Wing Warriors (ZX Spectrum Next)
A downloadable game
Take to the skies in Wing Warriors for ZX Spectrum Next, a high-octane tribute to the golden age of arcade shoot 'em ups. This title blends classic "shmup" mechanics with modern fluidity and tight controls.
The world is under siege by a relentless mechanical armada. As a member of the elite Wing Warriors, you are the last line of defense. Engage in intense dogfights, dodge chaotic bullet patterns, and take down massive screen-filling bosses to restore peace to the clouds.
This game was developed with the intention of introducing myself to retro game development in pure assembly language. With the aim of making a game as close to a bullet hell as possible, the sprite limitation was a significant challenge. I developed multi-sprite systems which I later discovered, unsurprisingly, were very common and prevalent at the time.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $1 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Mouse control fixes20 days ago
- Game fixes35 days ago
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Awesome game!
Thanks! I apreciate it!
This is a really smooth vertical shooter for the Next. The graphics are many layered and very well animated. It is one good looking game. The audio sounds fantastic with a great back track. My only criticism there is that the sound effects could do with a little more punch to stand out from the music. And... the game has mouse controls as an option! This means it is compatible with the Nextball Arcade and I can confirm it works really well with it. This is the first true Next vertical shooter with Nextball capability (Red Shift is a classic Speccy game that can do it). BUT... there is a bug. You cannot move with a mouse/Nextball unless you hold down fire. This needs fixing before the game can take the title. Hopefully this can be fixed soon, then that's finally a Next vertical shooter in the growing Nextball capable library of games. Thanks Mr Dev, you made my weekend.
PS. If you do an update to fix the mouse/Nextball bug, adding the ability to use the delete key during high score name entry as well would add some extra polish. It can be a bit frustrating otherwise.
Hi AndyCalling. Thank you for your feedback. Actally, the mouse behaviour is as expected. I wanted it to be similar to the behavior of a mobile game, where you hold down to move and shoot, and release to stop. Although for mouse could be strange (I have received more feedback in that direction) I think it works well. But I didn't consider the Nextball Arcade at all, and I understand that in that case the player would expect the character would move regardless you press the fire button. I will make an update in the following days. I will also add the return button in high score screen.
Ah, I see. I'm not much of a mobile gamer so it came as a bit of a surprise to me. Thanks for working on a change, it really will make Wing Warriors a fantastic shooter for the Nextball Arcade. Wing Warriors is a great looking game, and so responsive with the Nextball. An impressive achievement.
Mouse controls has been fixed.
Woohoo! On the way home from work now. I can't wait to shout about this one in the community groups. This is gonna be a fantastic Nextball Arcade experience. Thanks for such a cool game.
I've been playing it. It is even better with the Nextball Arcade than I thought it would be, which is a strangely common feeling with the Nextball. When first testing, I had only tried the first character. Now I realise each character moves differently. This is particularly great with an analogue trackball as you get a very different feel and different control experience with each of them. Genius! It looks fantastic and plays very well indeed. The high score table is a little tricky to use still, but I'm sure that will get sorted and it doesn't affect the game play. The immediate reaction I had to seeing a letter A presented was to use the cursor up/down keys to change it. That got me a number entered. So I pressed delete. That got me another number entered. Luckily my first high score was easily beaten. :-D Wing Warriors, when paired with the Nextball, is the only analogue vertical shooter experience for the Next. Red Shift is great, but it is a Speccy 128K game and is a bit monochrome. For me, this is the best vertical shooter on the platform.
I honestly wasn't expecting such positive feedback. I'm glad I spent a few hours fixing the problem. I'm happy you liked it.
I brought the .nex file, where I can find the Manual and cover PSD??
Sorry, we removed it because a physical edition is planned. If you'd like, we can issue a refund.
No problem at all... great work btw...
Extended emulation report. The game works as expected in the MAME emulator. CSpect has its own quirks. If I run NEX file directly, everything works fine. However, if I launch the game from a SD card, the background graphics are not visible.
I also wanted to ask: is it possible to publish a box cover in PSD format? The serial number matches the Warhawk game, and the price is high, so I wanted to change it for myself :)
Hi, Leonis. This Spectrum Next was working few years ago. But since then the core has evolved and maybe there things that are not working as before anymore. I will probably need to update the game. Give me few days to fix it. Also, I will upload a PSD version of the cover. Could you please let me know what emulator are you using? Thanks
Thanks for the reply. I ran the game in CSpect and MAME emulators and the result was the same. The core has indeed changed over the years, but as far as I know, even the oldest games can be run these days. Perhaps you're using something very rare or specific for playing music. Or emulators don't yet support the required feature, as was the case for a long time with the game Atik Attack. If you run into any difficulties, we have groups on Facebook and Discord where you can always consult with experienced programmers. If you want, I'll make an announcement in the groups so that people who have computers can test the game on real hardware. I wish you success. You have a wonderful game, and I think it will eventually be high on my list to play.
Thanks for you words, I really apreciate it. I've uploaded a new file with the music and the text align fixed. Also I have uploaded a pdf cover. About the unmappeable keys, I have tried P in CSpect and it maps correctly... Could you confirm me that the problem persist? Thanks in advance.
Yes, the game now sounds! I see the intro screen has changed and the settings menu has been fixed. Thank you so much for the fixes! The joystick controls are excellent, although I didn't get past the second level, which is noticeably more difficult than the first. I tried playing with the mouse, but there are some oddities, such as the fact that you can only move by holding down the left mouse button. I don't know if this was intended or not. And maybe it's just my imagination, but the mouse feels better in the center of the screen than on the edges.
The mouse? I completelly forgot that feature lol. Maybe I will spend some time to improve it. Thanks for the report!
Hi, thank you so much for the game. I'm already trying it out on the emulator - the gameplay is smooth and fast, I like it.
I'd like to ask. I'm having issues with the control selection screen. Specifically, the frames around the "Joystick Kempston" and "Back" text don't align with the text. I also can't remap the keys properly; many keys don't respond (for example "P").
There's also no sound or music in the game itself. Is this an emulator issue?
I have sound and music on my version running on Cspect Leonis
This means you have a fixed version; the author promptly made the necessary changes to the game.
Ah that's good. Watch out for my review later Leonis!
Great, I just realized who's writing this, I'll wait, Graeme ;)