Daedalus (A Video Game)

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Hey all! Here's a thing I made for an Intro to Video Games unit at uni a while back, and it's actually not completely terrible? It's a Metroidvania-style game built in the Kodu game engine. It probably takes around five to ten minutes to finish.

You can download Kodu, which you'll need if you want to play the game, here. It's a pretty good way to get started making games, especially for kids (but adults too). 

File below. My proposal for the game is also included.

Daedalus (2014)

Empty Nest

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The last boxes are taped up, the rooms are empty, and the walls are bare. The sharp, stale smell of a decade and a half’s worth of accumulated dust hangs in the air.
“Jason?” Mum calls. “Can you take Daisy for a walk before the truck gets here?”

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Before the Eagle

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Far below, Prometheus faced his brother Atlas across the mountain path. The battle raged around them. Smoke and ozone stung the air, carried against the two siblings by the whipping wind. Shock and anger burned in Atlas's eyes. And there was something else there.
Ah, right, Prometheus thought glumly. Betrayal.

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Strictly Spoilers: Prometheus

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When I heard that Ridley Scott was planning an Alien prequel, way back in 2012, I was pretty hyped. Then, I was disappointed. Now, after Alien: Covenant, I find myself appreciating Prometheus a whole lot more.

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The first few chapters of a novel that hopefully I'll finish some day

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It's been ages since I posted last. I've been thinking a bit (a lot) lately about writing, and what it means to me and what I want to do with it. I've said this before... but I'm hoping to post a lot more in the near future. I've got plans, man, big plans1, you just wait.

So anyway, I thought I'd post this to get the ball rolling. This is a story and a universe I've been working on in bits and pieces since the Planck epoch. The Richell Prize, a novel-writing competition, prompted me in 2015 to go ahead and get the first few chapters done. I didn't make the shortlist, and I wasn't expecting to, but it did succeed in getting me to put some actual stuff down. Two years later and I haven't added much - you know how it is - but I thought I'd put it up here anyway. It's a bit rough in retrospect, and it could definitely use some work. One day, man. One day.

1 Plans are at most mild to medium in size.

Dubious Honour - Part 2

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Elya continued to fly the Supernought as they fled back to the bridge, which was not an easy journey given that his suit's jets, and several of Delton's bones, were broken. The ship was accelerating at full power now, away from the nucleus-forsaken rock behind them. Without the ship's inertial muffling, they would have been no more than red stains on the rear walls; even with it they were struggling to move against the acceleration.

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Dubious Honour - Part 1

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The dead ship hung in space, spinning slowly. With active surfaces disabled, its hull mirrored the distant stars perfectly. Even without stealth measures it was visible only by the constellations it altered as it passed before them, blotting out stars and replacing them with new ones. As it turned, however, the craft’s interior became visible, exposed by jagged sections of missing hull.  There were no sparking cables, no vapours leaking from smashed pipes. Just a broken eggshell.
       From the launch bay of the SDU Dubious Honour, Delton watched the incongruous opening draw closer as the Semartus ship matched the Supernought’s velocity. She floated in the airlock with a dozen other crewmembers, both Darax and Semartus, vacuum suits ready and sealed.

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The Tulisan War: Stormfronts

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My war started a long time before the Tulisan. I was getting old before they were even a blip on SDU deep space radar. I'm a veteran, you know, from the Storm border conflicts. I enlisted right out of school, as soon as I could. I was stationed on Bulwark, my homeworld, actually, which has the happy distinction of playing host to no less than three Storm invasions. And one Tulisan invasion. 

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