Match Strike by chainedlupine
Description
Genres: Samegame tile-matching + flight sim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgTUz4eYZ9k
We need your help! The enemy has stolen our experimental quantum-flux reactor design and is using it to power their forward attack base!
Strike Captain, your job is to take an R-9 fighter and destroy or disable the reactor, any way you can. Our scientists say you can stop the reactor by destroying identical power blocks, and trigger a cascade that will take the entire thing offline.
Be careful though, as the enemy knows you are coming...
Basic Controls
- W/S = Pitch up, down
- A/D = Bank left, right
- Q/E = Rudder left, right
- Arrow Up = Throttle up
- Arrow Down = Throttle down
- X = Extend/retract air brakes (also functions as wheel brake)
- F = Extend/retract flaps
- G = Extend/retract landing gear
- Spacebar = Fire main cannon
- C = Switch camera view from interior to exterior (and vice versa)
If you don't like this controls, visit the SETTINGS menu at the start of the game to change them, or press ESCAPE as the game is running to bring up the settings menu.
You can also adjust the screen resolution/quality settings from here, too.
HUD Display
The HUD is typical for most 9th gen ASK fighter craft.
Known Bugs/Problems
All: Landing gear currently do not function. But that's okay, as leaving them extended during flight causes no ill side effects since I never coded it in. 😋
All: Landing gear also are not rendered, either. For similar reasons as above...
~~Win64: Crashes on exit, though the game itself functions just fine. (I've exposed a bug with Unity Player, and I will need to research a solution. WebGL version doesn't crash!)~~
~~All: Sometimes, the blocks won't visually update to reflect board changes. ie: The won't fall into the right spot. They are still considered together and will match if shot at, but there might be a visible 1-block gap between the columns.~~
~~All: Found problem with board gen (actually, a problem with how the game was checking for solvable moves, which affected board gen).~~
~~All: Keyboard mapping issues when you restart a level. Investigating this one!~~
~~All: Settings button does not work on first click; Need to click it twice to get it to bring up settings dialog.~~
~~All: If level complete and dies, when on respawn voxer plays "takeoff" and not "complete mission"~~
~~All: Accidentally deleted the ground collider in the bugfix build, cough cough.~~
~~All: Changed pitch of menu select sound, as my hubbie said it was driving him crazy.~~
~~WebGL: "Points" text was a bit muddy.~~
~~WebGL: Player cannon sound is different from other Player versions.~~
~~WebGL: Runway and blocks have Z-fighting issues.~~
~~WebGL: Blocks do not show up correctly on thermal vision cam.~~
~~WebGL: Ground has specular shine, when it shouldn't.~~
~~WebGL: Compass texture has slight overlap glitch.~~
| Windows | https://chainedlupine.itch.io/match-strike |
| HTML5 (web) | https://chainedlupine.itch.io/match-strike |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/match-strike |
Ratings
| Overall | 294th | 3.735⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 346th | 3.557⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 202th | 3.787⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 118th | 4.226⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 460th | 3.657⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 155th | 3.79⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 673th | 2.733⭐ | 47🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 398th | 3.49⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 72🗳️ | 33🗨️ |
Flying around and attacking the blocks felt quite natural once I got the hang of it. There were some small bugs, like the keyboard defocusing after restarting a level, but those didn't degrade the experience too much.
@Préda Thanks for playing! What bugs did you see, if I might ask?
@mao Would you describe the bug you see, as the same as what @noumenus saw? (Trying to gather info before I do a bug hunt in the game code.)
@Reizo Thanks! :smile:
@Seanharrs I will increase the size of the runway detection zone. I define it currently as the end of the base (between the tower and the hangar buildings) right now, but easy to bump it up!
@noumenus I'll take a look at the keyboard binding stuff. As for the blocks, it plays the same as Samegame: You have to destroy at least two of the same kind of block, and the game ends if there is no more possibly matches. Hence the message "you succeed but not quite" that you get if you end up with no matches but there are still blocks alive.
I've checked level 1-3, and it's possible to solve all the levels with 0 blocks left, but I haven't tested level 4. I was kinda in a :runner: when I was making level 4.
The random level could possibly generate unsolvable boards, too. My board generating algorithm isn't very robust and only tries 100 times to create a solvable board before it gives up, so no guarantees. :hammer:
I wish I had more time to write an in-game tutorial, so I will just have to add more instructions to my game posting here.
@alobker Yeah, it's supposed to be a flight sim, so lots of knobs to tweak. Glad you enjoyed!
New version uploaded. I've fixed ALL the problems with the board (such as falling blocks being stuck, etc) but sadly, my changes caused the deterministic board-gen stuff to change, too. So all the levels are different, even though they use the same seeds. But don't worry, I have verified that they are 100% solvable! Except for Random, which is, well, random.
Note: Crash-on-exit is still present in the standalone build of the game, but that problem is far more difficult to track down, so will have to wait.
I don't know why I was expecting simplicity in a flight sim but, oh well, let's begin.
Every grip I have with this game is due to the combination of genres and, more specifially, about the inherit complexity of flight sims.
This game requires pacience and precision far beyond what I'm willing to give it, for example, trying to hit stuff while moving AND been attacked is kind of a c%@&$#ººt, having limited fuel is part of a flight sim but it makes far more punishing when you're trying to be both fast and precise in light of the constant fire your under and did I mention that you can only destroy the reactor parts that have combination AND you can barely register them AT ALL!?
Aside from me not enjoying the game, this certainly has to be one of the most solid entries this year! Congratulations on finishing your game. Get a rest soldier, you deserve it.
@Fil089 I'd like to vote your comment for the best I've ever received in my years of doing LD. :grinning: I actually laughed out loud and had to read it out to my friends who were around me at the time I saw your posting. It's a frustrating game, but the theme did say **incompatible**! And when I had the idea of combining these two types of games, I knew I had that part in the bag.
@roaderful I certainly did. Way more into the flight-sim stuff than the block-matching part, that's for sure.
@Bodaciouslycrazy Thanks! And I've fixed the graphics shine bug! It was me being silly with a shader.
@the_noffs I definitely agree about the flight sim part being far more polished. I was more than halfway through the weekend before I realized I should get to cracking on the rest of the game. In fact, the levels were made in the last four hours of the jam. I was really cutting it close... As for post-jam potential, I agree!
@justinooncx My games tend to be polished but at the cost of content. I'm glad I implemented the Random level generator first before the other levels, so there was some replayability; I originally wanted 10 levels, with extra objectives, but I had to drop all of that pretty quickly. I spent way too much time on all the finishing touches, like the voice overlays, and getting the flight HUD working. But thank you for the compliments, I am glad you liked it!
@TomekS It's the jam version, though I have fixed a few game-breaking bugs (and a few of the broken visuals) as allowed, though I have not touched anything else. The flight model is also very simple, don't let it fool you. :grin: Thanks!
I like controls, they work pretty smooth. Also, lovely voice acting, I think headphones are recommended to feel the game's mood. =D
Likes
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The idea and the flight model are just really really cool. Amazing you pulled off a convincing flight sim for LD Jam. The sounds are punchy and the radio voices are just present enough to not make you feel alone.
The targeting diamond really helps players make a split second decision and miss fewer targets. Well done!
The gun turrets and their doppler-laden sound effects really help me retain my situational awareness and feel under some kind of surreal science fiction fire.
The graphics, especially the reactor complex, are nice convincing as well. My favourite detail is the depth of field effect on the cockpit.
Ideas
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Do the flaps even work? Does the rudder even work? I didn't feel these were very pronounced in their effects for a casual game / flight sim crossover. Possibly even have thrust vectoring / VTOL with a plane that looks like this in the age of quantum reactors. It would add to the skill ceiling.
A more pleasant Menu Button click, maybe...
And: The destruction of blocks and chains of blocks can be more more satisfying with juicy feedback - crank up the emission and let them flash white hot as they resolve, add some simple particles, etc. Or just punch them out as rigid bodies and let them fall to the ground.
Gist
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A very original entry that took me right back into my Amiga Flight Sim Days. Somehow it reminded me a lot of Armour Geddon. Definitely destroys the theme in one swift fly by. Fox two! Bullseye!
Bugs
------------------
"Hey Goose, does the ground even have a collider??!" (Web and Windowns versions) Noticed it when I ran out of fuel, and then realized it's the same in flight as well. That said, a submarine sim / match-3 would make for a good sequel. ^^ However, a flight sim without ground crashes *does fit* the casual game / flight sim moniker. :laughing:
As for the flaps, they barely work. It's more like automatic "just push you upwards at low speed" flaps that gets modulated by your flap setting. The flight model is extremely basic.
And I love your ideas for juicy feedback! That's one of the things I had to leave on the chopping room floor. That, and when you destroyed chains of blocks, parts of the base would blow up.
Really making me want to do a post-jam version, now!
It's awesome that you managed to put in changeable controls, it helped a lot, especially because this is a flight sim.
Sometimes I wished I could go around faster for another firing run.
Great job with the audio, btw.
Besides that, the feeling and mechanics of soaring in this game are **so fun** and it *felt great* and realistic.
I loved the overall design, it was immersive, and the "match strike" in the menu was a nice touch 😂. The sound design was really immersive too! Really appreciate the voice acting and it's guidance... *though i couldn't do some of the things it instructed me to do...*
Still, if I didn't have more games to rate tonight, I'd be playing your game some more because it felt so satisfying to lift off and fly.
Try our game and give us a rate too! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/a-tale-of-comedy-and-tragedy
@Elsiana Eaves Landing can be a problem, particularly on level 4 when you're a bit far from the enemy base! Though you can belly-flop the plane on the runway versus land it and take less than %50 health in damage, though that assumes you haven't already taken damage... :grin: And sure, I'll check your game out!
Also as a FYI, you're only meant to fix bugs that are entirely game-breaking for the jam version, and for other bugs treat them as post-compo, but I'm eh about that rule anyway :P
My changes were all bugfixes, plus fixing some WebGL porting issues, such as graphics or sounds that were different versus the Windows build. If you want to see the original released-five-minutes-before-timer-ran-out version for comparison, it's up here: http://chainedlupine.com/games/match-strike-ld41/
It plays identically, except the levels have different combinations of block types. I fixed a bug in the level generator that was preventing blocks from falling properly (wasn't indexing all positions, due to a off-by-one typo), but a side-effect was that it caused the random generator to spit out different arrangements of blocks since the generator and the checker were using the same routine.
@ZEST_is_BEST Thankies!
@huminaboz Yeah, I wanted a tutorial but had no time. The help screen couldn't cover controls since they were re-bindable.
I made a match-3 game as well (which is also a text adventure) and it looks like people have the same sort of feedback for this game - it might be less fun because it's hard to actually manipulate the blocks in both games, and you have to focus more on the controls. I guess that's the point of this theme, though.
That alone brings a lot of memories )))
And seeing here match-3 is really something unexpected for a flight sim genre. Kudos for mixing two totally incompatible genres! :airplane: :three:
@invader I love F19, I remember flipping through the manual when I wasn't played it. You might have noticed my jet fighter took a lot of inspiration from that craft. :grin:
@rosik Only slightly frustrating? I needed to have worked harder on that, then! :wink:
@magicera Thank you! And sure!
@Sean S. LeBlanc Awesome, love to hear that.
I even managed to land =)
Very hard to flight sim with a keyboard, but I guess that's how it was done back in the day.
The graphics, and especially audio are outstanding. I liked the radio comms. I kept crashing the plane, and it was very tough to fly but felt realistic (at least what I imagine it might be like to fly a plane).
@YANIV Hey not bad! Glad you made it down in one piece. :thumbsup:
The throttle does not respond to direct analog input. You can still adjust it with an analog stick but if you have a throttle control (that goes from 0-100) then it won't work. I need a setting in the options that toggles the game's interpretation of an axis from "relative input" (as it defaults to now) to "absolute input" for those kinds of controls.