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Hello Godotforums. This is an introduction to my in-development vertical shooting game; Stratoskirmish. This is an industrial war themed arcade style shoot ‘em up title I have been working on for several years. I’ve mentioned my game on the forums before, but thought that its condition was now suitable to showcase here & ask for feedback.
In this game players take control of a fighterplane armed with front facing autoguns and other deployable weaponry. Players can maneuver their aircraft using WASD and arrow keys, Digital 8-way Joysticks and D-pads, or with the (left) analog stick w/ analog movement support. Players must skillfully move out of harms way as ground targets begin attacking their aircraft. Players can deploy a limited fleet of flying “Aerotorpedos”; unmanned helper fighters that can be maneuvered and provide additional firepower, but are also vulnerable to enemy bullets as the player. Additionally, in certain states Aerotorpedoes may be launched forward as an offensive projectile attack that deals extra damage to targets while giving the player a brief window of invulnerability. Players may find strategic ways to use their Aerotorpedos to deal with certain challenges throughout the game. The game will feature 5 dense stages with a variety of enemies and unique bosses.
Stratoskirmish runs in Godot 3.4.2 GLES2 2D. I consider the game fairly late in development, so I have version-froze and presently do not intend to migrate the project to Godot 4+ versions. The project began life as a 2.79 Blender Game Engine experiment prior to moving to an earlier version of Godot 3. Godot proved to meet my need for a moderately lightweight beginner friendly 2D engine with native Linux (+Steamdeck) support.
The game takes advantage of Godot’s 2D strengths such as using animatedtextures within tilemaps for animated tiles such as the trees and water. The graphics also make heavy use of Godot’s normal map support for enhanced dynamic lighting effects.
Most of the game’s graphics are made from raster pre-renders of detailed 3d models that I create in Blender. Within Godot I use light2Ds to apply additional dynamic lighting effects to all “hard surface” sprites using baked surface normal maps to create pseudo-2d dynamic surface lighting. Using this technique, the game will feature enhanced lighting effects that I hope will make for a unique and appealing visual presentation. A notable effect I plan to achieve is to show the game taking place over the course of a day by gradually moving the position of a giant Light2D ‘sun’ seamlessly as the game progresses; I think that v. 4+ godot versions may actually have a dedicated node designed for achieving ‘sun2D’ stuff like this now. A more comprehensive breakdown of my graphics workflow is planned for some time after the release of the game.
I also plan to have ‘seamless’ stage transitions using load zones that visually match the beginning of the next stage; similar to the way Half-Life’s load zones work. The goal of this is for each stage to flow into the next to make the game feel more cohesive and immersive as if it takes place as a single continuous “mission” rather than a collection of different separated levels.
The gameplay should feel rapid and dangerous with perpetual difficulty pressure. I’m familiar with the arcade shooting game genera and am primarily balancing the gameplay around a reflexive arcade game experience appropriate for my skill level rather than a casual PC game. I am working to create difficulties that are fun for casual players, however, this game is proudly designed primarily for an audience of moderately experienced STG players. Feedback from any skill level is welcomed.
No hard-set release date yet, but I intend to launch on Steam for both Windows and Linux PC platforms. A beta demo is available for anyone interested to try. Thanks for reading.