Not sure I’m going to get something done this weekend due to being a bit blegh, but I’m going to have a shot.

Using my engine again ( which I’ve just committed a bunch of stuff to the repository for “chunky” scrolling action and a bit of a cleanup that had been sitting on my laptop for a while ) which, should you want scarred for life in reading atrocious code, is here: http://svn2.xp-dev.com/svn/stuckie-SGZEngine/

Currently, my game concept is as follows:
Gigantic maze-like caverns ( possibly randomly generated ) full of nasties and helpless people.
Rescue the helpless people from their research stations by landing on the pads to pick them up, and take them out the caves to a safe area ( your ship can only carry so many, so you’ll need to ferry the buggers about. )
Might as well grab some precious minerals while you’re in there too, for some extra points.
Do it before the caverns cave in due to destabalisation from the nasties.

I’m leaning towards a Cybernoid-style gameplay experience – so expect viciously difficult sectors, with switch-screen scrolling rather than smooth-scrolling, allowing each screen to be a puzzle in it’s own right.
Not sure if I’ll keep the Cybernoid “constantly falling” mechanic, or implement actual gravity.. depends how much of a clone I want it to be, I guess.

Art is being done in the Gimp as usual, sound effects and music in MilkyTracer should there be time.
Right, I need food.. hopefully have something playable by the end of the day, and I’m predominantly targetting handhelds again, so expect a 320×240 res unless I whack some scaling in there.