The long awaited *cough* NUON port of Decaying Orbit is finally done! Download it here. Also be sure to check out my proposal for the future.

I have begun porting Decaying Orbit to the NUON platform. You can follow the progress at the DSI main page.

With the recent release of the NUON SDK I am tempted to port Decaying Orbit over to that platform. My time is currently occupied with my current project (see the Insider for details). However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of revisiting Decaying Orbit when that's done. The response I've gotten from people that have played DO has been fabulous. I'd love to continue work on it, especially on a more powerful, less restricted platform.

After a brief flurry of activity on the new version of Decaying Orbit, I've decided to move on. One of the stimulus for this decision is the fact that OPSM will no longer be carrying Yaroze games on their cover disc. With no hope of getting an updated version to you folks outside the Yaroze community, my drive for finishing it just isn't there.

Most of all, though, I just need to do something else. I may come back to D.O. at some point, but for now it's time close up shop.

I'd like to redirect your attentions to the DragonShadow Insider. That is where I will post any updates on new creations, and where I might ramble on about what game I'm currently playing. :)

As a parting farewell gift, a made a brief movie showing the polygonal planets as they stand now. Check it out.

     DOPolygon.avi (2.2MB)

Just in case visitors of this Decaying Orbit site weren't aware, I also have a separate site where I post general progress reports on whatever I'm working. It's called the DragonShadow Insider. Right now I'm working on the next version of Decaying Orbit. It will be much improved, much bigger, and a more complete game. I can't say *how* much bigger since I'm currently running into RAM limitations.

They're here! Pop on over to the cheats section to get the latest ones. Included this time are the Super Laser, the Auto All Bonus, and more.

I still have more stuff to put up in other sections. It may or may not be of interest to people, but I want to include it anyway to fill out the site. This includes: descriptions of the remaining levels, boss description and strategies, object information (planets, nebulas, etc), and anything else I can think of. I also take requests :).

I added a new section to the site. Go to "The Game" and you'll see it. Called "General Tips", this section lists some techniques I have discovered to be useful while playing. Jump on over and check it out.

Descriptions of the next set of levels are available in the Sparrj Levels section. These cover the moderate difficulty levels. You reach these by taking the second exit at level 5. Did you find them?

Wow, once again it's been quite a while!

I see by the sudden spurt of emails I've been getting that the OPSM issue with Decaying Orbit is now available. Yay! Thank you to everyone that's written me with the kind words. Since there's been a few requests for more cheats, you can now find more in the cheats section. There are still a few more to come, however. I'll add the remaining ones soon!

Now that the game is available to everyone (in the UK at least) I need to get off my butt (or should I say "bum") and update everything on the site. Look for more frequent updates in the coming weeks.

I've received a couple notes that people find the game difficult. I realize this. Most of the difficulty arises just from the nature of the game - having to deal with inertia and gravitational forces. Trust me though, once you get comfortable with controlling the craft it becomes much easier (plus, once you upgrade your engine system the craft becomes more responsive). It will still be difficult to get the "All Bonus" (especially with the Insane times), but if it weren't there wouldn't be much incentive to keep trying to improve :).

Wow, has it been that long? Sorry for the lack of updates. That will change in a month or so when Decaying Orbit gets put on the cover disc of OPSM. Once the issue hits the stands I'll be adding more stuff here. In the meantime, have a look around if you haven't already.

The first set of levels are up in the Sparrj section. That's only about half of them though. Have you found the others?

Also, I put up a few cheats in the Cheats section.

Okay! The files are now available on the official server. I'm afraid the SCEE people will have to wait until it gets mirrored over there. Here they are:

For SCEA: NTSC (514k) PAL (515k)

For SCEE (once available): NTSC (514k) PAL (515k)

If you happened to pick up the version I posted before I would encourage you to grab these. I made a couple minor tweaks to the game in the interim.

I will be gone for about a week starting tomorrow so there won't be any updates until next Wednesday at the earliest.

I copied the latest screen shots from the Insider to the Gallery here. I also added two new shots.

Hello! This is the official Decaying Orbit™ web site. Here you'll find an online manual (necessary in the event that the game gets put on a demo disc), information about the levels themselves, strategies, and tips on how to use the level editor. More will be added over time (including source code).

If you don't have it already, you can grab the demo here in either NTSC (514k) or PAL (515k) form. For those visiting from the outside (non-Yaroze members), sorry but these won't do you much good. The only way to play the game right now is with a Yaroze.

I've taken the online-manual portion of this web site and packaged it up for downloading. It is here (232k). Also, should you wish to take screenshots within the game (see the manual to find out how) you will need this utility (37k). It converts the captured log file to a RAW image (640x480).