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UFO 50

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2024 video game collection

2024 video game
UFO 50
Developer(s)Mossmouth, LLC
Publisher(s)
  • Mossmouth, LLC
Designer(s)
Composer(s)Eirik Suhrke
EngineGameMaker Studio
Platform(s)
ReleaseSeptember 18, 2024
Genre(s)Various
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer, co-op

UFO 50 is a video game collection developed and published by Mossmouth for Windows on September 18, 2024. It features 50 unique games of varying genres and length. The games are a collaborative effort by six developers over the course of several years, similar to a long-form game jam.

UFO 50 was critically acclaimed, and is the highest rated PC-exclusive of 2024 on Metacritic. Critics applauded the amount of variety, experimentation, and consistent quality that the collection provided, although some wished specific entries were expanded as their own separate releases. The game received several nominations for Best Independent Game at various award ceremonies.

Gameplay

UFO 50 is presented as a compilation of games similar to Action 52, developed by the fictional company UFO Soft for the LX-I, LX-II, and LX-III series of video game consoles between 1982 and 1989. Half of the games feature a two-player mode, either versus or co-op. The main 50 games are playable from the start, with the hidden 51st game, Miasma Tower, accessible via inputting commands in the ingame terminal. Miasma Tower itself is a game secretly developed by fictional developer Gregory Milk, which details the state of UFO Soft circa July 1989. In-universe, the UFO 50 collection is stated to be developed by Milk and never released officially, with the files found in an abandoned warehouse by the Mossmouth developers, as shown in the faux-cracktro of the game.

The order in which the games are presented is intended to show the history of UFO Soft's development slate, with some games having sequels, and others featuring cameos from previously released games. Each game also features short development notes informing their fictional creation.

The games belong to genres including shoot 'em up, platformer, and role-playing, each with a twist. The games vary in length and scope, with some being described as "shorter, arcade-style experiences", while others "have narratives and expansive worlds to explore", with one (Grimstone) estimated to take upwards of 60 hours to complete fully.

When a game is completed for the first time, its border on the game selection screen will change from blue to gold. A more challenging win condition is also revealed, which grants a cherry border upon completion. Each game additionally includes a unique gift that will appear on the garden screen when certain requirements are met.

List of games in UFO 50

Director credits explicitly stated when directly sourced.

# Name Genre (as listed in-game) Versus Co-op Fictional
year of release		 Developed by
1 Barbuta Adventure, Platform — — 1982 Eirik Suhrke
2 Bug Hunter Puzzle, Strategy Yes — 1983 Jon Perry
3 Ninpek Arcade, Platform — Yes 1983 Eirik Suhrke
4 Paint Chase Arcade Yes — 1983 Jon Perry
5 Magic Garden Arcade — — 1984 Derek Yu, Jon Perry, Tyriq Plummer
6 Mortol Platform, Puzzle — Yes 1984 Director: Jon Perry
Additional: Paul Hubans
7 Velgress Arcade, Platform — — 1984 Derek Yu
8 Planet Zoldath Adventure — — 1984 Jon Perry
9 Attactics Arcade, Strategy Yes — 1984 Directors: Derek Yu, Jon Perry
10 Devilition Puzzle, Strategy — — 1984 Directors: Derek Yu, Jon Perry
11 Kick Club Arcade, Platform — Yes 1984 Derek Yu
12 Avianos Strategy Yes — 1985 Director: Jon Perry
13 Mooncat Platform — Yes 1985 Director: Eirik Suhrke
Additional: Ojiro Fumoto
14 Bushido Ball Sport Yes Yes 1985 Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer, Jon Perry, Paul Hubans
15 Block Koala Puzzle — — 1985 Derek Yu, Paul Hubans
16 Camouflage Puzzle — — 1985 Jon Perry
17 Campanella Arcade — — 1985 Director: Eirik Suhrke
Additional: Ojiro Fumoto
18 Golfaria Adventure — — 1985 Directors: Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer
Additional: Paul Hubans
19 The Big Bell Race Sport — Yes 1985 Director: Eirik Suhrke
20 Warptank Adventure, Puzzle — — 1985 Director: Eirik Suhrke
21 Waldorf's Journey Arcade, Platform Yes — 1986 Jon Perry
22 Porgy Adventure, Shooter — — 1986 Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer
23 Onion Delivery Arcade — — 1986 Director: Eirik Suhrke
Additional: Paul Hubans, Tyriq Plummer
24 Caramel Caramel Arcade, Shooter — Yes 1986 Eirik Suhrke
25 Party House Strategy Yes — 1986 Director: Jon Perry
26 Hot Foot Sport Yes Yes 1986 Jon Perry
27 Divers RPG — — 1986 Eirik Suhrke, Tyriq Plummer
28 Rail Heist Platform, Strategy Yes — 1987 Director: Jon Perry
Additional: Paul Hubans
29 Vainger Adventure, Platform — — 1987 Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer
30 Rock On! Island Strategy — — 1987 Derek Yu, Paul Hubans
31 Pingolf Sport Yes — 1987 Eirik Suhrke
32 Mortol II Adventure, Platform — Yes 1987 Director: Derek Yu
33 Fist Hell Arcade — Yes 1987 Director: Derek Yu
34 Overbold Arcade, Shooter Yes — 1987 Jon Perry
35 Campanella 2 Adventure — — 1987 Director: Eirik Suhrke
36 Hyper Contender Platform, Sport Yes — 1988 Jon Perry
37 Valbrace Adventure, RPG — — 1988 Directors: Tyriq Plummer, Derek Yu
Additional: Paul Hubans
38 Rakshasa Platform — — 1988 Director: Eirik Suhrke
39 Star Waspir Arcade, Shooter — — 1988 Derek Yu
40 Grimstone RPG — — 1988 Director: Derek Yu
Additional: Paul Hubans
41 Lords of Diskonia Strategy Yes — 1988 Jon Perry
42 Night Manor Adventure, Puzzle — — 1988 Director: Paul Hubans
Additional: Derek Yu
43 Elfazar's Hat Arcade, Shooter — Yes 1988 Eirik Suhrke
44 Pilot Quest Adventure — — 1988 Directors: Derek Yu, Jon Perry
45 Mini & Max Adventure, Platform — — 1989 Director: Jon Perry
Additional: Paul Hubans
46 Combatants Strategy Yes — 1989 Derek Yu
47 Quibble Race Strategy, Simulation Yes — 1989 Derek Yu, Jon Perry
48 Seaside Drive Arcade, Shooter — Yes 1989 Director: Ojiro Fumoto
49 Campanella 3 Arcade, Shooter — — 1989 Director: Eirik Suhrke
50 Cyber Owls Platform, Shooter, Strategy — — 1989 Derek Yu, Paul Hubans, Tyriq Plummer
51 Miasma Tower — — — 1989 ?

Development

Derek Yu and Jon Perry had previously made a number of freeware games together using Klik & Play under the name Blackeye Software, with notable titles being Trigger Happy, Diabolika (remade in UFO 50 as Devilition) and Eternal Daughter, their final game in 2002. In 2016, the two decided to work together again on a project, and warmed up by making small prototypes for ideas. These prototypes eventually spiralled into the concept for UFO 50: a large collection of small games. The idea to create a collection came from Yu's belief that these concepts for games, if expanded, would not do well as standalone releases in the current marketplace.

The first game in the collection to start development was Attactics, which was fully developed by Yu and Perry alone as a re-introduction into working together. Soon after, Eirik Suhrke was invited to join as both composer and designer, and the three started to brainstorm games on a private forum, with a majority of these concepts making their way into the final game. The number of games advertised in the collection (50) was chosen by Yu because "it was the first number I could think of that was completely undeniable... that would advertise itself with its own existence." Three additional developers joined at various parts of development: Ojiro Fumoto, known for Downwell, who spent a half-year on the team and directed Seaside Drive; Paul Hubans, known for Madhouse, who was the lead director for Night Manor; and Tyriq Plummer, known for Catacomb Kids, who ended up co-directing several of the collection's largest games, an example being Valbrace. Every member of the team contributed design, writing, artwork, and programming to UFO 50, and worked on anothers' games, sometimes extensively.

UFO 50 was developed in GameMaker. It was first announced in 2017, with an expected launch date of 2018. However, the team severely underestimated how long it would take to finish 50 games. This meant that development times became inflated, and it became a requirement for the team to recode older parts of the game, with Yu describing some of the code as "prehistoric". The simultaneous development of Spelunky 2 also slowed development of the game to a crawl during 2020, with Suhrke and Yu stepping away from the UFO 50 project entirely until Spelunky 2 was released. Furthermore, at least two games were scrapped entirely during development. Because of these reasons, development took six more years, with the game's final release date being September 18, 2024. UFO 50's eight-year development time coincidentally ended up matching the time frame spanning the games' fictional release dates (1982–1989).

All games in the collection impose restrictions which could be found in games released during the era, such as using only 32 colors across each game. Slowdown and sprite flickering were not included, as Yu believed that it would hinder the experience. Some games across the collection reuse sound, assets and code, the most notable example of this being the Campanella series which all make use of the same engine. Suhrke intentionally did not use NES-inspired sounds as typically seen in other indie games, instead choosing to use wavetable synthesis more similar to the TurboGrafx-16 for his soundtrack and sound design. Suhrke is the sole composer of all 51 games and their sound design/effects.

Marketing and release

UFO 50 was revealed in 2017 on the Mossmouth YouTube channel, and was slated to be released the following year. An early version of UFO 50 was showcased during 2017's Pax West game convention, as well as the following year's Pax West. It was one of the games featured at Summer Game Fest's Day of the Devs livestream, where its final release date was announced to be September 18, 2024.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
Metacritic91/100
OpenCritic100%
Review scores
PublicationScore
The A.V. ClubRecommended
Digital Trends
Edge9/10
Eurogamer
GameSpot9/10
PC Gamer (US)83/100
PolygonRecommended
Shacknews8/10
The Guardian

UFO 50 received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, with an average score of 91 making it the highest-rated PC exclusive of 2024. 100% of critics recommended the game according to OpenCritic. Many reviewers either chose not to give traditional scores to the game, or are still in the process of reviewing it due to its nature of being a collection of 50 individual games. DigitalTrends alternatively chose to score all 50 individually in their review.

Most reviewers lauded UFO 50's variety, value, and experimentation. Eurogamer's Christian Donlan extensively praised the experimentation and variation of games in the collection, calling it a "dazzling piece of creative audacity". Simon Parkin of The Guardian described the collection as "a preposterously ambitious undertaking". Edge wrote that when one game "holds your undivided attention for an extended span, it must be something special indeed, and of those, UFO 50 has more than its fair share". The New York Times compared UFO 50 to "an ingeniously retro advent calendar" while Metro's GameCentral specifically praised that the games advertised were "not WarioWare or anything like it", being "50 fully formed games". Polygon's Grayson Morley lauded the metafiction linking the games of the collection chronologically, highlighting the evolution of "brutal" mechanics found in Barbuta to the life-based mechanics found later in Mortol and Mortol II, in addition to the "UFO Soft" narrative.

In contrast, PC Gamer's Kerry Brunskill remarked that they would have rather seen some games in the collection "stand on their own merits" as standalone releases, with others being "a little too retro for their own good". Digital Trends' Giovanni Colantonio praised the game for its experimentation, but admitted there were "a handful of duds in the batch". The A. V. Club's William Hughes recommended the collection, remarking that "there are extremely good games in here, some worth more than the asking price" but "many games in the collection feel torn between their desire to stay retro-hard and being genuinely fun".

Games in UFO 50 that were singled out by multiple reviewers as being exceptional include Mortol, Party House, Rail Heist, Night Manor, and Mini & Max.

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2024 Golden Joystick Awards Best Indie Game - Self-Published Nominated
PC Game of the Year Nominated
The Game Awards 2024 Best Independent Game Nominated

Notes

  1. Names of fictional UFO Soft employees in-game loosely correspond to each developer's identity, but not always, due to UFO 50's metanarrative, so they are not reliable credits.
  2. Remake of Diabolika (1999) by Blackeye Software, aka. Derek Yu and Jon Perry.
  3. Expanded version of Suhrke's entry for Ludum Dare 34, ...and the mooncats (2015).
  4. Remake of Quibble Race (2004) by Derek Yu.
  5. Hidden game, only accessible via ingame terminal.
  6. These are:
    • An RPG called Godsblood, which was replaced by Magic Garden.
    • An entirely different game named Avianos which was scrapped and replaced with the final release's Avianos starting from 2020.

References

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