Hydrogen 4k (Craptastic 2024)

Back Story
The year is 2183, almost fifty years after the alien occupation of Earth began. In the decades since, our resistance fighters have kept to the shadows, learning as much as possible about the enemies’ weaknesses and harvesting their technology whenever possible. At long last we are in a position to strike back. The alien forces are directed by a hive mind which resides in a giant orbiting space station. Using their re-purposed tech you must infiltrate the station which contains twelve energy chambers, these must each be neutralised. Every chamber has an array of defence cubes which must be destroyed in order to progress to the next chamber. Once all twelve chambers have been cleared, the station will no longer have sufficient energy to control its antimatter drive, resulting in detonation and the final defeat of our hated enemy. Using the alien’s technology, the resistance have created a number of power spheres which contain enough energy to destroy the defence cubes. These spheres will be directed by your effector, a bat like device made from a super tough alloy. Your effector can be moved horizontally across the top of each chamber in order to direct the power sphere towards the blocks. Try to avoid missing the sphere on it’s upward trajectory as this will result in an overload and the loss of one of your limited supply of effectors! 

Screen Layout 
Your effector is moved horizontally across the top of each chamber in order to direct the power sphere towards the coloured defence cubes at the bottom. 

The panel on the right of the screen shows the number of remaining effectors, the current chamber number and name, the overall game hiscore, the current score, remaining defence cubes and any currently active feature. 

Initially you will be supplied with 4 effectors. If you prove skilful and show some promise then the resistance will provide you with one additional effector every time an alien chamber has been cleared. Each effector has seven collision zones which determine the rebound angle of the power sphere. This allows you to direct the sphere based on where it collides with your effector. The horizontal speed of your effector is proportional to the rebound angle of the power sphere. 

Scoring
Points will be awarded for each defence cube destroyed. The highest rows of cubes provide the fewest points, increasing to the most points for the lowest row of cubes. 150 points are awarded for every hydrogen canister collected (see below for details) and a 1000 point bonus is awarded for every chamber completed. Your hiscore will be incremented whenever your score is greater and this will be retained in subsequent games as a target to beat.

Defence Cubes
These are the coloured cubes in the lower portion of the chamber which must be destroyed in order to progress. An indicator on the panel will show how many cubes remain to be destroyed in the current chamber. Their purposes are twofold. Firstly as a defensive barrier to hinder enemies from progressing deeper into the station. Secondly as energy storage devices to provide power for station operations. Energy is stored in the form of hydrogen canisters and occasionally one of these canisters will be liberated when a cube is destroyed. It will float upwards and if collected, it will endow your effector with a special feature. 

Hydrogen Canisters
These hydrogen canisters will contain one of 4 different isotopes, denoted by the colour of the canister. Each isotope will provide a unique feature to assist you on your mission. These are as follows: 
SUPER WIDEBOI: A humorous name for a seriously useful feature. Protium will engage your auxiliary hydraulics, stretching your effector to twice its width.
ELECTRO MAGLOK: Engage electro magnets! Deuterium will cause the power sphere to stick to your effector until you press fire to release it. Perfect for aiming at those last few stubborn defence cubes.
LASER DRILLER: Tritium will endow your effector with such energy that when transferred to the power sphere, it will drill straight through any defence cubes until it hits the bottom of the chamber, whereby it will return to normal energy levels.
QUANTUM FIELD: Last but certainly not least, Quadium. A very useful isotope indeed, this will generate a force barrier across the top of the chamber which will not only repel the power sphere but also supercharge its speed. Apart from SUPER WIDEBOI, all the above features have a limited number of uses until they expire. Collecting any hydrogen canister will automatically cancel any other active feature so choose wisely when deciding which ones to collect!

Defence Grid
When there are only 20 or fewer defence cubes remaining in any chamber then the alien defence grid will be activated. This floods the chamber with extra energy, resulting in your power sphere being accelerated in order to make it more difficult to hit. Hang in there, destroy the final few cubes and victory will be close at hand. 

Good luck