Mystic Polka Shootout

(this game was the result of a competition wherein the theme was "the game must have a name that comes from the random game name generator - and I drew "mystic polka shootout" - thus this strange game was born)

Installation:

(if you don't do this, silent/unexplained crashes may occur when you attempt to run the game)

1.) Run "directx_aug2007_redist.exe" - this will install August 2007 DirectX.

Yes, that specific version does matter - Managed DirectX is very particula with its DLLs, and only a small range of DirectX release contain the ones I need. I don't care if you just barely played a game that installed a recent version of DirectX, you might still need this.

2.) Run "dotnetfx.exe" - this will install .NET 2.0

Instructions:

Run with "Run MPS.bat" in MysticPolkaShootout (or just run the exe from the bin/Release dir)

WSAD moves and jumps, left mouse is "fire" (trumpet), and "Q" toggles between your two weapons. Press escape to quit.

Spacebar triggers the concertina death blossom, whose charge is shown in the meter below your health. A glockenspeil will sound to let you know you're at full charge, and the color is a quick-check indicator of how long until your next charge.

You can shoot notes out of the sky with your own shot. This makes the trombone shotgun an EXCELLENT shield. Use it as one. The concertina death blossom, in addition to more or less clearing the stage, also makes an EXCELLENT 3-second bullet shield (assuming you trigger it when standing still).

Your health bar is the red number at the upper left. The one labelled "Health" (you probably figured that out already). It regenerates over time at a fixed rate - if you get down to a low health, back off and use the trumpet to snipe or back off and shield yourself with the trombone while your health regens.

There are 5 specifically designed levels of progressively harder enemies, each level lasting a minute. If you survive past that, the game will continue spawning the last level-type enemies, but with each additional level will reduce the spawn timer.

When you die, you'll be shown how the level you reached. the "+X" indicates what extra level you reached.

That's about it, now how long can you stay alive?!?