Impoverished Starfighter

Impoverished Starfighter is a short 2-stage vertical scrolling shoot 'em up, with a shop system inspired by "euroshmup" games like Tyrian but with a strict budget limit to avoid the power creep found in those games.

Aliens are attacking, but after decades of peace Earth's combined military budget just amounts to a single dollar — at least these old decommisioned parts can be gotten for dirt cheap!

Use the limited budget to customize your ship from a selection of primary and secondary weapons, bombs, defences and miscellaneous upgrades. You only have a single life to defeat the invaders and finish the mission.

Developed in 3 days for the Ludum Dare 28 game jam, with the theme "You only get one".