By way of feedback, after playing this game for several weeks, I am frustrated in the fact that the maximum gun level is 12! No matter how many powerups one collects beyond this, it always remains at 12.

Moreover, gun level 12 is not as effective in destroying enemies as is level 11.

Perhaps there is a reason for this, in order to not make the game too easy as one could collect powerups presumably to be ever more destructive.

So how about an Expert level with the above handicap? And a normal level in which levels above 12 with increasing destructive power up to and including all previous fire power levels compounded and simultaneous?

Sometimes I play just to get to level 11 in order to blast and blast and blast. It is fun to blast at ever increasing levels.

Also consider a power up that fires at a 90 degree angle simultaneously with straight up.

In the normal level consider allowing the slow, shield, and 2x modes to carry over to the next level for whatever time is left on them -- though I if I had my way, I would make the shield level last a bit longer.

A game purist, and one who is better at hand-eye coordination than I, would probably poo-poo a normal level with these features. Fine they would have the Expert Mode. But hey, there are plenty of people of less than instant reflexes and peripheral vision who would probably play this game more if these additions were allowed.


.......................Moderator Comment....................

Thank you for your suggestions Jack. This is exactly what I was hoping for from the community. If I can just persuade others to do the same as you. I'm sure this project will go from better to fantastic. It just takes a little effort from more community members for it to be a success.

Addicting game.
Really enjoy even tho I haven't made it past level 7 yet.
Nice graphics

Thanks for the giveaway!

WARNING: This game should have a warning box... HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!


I REALLY enjoy this game!!

whenever I click on register nothing happens?
I don't even need the key to play.
It looks like its trial and time is left but see what I am showing:-
Trial Version
( minutes left)
And I am able to play all the missions and levels?
How is that possible that it works like full version but says it is trial?
I even didn't gave the key in readme file.
And I couldn't.The time limit is also nothing.I can play as much as I want and can play even the 9 missions.I unlocked 2nd one even.


......................Moderator Comment..............

did you install the game on the day it was given away?

No game giveaway this weekend? It's a pity!

I suggest a good free racing game for the weekend – Ultra Nitro Racers from http://gamehitzone.com

here is a link to the game http://gamehitzone.com/previewgame/23/ultra-nitro-racers.html

how often do they get new games on here cause this one has bin on here for a few days now and it can nolonger even b downloaded


..............................Moderator comment..........................

Games are only available for 24 hours from the start of the giveaway.

Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Cheers

Went through the registration process when I d'loaded it on Sunday. Seemed to work. Played for a while tonight just fine. Stopped. Started again later and it says my temporary registration is expired.

I like what little I saw, but now nothing. Help?


...............................Moderator comment........................................


The game giveaway was available for download on Saturday. If you installed it on Sunday it wou;d only work as a demo. Did you find the activation code in the readme?

Its a addictive game..hav downloaded it ..its cool.
Plz add sm adventure games also..

funny i didn't get this till Sunday afternoon and i have nothing for Sunday's giveaway... so i think the mailer is playing games again

Hey thats really not a easy shooter Game, its fast and fun Thank's

Thumbs up!!! Great game! Lots of fun for the whole family. Thanks to all who brought this. CHEERS!

Mr. Snoozles - super cat

very good game thanks for share

No new giveaway today? It's a pity!

I suggest good free racing game for the weekend – Ultra Nitro Racers from http://gamehitzone.com

here is a link to the game http://gamehitzone.com/previewgame/23/ultra-nitro-racers.html

This is a fun game. One of the best gamegiveaways for a long time.

And comment 19 was the way to go regarding the registration issue.

The game installed fine on XPSP3.
I sent it to a custom directory and no problems at all.
No problem with PC Tools Threatfire either, as someone else mentioned.
It was VERY easy to copy and paste the key into the program to register. What some of these people are doing is beyond me?
This was a piece of cake to install and register.

registration is not working !!!

Sorry about the late 2 cents worth, but for me a winner, and I'm not a shmupper. Easy mode lets you get hooked without the early confusion and frustration in some shooters. I'm sure that comes later, :), as it should. One of the best games by far I've gotten from GGOTD. GOTD and GGOTD reward patience, and I mean that as a compliment.

To MODERATORS: Let me just say that with time constraints on users between download and comment you should considered posting comments and questions in a more timely fashion. I have never seen anywhere else where it takes so long for a post to appear after submission. Anywhere else, ever, even 3rd world. Except at Giveaways.


.............................Moderator comment....................................

There is only me to moderate and post comments. I do this voluntarily, but also have a family and other life to attend to. I volunteered because at one point a few years ago, the comments were only moderated around three times throughout the day. If you missed those you were scre!!d. Be happ that someone at least replies to most queries. only do so much.

@WHITERABBITUK - This is quit nice. Thanks for advice on registration. You are right. Need to ignore / close first session with HTML symbols and then start up fresh. Registered in two seconds after that. Nice game play! Good catch! CHEERS!

I think registration worked as when opening game i get no box to enter code again. But on opening game i still get a screen touting advantages of registered version. Should this be? time is running out on me, i appreciate advice if know your game is properly registered. thx


..........................Moderator Comment.......................

Scuze the late reply, sound just right. ;-)

Have tried to register this game three times, uninstalled it three times, copied and pasted, did everything, still get an invalid registration key notice. Help! only 55 minutes left. Had this game on an old computer that totally crashed and would love to have it again!

INstalled great on Windows 7 64bit. But, how do you exit the game? No exit button or X or anything I can see? Thanks.


..............................Moderator Comment...........................

Pressing Esc should bring up a menu that enables you to escape from the game.

This is really a fun game. I almost didn't download and try it because I wasn't all that fond of Space Invaders. This is so much more then Space Invaders ever was - so glad I tried it.

I have Windows 7 64 bit. I got a page full of html errors every time I tried to register it. I couldn't make the window with the html go away, and the options it gave me were pretty worthless. I finally tried telling it to run as administrator and it worked fine... but now it's late and I'm too tired to actually play it. But it looks good!

#27, Using Windows 7 64 bit, I had the same problem, so I changed permissions in the installation folder, I think it needs WRITE permission. High scores works fine on my computer now.

Bah. This isn't a verticle Shmup. It's a Space Invaders clone.
*uninstalls*


............................Moderator Clone........................

That's exactly what a vertical Shmup is, 'a space invaders clone'. Space invaders was the first Shmup. Check Dennis's reply below.

In case anyone is interested, or is still reading, here is the informtion from Windows7 on why the program does not run:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: StarDefender2.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.1
Application Timestamp: 4bf25ebb
Fault Module Name: StackHash_0a9e
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0279d2a1
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

I have win xp and it will not play on my pc. No problem registering. I double click the icon and the start up screen comes up. When I click on "play now" a black screen flashes up, disappears and that is. Nothing else happens. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Any help would be appreciated.


................................Moderator Comment...........................

Hello Gwen, try updating your graphics card drivers. To find out which graphics card you have go to the run command via the start menu and type in dxdiag then click okay. This brings up the direct X diagnostics window. Click on the display tab and you'll be able to see whether you are using ATI or NVidia graphics chips. Go to Google and type in whichever it is (i.e. ATI or NVIDIA) then download the drivers. You may also need to update your Direct X, which can be found via Microsoft. XP uses DX9.0c.I hope this helps. If you continue to have problems please go to the forums and post details there. I have to retire for the night (It's already nearly 6am with only 2 hours of the giveaway left). So long as you've installed and registered the game it should still be possible to get the game working after the giveaway.

I was ready to download this until I saw that it possibly installs a toolbar without permission. I don't need something like that. I'll pass today.

...........................Moderator comment..................................

The game doesn't install a tool bar. to test the game I've installed it to several computers and none have had toolbars installed. There would have been a general outcry if any tool bars had been installed. It's your loss if you don't install. ;-)

The game is fun and I had no issue with the registration process. What I don't appreciate is the two unasked and unneeded icons it stuck on my desktop. I know I can easily delete them but a well written program will ask before deciding to add something to our systems. Other than that nice job Awem Studio. As always thank you to the GGAOTD team.

Good game... except that when you start getting hit, your firepower goes down a lot, and then it takes longer to kill things and you get hit more. So when you start losing, it's downhill pretty fast. Bit frustrating there, but the rest of the game is well done.


.............................Moderator Cmment......................

Most arena games of this genre do the same. The point is to avoid getting hit so that you can kep the fire power earned by collecting the bonuses that drop down.

65.Sigh; Star Defender 2 can’t be removed via control panel…not there…
……………………Moderator comment……………………………
Go to the Start Menu/Programs and click on Star Defender 2, you will see an uninstaller amongst the shortcuts.
Comment by FlamingoNut — January 29th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
==================================================================

I tried to do that initially; see comment #58. When I try to uninstall via the Start Menu/Programs/Star Defender 2, I get a Norton SONAR error in the uninstall file being executed and tells me to reboot. Once rebooted, I opted to try the control panel way which isn't an option.


..............................Moderator comment.................................

Okay, sorry I wasn't of any help. I'd just delete the installed file. If you allowed it to install to default you'll find it via the following path:

C>Program Files>Star Defender 2

If you want to clear the registry type in Regedit in the search field. On opening the registry editor click on edit and from the drop down menu select find, type in your search parameters for example Star Defender 2 then click okay, you can use F3 to find more entries. i'd suggest creating a restore point before you start deleting registy entries or at least export each entry you intend deleting so that you can easily reinsert them. Hope this helps. i know it's the long way around, but you will get the game and all elements deleted. :)

Works on Win 7 X64. Nice variation on an old game idea. Lot of fun.

Install and was able to put in the key with no problem and had no problem with saving high score. Didn't even have to do the crtl-c or cntrl-v just the normal copy and paste. XP SP3. Nice game thanks GOTD!!!!

I was able to get it installed easily on my home office Win7 machine with an AMD processor and using my Chrome browser. Once it was successfully installed, and I could start the program, the registration was simple (following the hints from this discussion.) My guess is that the installation problems are hardware related, because the family room computer is a Dell, Core2 Duo, dual boot between Vista and Win7 and the game would not install on either system, using two different hard drives. Perhaps something in the Dell, Intel motherboard, integrated sound, or the video card (although I have ATI Radeons on both machines?)

Joe (#62): You can use "Shift" and "Ctrl" instead of the mouse buttons. ;-)

FYI, PC Tools Threatfire has a conflict with this game. Causes an "LP5" error on starting it. It's a PC Tools problem, Threatfire has this problem with a handful of other apps. Was explained as something to do with an interaction between apps that run compressed, and the way Threatfire injects code. You can still play but you have to completely kill Threatfire from the task manager, not just "suspend" the threatfire scanner from it's interface.


................................Moderator Comment.....................................

Thanks for the information Bilbo ;-)

Installed and works fine on Win 7 x64 without any problems. I've owned Star Defender IV for a couple years and I think this one may actually be a little tougher. Fun game if you like old-school Galaga-style shooters. Recommended. Thanks Awem and GOTD.

Please tell the developper that there is an error in the registration window that popup with full of HTML codes.

I love games like this. It's simple and great harmless but violent fun after a long day of dealing with BS artists at work. It did some funny things with the screen for a bit but that settled out. The game could be frustrating but that's mitigated by not having to put in a load of quarters. Thanks GAOTD!

I have tried repeatedly to activate/install and it will not. It's a shame... :-( I would love a good shooting game! I am running seven ultimate 64 bits.

its fun and enjoy but little like a chilldish....thanks
i just throw it to my recycle bin....anyway thanks.

Sigh; Star Defender 2 can't be removed via control panel...not there...


........................Moderator comment.................................

Go to the Start Menu/Programs and click on Star Defender 2, you will see an uninstaller amongst the shortcuts.

All work perfect! :)

Does not work under Win7. Needs to be set to Win XP compatible mode to work. Otherwise you see just a box of HTML code and the key will be rejected.

................................Moderator comment...............................

It works fine on all of my Win 7 installations.

After playing for 1h you get a broken hand. I wonder, why the shooting is not switched on by default all the time. Here, you have to press the mouse button all the time. In this way you kill your fingers.


........................................Moderator Comment..............................................

Good point. Something the developer should have fixed; probably a little late now as this is an old version of the game. Version 4 has been out for nearly three years. You don't need to keep pressing the fire button. Just keepit depressed an it will auto fire.

I give up. It installed just fine but it sure won't register. I have tried every way possible to register it, and yes, I did shut it down and then restart it (more than once. I tried ctrl C/Ctrl V, copy/paste, and typing in the registratgion number and nothing works. When I type it in, I guest a message that it is not correct. I have never gone through so much trouble trying to register anything. They need to change something in their method of registration.


..............................Moderator Comment..................................

Unlikely to happen as this game is over 5 years old and they have released two more versions of the game since. You could try downloading the demo from Awem's site:

http://www.awem.com/star-defender-2.html

Then use the key that has been provided. I don't know whether it will work, but it's worth a try.

Nice graphics and sound, well done.

After installing, if you do not run the game, you can register immediately. When you run and close the program, it is possible that some files (possibly dll files) are still in the memory, and will cause
problem when you try to register. I had no problem registering this game.

I think it's amusing how often the publishers' descriptions of the game use words like "original" and "unique", especially when mentioning the enemies and power-ups. I mean, seriously now. A game doesn't have to be "totally original" or "100% unique" to be fun.