My Flying Simulation

[jujunosuke]

No this is not a joke, after the thread "My Racing Simulation" here come my Flying simulation thread

First for those who followed and supported Redline Racing project, i want to say that the game is not abandoned, it is just pending at the moment...
In fact, we realized that our task list for Redline Racing was so huge that if we don't hire people or get help from partner company we would never be able to reach our goal.
Donation was a disaster and founding was a big issue.
So the project is not finished but pending until we find some solution to our problems.

So why a Flying game ?
Basically we wanted to find a project that was more doable for a small team and also because i had done a similar project in the past.
So we don't start from scratch.

Let be honest, i am a big fan (geek ok i admit) of Ace Combat series.
I remember i discovered Ace Combat 2 in a demo CD of a Playstation magazine, and after playing the first mission like 25 times, it was time to spend all my money and buy Ace Combat 2 (I was young so the price of a Playstation game was basically all my money )
And i have to say that i received a big smash in the face.

This project is just the fantastic opportunity to make my childhood dream game come true.

Lady and gentleman let me present you

Aero Strike !​

Final Platform : iOS, Android (PC, MAC, Linux for test phase)

This scene is actually very optimized for mobile with low poly count and no real time lights.

I know that there are few Ace Combat fan out there so i wish we could share good infos together to make this project looks good.

Thanks!

 

[AzNTypeR]

Looks great!

You mentioned Android, will there be any support for the Xperia Play's dedicated control pad?

 

[Dean]

Sounds interesting... Best of luck with it. 👍

 

[Akira AC]

It really does look very interesting, the model is pretty good and on Android or IOS it might work, that model alone and the rendering on it show a certain degree of attention of aesthetics.

Ideas for it ... work on gameplay, and possibly both story-locations. You guys can use some tricks like create a few levels with different time settings and use them as different scenarios/mission.

It all depends in how the game is presented and how it plays, you can make it very similar to Ace Combat, but you should also concentrate on making it more realistic, many Ace Combat copy attempts(like Airforce Delta Storm) and a few flight like arcade-sims suffer from this. If you guys have a chance of playing Ace Combat X2 on PSP, it shows a pretty good example of how to work out the gameplay phase of the game applying a few more realistic things on it.

I have a few other thoughts about this, if you're interested just PM me about it.

 

[jujunosuke]

You mentioned Android, will there be any support for the Xperia Play's dedicated control pad?

Hum, i have no idea for the moment, i need to do some researches.

Ideas for it ... work on gameplay, and possibly both story-locations. You guys can use some tricks like create a few levels with different time settings and use them as different scenarios/mission.

Yes, i will try to implement something to be able to change the weather or something.
So all the map could have settings like :
morning, afternoon, evening, rain etc.
That might not be impossible.


Here is a small preview of the HUD i am working on and the graphic possibility.
But you have to be warned that these screenshot have been taken for aesthetics and may not totally represent the graphics level ingame.

But i will do my best to achieve that ^^

 

[Flex0r]

@jujusonuke: Man you are a busy bee. As an Ace Combat fan I must say this looks promising.
Looking forward to see more.

 

[jujunosuke]

@Flex0r: Hehe, you are right my friend i am busy!

Another aircraft joined the party! (F-16)
In the meantime, i am working on the radar system and target detection, looks good for now.
Maybe a demo will come very soon with basic aircraft control and few targets to destroy.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

You have my attention.

 

[jujunosuke]

You have my attention.

Thanks!

I made many researches about the limitations on iPhone and iPad and mobile devices in general.
Basically its important to optimize everything.

- The number of object to draw on screen must be limited
- The total number of polygons drawn each frame.
- Mobile optimized shaders
- only few lights (if possible, no light at all).
- Avoid alpha overdraw


The last one is the scariest one... basically alpha overdraw is when you have a sprite with transparency.
Basically things like particles effect need to be avoided as possible.


And the bad news is that particles are used quite a lot for a game like this.
For example, the smoke trail of a missile is made with particles (So a lot of alpha overdraw)
Same for explosions, good looking explosions use particles.


But i hope i will be able to make optimized one that still look good.
Another solution is to make the player to be able to change the particles quality in option menu or something.

So, someone with a low spec smartphone would have only a very small trail to limit particles. etc.

I am interested to know what kind of device you have guys.
How powerful is it ? closer to ps1 quality ? psp quality ? ps2 ?
What kind of 3d game can you play on it ?
Are they looking good ?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Dean]

Well, for the matter, I'm using a Galaxy S3, and I think it's quality is as good as an early PS2 game as it can easily run GTA III (and FIFA 12), from the Play Store. Both look good in my opinion.

 

[jujunosuke]

Dean J, thank you for your fast answer.
Your Mobile specs looks quite good actually!

The project is going very well at the moment and i might upload a playable demo very soon!
Stay tunned guys.

 

[Flex0r]

I'm using a HTC Desire S which has a 1 GHz cpu and 768 MB RAM, the gpu is reasonable.
I've played a free jet game from the store and it ran ok.
A midrange phone with reasonable performance so I think it would match up to the ps2.

 

[jujunosuke]

I'm using a HTC Desire S which has a 1 GHz cpu and 768 MB RAM, the gpu is reasonable.
I've played a free jet game from the store and it ran ok.
A midrange phone with reasonable performance so I think it would match up to the ps2.

Thanks dude, nice infos


WIP

 

[jujunosuke]

Sorry to spam you guys but i have some new screenshots that show the camera rotation system.
You know on smartphone games usually when you press the screen with your finger and move it can rotate around the object that is focused.
I made the same system now emulated with the mouse.

 

[Rob81]

Su-30 looks nice...

 

[Akira AC]

Is it ... functioning?

OR is it a still 3D model in a 3D set with a skybox running on no engine?

 

[jujunosuke]

Is it ... functioning?
OR is it a still 3D model in a 3D set with a skybox running on no engine?

Its the engine. As you can see there is different altitude on each image.
Speed is clamped to 200 for now.

The controls are very basic at the moment, nothing really special.
But i am working on it to give you guys a playable demo as soon as possible.

 

[jujunosuke]

Just a small WIP of an Aircraft Carrier i am working on.
The texture have to be done, and its not looking as good i i though it would, but lets wait and see later update once it will be fully textured.

 

[Bopop4]

Wow, that's really impressive.

How do you make something like this?

 

[jujunosuke]

Trying to make a military airbase where the player will be able to start mission from.
I am still wondering what kind of gameplay would be good for that game.
Scramble missions are something i really think would be cool.

 

[Carlos]

Looks very interesting!

Would it be possible to land on a carrier? And some sort of night vision? Maybe it's nice if you could select a color scheme of your nation to fly with.

Personally I would like a realistic feel but on a smartphone I'd like it to be more fun but still with a good sense of reality. With most games if the gameplay is good I don't care so much for graphics.

Do you have an idea how you would like the control buttons to look?

I'm using an HTC One and it doesn't have problems running heavy games. The specs are pretty nice.

Good luck 👍 I'll keep an eye out on this one

 

[jujunosuke]

Thank you for your support Carlos.
Yes, i plan to make it possible to land on a Carrier.
I don't know yet how control buttons will look at that moment. More infos soon maybe.

I made a new Hangar for the aircraft selection screen
Here are 2 WIP screenshots.

 

[jujunosuke]

Another important asset.
The missile and its holder.
Not the best asset i ever made i have to admit but it had to be done (and fast)

 

[Exorcet]

you can make it very similar to Ace Combat, but you should also concentrate on making it more realistic

I second this. Realistic combat is far more entertaining than arcade style in my opinion. One of the biggest flaws that I've seen with Ace Combat style games is that there is no penalty for maneuvering.

Real aircraft trade speed for maneuvering and altitude. When you're turning hard, you're going to slow down, and if you slow down too much you're an easy target. The only issue is, this is a game for phones (which I don't play on) so I'm not sure who complex it can be made before it gets to be too much.

 

[jujunosuke]

I second this. Realistic combat is far more entertaining than arcade style in my opinion. One of the biggest flaws that I've seen with Ace Combat style games is that there is no penalty for maneuvering.

Real aircraft trade speed for maneuvering and altitude. When you're turning hard, you're going to slow down, and if you slow down too much you're an easy target.

I totally agree and i will make some special efforts on this part in order to make the aircraft controls more challenging.

The only issue is, this is a game for phones (which I don't play on) so I'm not sure who complex it can be made before it gets to be too much.

You understand everything
I don't know either to be honest, so it will be a trial and error process i suppose.

Fortuanately i am not alone because i have some help from Akira AC himself.
We are communicating by PM, so hopefully, something good will came out of the discussion.

More to come very soon.