The Nova Project

The Nova Project is a game released by TheOtherGuy for the GMTK Game Jam 2019. It takes place on an unnamed space station under siege by a strange mutating plague capable of turning it's inhabitants into twisted crustacean beings.

Three days prior to the game's events, the station was struck by asteroids. While these asteroids aren't mentioned outside of the beginning of the game, they likely have something to do with the arrival of the plague.

The player takes the role of Company Employee 404, as they make their way through the infested station using both fight and flight.

The Nova Project is currently unfinished, but may be updated in future.

Mechanics[]

The primary mechanic of The Nova Project is time. While outside of designated oxygenated areas, the player has exactly one minute to move around before receiving a game over thanks to their limited oxygen supply.

After meeting Dr. Ress and being given the secondary task of locating chemicals to synthesize a cure for the plague, the player is also given an extra 1-hour timer within which they must complete all objectives before they succumb to the infection. This timer is largely redundant however, as the game ends before the player could feasibly run it out in a normal playthrough thanks to it's unfinished nature.

Characters[]

Significant[]

Icon	Name	Description
	Company Employee 404	A station employee who is the only survivor of his sector. The Player Character.
	JOY	The station's artificial intelligence, who guides the player.
	Dr. Ress	A researcher who has hidden himself away with a handful of other survivors.

Minor[]

icon	Name	Desctiption	Dialogue
	Researcher	A researcher hiding from the infected with Dr. Ress.	"You know, the ones who turned appear to have crustacean/oceanic growths. Like fish and lobsters."
	Janitor	A station janitor hiding from the infected with Dr. Ress.	"I'm lucky I got here. Outside is crawling with those things."

Enemies[]

Overworld	In-battle	Name	Notes
		Floater	Does not have blue skin like the mutants resulting from humans. It's possible these creatures are not human mutations at all.
		Fire Floater	A fire themed variant of the Floater.
		Electric Floater	An electricity themed variant of the Floater.
		Fire Foe	Strangely, does not resemble it's overworld sprites.
		Dr. Terri	A researcher claimed by the virus. Terri serves as a 'mini-boss' before the player's introduction to Dr. Ress.

Items[]

Name	Type	Description	Notes
Broken Pipe	Weapon	"An old pipe, not a great weapon."	Raises attack by 11, despite not stating it.
Medkit	Consumable	"A cheap medical kit, it's functional. +75 HP"	Two can be obtained in the game, but not at the same time.
Old Blaster	Weapon	"A plasma blaster, it's seen better days. +11 AT"	Quite similar to the Broken Pipe. Represented by a white gun.
Arc Blaster	Weapon	"An electric blaster with high crit. +5AT"	Represented by a Red Gun.
Cryo-beam	Weapon	"A blaster that fires icy damage. +9AT"	Represented by a Blue Gun.
Beam Shot	Weapon	"A laser weapon that can set fires. +10AT"	Represented by a Green Gun.
Odd Metal Necklace	Accessory	"A metal necklace that^[sic]cold to the touch. +5AGI"	None.
Modified Space Helmet	Headgear	"A space helmet, it^[sic]been armored. +3DEF"	None.
Armored Plate	Armor	"An attachable armor piece. +5DEF"	None.

Notes[]

Dr. Terri mentions a strange 'she', who informed him of why the mutants have appeared on the station. It is unclear who this 'she' is, as there are only two easily identifiable female characters on the station, JOY and the Researcher, and it is unlikely to be either of them.
Company Employee 404's identification number may reference an 'HTTP 404 Error' in which a website URL cannot be located on the host server.
TheOtherGuy giving a message to Hunters and the curious.

After completing the game in it's unfinished state, the player receives a small message from TheOtherGuy, explaining why the game is ending, and giving some story hints. One of these hints suggests that The Infected are similar to the mutants who emerge from The Mist.
In the game's logo, Nova is spelt as 'N.O.V.A'. It's unclear what N.O.V.A. is an acronym for.

Bugs[]

In certain areas enemies will respawn once killed. If the player encounters an enemy in the spot where they respawn, they may be immediately forced into fighting that enemy again.
There is supposed to be a secret 'game over' event after the hour timer reaches 0. However, if the timer is allowed to reach 0, nothing actually occurs.