Created by: Polly
Music by: EliteFerrex
Spooderhome Hive Art by: Ghosty
Pixel Planet Generator by Deep Fold
Tested by: Camellia, Rune, and Ghosty

Yes, I know spiders don't live in hives, but Nest Assault just doesn't have the same ring to it...

Anyway...

Beyond belonging to the same series, both Planet Attrition games share a few distinct qualities.

1. Both games started out as one idea, but ended up being something pretty much completely different by the time they were released.

2. Both games were worked on for a bit, and then languished for months until the right spark of motivation hit or the idea finally became fully realized.

I knocked out the first seven stages in a few days, then the last three a couple months later, and then the game sat unfinished and without a final boss or ending for another three months before it was done.

3. Both games were completed while I was in the middle of pretty deep episodes of depression.

Turns out, all I need to do to finish a game is just get depressed!

So, that's fun!

Anyway, as I mentioned Hive Assault began its life as something completely different. It was actually going to be an Atari-esque SmashTV type riff simply called SPOODERS!

I did pick up a couple new tricks making this prototype. Namely limiting the player to 8-way shooting, and though it's not really discernible from the footage, the enemy pathing is on a grid that allows them to track the player, even if obstacles are in their way. Nothing much was ever done with this, though a twin stick shooter is on my bucket list, and I even wrote a meaty prototype for one about five years ago. John threw some really cool work into this prototype that I hope we can actually finish sometime, because it's really rad!

The impetus behind Hive Assault's final form was that I've always enjoyed the thrust-based movement in the classic arcade game Asteroids. I never wanted to copy the game directly, nor did I want to make something with the severity of that game's physics. I just kinda liked the idea of steering something around with a little bit of acceleration and deceleration and basing a game around getting good at managing your speed to make sharp turns. Essentially, the game was going to be mostly focused on dodging and getting good at maneuvering around obstacles. Some kinda solo-racer time trial thing.

I didn't really get far into the idea beyond programming the ship's movement so that I had a little asteroids-less Asteroids game where I could move a little triangle around the screen. I did a few tests with single screen stages and screen wrapping and what have you, but those didn't get too far. Nor did trying to make large sprawling stages with full screen scrolling (though that's an idea for another time...) Nothing was really sparking joy, so I defaulted to where my big dumb cavewoman brain goes when I'm all out of ideas. LET'S ADD VIOLENCE!

Once spooders were thrown into the mix, the idea started taking a more concrete shape. Since all the rooms were going to be closed off little obstacle courses with enemies, I couldn't really do the SmashTV thing of spawning enemies in from the sides, so that's when the idea of little nests that constantly spawn spooders came in as well as each stage's win condition. I unapologetically ripped the maw enemies from the Alien's Lair stage in Contra and then things started rolling, but not without more iterations.

In early versions of prototyping, you used a button to activate thrust and a separate button to fire. There was also a build where you had a hard limit of ammo you could fire, so you had to make your shots count, clearing out spooders that were in the way, but also making sure you had enough shots to kill all the maws in a stage. I wasn't really feeling it though, so I nixed the ammo idea, made the ship fire automatically, and the only thing you had to worry about was maneuvering and aiming. That's when the game started to feel right to me. It had that same simplicity as Planet Attrition, even though this game really wasn't officially a sequel yet in my mind (despite having spooders).

It took a bit to figure out the shape of the game as well. It wasn't going to really be as polished and loved on as it would eventually be. I just wanted to make a fast, 10 stage speedrun game where the goal was to complete the game as quickly as possible. There wasn't even going to be a final boss. Just, here's 10 stages, do it fast, and then try to do it faster.

I was inspired by John's Action Sketches. A series of quick-fix arcadey games that only need a few minutes of your time. Every time I set out to do something more sketch like though, my weirdo creator brain just keeps wanting to add more stuff, more polish, more MORE! Something in my brain will just not let me want to flesh things out more.

I suppose this game went from being an attempt at a sketch to another full-blown Polly production when I started dabbling with making cutscenes to give the game a little bit of story and finally making it a sequel to Planet Attrition. The inspiration for my cutscene style is based on the NES Ninja Gaiden games, and though they're relatively simple, I'm really happy with how they turned out and bookend the game. It's not all that deep or anything, but it's fun that the silly spooder score attack game now has lore AND a sequel. Another thing I wanted to do was distinguish Planet Attrition's aesthetic a a little more from my other games which tend to have a fairly simple neon-tinged look. I'm not an artist by any means, so I work with what I got. So, while Hive Assault's visuals may look somewhat similar to my other games like SynchroniZ and num_lock with a lot of simple colors and shapes, I used a darker red for the walls and there's no strobing or color cycling backgrounds.

As for the TV static transitions? Iunno! It was just the first thing that popped into my mind when I was deciding how to transition between stages. I wanted it to happen quickly so there's very little downtime, so I just went with something that was kinda like changing TV channels.

Even though this game lacks the neon trappings of a lot of my games, the last little touch was some color cycling text. This was done simply to homage late 80s/early 90's Midway arcade games like Robotron and NARC's UI. Since it's an arcadey type game, I just thought a little more color popping here and there might look nice if used sparingly.

Finally, in early June of 2026, the pieces fell into place and I was able to get the game finished. As mentioned, a depressive episode kept me from working on the game after I'd sent the ten-stage beta (sans final boss) to testers, but the spark finally found me again, and I managed to knock out the final boss encounter and game's ending sequence in a couple days.

The final testing phase for the game proved to be very crucial. The initial results were that the game was fun and challenging, but the final boss ended up being a MAJOR point of issues. It was too hard, and I'm happy that the testers relayed that. It did send me into a brief state of panic, feeling like I'd completely missed the point of my own game, and had I not had the SynchroniZ experience, I may have fallen into the trap again of making a game that I could play and finish without much issue, but maybe needed to be pulled back so others could better adapt.

There was a good amount of communication between the testers and me that helped pull things back into a more manageable state, but also improved the boss by leaps and bounds. Slowing the boss down, adding a new and fun way to cause damage, and some better visual/audio indicators got the Spooderian Mothermind back on track. It's a boss that I think is still a little incongruous to the rest of the game, but the changes made helped make her feel more in line with everyting the game teaches you in the preceding ten stages.

There are also a few fun little easter eggs and tweaks that testers suggested that helped add just a little more charm and fun to the game. Once this version of the boss was finished and I played the game front to back a few more times, it finally felt exactly as I'd wanted it to.

There is one small bit of "cut content" so to speak. This is a stage that was in the original 10-stage beta I sent to testers as stage 8. There weren't really any complaints about it, but I ended up remaking it afterward into the diamond-shaped stage that's in the game now because I just wasn't feeling it, and the amount of tight spaces felt a little much.

After the final round of testing, I added the ship color selector on a whim. A feature I'd never even planned for. Didn't take a lot of effort and it was done and fully functional in a couple hours. Again, just a nice little cherry on top that I think helps give the game a little more zazz.

I'm happy this one finally got finished. I knew from my own initial builds that I had a fun little idea that I liked, and even if it took a while for me to finally uncover the full picture and get it to the finish line, I learned a lot in making it and I think it's rad.

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