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Altitude- 2D flying multiplayer goodness

aBlankaBlank Registered User regular
edited March 2010 in Games and Technology
Altitude is a fast-paced, online multiplayer aerial combat game with 2D physics-based gameplay and a cartoony aesthetic. It features 5 unique planes, a perk system inspired by CoD 4, crazy powerups, a map editor, and an account/friends system. The games made by only 2 guys and have been working on it for ages. I've been playing it since it's near inception and it can be incredibly addicting. There are currently 2 modes, your average FFA and Team Based Destruction (TBD for short). The objective of TBD is to find and use Big Bomb powerups to hit your opponents base. Only big bombs are capable of destroying an opponents base.

altitude_game_screenshot_2.jpg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d578q9PsM6M&feature=related&fmt=18

It runs great on Windows, Macs, Linux, and it's laptop friendly. You can probably tell by the screenshot/video, but this'll practically run on anything :P There's also a bunch of family friendly options so you can disable chat and such so your kids can play without fear of their youth being corrupted by the big bad internet :)

There's a demo for the game available on their main page: http://altitudegame.com

You're limited to the first 2 planes and a few starter perks, but there's no limit to play time. There's also a free weekend coming up on May 8th-10th, which'll let you experience the other planes and perks.

I've spoilered some additional information about the planes/perk system:
Altitude has an experience/perk system like CoD 4: as you play you'll level up and unlock new planes and perks. You create your own custom classes by choosing a Plane, a plane-specific Red Perk (Weapons), a general/passive Green Perk (armor/tuning), and a general/active Blue Perk (energy/abilities). Here's a breakdown of major unlockables by level:

Planes:
1: Loopy - starts with semi-guided missiles and EMP (which disables afterburners and reduces turning radius of the opponent)
6: Bomber - lobs grenades and has a rear turret to shoot at guys chasing after you.
11: Explodet - uses rockets to knock other planes around (usually into walls :P) and mines fired from behind to catch chasers or temporarily cut off access to certain areas.
16: Biplane - has a basic long range shot and a high damage-per-second close range machine gun
21: Miranda - primary weapon is a chargable 'bouncy' shot that can reflect off walls/planes for additional hits it's secondary weapon is more of a defensive move that flips the ship 180 degrees to surprise opponents or GTFO of bad situations.

Red Perks [Alternate Forms]:
24: Loopy - Double Fire - Fires two missiles at once increasing damage but reducing tracking.
27: Bomber - Bombs - Replaces tracking tailgun with bombs.
32: Explodet - Thermobarics - Thermobaric explosions create a vortex that changes the course of the plane it hits.
35: Biplane - Recoilless Gun - your machine guns no longer produce recoil, so there's no speed loss when firing.
38: Miranda - Laser - Replaces projectile bounce with a devastating laser beam when fully charged.
44: Loopy - Acid Bomb - Replaces EMP with acid that reduces armor and causes damage over time.
47: Bomber - Flak Tailgun - Replaces tracking tailgun with a high recoil, explosive, flak cannon.
53: Explodet - Remote Mine - Replaces tracking mines with manually detonated remote mines.
56: Biplane - Heavy Cannon - Replaces long-range gun with a rail gun-esque cannon.
58: Miranda - Time Anchor - Replaces reverse ability with a teleport which sends you back a few seconds to your previous location.

Green Perks:
2: Rubberized Hull - Reduces damage from collisions and knockback from explosions. Great for new players to help cut down on suicides-by-wall.
13: Heavy Armor - Reduces damage from weapons.
30: Repair Drone - Repairs damage over time when not afterburning or taking damage.
50: Flexible Wings - Increases turning capability and flight speed.

Blue Perks:
8: Turbocharger - Increases energy regeneration rate.
18: Ultracapacitor - Increases maximum energy.
41: Reverse Thrust - Increases throttle rate and allows reverse thrusting.
60: Ace Instincts - Increases the bonus for each veteran bar which are gained by assisting/killing planes, turrets, or bases.

So yeah, check out the demo. Try out the tutorials and such, then jump online and play!

aBlank on

Posts

  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2009
    Meh so this game finally went pay to play huh?
    Looks like it killed the population too.

    Fun game, but not worth shelling out money for, as I only ever played it like 1 day every 3 months or so.

    edit:
    Also my guy is level 38, and it is only letting me use the loopy now that it is a "demo" version.

    Morkath on
  • BlueDestinyBlueDestiny Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Fun game, but definitely not worth 20 bucks.

    BlueDestiny on
  • acidlacedpenguinacidlacedpenguin Institutionalized Safe in jail.Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    instead of free weekend they should make it like, half or quarter price weekend so that people like me will buy it without even trying it out first, because of the deal alone.

    acidlacedpenguin on
    GT: Acidboogie PSNid: AcidLacedPenguiN
  • lamsterlamster __BANNED USERS new member
    edited May 2009
    Hey PA, I'm one of the two developers working on Altitude.
    my guy is level 38, and it is only letting me use the loopy now that it is a "demo" version
    All demo users can access Loopy and Bomber, but your slots might have been reset when we released--to fix it just click slot 2, Edit, then click Loopy and replace him with Bomber.
    instead of free weekend they should make it like, half or quarter price weekend so that people like me will buy it without even trying it out first
    Please check out the game during the free weekend -- which just started a few minutes ago! As much as I'd like your impulse buy money :winky:, I think we've put together a really solid, fresh multiplayer experience that is totally worthy of your hard-earned cash. I know it's not for everyone, but we've picked up a pretty diverse set of dedicated players, from former Starcraft progamers to DotA addicts to Counter-Strike/CoD 4 junkies, and best of all, a bunch of guys who had never gotten into an online multiplayer game before.

    Please try it, you might like it! Even if you don't buy it, at least enjoy the unlimited demo -- there's plenty of good times there to be had with friends. A bunch of our players have logged over 100 hours of playtime already, so if you love it, I think it's a pretty good value at $20.

    Any and all feedback is appreciated -- I'll be watching this thread closely.

    lamster on
  • MangarooMangaroo LondonRegistered User regular
    edited May 2009
    I can't seem to find the link for the free weekend so I'm checking out the demo instead. Free weekend followed by 1/4 price weekend? :)

    edit: i guess its not yet properly friday for the rest of you

    Seems pretty fun, you can tell early on there is a lot of depth to the game. I'm not sure this is entirely fair as I haven't spent too long with it but it reminds me a lot of a game I picked up (and quickly dropped) soldat, and in my mind I just figure that this is soldat guy in a plane so I can't justify forking out $20 when soldat is free. I'll be playing some more this weekend though
    Stalling is so fun

    Mangaroo on
  • lamsterlamster __BANNED USERS new member
    edited May 2009
    Thanks Managroo! I think you'll find there's a lot of depth to explore -- some of our players, including a bunch of guys who still play hardcore competitive Starcraft against Koreans online, have started a competitive Altitude league. You can watch some of the league games here: http://www.mogulus.com/tec27

    The free weekend applies to everybody -- just download the demo and play the game, you'll have access to all the planes and perks. When the free weekend ends you'll still have all your experience and stats, but you won't be able to use some of the planes and perks unless you buy.

    lamster on
  • leafleaf Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Been playing this and owning scrubs. It's actually pretty fun, but I'll have to think about buying it outright just yet.

    Godamn recessions.

    I made it to about level 27 or so, my favourites have to be the bomber and the mine laying heavy bomber thingy. My only gripe is I'd have liked to see more planes to choose from with different attacks.

    leaf on
    newsig-notweed.jpg
  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2009
    lamster wrote: »
    Hey PA, I'm one of the two developers working on Altitude.
    my guy is level 38, and it is only letting me use the loopy now that it is a "demo" version
    All demo users can access Loopy and Bomber, but your slots might have been reset when we released--to fix it just click slot 2, Edit, then click Loopy and replace him with Bomber.
    instead of free weekend they should make it like, half or quarter price weekend so that people like me will buy it without even trying it out first
    Please check out the game during the free weekend -- which just started a few minutes ago! As much as I'd like your impulse buy money :winky:, I think we've put together a really solid, fresh multiplayer experience that is totally worthy of your hard-earned cash. I know it's not for everyone, but we've picked up a pretty diverse set of dedicated players, from former Starcraft progamers to DotA addicts to Counter-Strike/CoD 4 junkies, and best of all, a bunch of guys who had never gotten into an online multiplayer game before.

    Please try it, you might like it! Even if you don't buy it, at least enjoy the unlimited demo -- there's plenty of good times there to be had with friends. A bunch of our players have logged over 100 hours of playtime already, so if you love it, I think it's a pretty good value at $20.

    Any and all feedback is appreciated -- I'll be watching this thread closely.

    My feedback;

    For the amount of content in the game, $20 is a large amount of money to be asking. I am not trying to discredit your game, it is fun and innovative(and I would recommend anyone who hasn't, still check it out), but there are not enough game types or planes for me to consider getting it.

    The game is fun in small bursts, but I can't imagine ever playing it for any decent length of time like I did with CoD4 or TF2.

    Morkath on
  • gunwarriorgunwarrior Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Looks cool, make me want to play Soldat again...

    gunwarrior on
  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2009
    Riiiise thread!

    Looks like this is getting a steam release in early december, has a new game mode since I last saw it.

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/41300/

    Morkath on
  • AlegisAlegis Impeckable Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Riiise again thread!

    So it's out on Steam, including a demo. Fun stuff, you should all try it out. Went ahead and bought it.
    Conveniently all your steam friends firing up the game or the demo will add you automatically to their ingame friends lists.


    Price is now 10 USD on nimblygames.com or if you want the steam version (damn right you do) 7.25 eur.

    Alegis on
  • s3rial ones3rial one Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    The game's pretty cool. Worth $10. It's sort of like Subspace, which is good. I'm not a fan of having to level up, though. And man, it needs widescreen support in a bad way.

    The developers keep saying that 22% of people on Steam have 4:3 displays, but why can't they live with black bars instead of those of us who've bothered to upgrade out monitors since 1999? :P

    s3rial one on
  • PasteePastee Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I hope this does better than Subspace did. I did Beta for that game for so long.... Played it almost every day with my wing. When they finally released it I felt obligated to go out and buy the retail version.

    Apparently I was the only one. Community tanked within a week. Two weeks later, I shelved it and didn't play again till it went public domain.

    Was kind of sad really. I guess people couldn't justify paying for it after playing it for free for a year.

    Pastee on
  • aBlankaBlank Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Pastee wrote: »
    I hope this does better than Subspace did. I did Beta for that game for so long.... Played it almost every day with my wing. When they finally released it I felt obligated to go out and buy the retail version.

    Apparently I was the only one. Community tanked within a week. Two weeks later, I shelved it and didn't play again till it went public domain.

    Was kind of sad really. I guess people couldn't justify paying for it after playing it for free for a year.

    FWIW, I've been playing the game for... years. Back when it looked like this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0t6-NN4rEI

    And it's always had a small but incredibly dedicated following. I dunno how many hours you require to feel satisfied with a 10 dollar purchase, but provided you enjoy the demo, I don't think you'll be disappointed with a lack of players any time soon.

    aBlank on
  • fadingathedgesfadingathedges Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    This caught my eye awhile back but I didn't want to shell out the bucks. As of right now, Altitude (and a handful of other indie titles) can be bought for just $2 on steam, for anyone interested in getting it on the super cheap. It definitely sounds worth it to me - I won't have a chance to play soon but I picked it up.

    fadingathedges on
  • zanmattozanmatto Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    It'd be criminal to not buy this at 2$

    zanmatto on
  • SamSam Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    why did they ban that dev?

    Sam on
  • AlegisAlegis Impeckable Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Definitely a must buy for yourself and a friend at 2 bucks. Very addictive stuff. If you're still on the fence you can always play the demo until level 10.
    We should get some PA servers up

    Bomber 4 lyfe

    Alegis on
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