Vector Thrust

[MyHatismyFriend]

For those of you who don't know, I'm doing something with some friends called Vector Thrust, it's a nice little cell-shaded fan-made successor to the legacy Ace Combat games, which we felt were somewhat spoiled by the CoD-pandering of the newer games. The project was started somewhere back in 2011, I joined up in 2012 and now in 2014, we're nearing the release date. In 2013, we were lucky to have been picked up by a Publisher, Iceberg Interactive who gave us some money and even an office for the lead dev, apparently. We're starting to think about starting a marketing project for the game now, so I figured I'd chip in however much I could and spread it around the internet as best I can.

This game obviously is about aircraft- but you won't find the fiddly and complicated control schemes most people associate Flight Sims with- if you've played the old Ace Combat, HAWX or even Star Fox you'll find the controls easy and intuitive. That being said, if planes just aren't your cup of tea then it isn't really for you. VT has several selling points:

1. Complete, Unrestricted Moddability
By complete moddability, we mean full-scale, no-restrictions. VT comes packaged with a mission editor and hopefully even a future cutscene and campaign editor, for enterprising fans to make their own stories and missions, with a bit of research and learning. A small, but dedicated fanbase has already attached themselves to us from the Alpha release, and mostly revolve around making skins for the planes already in game, though an elite few have actually managed to port things like maps and even new units into the game. Modding on a more basic level is easy- we took very special care in coding everything into text files to reduce the workload on people who want to tweak the game.

2. Hundreds of Playable Units
Vector Thrust literally currently holds the world record for most amount of aircraft playable in any videogame, ever. We just reached 200 units yesterday. While it may seem excessive, Vector Thrust was designed from the ground-up for user-modification, so we decided to implement several variants of each plane family as it evolves through the decades to suit scenarios for every time setting, and our lead dev is specially proficient at finding those top-secret, black superplanes that nobody has ever heard of for implementation.

3. Arcade Action
Some people want to play hyperrealism- they want eight missiles on their plane, 3 seconds of cannon fire for their gun, and 5mm thick armor. They're not the audience we're pandering to. Vector Thrust is a love story to all the crazy, silly boss battles you found yourself in, all the magical armor that allowed you to tank several missile impacts, and all of that wonderful break from realism that we feel really is what makes a game a 'game'.

4. Dynamic AI
Vector Thrust was designed with the ethic that 'whatever the player can do, the AI can do too.' You play on equal footing here. I'm no coder, so the AI coding for VT always finds different ways to astound me whenever I get the latest build. The AI quickly figures out how to use new weapons and even exploit new gameplay mechanics without much direction from us, and actually caused a bit of trouble with some scripted events where the AI didn't want to do what we wanted it to do. In multiplayer or Skirmish matches bots are imbued with several 'personality traits' that affect their play style so to best emulate human players.

Vector Thrust is slated for release in 2014, this quarter, in fact on Steam. We're not expecting much- this market is niche to say the least, but if you're interested, have a look on our ModDB Page. We occasionally hold contests as well, so if you have some pretty designs for some ground or sea-based superweapons, wait around for the announcement (:

http://www.moddb.com/games/vector-thrust

We also have a Facebook page that is very badly managed.

https://www.facebook.com/VectorThrust

[Luna Pixu]

Looking forward to it. If anyone ever makes a review or first impressions like TotalBiscuit (who is an Ace Combat fan), I can have the right to say "Yeah, I know a guy who worked on the game. He had a hat for a friend."

[Lord_Jacobus1]

Looks fantastic. I'm going to tell my mom about it.

[Tenko]

I would like to submit a bugfix for all bugs:
Obj *obj = nullptr;
(*obj).add(new Obj());

Anyways, get this greenlit :^)
Seems like a great game.

[Cucoo5]

shut up

and take my money

all of it.

Also please tell me there's difficulty settings with one being like a "hardcore" mode that would be as you call it "hyperrealism"
Otherwise it's just not fun.

[MyHatismyFriend]

Yep, there is a mutator for realistic ammunition loadouts, missile tracking, and gun damage, and one more for realistic damage. Just activate them when you want and you'll be set.

Of course, you can't actually buy the game yet. There was a mildly successful Alpha-funding period, and now we've moved into close development.

[Cucoo5]

Then this will be one of the most absolute best flight sims.

How much is this going to be? I'm buying it as soon as it launches.

[MyHatismyFriend]

Iceberg will be setting the price, I'm afraid. It shouldn't be too expensive though. We're also considering allowing the fans to sell their mods and send us a 5-10% commission, though it's just talk at the moment.

[Cucoo5]

don't care what price

nothing will deter me

YOU WILL TAKE MY MONEY AND YOU WILL LIKE IT

[MyHatismyFriend]

Just some details I may have left out

A major flaw with multiplayer on these kinda games is that it gets pretty boring pretty quickly in terms of combat- when you have two aircraft moving at high speeds all the time trying to get behind somebody to fire at him fights are going to degenerate into stupid loops like real-life dogfights. We don't want that now, do we? That's why we have the Angle-of-Attack (AoA) Limiter. Your aircraft starts with it enabled, and performs like normal. However, a toggle-able switch can allow you to disable the limiter in order to pull of funky macross/gundam/top gun moves that while impractical in real-life, serve to dynamically change combat events ingame.

When AoA Mode is disabled, your aircraft's aerodynamic capabilities will change greatly- allowing you to pull your aircraft's nose off-centre for a short amount of time in exchange for rapidly bleeding off your speed. In real-life, this is known as Vectoring-in-Forward-Flight, and can only be performed by the latest in combat aircraft. Disabling the limiter allows the player to access a immense amount of offensive and defensive tactics, all high-risk, high-reward options as he runs the risk of being easily targeted by enemies or even stalling as he runs out of airspeed. AoA mode is completely optional and players who choose to fly normally will not be placed at a disadvantage- an aircraft using Limiter is a slow, easy target!

Here are some real-life maneuvers you can pull off using VIFF.

Immelmann Turn
A strategic defensive turn dating back to WWI, where it was designed and used by the German Ace Max Immelmann. After an attack from high altitude, perform a sharp vertical turn and climb past the target, applying generous amounts of yaw just before stalling to turn your aircraft back around and in position for another attack. Pilots are vulnerable to counter-attacks at the bottom of the first dive and at the top of the second dive.

Scissors
Most often seen in a close-combat environment, involving two evenly matched aircraft both attempting to move behind the other for optimum gun positions. Aircraft sweep left and right in alternating zig-zag movements, slowing down before they meet in order to end up behind the other. Whoever does succeed will gain a split-second snapshot against his opponent, crucial in such a close-range encounter. If a pilot has good reflexes, he can anticipate his enemy's next turn and match it, allowing him to easily move into position granted he decelerates in time.

Chandelle
A high-G defensive turn aiming to achieve complete reversal of direction within the minimum turn radius, allowing defending pilots to quickly turn towards an attacker, potentially ruining his shot. To do this, pilots must temporarily exchange altitude for airspeed, bleeding off as much as possible to slow his aircraft. Executed correctly, it can surprise enemy attackers and allow defenders a chance to escape.

Thatch Weave
A team-based maneuver from the Second World War, utilising strength in numbers to box in and defeat more agile foes. Two fighters begin flying parallel head on towards an attacking aircraft- then blow past them, turning hard in opposite directions to loop back around and hem the now-vulnerable attacker from the left and the right. Potentially an enemy could then make a vertical defensive turn to stay out of sights, but the addition of a third fighter can alleviate this. Crucially, pilots must not be shot down in the first past in order for the weave to succeed.

Sharpshooter's Loop
Advanced close-combat defensive strategy, providing unparalleled defence towards both teammates' rear hemisphere where they are most vulnerable. The two defenders must begin the move facing towards each other at high speeds, then simultaneously initiate a high-G turn, keeping their noses pointed at each other at all times using the AoA Limiter. Any target attempting to position themselves behind a teammate will then be easy pickings for the other pilot. The move got its name from the incredible accuracy and trust both teammates display towards each other, because of the extremely high risk of friendly-fire. Ironically, The two defending aircraft are vulnerable to long-range attacks.

Pugachev's Cobra
A legendary combat maneuver popularized with the Su-27 family of heavy fighters. This will be any pilot's bread and butter- a offensive and defensive move revolving around putting the nose off your flight vector. From a horizontal flight plan, disengage the limiters and pull the nose either up, if the move is used defensively, or towards the target if you are using it to engage. In terms of offense, this allows the aircraft to 'power-slide', allowing it to fire missiles and guns at a direction perpendicular to its flight path. In defensive situations, the entire aircraft is used as a giant airbrake, dynamically slowing the aircraft down so that enemy attackers overshoot and fly past- and positioning the new attacker slightly above and behind the opponent, an ideal counterattack position.

Kulbit
A Cobra taken to the extreme- a defensive loop with limiters off that will trap any closely pursing aircraft. Can be executed in both the vertical and horizontal axis and bleeds off less speed than a Cobra. Skilled pilots will time their Kulbits so that the aircraft's nose will be pointed straight at the enemy aircraft as they fly past, allowing them to shred the length of the new defender as they complete their loop.

Rogue's Assault
Powerful team-based offensive tactic specially designed for taking down immense ground targets. Using unguided multi-fire weapons, swarm the enemy target and tear it apart at close-range, exploiting limiters and flying in looping patterns to confuse defending ground forces. If a radar so much as turns on all pilots eject countermeasures rapidly and relentlessly. When in an environment where there are no enemy aircraft, the tactic is brutal, messy and extremely effective.

[MyHatismyFriend]

Super Update


Vector Thrust is headed to Steam Early Access! Release date is set for around mid-late Q2.

Of course, we've been hard at work optimising the game, and adding new features/ The most noticeable is a major graphical upheaval to take advantage of the cel-shaded graphics and display them n a super colourful palette, just to differentiate ourselves from the hurrduur super brown shooter massive realism omg franchises. We've also updated our Map and Mission Editors, you get some pretty nice morning/evening light shows like this:



As well as some pretty tropical maps like this:



And of course, mandatory giant laser nuke thing.

You can get a better look at Vector Thrust on our ModdB poge:

http://www.moddb.com/games/vector-thrust

[Tewi_Inaba]

This reminds me of when i played rebel raiders

[MyHatismyFriend]

Oh man, I remember Rebel Raiders. Was pretty funky, if a little repetitive. I really liked the aircraft design for the Raptor in that game too.

[MyHatismyFriend]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242130


It's happening.

[Nuclearblt]

Oof, those graphics tho. Shame that my graphics card sucks.