The second, more mature iteration of Circle Invader.
10 Steps Ahead is an arcade puzzle game where the player must survive for as long as possible, using the barriers inbetween them and the enemy to absorb the enemy’s attacks.
Strategy revolves around handling the attacks cleverly and making efficient use of powerups, to preserve and restore the health of barriers so that the player can stay alive for longer.
Controls
A/D to move
SPACE to use a powerup
W/S to swap between powerups
(each of the actions above costs a turn)
Hold V for an aerial camera view
| Layer | Effect |
 | Nothing interesting happens. |
 | Fires a beam at your location. |
 | Fires a beam that damages the two barriers left and right of you. |
 | Fires a slow projectile that deals damage after 4 steps. |
 | Fires a single beam that deals 2 damage at your location. |
 | Temporarily places two mines on opposite sides of the ring. Stepping on one of the mines results in a game over. |
| Powerup | Effect |
 | Fully repairs (+3 HP) the barriers left, right and in front of you. Collapsed barriers are unaffected. |
 | Warps you to the opposite side of the ring. If the barrier you land behind was collapsed, that barrier is lightly repaired (+1 HP). |
 | Lightly repairs (+1 HP) all barriers – collapsed barriers included. This powerup does not spawn normally: you must first collect 4 orbs to trigger its spawn. |
 | Resets the pole, rendering it harmless for the next 10 steps. |
- Powerups will only spawn behind unoccupied, non-collapsed barriers.
- Only 2 powerups may be carried at a time. Touching another powerup while already carrying 2 immediately consumes that powerup.
- Powerups will despawn if they are not picked up within 15 steps.
- A powerup’s effect will always precede the enemy’s next action.
- Barriers can have a maximum of 4 HP, shown in green.
Noteworthy functionality
– Local and global (thanks dreamlo.com) highscores. If uploading your score to the global leaderboard fails, your score is saved and the game will retry at a later point.
– Autosave that allows you to pick up right where you left. (currently disabled – too buggy to work outside of the Unity editor)
– An integrated achievement system.
If you’d like, you can view the game’s code on its Github page.