js13k Time Again - Rally X

It come around to that time of year again when the js13k contest starts. You have to write a game, that runs offline, in 13kb of code - the theme this year is OFFLINE.

I've been thinking back to my childhood and remember a game called 'Rally-X'. My exposure to this game was on coin-operated arcade machines in the mid-80's. The game was so popular that one could easily play it well into the 90s and (like Pacman) you can still see it today tucked away in the back corner of some arcade parlours.

You can watch some play here if you wish. The basic mechanism is to find your way around a connected rectilinear maze and pick up little yellow flags - get all the flags to finish the level. Little red cars chase and corner you - if they hit you; you loose a life. This simple dynamic and only 5 or so board designs makes an intriguing, fun and complex game to play. It also has some pretty terrible chip-music. Although you can only see a small portion of the board a head-up display gives a strategic overview of the whole space as you play.

I think the mechanism will make a good starting point for my 13k game this year. I'll completely redesign the visual appearance and create a procedural way to generate the boards randomly and see how it goes.