After months of working towards a single experience, I've realized the importance of having flexibility. Gameplay in an AC-130 can be relatively one dimensional and I believe the real challenge in creating an enjoyable game is having strong replayability.
Due to this, I've decided to expand the game to involve all gunship variants, as opposed to focusing exclusively on the AC-130U "Spooky" variant. This has meant 3 things so far:
- New name: This has been simplified to "AC-130 Gunship" as the game will center more around the overall history of the AC-130.
- More weapons and ammunition types: Scenarios will now be expanded to include all conflicts the AC-130 participated in. This will give the player a chance to engage targets with (4) GAU-2A mini-guns from the earliest variants of the AC-130 and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles in the latest. Each weapon and ammunition type has its strengths and weakness, so using the right weapon and ammunition in certain scenarios is critical.
- Customization and Added Gameplay Features: With this change, it has required for me to rebuild the weapon system foundation to support "plug and play" weapons and ammunition. Previously, weapons and some ammunition changes were hard-coded to their weapon slots without much variation. With this new system, it greatly increases the possibilities for different types of scenarios and game types that require this flexibility, which will add to the overall game experience.
Here is a list of weapons and their ammunition types that will be available to the player:
- GAU-2/A
- Caliber: 7.62x51mm
- Rate of Fire: 6,000/min
- Ammunition Types
- 7.62x51mm AP
- M61 Vulcan
- Caliber: 20mm
- Rate of Fire: 6,000/min
- Ammunition Types
- PGU-28A/B Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive Incendiary (SAPHEI) Point Detonation
- GAU-12/U
- Caliber: 25mm
- Rate of Fire: 4,200/min
- Ammunition Types
- PGU-25 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) Point Detonation
- PGU-28 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) Point Detonation
- GAU-23/A
- Caliber: 30mm
- Rate of Fire: 200/min
- Ammunition Types
- MK-238 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) Point Detonation
- MK-258 Armor Piercing (AP) Point Detonation
- MK-310 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) Proximity Detonation (Airburst)
- L/60 Bofors
- Caliber: 40mm
- Rate of Fire: 90/min
- Ammunition Types
- PGU-9B High Explosive (HE) Point Detonation
- PGU-9C High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) Point Detonation
- M81 Armor Piercing (AP) Point Detonation
- M102 Howitzer
- Caliber: 105mm
- Rate of Fire: 6/min
- Ammunition Types
- M1 M557 High Explosive (HE) Point Detonation
- M1 M732 High Explosive (HE) Proximity Detonation (Airburst)
- Launchers
- Types
- AGM-114 Hellfire Missile
- GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb
- GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb
- Types
With that, the player will have a decent arsenal to lay waste all enemies down below. As I mentioned above however, using the right weapon for the right job will be key because they each have their advantages and disadvantages.
Nonetheless, progress is good and I'll be sending another update as soon as I have some more exciting features to show! Here is a quick video showcasing the AGM-114 Hellfire:
Also, I sometimes am quite impressed with how real it looks. When I edit the video to be similar quality to all the downrange AC-130 videos we see, it almost is identical (well, there are a few things to work on :) )
