Mike Stanton has been a part of the Shacknews community for three years, going under the handle of theDrMikey. When he's not helping his wife set phasers to "delicious," Stanton is wrapped in the world of indie game development. He's already had some success in that realm, taking home $75,000 for his previous effort, Planet Smashers. Now he's submitting his latest title to the Shacknews community for feedback--a 2D flight-based deathmatch game called Vespidae.

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Mike Tipul has been working in game development for many years, having worked as a mission/game designer on various console titles. He recently decided to leave his position with an unnamed game publisher to pursue indie game development. He has also been a part of the Shacknews community since 2001, starting off under the name Flawless Cowboy before adopting the username Rampancy. He recently revealed his first project to the Shack community, a flight simulator called Enemy Starfighter.

"Enemy Starfighter is about being the commander and flight lead of a covert fleet sent into hostile star systems during the systematic conquest of the known universe," said Tipul. "Strikes you plan may involve anything from kidnapping a scientist at a research facility to taking out an enemy capital ship undergoing repairs. You're this grizzled commander on the bridge of a carrier, deep in space, planning your next move. Once you're done planning that next move, you jump into your starfighter and execute it, along with your fleet, which stays with you between missions. The combat and planning phases should only take a few minutes and you'll run this cycle several times over the course of a campaign."

Read more: Enemies learn player strategies »