aerial combat
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control o ...
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
.
Developed by independent
video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
Dark Water Studios based in
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
game client for Windows. The game was released on June 14, 2010.
''DogFighter'' is the first commercial video game title to use the Instinct Engine.
One hundred-twenty dedicated servers and 20 dedicated demo servers went online on August 17, 2010, hosted by Multiplay.
Gameplay
''DogFighter'' consists of single-player levels as well as multiplayer maps where players congregate online to play against one another. ''DogFighter'' features different aircraft varying in speed, agility and defense capabilities.
Players can play against up to 15 opponents in multiplayer game modes such as "DeathMatch", "Team DeathMatch" and "Capture the Flag". Single-player modes include a "Tournament" mode where the player can achieve medals for events completed and "Survivor" where they can battle against waves of enemy craft.
A "Lone Wolf" game mode was released with update version 1.0.2.4 in both single-player and multi-player game modes.
A teaser trailer, released via YouTube on February 4, 2010 showcased a variety of craft and environments.
Technology
''DogFighter'' uses Instinct Studio 2.0, a cross-platform middleware solution created by Instinct Technology. The game also uses
nVidia PhysX
PhysX is an open-source realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Nvidia as a part of Nvidia GameWorks software suite.
Initially, video games supporting PhysX were meant to be accelerated by PhysX PPU (expansion cards designed by Ag ...
, Scaleform and Fmod.
Key technological features used in ''DogFighter'' include deferred rendering and seamless landscape/outdoor to indoor environment technologies.
Reception
''DogFighter'' was well received. PC game review site GameRamble.com awarded ''DogFighter'' a score of 9.0 / 10.0, praising it for having "All the fun and maddness of a first person shooter but with added dimensions" as well as having stylist and detailed graphics.
Christopher Holt, Editor at GamePro awarded DogFighter four out of five stars, stating it was "Fun, frenetic multiplayer combat; great aircraft roster and interesting arsenal fc; cool maps."
It earned a score of 7.0 / 10.0 from video games blog RipTen, who cited its strong points as "Fun plane combat done the right way" and "Planes and weapons all mix and balance perfectly".
Gamer's guide website
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
praised ''DogFighter'' as being "Team Fortress 2 with an Air Supremacy Mode" as well as commenting positively on the games highly-responsive control system, graphics and simple premise.
Video game news website GamingBolt.com commented positively on ''DogFighters overall visual aesthetic and extremely detailed plane models as well as its unique power-ups such as realguns and heat-seeking rockets.
''DogFighter'' was named sixth in the top ten games, by unit sales, for October 2010 on digital distribution platform
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
for selling 67,000 copies.
German technology and games website Zockon gave the German retail release of ''DogFighter'' 7.0/10.0, citing amongst its strengths a good mix of action and simulation controls, nicely built 3D models, strong mix of game modes and uncomplicated online multiplayer.
British game reviewer and e-sports commentator TotalBiscuit had high praise for ''DogFighter'' but cited invisible planes as one of its downfalls.
Soundtrack
High Score Productions is credited with sound design, effects and soundtrack.
Retail release
In March 2011, Berlin-based games publisher Just A Game released a boxed retail version of ''DogFighter''. This version included an exclusive craft, "The Badger", and full localisation support for German-speaking countries.
In April 2011, Moscow-based games publisher Logrus released a boxed retail version of ''DogFighter''.Logrus website (his daughter worked in Microsoft), publisher of Russian retail version of ''DogFighter'' This version includes full localisation support for Russian-speaking countries.
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...