Standing Order: one enemy per version, and some can't be killed

Standing Order grew fast. On 21 September it was at version 91; on 29 September at 121. In between, almost every version added an enemy.

Patterns first, then the beasts

On 21 September we didn't add enemies but three ways of attacking: RIPOSTE (counterblow, reacts to every hit taken), FACEPLATE (front shield: not an attack, it blocks shots from the front and forces you to go around), KITE (kite and fire, backs away while shooting). These are bricks. An enemy doesn't have a behaviour of its own: it mounts one or more patterns.

Two families

The enemies fall into two groups.

• orbit: the arena seen from above. The bulk of them arrived here between 21 and 24 September.
• descent: the shaft, where you descend and enemies come out of walls and ceiling. From 25 September onward.

In descent, SPUR is a wall or ceiling turret that rotates to follow the ship; DROPPER hangs from the ceiling and drops in a dive when you pass under it; BORER comes out of one wall, crosses the shaft and re-enters through the opposite one. RAM, the last one verified on 29 September, has an impenetrable front armour: you hit it only after its charge, while it slows down (health 16, speed 260, contact damage 34, 520 points, world 7).

Not all of them can be killed

The thing that made us rethink the game: some enemies aren't there to be shot.

• MENDER doesn't shoot: it heals nearby enemies (health 5, world 6). It's a top-priority target, but for a tactical reason, not because it hurts.
• TAGGER doesn't attack: it marks you, and while the mark is active all the others aim with double precision.
• MAGPIE doesn't fight: it flees toward the edge. If you take it down before it escapes it drops a guaranteed power-up and double ALLOY.
• MIASMA and BULWARK can't be killed at all: indestructible gas and wreck, to be dodged. BULWARK doesn't even count toward completing the stretch and withdraws after a fixed time.

Designing these forced us to separate two questions we usually blur together: «how dangerous is it?» and «what am I supposed to do with it?». REAPER, for one, chases from behind and never stops (health 10, speed 240, 450 points): it's the only one that punishes standing still. ECHO repeats your movements from two seconds earlier and fires along that trail. These are different threats, not stronger versions of the same enemy.

What we take away

• Patterns before enemies: separating the attack from the monster gave us different beasts without rewriting the behaviour each time.
• An enemy that can't be killed is still an enemy. The game's rules had to learn to count, or not count, the ones that don't die.
• Standing Order was at version 121 on 29 September, and every number above comes from a task verified in those days.