Gunships flight model
by Tony Richards · 09/15/2006 (8:03 pm) · 3 comments
The main "hook" in my game is the flight model, so before I get very far with anything else, I must have it perfected.
After hours of coding, tweaking, and play testing I thought I finally had it perfect... then I handed it off to a play tester and it got ripped to shreds.
Sheesh... I guess when you ask for an opinion and you actually get one, the hardest part is taking it. At first I was reluctant to listen... I mean, c'mon, I can fly the thing without crashing... but then again I've logged several hours with it already, so I guess that's not fair. A new player wouldn't last more than a few seconds without crashing... obviously not so fun.
The target audience for Gunships by Sarge is the hardcore gamer that doesn't mind taking a few minutes mastering the controls before diving into multiplayer mayhem. But then again, I also don't want to alienate the casual gamer. How am I to get a veteran player if I lose everyone three minutes into playing it? lol
So, reluctantly, I dove into the code once more and made some changes that gives me the best of both worlds... great control if you know what your doing, yet still playable even if you don't.
The goal is to let the n00bs have fun, but let the veterans pwn, and hopefully I've achieved that.
Tomorrow morning will be time for more play testing... hopefully my rear-end won't be so sore as the last one... :P wish me luck.
After hours of coding, tweaking, and play testing I thought I finally had it perfect... then I handed it off to a play tester and it got ripped to shreds.
Sheesh... I guess when you ask for an opinion and you actually get one, the hardest part is taking it. At first I was reluctant to listen... I mean, c'mon, I can fly the thing without crashing... but then again I've logged several hours with it already, so I guess that's not fair. A new player wouldn't last more than a few seconds without crashing... obviously not so fun.
The target audience for Gunships by Sarge is the hardcore gamer that doesn't mind taking a few minutes mastering the controls before diving into multiplayer mayhem. But then again, I also don't want to alienate the casual gamer. How am I to get a veteran player if I lose everyone three minutes into playing it? lol
So, reluctantly, I dove into the code once more and made some changes that gives me the best of both worlds... great control if you know what your doing, yet still playable even if you don't.
The goal is to let the n00bs have fun, but let the veterans pwn, and hopefully I've achieved that.
Tomorrow morning will be time for more play testing... hopefully my rear-end won't be so sore as the last one... :P wish me luck.
About the author
I am the founder of IndieZen.org, a website dedicated to the Indie 2.0 Revolution where a number of Indie game development studios and individuals collaborate and share a suite of custom built open source game development tools and middleware.
#2
As a hardcore flight simmer, I would prefer a flight model that is as realistic as you can get. But still like to just go in and fly around a little as well.
Trying to satisfy both worlds with one flight model will be hard.
09/16/2006 (2:48 pm)
Why not make an Arcade mode with reduced flight physics for the casual user.As a hardcore flight simmer, I would prefer a flight model that is as realistic as you can get. But still like to just go in and fly around a little as well.
Trying to satisfy both worlds with one flight model will be hard.
#3
You could have beginner games and advanced games in multiplayer, too.
09/17/2006 (11:08 am)
Yeah, your game definitely sounds like a good target for a Full Realism mode in addition to Casual mode. I've appreciated having a "beginner mode" in flight sims I've gotten into in the past -- it can help a lot with learning the game and figuring out what's going on, but then very soon as a player you want to ditch the training wheels and really start flying the airplane. You could have beginner games and advanced games in multiplayer, too.
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