Defend Earth from hostile aliens and hungry chupacabras in this modern classic arcade game. Created by a couple of real life VLA Operators!
All Reviews:
No user reviews
Release Date:
Aug 13, 2024
Publisher:
Tags

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Ops is already a fully playable game, but what we envision for the game is so much more than it currently is. As full-time VLA Operators, we are busy enough operating the real VLA and don't have boundless time to devote to developing this game. However, rather than keep it locked away from public view, we think it would be more fun and interesting to share it with the gaming community as it develops. This also gives YOU the opportunity to give us input on it! If we like your ideas, we might very well include them in future versions of the game!”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“At least one year on the lower end. Some games seem to linger in the limbo of endless Early Access, but we don't really see the point of that. At some point in the development cycle, we intend to remove the "Early Access" designation. The point at which this will occur is based on how happy we are with the game, i.e. "Does it include all of the elements we believe are essential to our vision for the game? Does it feel 'done'??". Exactly when this occurs will be based on how much time we can devote to development, which is unknown but probably on the order of a few hours per week on average. Our best estimate is that the Early Access period will last for about 2 to 3 years.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“With the full version, we hope to include a few cool improvements, such as:
  • Worldwide leaderboards.
  • A wider variety of enemies and weapons.
  • Power-ups that enhance the lethality of the VLA and assist the player in various ways.
  • More options for difficulty level, graphics settings, control configurations, and any other desired tweakables.
  • Support for a wider variety of devices and operating systems.
  • Better performance on legacy hardware.

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Fully playable with nine levels. Features about 45 minutes of all original music, a mixture of hand-drawn and AI-generated artwork, two basic varieties and four subvarieties of enemy, one main weapon and one power-up weapon available to the player.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Yes, the Early Access version is priced a bit lower than the full version is intended to be. This is meant to incentivize early adoption and to reward our valued customers who choose to support us as the game is actively being developed.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We intend to incorporate as many of the improvement suggestions we receive from the gaming community as possible. Any ideas that fit with our vision for the game may very well be added. Please just keep in mind that we cannot compensate people who submit ideas. Therefore, please only submit original ideas that you don't mind us stealing. We will try, whenever practical, to give credit where credit is due.”
Read more

Buy Ops

 
See all discussions

Report bugs and leave feedback for this game on the discussion boards

About This Game



Created by real life VLA Operators*, Ops takes you inside the shadowy world of U.S. Special Operations and puts you at the controls of the world's largest energy weapon: the Karl Zjunior Very Lethal Array! Disguised as a giant radio telescope larger than New York City, this massive weapon was built for one purpose and one purpose only: to terminate hostile aliens with extreme prejudice! Lucky for you, the night sky above rural New Mexico is a target-rich environment...

Knowing cows to be more intelligent than humans, the aliens seek to abduct as many cows as possible. Due to the VLA's special relationship with the cattle rancher, allowing all of the rancher's cattle to be abducted would be disastrous for your employer, the National Radio Ablation Office (NRAO). Ablate the aliens before they can abduct all the cows! Also, look out -- the alien ships pack devastating laser cannons that can melt your antennas within a few seconds. Kill the attacking ship before your antenna melts, and your antenna will eventually cool back down.

As you get to higher levels, you may notice other threats, such as chupacabras. These foul creatures are particularly nasty! A chupa will happily eat an entire cow whole (although they usually like to carry the cow back to their lair before doing so). Once a chupa has sunk its sizeable fangs and talons into a cow, the cow is mortally wounded and cannot be saved.

We wanted to do a "Last Starfighter"-style contest whereby whoever earns the highest score automatically gets offered a job with NRAO, but sadly that idea was deemed to be "too rad" to actually implement (paraphrasing a little here)... We do, however, encourage everyone who crushes this game to apply for a job with NRAO. It's an amazing place to work, and this game is exactly the same as being a real life VLA Operator!**

*This game is not approved or endorsed by the National Science Foundation, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, or Associated Universities, Inc. Many movies, TV shows, and video games have been set at the VLA over its ~50-year history... We just happen to work there!

**The truth value of this claim has not been independently verified and is dubious at best.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Generative AI was used to supplement the creation of pre-rendered visual artwork. Some artwork was hand drawn by Jesse Petrone, and other artwork was generated by Google Gemini.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10
    • Processor: Intel Core i5
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Storage: 1400 MB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    Minimum:
    • OS: macOS 10
    • Processor: Apple M1 or Intel Core M
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Storage: 1400 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: Java is required for the Apple Silicon build of the game, but it is not included with the package. Users of Silicon-based Macs will have to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from .
    Recommended:
      Minimum:
      • OS: Ubuntu 22
      • Processor: 1.4 GHz quad-core
      • Memory: 4 GB RAM
      • Storage: 1400 MB available space
      Recommended:

      Customer reviews for Ops

      Review Type


      Purchase Type


      Language


      Date Range
      To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar.

      Show graph



      Playtime
      Filter reviews by the user's playtime when the review was written:


      No minimum to No maximum

      Display
      Show reviews in selected display order





      Learn More
      Show graph
       
      Hide graph
       
      Filters
      Excluding Off-topic Review Activity
      Playtime:
      Played Mostly on Steam Deck
      There are no more reviews that match the filters set above
      Adjust the filters above to see other reviews
      Loading reviews...