Helicopter DirectX9 Test
Project information
I'm particularly proud of the camera in this game.
This project allows the player to take off and fly a helicopter around a small cityscape area. The player can fly up and down, turn left and right and move forward in the direction the helicopter is facing. Although there is no collision detection for the helicopter against the buildings, the helicopter can also drop a bomb object, which does bounce off buildings.
It's not actually a 'game' as there is no challenge or objective. It's more of a tech demo.
Controls
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Take off / fly upwards | A (hold) |
| Fly downwards | Z (hold) |
| Turn left / right | L / R arrow keys (hold) |
| Fly forward | Up arrow (hold) |
| Drop a bomb | Space |
| Force camera back to helicopter | C |
| Exit game | Esc |
Known Bugs and other notes
- No collision detection for helicopter (except floor)
- You can take off, but you can't land
- Balls bounce only from the centre of the ball.
- Balls like to fall through floors and roofs once they've finished bouncing (annoying)
- On some machines, the helicopter texture won't load. On others it will! (no idea...)
- For an unknown reason, the frame-rate at the start of the game can be noticeably low (for about half a second)
Downloads
The program requires a Windows machine with the latest version of DirectX9 or higher.
This program has been tested on a number of computers and seems to be perfectly safe, but just to be sure:
Download this software at your own risk. By clicking the link below you agree that you will be soley responsible for any damage to your computer system or other device or loss of data that results from the download.
- Helicopter game (ZIP file 3.7Mb)
Project blog
Helicopter game uploaded
29th January 2008
After testing different versions on different machines, I've now got a (semi) working copy of the helicopter game on the website.
| Tags: helicopter game | Comments (0) |
Helicopter game finished
18th January 2008
The objective was to build a scenario where the player controls an object that 'flys' and drops bouncing 'bombs'. I built a basic cityscape for a helicopter to fly round. The bombs in this case are spheres that bounce off the buildings.
I'm most proud of my custom classes, in particular the camera class, which makes the game much more interesting to play.
Special thanks to Lewis Linehan for modelling and texturing the helicopter and buildings for me.
The project took me about a month to make, including going through Direct3D tutorials, designing and programming the game.
There are a few bugs, (most notably the bombs fall through the floor when they've finished bouncing), but I'm still quite happy with the result as it's my first DirectX project.
I will upload the Window-only executable file in the near future.
| Tags: 3d, programming, directx, helicopter game | Comments (3) |
DirectX project
29th December 2007
Still need to do some texturing!
Over the Christmas period I've been working mostly on a C++ DirectX project for the Programming for Entertainment Systems module.
The project is supposed to show the basics of Direct3D with a little bit of physics. I have created a simple urban-like environment for the player to fly a helicopter through. The helicopter was modelled and textured by my friend Lewis, who I expect will end up working for Pixar or Dreamworks one day!
Important parts of the project are that the helicopter blades spin relative to the helicopter (without using animated meshes) and that the 'copter drops a bouncing 'bomb'.
So far it's been great fun to make, if a little frustrating at times (very). More in the new year, when I finish the project.
| Tags: 3D, programming, directx, helicopter game | Comments (1) |