Your missiles can take hits from 20 mines before they are destroyed.
  
  
• Power-ups are also affected by the magnetic field. Expert players can use this to their advantage.
  
  
• Missile shields are comepletely recharged if they come in contact with a powerup.
  
  
• You get 500 bonus points for beating the game.
  
  

Tips

The key to Missile Defender is being able to pull a mine towards your ship far enough that it either falls through a set of two missiles, or flies off to the side. I suggest getting close up to your enemies and activating your field just as they lay the mine. This will have more of an effect on the mine's final position when it flies past the missiles.



It's also important how you use your power-ups in Missile Defender. A powerup will fully recharge a missile's shield. So if you see a missile with a red shield (indicating that it's about to be destroyed), then it's probably better to use your magnetic field to pull the power-up towards that missile. However, if all your missile's shields are green, then go ahead and move your ship over the powerup to get the power up.

Questions? Comments? Come to my blog and leave a few lines. Or email me at jmkello@gmail.com.