A father-and-son team of video game developers working in Grand Junction has released a game allowing players to take on the role of space invaders bent on conquering worlds.

“Day of Destruction” is available online from the Steam portal located at www.storesteampowered.com. The game works on the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, although future versions of the game will work on the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and other platforms.

Robert Madsen and his son, Stephen Madsen, founded SynaptixGames and developed the game.

“We have spent almost three years perfecting and polishing the game,” Robert Madsen said. “It was tempting many times to put the game out there, but we kept improving the game play and the style until we felt it was perfect.”

Inspired by the popular science fiction movie “Independence Day,” the game features a massive alien mother ship destroying cities. But in a reversal, players take on the role of the invading aliens, using their technology to battle against a total of 24 cities on six planets.

Robert Madsen holds a degree in computer science and has worked for more than 30 years as a programmer. He previously worked for MumboJump and Other Ocean Interactive  in creating such games as “Luxor,” “Dark Void Zero” and “Globe: Earth Explorer.”

Stephen Madsen has 15 years of experience as a programmer, the last 10 in the gaming industry. He also worked for Other Ocean Interactive and helped create such games as “Diner Dash,” “Chocolatier” and “Sour Patch Kids Sour Fling.”

In addition to developing their own games, the Madsens provide services to other game developers, including those related to art and audio as well as coding, design and production. The Madsens have worked on games played on a variety of platforms, including personal computers and smartphones.

The Madsens also have long worked on games offering virtual reality and have developed a reputation for their services on games offering an immersive, three-dimensional experience, Robert Madsen said. “We jumped on it right at the beginning.”