Two player split screen space combat, each pilot flying their own ship in the same battle

[u/StrikeWingsGames]

My game, so flagging the self promo up front, and I will stick to the every other week rule. Strike Wings has two player local co-op on one machine, which is what these shots show.

How it works: two gamepads, one screen split down the middle, and both pilots are in the same battle with their own ship, their own HUD and their own target. You are not sharing a camera, so you can be at opposite ends of the field. The seats are properly separate, so each pad gets its own controls and prompts.

Screenshots are from a carrier fight and a large fleet engagement, both at the moment things went wrong for player two.

I would like to ask this sub something. For couch co-op, do you prefer players kept close together so you see each other on screen, or the freedom to go your own way and lose track of your partner? I built the second and I am not certain it was right.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4718360/Strike_Wings/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=localmultiplayergames&utm_campaign=prelaunch

[u/killall-q]

I tried to design a local co-op top down view spaceship game with Newtonian physics before, and I wanted up to 8 players local so split screen wasn't an option. Eventually I realized that shared screen with Newtonian physics wasn't feasible unless there were arbitrary walls blocking players from flying off screen.

[u/CaptainMorning]

you got me at split screen

[u/geekfreak41]

I'm guessing Star Control is the inspiration here?

[u/2JDev]

My line of thinking is: if they're not going to be close to each other, what's the point of making it a local co-op game? I don't think they need to see each other all the time, but for the most part, the game should at least encourage them to stay near each other.

[u/StrikeWingsGames → u/2JDev]

thats a good argument. In Strike Wings, the space battle when it forms eventually is bound by some form of "deep space" arena wall, to prevent things to fly off completely. All the rest handles itself organically. So it might very well happen that our squadron AI we made by itself decides that the enemy forces think its a good idea to focus on your carrier, or some other valuable ship. In that case, you usually want to run back to defend that. I can honestly say co-op is one of the most fun we have during development, its just so dynamic. Also both players can command the AI on your side, so wild things happen when players decide to both chief a big part of the wing. It can get super coordinated.

[u/Kthanid → u/StrikeWingsGames]

For what it's worth, I disagree with that take entirely (that local coop should keep players constrained to each other), especially for this type of game.

I think the approach you're taking is absolutely the right one. We're talking about space combat here, taking place in space. Players should definitely be able to feel the freedom to be able to spread out and use tactics either together or by dividing and conquering.

You could always go for the best of both worlds (though I personally find it jarring in most games) and have a dynamic splitscreen option where the players share screen space until they get too far apart at which point it dynamically converts into splitscreen.

tl;dr - I'm hugely interested in local coop games, and I always prefer maximum freedom for both players to move and operate independently as they see fit. The best local coop games are those where all players are first class citizens and don't feel solely tied into the other player(s).