The Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice is a fast-paced shooter created for the YoYo Games
Winter Competition 2007. Chronicling the winter season’s effect on the earth,
the game is set on an abandoned stage of a barren desert where the natives put
on a play in an ancient amphitheater. As the San Aruba region never
experiences winter, the play goes through shows the different stages of the
season in six acts.
The player controls a Chinese lantern against a fixed stage. The lantern, as
well as all the objects that appear on the screen, are lowered on ropes. The
player can freely move the lantern around the screen and fire ice gel. The
other objects that appear on the screen need to be shot at a fast rate to
score points. Small lights are harmless, but light balls of different colours
take more fire to bring down and shoot flares at the lantern. For each object
destroyed, points are awarded. Occasionally a snowflake drops down, doubling
the gel’s power and providing more points per hit.
The player has four lives per act and an unlimited amount of continues. After
the rehearsal (tutorial), acts unlocked in the Theater mode can be practised
in the Single Play mode. While playing, a large list of medals and milestones
can be unlocked, as well as Bonus modes (three Precision modes, a Survival
mode, game notes and deleted gameplay).
The fast gameplay and soundtrack remind of such games as Blast Factor,
Geometry Wars and Everyday Shooter.
The Winter Solstice