Clean Asia! is a freeware

Freeware

Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...

 vertical shooter

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 video game by Jonatan "Cactus" Söderström

Jonatan Söderström

Jonatan Söderström, better known as "Cactus", is a Swedish independent video game developer noted for his quickly made video games. He is well known for having a steady output of games and has developed over forty games to date. He is often featured on websites, blogs, as well as game and art...

, an independent video game

Independent video game development

Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...

 developer

Game development

Game development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...

 from Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

Story

In the future, the eye

Human eye

The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...

s of all humans leave their bodies and fly to the moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

, develop weapon

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

s, and attack the human race, capturing several Asian countries, including China, Thailand, and Korea. Humanity sends two blinded pilot brothers

Sibling

Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...

, Mickey R. Dole and Mackey I. Dole, who both possess a sixth sense

Extra-sensory perception

Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...

, to defeat the invaders. Each pilot's custom fighter uses a different attacking technique.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Clean Asia! progresses as a vertical shooter. Backgrounds are completely black, with enemies and the player appearing as outlines. Bright neon colors are used, giving the game a hypnotic atmosphere. The two ships, known as the Attractor and Reflector, have different gameplay styles. The Attractor is the most unconventional, possessing no weapons, and attacking by ramming enemies and shooting fragments at other enemies. The Reflector is more traditional, with regular weapons. The gun of the Reflector can be charged, causing the player's fighter to stop moving, and can also be upgraded by collecting 100 pieces of enemy debris. This debris can also give the player shield

Shield

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....

s and bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

s.

Development

Clean Asia was started as a competition entry at shmup-dev.com. The competition's criteria were that the game had to be a shoot 'em up, and include an autofire function. The game was developed using Game Maker, while the music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 was license

License

The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...

d from another composer. It later won the prize of $200. Söderström tried to be as original as possible when designing the game, drawing inspiration from the ability to pick up enemy debris in 'Nvaders, a game which he thought felt "slightly rushed" and "incomplete". He was also inspired by another, unnamed shoot 'em up, in which the player is able to use an enemy's weapons against them. Söderström believes that the game's most creative aspect is the gameplay of the Attractor. Clean Asia! was developed during the span of two months, with most content being created in the last few weeks.

Reception

Clean Asia! was a finalist in the 2008 Independent Games Festival

Independent Games Festival

The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...

 awards for "Excellence In Visual Arts" and "Excellence in Audio". Gamasutra

Gamasutra

Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...

called it "uniquely presented and stylish."