Brad Erkkila, developer of the fun FlipChamps (Free), is working on a new game that uses a similar formula, but new gameplay: It’s a Space Thing. Here, you’ll be running along your side of the arena with open walls that loop back around to each side. You can fire upward, but also put up 3 shields that take a few hits to be eliminated. You can spread these out, but only give you a few spots where you can fire upward at your opponent, or cluster them all in one area. To entice you to come out of safe harbor and go for the win, powerups that provide more powerful weapons will fly across the screen on occasion.

It’s a Space Thing is primarily a score chaser, where each kill nets you an addional point, with bosses you can fight as you advance in the singleplayer mode. A mode where you just fight each of the bosses can be unlocked as well. And unlike FlipChamps, a local multiplayer mode will be available at launch; this is quite welcome since this also works well for head-to-head competition! It’s a Space Thing is still in development, with a release date of, and I quote: “Who the heck knows? Probably some time this summer. I’ll post more progress as I go." And if you want to see that progress, Brad Erkkila is sharing media of the game and beta invites in the game’s forum thread.