Pilot your ship in a varied sketchy world with five distinct zones, overcoming bosses and challenges, upgrading your ship and weapons along the way to gain access to new areas.
Is there a reason for this quest? Will there be answers along the way? Doubtful. But who needs a storyline when there are things to unlock, bosses to beat and new areas to see?
Beside the main Solo Mission exploration/metroidvania campaign the game also feature an arcade style local 2P mode where you can either play together or compete in different arenas.
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha was originally published by the now gone Ambrosia Software in 2006. With this 2020 revival edition we're bringing this classic game back for old and new fans alike.
Features
Updated wide screen graphics and retina support.
Free exploration 2D shooting.
Original hand drawn graphics and lots of graph paper textures.
Bosses and minibosses guarding ship upgrades.
Challenges to beat and secrets to find.
Different colored doors barring the way to new areas.
Combination style weapon system mixing type and elements.
Local 2P arcade mode, collect points together or compete against each other.
"SketchFighter is one of my favorite games. It appears like a simple action game on the surface, but there is a strong element of discovery and problem solving. It's whimsical, and I like whimsey, so that's another plus..."
"... in a day and age where next-gen consoles are all you'll read about, this is a great little game with graphics so simple, it'll surprise you how much fun it is."
"SketchFighter is a retro joy, not only for its bored middle school look and feel, but for its 1980s-style shoot-em-up action. Sure to be a bona fide classic in no time."
Recent news and updates for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha. Follow us on Twitter @lostminds_sw for more news and updates
2024-02-08
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha v1.2.7 and v1.2.8 updates
A pair of small updates have now been released for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha, this update mainly fixes some issues where the game would run too fast on some new macs with high or variable refresh rate displays.
Fix for the game running too fast on high refresh rate monitors on M1/M2 macs
Minimum OS requirement is now macOS 10.13. Users with older macOS versions can just keep using 1.2.6 this is just related to fixing the issue above on newer macs.
2021-01-06
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha v1.2.5 update
A small update has now been released for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha, fixing a couple of little issues and adding native apple silicone processor support.
Update changes:
Universal native Intel / Apple silicone support.
Added links to new future development voting and feedback page.
Improved super beam hit detection precision.
Some menu optimizations.
2020-11-25
Purchase processing problems
Due to technical problems at our payment handling provider paddle.com it's currently not possible to purchase licenses for Vectoraster or Patternodes.
Paddle has acknowleged the problems and are saying that they are working on a solution, you can follow the status of this at their status page. Or you can simply come back a little later here and see if the purchase links have started working again. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope this will be resolved swiftly.
Update: The problems have now been resolved and purchasing should work as usual again.
2020-11-06
New development feature feedback system
We get a lot of feedback and great ideas from you users. This is always very useful, as it helps us understand how the software is used and how we can make it better.
To make it easier to send feedback we've now set up a new simple system for this to help guide the future development of our applications. Basically it's just a simple list, linked from each product page, with ideas for future features. In this list you can then just click to vote on the features you think would be most useful to you.
If you're interested you can also sign up with your e-mail, and if you do we'll notify you if any of the features you've voted for are implemented.
A new update has now been released for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha.
The new update primarily improves the map in the pause overlay, which is now bigger and more detailed, to help you figure out where to go next and where to look for secrets and upgrades you might have missed.
Additional changes in the new version:
Added world map marker for the race track special area.
Weapon type and color change keys can now be used in menus as well.
Fixes a bug with unlocked doors briefly appearing on the mini-map again.
Performance optimization in menus.
2020-07-21
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha v1.2.2 and 1.2.3 patches
Another patch update is now making its way to the app store for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha.
You can now use the fire key like enter to dismiss most dialogues and quickly save at save stations, some extra hints have been added to help new players find their way in the early parts of the volcano and the sound playing code has been optimized for better performance.
The 1.2.3 update was released the next day, fixing a problem with the super beam in 1.2.2. Can't have problems with the super beam, now can we.
2020-06-08
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha v1.2.1 patch
There's now a small patch update making its way to the appstore for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha based on the reports and feedback from players of the initial release.
In short it fixes some small bugs and makes some of the first challenges in the game a little more forgiving, which will hopefully mean more players will have a fun time and get into the game.
Changes and fixes
Reduced health of the first Wasteland boss.
Added mini map location marker for the optional Race track area.
Reduced volcano lava particles on the way to the first volcano gate switch.
Fixed some minor issues with the mini map in the Ice Caves area.
Added a menu item to send feedback messages and bug reports.
Changed default setting for turning and acceleration sensitivity and added a note about this in the tutorial.
Fixed a problem with gathering system info for bug reports on 10.15.x
2020-06-05
SketchFighter 4000 Alpha revival released!
The project to revive our old game SketchFighter 4000 Alpha is now completed!
The retro sketchbook style exploration metroidvania for macOS has now been released and is available on the App Store.
Pilot your ship around a 2D graph paper world of interconnected zones. Fight bosses, upgrade your ship, find secrets and unlock new areas and challenges.
This revival edition features the full original single player adventure, adapted for modern macOS and wide screen monitors along with a bunch f little tweaks and improvements, click below to check it out!
2020-05-11
Sketchfighter 4000 Alpha revival beta testing
The project to revive our old game SketchFighter 4000 Alpha has progressed nicely and is now in beta testing.
To find out more about the game or sign up for the beta, click below.
2020-04-25
Sketchfighter 4000 Alpha revival
Back in 2006 we developed the top down exploration shooter/metroidvania Sketchfighter 4000 Alpha together with the now gone Ambrosia Software. I've now started a little side-project to try and get the game running on modern macs to re-release it here via Lost Minds. Click below to find out the current status of the project and sign up to be notified when/if it's ever re-released.
Apple App Store distribution
This product can be downloaded via the Apple App Store links, any payment processing and app delivery is then handled by the appstore.
