Space InvadeOHRs is the latest release from the father of the OHR, James Paiges. It is, as he puts it, a "demonstration of plotscripting a mini-game using slices," a new feature in the latest work-in-progress build of the engine. As the name implies, James attempted to put together an OHR version of the classic Space Invaders, and he's done a very good job, especially considering it's just a tech demo.

I'm a big fan of the original Space Invaders, so I was pretty excited to see this pop up on the game list. I wasn't expecting it to run so smoothly, but it works extremely well. Your character (Vikings of Midgard's Cthulhu) moves around a fires responsively as he does battle with Fenrir's Viking heroes. The game is what you'd expect from a Space Invaders clone; fire laser beams at rows of descending monsters while they get faster and closer, firing their own deadly beams. The most important parts of a Space Invaders type game are how responsible the controls are and how accurate hit detection is, and this version nails both. The Vikings and the sound effects aren't as charming as the audio/visual experience of the original, but to me, not much is.

This little tech demo gives us a really good look at the OHR engine doing something it wasn't originally intended to do, and doing it very well. Best of all, James included the source code used to make this game, so you can look through/modify it on your own to get a better understanding of how the new slice features work (though you'd probably be best off waiting for a tutorial). This demo did a great job getting me excited for the next official engine update.

I'd like to see someone, whether it's James or another user, take this demo and turn it into something full. It's great that this version keeps score as you play, but a shame that the score is lost as soon as the game ends. I'd also like to see a version where you can choose different graphic sets for your fighter/the invaders, and perhaps a mode that features boss battles or new formations. There have been a lot of versions of Space Invaders over the years that have added to the old formula to create something new and exciting, and I think it would be pretty cool to see someone design an OHR version that would keep people coming back for more. We've got a great tech demo here, and I can't wait to see where developers will take slices. A new OHRadius, perhaps?