Gameplay details of Space Giraffe and Achievements
SPOILERS ALERT!
Don't read this if you want later levels/enemies/achievements to be a surprise!

Space Giraffe is an abstract (mainly) shooting game played on a geometrically shaped surface floating in space.

The player controls the Space Giraffe, which is free to move along the near edge of the surface. The player guides the Space Giraffe using the left analog stick. Powerups (Jump Pods) are available which allow the Space Giraffe to jump above the edge of the surface. Enemies attack from the far edge of the surface and attack the Space Giraffe in a variety of different ways.

Key gameplay elements:-

- The Power Zone.
Shooting or otherwise destroying enemies and/or using a Jump Pod fill up the Power Zone. The Power Zone is depicted as glowing lines on the game surface. As the Power Zone is filled up, glowing lines extend from the near edge of the surface, dividing it up into channels. (Think of the whole surface as being one big Power Zone meter). A fully extended Power Zone makes the surface look like the web from the old Tempest game. If the Power Zone is empty then you don't see the "lanes" on the surface.

The Power Zone extends for using a Jump Pod and/or for shooting and killing enemies. It retracts over time if you do not keep doing any of those things. If you stay still in one position on the near surface the Power Zone retracts more quickly, so it is advisable to keep moving if possible.

While the Power Zone is extended, the following benefits occur:

- Most enemies that arrive at the near edge can be pushed off by the Space Giraffe simply by running into them. This technique is called "bulling" and is the key strategy to scoring well. Pushing many enemies off in a short time increases the Bonus Multiplier.
- Enemy shots that travel in the region of the surface subtended by the extended Power Zone are slowed down.
- While the Power Zone is extended the Space Giraffe fires auxiliary shots from its two hooves as well as the default shots from its head. These hoof shots can be guided by the player using the right analog stick.
- Container-enemies (enemies that contain multiple instances of a particular enemy type) will deploy their payload at a distance from the front edge of the surface determined by the current extent of the Power Zone. So if the PZ is full, shooting container-types deposits their payload at the far edge of the surface, giving the player more time to respond to any threat they offer. Conversely if the PZ is empty, shooting container-types deploys their payload right on the near edge, dangerously close to the player. In levels with container-enemies it pays to extend the PZ before shooting the containers.

- Powerups ("Jump Pods").
These are released periodically as enemies are destroyed. They travel up the surface towards the player and can be collected. If not collected they will eventually float away "above" the player and be lost.

Collecting Jump Pods provides the following benefits:

- The act of collecting one adds to the Power Zone.
- If the player has no Pods attached to the Space Giraffe, one is added when the Jump Pod powerup is collected. Stored Pods hang from the giraffe on long streamers. At the start of each level the giraffe has none. The giraffe may collect and store up to five Pods.
- The player may use a stored Jump Pod at any time by pressing the right trigger. This causes the giraffe to jump above the near edge of the surface, *and* causes the Power Zone to fill to maximum. Thus the pods may be used to evade by jumping, or simply to fill the Power Zone at a time of need.
- Holding down the right trigger allows for a limited time of hovering before landing.
- Using a Jump Pod removes one stored pod from the giraffe. Used Pods may be replaced by collecting more Jump Pod powerups.
- If a player has five unused Pods on the giraffe, collecting Jump Pod powerups provides the following extra benefits:
- First extra collected gives a 1UP (IF the number of lives in store is less than 9)
- Second extra collected gives Fast Bullets (IF the player did not already get them via another means)
- Third extra collected counts as one OX Warp token towards activation of the Bonus Round (IF no powerups have been missed this level)
- Subsequent extras increment and award an accumulating amount of bonus points.

Collecting a Jump Pod at the end of a level, while the giraffe is moving down the surface on the way to the next level, is a special case: if this occurs the "Yes! Yes!" sound effect is heard, and the player will have Fast Bullets from the beginning of the next level.

- Bulling.
This is the main scoring attack in Space Giraffe. In general, the shooting attack is used for level management and defence, whereas the Bulling attack is used to build up score. If the Power Zone is active to any degree, then Bulling can take place. To Bull an eligible enemy, simply cause it to collide with the giraffe in any way you can. If you bull off many enemies in quick succession you will increment the Bonus Multiplier. The Bonus Multiplier is applied to every score throughout the level so in order to score well it is imperative that you increase it early and hold it as high as possible for as long as possible, preferably leaving the level with it maxed out at x9.

Thus, playing a Space Giraffe level effectively means learning how, in any given level, to accumulate as many bullable enemies as possible on the near edge, and then bulling them off all at once to raise the Bonus Multiplier as much as possible. Once the Bonus Multiplier is at x9, further bulling increments and awards an accumulating amount of bonus points.

Ideally in a level you will bull up to x9 as soon as you can, then ensure that you play defensively enough to keep the BM there until the level ends, taking extra opportunities for further bulling should they present themselves so as to capitalise on the incremental bonus being awarded at x9.

- Enemy shot juggling.
All enemy shots can be shot in turn by the player's shots. Shooting an enemy shot pushes it away from the player, towards the far edge of the surface. It is possible (and desirable) to shoot enemy shots away so that they actually leave the surface entirely and float out into the space beyond the surface.

When a level ends all enemy shots still active become harmless to the player, and as the player passes each one it explodes with a "sneeze" sound effect and a bonus is awarded to the player. The bonus awarded depends on how long that enemy shot has been "alive".

Enemy shots pushed off the surface and out into free space will, over time, turn around and drift back towards the surface, eventually re-entering the surface from the far edge, sometimes at considerably more speed than they were originally fired. The player should keep an eye out for such returning shots (their re-entry to the surface is signalled by a 'dog bark' audio cue). These can be avoided or, better still, shot away again. The more times a shot is "juggled" in this way, the more points will be awarded when the level ends and the remaining active shots are converted into sneeze bonuses.

- Bonus Round.
The player gains access to the Bonus Round by collecting OX Warp Tokens as detailed in the Jump Pod description above. When sufficient OX Warp Tokens have been collected, at the end of the current level, the player will be taken to the Bonus Round. In the Bonus Round no lives can be lost; the player has simply to collect Flowers with the giraffe's hooves for as long as he can. There are four Trails that generate Flowers. Missing Flowers on any Trail causes it to weaken and eventually die out. Eating Flowers causes the giraffe to burp. A bonus is given for each Flower eaten according to the total number of flowers eaten, the number of active trails, the number of lives that the player has in hand, the value of the Bonus Multiplier, and the number of times the giraffe has burped.

Once all four trails have died out the player is returned to the next round of normal gameplay.

- Game Progression and Restart Bonuses.
The player begins a new game with levels 1-9 unlocked. Play may begin on any unlocked level. Reaching a level beyond the highest currently unlocked level makes that level unlocked and available as a starting level. There are 100 levels in the game; completing level 100 finishes the game.

Each level has an associated Start Bonus. This is initially zero for all unlocked levels. If a player arrives on a level with 3 or more lives intact, and his score at that time is greater than that level's Start Bonus, then that level's Start Bonus is set to the score.

When a player begins a game on any level, once he completes the level he started on, then that level's Start Bonus is awarded and play continues. The Start Bonus is awarded only once per game, upon completion of the chosen starting level.

Thus as players become more experienced they can play to increase each level's Start Bonus; the effect of this will tend to ripple up through subsequent levels. Players who wish to have a shorter game by starting on a higher level will not therefore have to give up the possibility of getting a high score.

Start Bonuses are saved to the player's profile when his game is over.

- End of Level Bonuses.
These are awarded upon completion of each level, and depend upon efficiency of collecting powerups, usage of Jump Pods, number of lives in hand, skill at early shooting of enemies, and of course the Bonus Multiplier.

- Smart Bomb.
The player has one use of the Smart Bomb per giraffe (triggered by pressing A). Using the Smart Bomb will unleash 16 sequential laser shots on enemies near the player. This usually kills them outright but may not in the case of Flowers. Once the Smart Bomb is used, the giraffe's tail disappears.

- Enemy Types.
These are the main enemy types that players will encounter:-

- Grunts.
These are simple, X-shaped enemies which arrive at the far end of the surface, travel up towards the player, begin moving laterally, and upon reaching the near edge simply "walk" around the near edge. If they collide with a player who has no Power Zone, they will steal the player's hoof, immobilising the player. If the player does not free his hoof (usually by using the Smart Bomb) before the capturing Grunt reaches the far edge of the surface then a life is lost.

If a Grunt collides with the head of the giraffe directly (while there is no Power Zone), then a life is lost.

Grunts may or may not fire according to the rules for a particular level.

Getting one's hoof caught by a Grunt, or being killed by a Grunt, should be rare for a good player, because Grunts are entirely harmless and may be bulled off if there is any Power Zone active. Grunts should be seen as "bulling fodder". Let them accumulate on the near edge, charge up the Power Zone, and bull them off for score and Bonus Multiplier increment.

- Flowers.
These are born at the far edge of the surface and grow up towards the player. Usually the player can shoot them with successive shots pushing the growth back away from the player. Flowers will grow to a specific height, wait for a certain amount of time, and then the head of the flower will come off, flying up towards the player, eventually passing "above" the player and off into space before disappearing.

Detached flower heads cannot be shot and are a collision hazard to the player. Detached flower heads cannot be bulled.

Shooting down flowers adds to the Power Zone. It is a handy technique to "cultivate" a Flower, shooting it occasionally to keep it from growing to full height and firing off its head. The player can keep shooting it for a bit of extra Power Zone as necessary.

Depending on the level rules, the amount that a flower recedes when shot may vary (on some levels it can be zero).

Depending on the level rules, the height to which a flower can grow may vary. The maximum height may be *above* the near edge, in which case the flower stalk is a deadly obstruction hazard to the player. The stalk cannot be bulled through; any contact is fatal to the player. The player may use Jump Pods to jump above the flower and shoot it back down below the near edge in such a case, or may simply wait for the flower to "mature". the stalk hazard disappears once the flower head comes off.

Once a flower has grown to maximum height, the stalk turns from green to white. By observing this the player can see when the head will come off - when the stalk is fully white.

Flowers may be removed by shooting them right down to the far edge of the surface. Shooting arriving flowers early before they have a chance to grow yields a 1000 point bonus.

Some flowers on levels 81 and above have an extra attach when shot.

- Boffins.
These appear in two varieties: chilled and aggressive. Chilled Boffins are round, whereas aggressive Boffins are spiky. Both types move in the same way, alternating through moving vertically (towards or away from the player) and horizontally (traversing across the surface). Aggressive Boffins fore aimed diagonal shots whilst in the traversing phase.

Boffins cannot be killed whilst moving vertically. They can be pushed back but they won't die unless they are pushed right back off the web. Each time they are shot the vertical phase timer is reset and they try to move upwards more quickly; thus it is sometimes possible to find oneself in a "stalemate" with a Boffin where you are shooting it constantly but it keeps trying to come up the Web. Your only recourse at that time is to stop shooting it, and either get it in the traversing phase or when it has reached the near edge.

Boffins can be killed with a single shot when in traversing phase.

When a Boffin reaches the near edge of the surface it rolls along the edge and is a collision hazard to the player. Boffins cannot be bulled. Boffins at the near edge can be killed by jumping above them and firing downwards, or by carefully extending a hoof towards them (this latter move is very risky and should only be attempted by very confident players).

- Feedback Monsters.
Again these can be passive or aggressive. Passive Feedback Monsters present a hazard to the player through causing pulses and flares in the whole environment when shot rather than through any behaviour of their own - they do not fire and they are bullable; however shooting them will cause a visual disturbance in the gameplay area for which the player must be prepared.

Both types of Feedback Monster begin at the far end of the surface and simply travel up to the near edge where they sit for a while before lifting off and eventually disappearing inter the space above the player. Aggressive Feedback Monsters will fire shots from above, down onto the near edge, as they rise above it, effectively interdicting parts of the near edge. For this reason aggressive Feedback Monsters should preferably be disposed of before they reach the near edge.

- Containers.
There are two kinds of Containers, Grunt Containers and Flower Containers. These float harmlessly up and down the surface until shot. Each shot that hits them launches one of the type of enemy that they contain (the position to which the enemy is launched is determined in part by the position of the Power Zone as noted in the PZ section).

Once the number of enemies carried in the Container is deployed the Container itself is destroyed. Containers themselves do not harm the player in any way; only the enemies they release pose any problem.

- Rotors.
Once again these come in two flavours, passive and aggressive. Passive Rotors simply float up and down the surface and do no harm at all to the player. Aggressive Rotors behave the same way but whenever they touch the near edge of the surface they will fire two shots along the near edge, one in either direction. The player will need to jump and shoot or Smart Bomb these shots. For this reason it is important to shoot aggressive Rotors promptly, and an audio "Danger!" warning is given when aggressive Rotors land on the far edge of the surface.

Rotors' main threat to the player is through disorientation. Rotors on the surface cause the entire surface to rotate. Under such conditions it behooves the player to remember that left and right on the left stick move the giraffe relative to its own orientation rather than as an absolute direction of motion - something which the player should have learned prior to meeting Rotors anyway through having manipulated the giraffe over surfaces of various shapes.

Shooting all the Rotors on a surface will cause the rotation to stop and the surface to stabilize until more Rotors appear.

- Zappers.
These appear on the higher levels. Zappers consist of two parts, one below the far edge of the surface and one above the near edge. the parts cannot be shot or destroyed by the player. Zappers track constantly back and forth across the surface. As they do an audible "countdown" is heard. Once a certain threshold is reached the Zappers fire. There is a period of about a half a second while the Zapper pulse builds up, accompanied by a very distinctive sound effect. Then the pulse fires and holds for a few seconds, and a laser beam connects the two zapper parts. This laser beam is a collision hazard for the player and cannot be bulled through.

The player can scuttle beneath a firing Zapper in the pulse buildup phase, but must avoid the beam during the firing phase. Zappers in the countdown stage are harmless. It is possible to use a Jump Pod to leap over a firing Zapper.

Care must be taken since a firing Zapper may destroy a player even during the end of level transition across the surface. the player is not entirely safe until he actually leaves the bottom edge of the surface.

All these enemy types are deployed in various configurations as the player progresses through the game's 100 levels. Individual parameters controlling each enemy types' behaviour are varied on a level-to-level basis and also throughout the duration of a level in order to yield increasing challenge as the game progresses.

 }:-)

5th April 2007.

Achievements as follows. Don't look if you don't wanna know.  :-)

"Boi Bumbá" = get the BM up to x9 in one bull run.
"Mine's A 99" = Max out lives and BM both at x9.
"Great Green Arkleseizure" = Get more than 20 sneeze bonuses leaving a level.
"Professor of Giraffeology" = Score over 10 million on the Tutorial level.
"I Adore My 64" = Complete level 64 without losing a life (during the level, not during the whole game!)
"Klepto-Giraffe" = Collect 20 powerups without missing one.
"Girafa Caprichoso" = End 5 consecutive levels with BM x9.
"Girafa Garantido" = Don't lose a life for 16 levels.
"Pod Preserver" = Complete 16 levels without using jump.
"ERROR_SUCCESS" = Finish level 100.
"Long-Necked Long March" = Finish level 100, having started on level 1.
"Ewige Blumenkraft" - Keep the very first flower to grow on a level alive until the end of the level.
 
 }:-)

14th August 2007.