What has been going on?
To begin, what has been going on and why has there been a disconnect so far this year? To be put simply, burnout has been knocking at the door for some time and getting into the new year just sort of broke the camel’s back. It has been a long, complicated few years of development; not only is Project Gunship my first project, but it is a complex idea that has a relatively steep knowledge/development skill requirement curve that I’ve had to battle against since the beginning.
Because of this, I decided in January to temporarily begin working on a new concept/project to deal with the burnout and although it took longer than I initially suspected, I believe it was a successful decision for several reasons.
First, it seems to have cured the original burnout and I’ve developed a second wind to jump back into development of Project Gunship. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Project Gunship is a passion project and I have always been eager to create a solid AC-130 gaming experience (since you can’t find any substantial ones still).
Second, it allowed me to explore new problems/concepts and develop solutions for them which has altered my perspective on how things can be changed for the better in Project Gunship. With an emphasis on performance and quality, it has helped me realize where I’ve gone wrong conceptually in Project Gunship and ways to fix it.
Third, with the new project having differing requirements, it has allowed me to focus on aspects of game development that weren’t exactly big priorities originally in Project Gunship. This includes simple things like 3d modelling, animating, storytelling, etc. Most importantly though, the critical fact that Project Gunship is a game and it needs to be fun. Shocking, I know… who would have ever guess that?
I could probably dig up some reasoning for why things happened the way they did, but regardless it is clear to me at this point how imbalanced my approach to development has been over the years and it is time to fix this critical piece.
Status of the game
So, what is the status of Project Gunship? If I were to frankly sum it up in a sentence; Project Gunship is currently an unoptimized tech demo providing only a narrow AC-130 experience. There is certainly much to be fixed and added before I could ever call the game done. Regardless, I’m excited about the opportunities available to improve and make a more engaging game. Many of you have offered advice on how to make this happen and so there is plenty of potential remaining.
What is coming next?
Features and Systems
The majority of the important features/systems are in place, but there are still some to be added.
- Gunship Damage and Anti Air Threats. This has been on the list since the beginning and has been in various stages of development throughout the years. As some players have pointed out in their feedback, tension is important in games, particularly in Project Gunship. This feature is a good way to improve this aspect of the game.
- Joystick Support. Again, this has been on the list since the beginning but because of constraints in Unreal Engine, has proven to be a difficult one to implement. Nonetheless, this is important to allow players to get the most immersion in their playtime, utilizing the same equipment as real-life AC-130 crews.
- Custom Scenario Creator. Replayability has always been a problem with the game as scenarios generally provide mostly a linear experience. Allowing the player to create their own scenarios would help contribute to a game that is simply more replayable.
- Integration of the Steam Workshop with Custom Scenarios. If the ability is granted to players to make their own scenarios, they should be allowed to share them.
- Rework AI for Infantry and Vehicles. There needs to be an increased variety of how the AI interacts with their circumstance. Marginal changes here should greatly improve the experience for the player.
- Rework Vehicle Damage Models. The current implementation has been a placeholder until I could spend more time on this. The goal is to accurately emulate real-life experiences of AC-130 crewman engaging vehicles.
- Additional Radio Feedback on Player Action. The player needs to feel like they aren’t alone in the air. Communication is a primary aspect of the AC-130 experience, and it should be felt by the player.
New Content
- Improvements on scenarios already in game.
- Add a Tutorial.
- Add (3) New Maps. Afghanistan Mountains (OEF), Kuwait City (Desert Storm), and Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam).
- Each new and existing map should have a minimum (4) realistic scenarios, (1) zombie rush scenario, and (1) training range scenario.
- Additional vehicle models for all conflicts.
- Improved Infantry animations.
- And last, but not least: Polish, Polish, and Polish.
Finally, it is important to mention how grateful I am to everyone who has supported the project and stuck around despite the lack of updates. Project Gunship has always been a passion project and I’m dedicated to ensuring it gets finished. Despite losing a few months of development time, I think that time away will prove to be an important step in improving and finishing the game. I’ve already made a good amount of progress already and am excited to see the game improve!
I do intend to have the next update be the 1.0 release, so it will be a few months before you will see that, but I will do my best to post update logs to showcase the progress each month. I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so be sure to leave a comment or jump into our discord community to reach out.
Thanks for everything and hope all is well with you all!
P.S. If you are interested in a western, vertical scroller, shoot 'em up game, check out my new project that will be released on steam soon. See the game here. Also, in case anyone is wondering, development is completed on this game, so I'm back full time working on Project Gunship.
