Iron Angels

konman

Iron Angels


Iron Angels is a 2D side scrolling action game where you fly your WW2 aeroplane and shoot and bomb enemies.

I started this little prototype last weekend, as a result of experimenting with sine waves to generate procedural terrain. It is inspired by a game called Sopwith (1984, David L. Clark).

The flight model needs work as do most things... You can land at bases to heal.

Early, playable PC build can be found here.

Any feedback is very welcome.

iceblademush

I used to play Sopwith! :P As far as i remember was a 2 player game. Also similar was that game on Atari, where there were literally 100s of variations where you could choose plane vs plane, submarine vs plane, etc etc.

Like the concept!

critic

I played a little, some thoughts are below.

[-]Game reminds me a lot of Wings of Fury
[-]It's a wonderful concept.
[-]There are some technical issues, like if you collide with another plane you would rotate on the forward axis and become invisible.
[-]Controls are awkward for me and it's the major thing stopping me from playing more.
[-]Why map [A-D] to Up-Down? Somehow my brain maps [W-S] to up down, because the fingers move up and down on [W-S], must have died half a dozen times because of that.
[-]Not sure if using the mouse to center the view is the right approach, it's an unnecessary function that you have to perform with the right hand, you could give the player something else to do with the mouse instead of controlling the view.
[-]Mapping throttle to mouse-wheel would be awesome, having a throttle indicator would be great too.
[-]The game felt way too fast for me, partially because of the view not showing what I was attacking, moving the view in some smart way would help with this.
[-]I found that it was nearly impossible to shoot down an enemy plane, it follows so closely that you can't maneuver to a shooting position. (I didn't use the flip function.)
[-]Loved the level map.

The concept has a lot of promise, would be nice if the control scheme could be refined somehow.

konman

@critic Thanks so much for taking the time to play and give feedback. I really appreciate it.

[-]Game reminds me a lot of Wings of Fury

Wow, I will look at the video some more for some ideas, I love the elaborate take-off sequence! Haven't heard of that game.

[-]There are some technical issues, like if you collide with another plane you would rotate on the forward axis and become invisible.

The enemy aircraft is extremely basic at the moment with simple tracking, will definately improve it. I think maybe remove collisions and have them pass through each other?

[-]Controls are awkward for me and it's the major thing stopping me from playing more.

I will add some basic key mappings, even if it means having to dive into a text/config file as a start.

[-]Not sure if using the mouse to center the view is the right approach, it's an unnecessary function that you have to perform with the right hand, you could give the player something else to do with the mouse instead of controlling the view.

This is experimental to empower the player to have some control over the camera. In WW2 dogfights it is a well know fact that pilots needed good eye sight and were continuously scanning 360 degrees to get a bearing on enemy fighters. I was trying to convey that feeling.

[-]Mapping throttle to mouse-wheel would be awesome, having a throttle indicator would be great too.

Brilliant idea, will make it a default.

[-]The game felt way too fast for me, partially because of the view not showing what I was attacking, moving the view in some smart way would help with this.

The mouse to control of the camera idea mentioned earlier was meant to alleviate this.

[-]I found that it was nearly impossible to shoot down an enemy plane, it follows so closely that you can't maneuver to a shooting position. (I didn't use the flip function.)

Yes, the AI plane is basic. Longer turning circles will give player time to turn and face when an enemy overshoots. Will rework that for sure in the near future.

[-]Loved the level map.

Haha, thanks. Was just a sine wave test, but with proper art it might promise beautiful vistas along with the action.

I liked working on this and will spend more time improving it time permitting.
I am thinking high altitude bombers, submarines and maybe a zeppelin or 2. Some search lights that pin a player in their beam, making surrounding AA and ground fire more accurate could be interesting too. Anyways, just some random ideas that may or may not make it in. :D

Thanks for playing.
K

Asriele

So I went in blind, I prefer not knowing what to expect so, I did not know that landing was a thing, since its a prototype. However I became curious so I tried to land at the starting base and expected to just crash stylishly but when saw the plane unexpectedly, actually land and heard those tires screech, I literally shouted YES!

I actually enjoyed the control of the plane since it feels like a skill one can immediately snuggle into.
You may or may not know about the game Luftrausers from valmbeer, I am sure you will be able to see what they did and see how they solved some of the problems you may be facing in the development of the game.

The music was an excellent choice and the view system is fun, maybe it just needs some kind of restriction so that you don't accidentally go to off center from your plane?

How did you do those waves though, very nice.
Was fun playing it!

konman

Thanks for playing and the feedback @Asriele ;)

You may or may not know about the game Luftrausers from valmbeer

I actually own this game and liked it for a bit, they have a great upgrade system, but unfortunately lack variety in enemy types. I want IronAngels to be slower and more thoughtful/less bullet hell, cause I'm old and my reflexes aren't what they used to be :)

The music was an excellent choice

The music *is* wonderful eh? Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) to the rescue!

...the view system is fun, maybe it just needs some kind of restriction so that you don't accidentally go to off center from your plane

The view area needs to be larger infront of the player to allow for better reaction time, I am still torn with automating this and allowing the player to control it as a mechanic, i.e. moving the mouse to move the camera independently.

How did you do those waves

I started with a simple sine-wave generator that sets the positions of a line renderer to visualize.
Once I was happy with result, i took the points generated to create 1 chunk/section of the map using collider blocks placed between 2 points.
The whole map is stitched together with x amount of these chunks. Trick is each chunk should start and end at y=0 to be seamless. The water chunks simply update the position of the points.

Cheers,
K

Tightrope

This reminds me of a game called Choplifter I used to play when I was young. It was a fun challenge to try and down everything in a single fly-through. Looping back and forth whilst dodging shells does create a sense of being a fighter pilot.

It seems to me that to throttle up and down "W" and "S" has to be pressed repeatedly making it a somewhat slow transition. Having the throttle react snappier (perhaps binding it to the mouse-wheel like @critic suggested) might lead to tighter movement (smaller loops) and better aiming.

konman

@Tightrope I remember Choplifter... Man, what an awesome game! Choppers allow for extreme changes in player speed in comparison to fixed wing aeroplanes which is very satisfying. The way the player was allowed to airlift/rescue P.O.W's and deliver them to safety was very cool. :)

Having the throttle react snappier (perhaps binding it to the mouse-wheel like @critic suggested)

I have implemented this in the latest build and it does feel a lot more responsive. (thanks @critic!) :)

konman

In today's modern gaming scene I often wonder if there is still scope for 2D games like this? We live in a time where players demand 10 plus hours of emergent game time, a killer story, mind-boggling graphics, end game + etc. How does one build a game, though comparable/acceptable in the 1990's and make it relevant in the modern day era? Combine multiple genres? Bring in point and click adventure for story telling? Top-down base invasions? A loot system somehow? Multiplayer? Online/Split screen? It will be fun to explore what is possible beyond expanding this little prototype to all it can be. Anyways, just some random thoughts I've been considering :)

Tightrope

Play Into the Breach mate, it's brilliant. If there's scope for that, there's scope for any 2D game if it's well made.

Asriele

Sure we make games because we love game dev, but we also sometimes make games because there is something new that we want to see that is personal to us. For example you said that you like the way iron angels are set up because its not bullet hell centered, which I totally agree with. That's something personal you are exploring. I don't believe being the best production value wise is a feasible goal because you pitch yourself against mountains without first building your own. Which can only be done by having other goals first that continually build up the small victories. That's my opinion anyway.

konman

@Tightrope, I loved FTL and will definitely check-out Into the Breach. Looks complicated, heh

@Asriele, Wow, you've put that so well and it is very inspiring... I guess it is the same questions most of us have when exploring a new prototype and questioning why *this* and how to take it further and make it unique/our own.

Lots to think about, but it's a fun journey. Thanks for sharing :D

konman

New build updated. (*Bullet hell edition*). I've added some enemy fighter planes (AI) and squashed a bug or 2 :)

Asriele

I finished the game. The multiple planes are allot of fun as is the freedom to engage as you want and where you want. I guess other games tie you to a limmited space to force a more intense experience. You can do that too, however if you were to say add a feul limmit.
I think by having the enemies turn slower its more realistic and fun but at the same time due to your own super power turning abilities they are forced to swarm around you in a circle while you take them out from the center of that circle. When it becomes feasible it would be awesome to have the enemy planes crash into the water if you are able to not crash into the water yourself.

I also think you should limit the amount of bombs you have, you can literally just fly straight up and bomb all the planes as they follow you.

Is it intended for the AA vehicles to be the most difficult enemy? They are crazy hard to take down.
Especially since the easiest enemy to take down are the ships.

That aside I think I like that its not a bullet hell game and this update doesn't make it one.
I at least consider bullet hell games to be a game where the focus is on careful navigation of a cramped space. Where iron angels seems more focused your ability to fly and apply correct firing tactics.

konman

@Asriele thanks again for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

they are forced to swarm around you in a circle

Usually when there is a predictable pattern in AI it is not a good thing. The circular pattern is due to a current lack of variance. In this case acceleration and turning circles of the AI. I plan to give it some more attention.

Limiting fuel and bombs is planned. I also still want to add splash damage to bombs (distance scan on impact).
In general balance is not yet in at all. Juts playing with mechanics and some early ideas, but will need to consider scale and time to kill.

Regarding the level it would perhaps be a good idea to limit altitude via a stall mechanic and I don't like the fact the level ends via sheer cliffs to the left and right. Maybe a circular map could work, shall see what can be done in the future.

For now I want to add a high altitude bomber and a zep or 2... :)

konman

Build v0.04. Added the bomber. Just something extra to shoot at. Fixed a bug where player wasn't taking damage from incoming fire. Also some basic explosion art from opengameart.org.

critic

Ran into this today, nearly the same concept but it's upside down.


https://twitter.com/boymakesnoise/status/972274685542129664

SleepingSafari

@critic Oh this looks a lot like 'Pequod':



https://bearmancer.itch.io/pequod

Had a lot of fun with this game. Also has some great music!

Asriele

I find doing sweeping maneuvers to be the most fun aspect of this game, so I currently pretend to be a show off. If you can focus your gameplay on having a difficulty that can be overcome by fancy maneuvers, I think things will gel well. Not forcing it though. I felt that taking the initiative to do daring stunts is a nice and rewarding freedom. Perhaps pay attention to aligning the gameplay with an objective. Perhaps having allied warships can be interesting, then there is something at risk besides yourself. It might take away the nice freedom aspect so watch out for that.

konman

That's it! I'm adding a flying sub... having seen those vids ;-P

@Asriele

pretend to be a show off

That is a very cool idea. Hollywood does seem to portray all wartime pilots as slightly arrogant and risk takers (Top gun etc). Could work if implemented well...

Perhaps pay attention to aligning the gameplay with an objective

Yes, that has been on my mind too. Just flying around shooting stuff will get old quick :D