Strike Eagle v 0.3

After a few false starts, this is the first real working version of Strike Eagle.  The pre-loader, company logo for our soon-to-be-formed game company “Counter Punch Games“, and main menu screen are completed.

Some of the main issues was getting the background to properly scale.  There were a number of glitches in the background scaling that occurred in the first 2 versions of Strike Eagle, that I had to scrap the Flash File and start again.  After I started with a clean Flash File, the problem went away.  I may have just imported something wrong.

The game takes advantage of 2 free 3D-models provided by FreeSpin3D – the F-15 and the Mig-23.  Given the time constraints of creating a game, I took these two models and decided to do a tribute to “Afterburner” in Flash.

Here is a video of the original “Afterburner” by SEGA, one of my favorite arcade games of all time:

The “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, is actually a stub for the Music until I can replace it with something that isn’t copyrighted.  But it is one of my favorite songs of the 80s that I own.

What I have found surprising however is how well Flash performs with the highspeed ground movement and scaling that I’m pushing at it through ActionScript 3.0.  But this honestly shouldn’t be a surprise considering how much a graphical load I was pushing in Space ROX with all the particle effects.

Check it out!

Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere by Vanillaware

It amazes me how a single company can turn an entire genre on its head. Ever since the advent of the PlayStation, 3D gaming has been the goal for most development companies as the staple of AAA titles. In 2007, a small company called Vanillaware turned people’s heads by churning out two stunningly beautiful games in console 2D: Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire.

What is most distinctive is that the games look and play like moving paintings.  Personally, I think that 2D gaming still retains largely unexplored.  With the rendering capabilities of modern graphics engines, there is still so much room for exploration (and re-exploration) of once long thought dead genres.

While so many developers are seeking “new and innovative” experiences in terms of gameplay, I think that there is still plenty of room to revisit older genres with new insights and new technology.

Odin Sphere revisits the classic 2D sidescrolling “beat-em-up” games.  Grim Grimoire tackles 2D real-time strategy.  Both of these genres have been long considered beaten to death and have given way to huge AAA 3D titles.  But with stunning artwork and solid gameplay, Vanillaware’s small team stakes its claim that there is nothing wrong with the “tried and true” games of the past when given new life.

Another thing to note for Indie Developers is that Odin Sphere was initially started as a 5-man project and maxed out at 14.  By major-company game development standards, this is a tiny team.  Yet, the results are nothing short of breathtaking.

I cannot wait for Vanillaware’s next release later this year: “Muramasa: The Demon Blade.”

Here’s yet another art sketch from the main artist of Castle Crashers: