STAR WARS: TIE in the Sky **Spotlighted**

[SalieriAAX]

STAR WARS: TIE in the Sky by SalieriAAX
A novice Imperial TIE Fighter pilot receives career support from an unlikely benefactor. Learn to fly the feeblest craft in the Imperial fleet and sock it to the Rebels.

Well, this is my second (proper) level, and it has been a slightly tougher project than Colossal Calamity. Set in the Star Wars universe, you play an Imperial TIE pilot on board Super Star Destroyer Executor facing flying challenges of increasing difficulty. It's not a very long level, and you won't encounter much in the way of interesting platforming challenges or puzzles, but plenty of character interaction and fairly detailed Star Wars-themed environments.

I've posted this as a F4F thread but I might not have a chance in the next couple of days to give feedback for levels I haven't downloaded yet as I'm going somewhere where I don't know if I'll have wireless.

I would like to offer huge thanks to Taffey, who not only provided me with some fantastic inspiration for Imperial interiors in A New Hop, but who also playtested the level several times for me and provided me with some absolutely invaluable feedback. Thanks Taff!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the level and if anyone could give me some help regarding getting some screenshots I would be enormously grateful.

EDIT - I've just reuploaded the level with an improved TIE Fighter, improved blaster fire, and some bug fixes:

TIE Fighter: All TIE's now perform much better. They are harder to tip over and don't fal out of the sky as badly if you do. Catching a wing on the Executor hull no longer unbalances you as badly, and overall the ship feels lighter and more stable. Note: There is a very slight difference in the handling of the TIE in the tutorial section and the space flight sections. This is because part of my improvements made the entire wing section grabbable, which meant that the self-righting mechanism could be operated from grabbing the bottom of the wing as well as the top, and doing so made the tutorial section a bit less slick and dynamic (losing the jumping down of the top section). Because of that, the tutorial TIE isn't quite as improved as the other ones, but there isn't really enough room in that section for this to be noticeable.

Blaster Fire: The blaster fire will now kill sackboy if it hits him. There's also a little bit of extra plot regarding the blasters that makes the battle a tiny bit more dynamic (not much, don't get excited.)

Bugs: I've fixed a couple of bugs that Domik pointed out.

VIDEO:



(Thanks to JHKthree for the video)

[julesyjules]

If i had a PSP I'd be there straight away....!

[Arrestor]

Holy ****! This is amazing! Nice Story, Gameplay, Visuals, Humor! I really enjoyed this one!

But there is one thing that i dont like that much. Unfortunatly the TIE Fighter can only fly sideways from ship to ship. But i think you cant do much about that anyway.
If i want to be nit-picky i could say that the way back out of the hangar of the rebel ship is much walking but thats just a small thing.

Really nice level: 5 Stars and a heart!

[PaddyJ]

Amazing visuals but the ship needs work, it's too heavy so it keeps tilting if you hit a corner(maybe make the inside smaller so this happens less) and if you let go of the analogue stick(but still hold R) it just falls. Hide some peach floaty in there behind the front thin layers(if there's some already in, add more/change some of the thin layers to floaty so it's less heavy and easier to control). Great gameplay though

[amazingflyingpoo]

Well, you already know that I am a huge fan of yours because I loved Colossal Calamity so much, so I was very excited to give this level a try, and you did not disappoint! There were so many things that stood out about this level.

First of all, the humor was excellent. You had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions with the things that Vader said. That was some incredible dialog I really didn't want the level to end just so I could see what you came up with next!

Secondly, the level looked outstanding. The materials we have really played to your strength on this one. Everything about the level looked just perfect. Also, your character models were amazing. Everything down to Vader's flowing cape was just fantastic!!!

Lastly, the gameplay was great. Sure, it was pretty low on the platforming, but I didn't mind one bit. The level was just plain fun! I see that some people are complaining about the ship's balance, but I think it is nothing to worry about. If you had me fly through obstacles with the ship I would have been frustrated, but I was only asked to fly in a straight line, so it wasn't bad at all. I did die once because of loosing control, but it only took me about 30 seconds to get in a ship and get back where I was. Personally, I liked the challenge of flying it

Great work! I hope you keep up this trend of incredible levels 5 stars and hearted!

[PaddyJ]

Do you have any thermo left(probly not judging by visuals) ? Maybe increase the space between the ships(hangers?) and add some obstacles(lasers etc.) to spice things up? The levels still great even without those things. Maybe save it for a sequel ;D

[Powershifter]

If i had a PSP I'd be there straight away....!

me too

I've posted this as a F4F thread but I might not have a chance in the next couple of days to give feedback for levels I haven't downloaded yet as I'm going somewhere where I don't know if I'll have wireless.

...do you really have to download levels that you want to play?

[famouscustard]

I played this level when it wasn't even posted here and I still love it to bits. Great job salieri! Five stars and a heart, you already got a creator heart from me. If your theremometer isn't full, maybe you could combine this with your AT-AT walker (just an idea)?

[Fastbro]

Wowsers! Another amazing level from you! and heart.

[jeffcu28•]

Hey salieri,

Well, it seems Taffey predicted right: I now officially hate you more than you hate me!

I'm really glad that you finally published a "full" level. I always tried to imagine what a wholesome experience from you would be like, and now with this, I know: Terrific In Every Way!

First of all, your doors are sick. I've seen some mighty intricate doors on the PS3 side, but for the PSP, I thought that was an ingenious way to make something simple look really complicated. Your characters have by far some of the most well-developed personalities and design. I'm horrible with stickers, and you're one of those designers who make me pop out my sticker tool to figure out exactly how you achieved such a convincing look. I also really liked the character proportions. Most levels feature relatively large ones, but these were tiny and adorable with their Sackperson treatment. This similarity in size between the actual sackperson and your characters really made the story that much more engaging. And on top of that, they were really funny in a cartoony/comic book type of way. I really enjoyed the levitating chair section, and especially the part when you walk in on Vader! Hehe. Awesome stuff.

Okay, now the TIE Fighter . I loved the idea, and I thought the learning curve was just right thanks to the well-implemented training sessions. My only concern was that it felt rather "heavy" and not floaty enough for me personally. Keeping it upright was a bit tricky for me sometimes too, and when it tips over, you plummet to the ground quite quickly and it loses that anti-gravity sort-of effect. In terms of construction though, this is another major technical feat, and I'm sure most players will oversee those minor issues and focus more on the amazing gameplay.

For a full level with ingenious and well-made vehicles, this deserves 5s and a heart, and then some! Hehe. As for F4F, you don't have to review any of my levels as you already did...

Grabbing on to my chair,
jeffcu28

[Taffey]

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the level and if anyone could give me some help regarding getting some screenshots I would be enormously grateful.

Hmm? Someone say screenshots?

These aren't true screen captures so the quality isn't 100%, but hopefully they should do for now. Each smaller picture links to a larger version, and I've included the raw BB code below in case you want to copy and paste it into your post. Enjoy.

Code:

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[URL="http://shawnandtom.com/LBP/TIE_in_the_Sky/tis09.jpg"][IMG]http://shawnandtom.com/LBP/TIE_in_the_Sky/tis09s.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://shawnandtom.com/LBP/TIE_in_the_Sky/tis10.jpg"][IMG]http://shawnandtom.com/LBP/TIE_in_the_Sky/tis10s.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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[tominater12]

I have to say this was a complete blast to play the tie fighter was amazing how it was actually able to fly. Now I did have some issues with the tie with it not going up enough or once spinning out of control but overall I had a blast. I loved your designs and the way darth vader looked. I gave it and a heart I am shocked how you are able to create these things. Also I would love some feedback from you on Target 1.1( since this is f4f)

[Domik12]

Hi, salieri! I have no words to describe my feelings after your level... maybe just WOOOOOOOW!!!! All part of level are great. You did fantastic job with corner tool and stickers. Design of level and character are excellent. I already spend about 2 hours on trying to to things, such as you did in you level. I learn many things about using corner tool and stickers from your work! Thank you for it. And my great respect for you as level creator. You are genius! My 5 and heart for level! And yopu already have my heart as creator.

And thanks for post "How To Make Walking Objects And Vehicles" - I already finished it translate into Russian and soon publish it on our LittleBigRussia community site! Looking for you next levels!

[SalieriAAX]

Thanks so much for all of your feedback folks. I totally understand what you're saying about the flying. I was convinced there wasn't any more I could do to get it to handle any better, however, I've just made a few adjustments that I think make it much better. It's still possible to fly out of control if you change direction quickly several times in a row, but it's definitely better. I need to reuplaod anyway because I discovered yesterday that when I changed the blaster fire (one of the last things I did) I hadn't made the gas part thick enough - as a result it's actually harmless. I can't get on wifi today but I will get a new version uploaded tomorrow.

Taffey - thanks for the screenshots, they actually make the level look pretty awesome.

Re F4Fers - as I said I can't get on wifi today, but will check out your levels as soon as I can.

Thanks!

[Lleonard Pler]

I had a blast with this level.

Nice humour, a very professional look, incredible cute-but-recognizable characters (I specially liked Darth Vader), innovative gameplay... Everything is excellent.

I would like to mention the sense of depth in some of the rooms, it felt like there were as many layers as in the PS3 version. Clever use of shapes, colours & materials.

Flying the TIE gets some time to get used to, but you offer a tutorial, the TIE respawns if you die, and despite it's difficult riding it, you can feel it WORKS (ie, it's not broken like other vehicles in too many levels), so it's not a big problem.