TerminalShot (TSHOT)

My first native volume experiment still felt like a top-down game with thicker ships. I’m now working on a proper view from behind Vector, with threats further ahead and commands kept readable.

That means giving the ship a convincing rear, underside and banking silhouette while carrying across the original painted surfaces. The native chase slice now includes Vector and the first two remodelled fleet hulls. The picture here is an offline Blender study of the ship, rather than a capture of the game.

Getting the ship and scenery right from that angle is the current focus. The remaining models and worlds are still in progress, and bringing the typing and musical feel across to the new view needs more work.

TerminalShot started with a little neon ship and falling Linux commands. It’s since grown into a much more elaborate 2D game, with illustrated ships, bosses and combat that follows the music. Now I’m experimenting with giving that ship somewhere to fly, while keeping the typing at the centre of it.

It’s a little janky, but I don’t mind a bit of jankiness. I thought it was pretty cool, so I wanted to share it here.

I have been taking terminal practice into an arcade. Terminal Invaders puts Linux commands beneath descending formations: type a visible command to acquire the target and fire. Flags, paths, spaces and punctuation become part of the fight. The commands stay inside the game; the keyboard never sends them to a shell.

The musical side has become a game of its own. In Pulse, completed commands stay armed until the next bar releases a whole salvo. Flow leaves room for slower, forgiving practice. Arcade builds through a nine-wave campaign, while Blitz, Survival and Boss Rush offer different kinds of pressure. Power-ups are collected by typing their names too.

The latest addition gives Daemon, Gatekeeper and Kernel their own encounters. You type incoming counter-commands to protect the ship, then work on a boss’s core as its pattern changes. Gatekeeper can hold a completed core attack behind its remaining defences. Phase breaks and the final strike land with the music, so the payoff follows the decision you just made.

I made an original electronic score with a local ACE-Step arrangement, then built reactive synth layers, instrument voices and distinct boss music around it. Notes, projectiles and stage pulses share the same clock. The Mac app runs offline on Intel and Apple Silicon. I haven’t released it publicly yet, and I want more people to play it. I used automated play through the game for these screenshots.