Venus Patrol
A downloadable game for Windows
A NEW WORLD ENTERS THE JET AGE
Fly Meteors and Vampires above the sulphur clouds of Venus.
MARVELS OF BRITISH ENGINEERING
Control fully physically modelled aircraft using only the mouse.
RED TERROR IN THE SKIES
Develop your dogfighting skills to hold back the communists.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun says:
"... a remarkable hybrid of simplicity and complexity, a challenging and technical plane game hidden behind accessible controls and dreamy visuals."
First released in 2011. Contains two tutorial and three combat scenarios. Designed for low resolution. Requires a mouse.
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is there any plan for new games?
Hi Neil, I remember playing this game in 2013. It keeps being as amazing as it was then!
I would like to try and make a spiritual clone with https://bevyengine.org/ and https://github.com/Jondolf/avian for learning purposes. I've read the other comments here, and I would be glad to have the source.
Would you be up for sharing the source with me and with a possible clone in Bevy?
If so you can find my contact info here.
Many thanks in advance!
Did you get my email about this?
All well. Many thanks again!
do u plan in remaking this game anytime soon? or making a sequel idk
Thanks for asking, but no plans.
dang it
I really like the mouse control, it feels comfortable and allows for easy landing. If one day you make another flight simulator, keep that mechanic.
It becomes very difficult when the enemy doesn't let themselves be killed, those Sukhois manage to get behind me but I will keep trying.
I wish there was a map so I wouldn't get lost so often.
Still as beautiful as it was on first release.
Do you think you'll ever expand the game or do you feel completely done with it?
I seem to remember some talk about a remake or something when the Venus Patrol blog launched.
Thank! No, I think it's done.
hey Neil have you played Tiny combat arena? kinda reminds me of Venus patrol, u should try it out!
Yes, I've been following it. It's looking good.
true that
game not working anymore...
- What exactly is happening?
- Have you played it successfully before, and do you know what has changed since then?
- Are you playing it through the itch app?
Thanks.
first time and game not appearing on screen im playing through tapp
Do you mean through the itch app?
- Does it work if you download the zip file, unpack it and run it from the exe file? If it doesn't work, what is in the log.txt file?
- What OS are you running it on, and what sort of hardware?
Thanks.
log:
Desktop width and height: 1366 768
OpenGL extension ARB_Point_Sprite is not available.
WARNING: ARB_vertex_program is not available.
WARNING: OpenGL shading language extensions are not all available.
Aliased point size range: nan - nan
Smooth point size range: 0.5 - 10
Aliased line width range: 0.5 - 10
Smooth line width range: 0.5 - 10
Available OpenAL sound devices: DirectSound Software,
Using sound device: DirectSound Software
Messengers reset
running on windows 10
This is running from it's own directory, right, not from the unzip program?
I'm sorry, I don't know what to suggest. It looks like it's some problem with OpenGL, but it may not be -- it's a long time since I followed how things like that work. Conceivably updating graphics drivers might help, but really I don't know.
I would be interested to know what graphics card and what driver for it you have.
Hey Neil, loving your game and my only complaint is that its a bit small so I was wondering if you could send me the code so i can turn it into a bit of a coding project over the summer? I have absolutely zero idea how to code so this is probably going to be quite difficult but also probably quite fun!
P.S. my email is mpaterson2006@gmail.com
P.P.S. Also the post processing is completely broke for my device and I was wondering if you had a fix.
What are you running it on, and what exactly is the problem? And what happens when you toggle the post-processing off and then on? e.g. v to turn off, v to turn on again?
The problem is that the frames will freeze on screen and copy over each other, creating a wiping effect. It stops if I look straight down towards the clouds however.
I sent you an email. I think getting the actual game code to compile is going to by a struggle, as it's old code in D and I expect the D ecosystem has changed since then.
But the missions, and I think the aircraft, are set up in plain text files (plus some 3d files for the aircraft models) and should be fairly self-explanatory. You can test scripting commands by opening the console and just typing them. There's some discussion of it further down this comments page, from six months ago.
Thanks! I've made a bunch of custom levels and I'm starting to get a hang on the scripts and such, the main thing I want to do now is get some of the unused models (mostly the lander and carrier) into the game.
Hi Neil, I thought you might be interested in some art I made on Venus Patrol, I hope you like it! https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zDnqam
Thanks, that's neat!
this looks amazing whatahell
does anyone have a good mod for this?
Actually surprisingly moddable, was first able to make the Yak a rocket with 128 guns, then managed to add my own model to the game, 10/10
I've been experimenting too: made a mach 5 capable meteor with a few thousand guns on it's wings. Just i haven't been able to import my own models. How did you do it?
Thanks in advance
Well, the game doesn't model supersonic effects (mainly drastically increased drag). About the 3d models, I don't exactly remember. They are the .obj files in the meshes directory; the .mtl files are probably the colours. I made them in wing3d and exported them as obj; I have a feeling the game uses the names of the meshes in each file to know what is the main fuselage, what is an aileron, etc.
I see. So as long as the wing positions are valid to the mesh used there shouldn't be any problems with modifying it, and as long as i export it as an .obj file the game will be able to use it.
When i tried importing a custom model the wing positions were off so it would just crash, that must've been it.
I also wanted to try making a VTOL style aircraft and maybe make the wheels pivot (using the rudder controls) to make planes more maneuverable on the "ground" but I don't think that's possible without digging into the code.
Thanks
this game is like the best thing ever when you gonna release the hd version
Thanks! It's meant to be a small, one-person game (and it's 10 years old). With an HD version, where you have to spell things out rather than just suggest them, I think it would be a lot of work to get the same kind of feeling.
ohw man that sucks but still its a great game i just wish we had more levels and stuff. and hats off to you man it impressed me on the first look and i couldnt find anything else like it
yo whats the new update of painted sea? im not able to comment there but i wanted to know the testing ver
I wrote something about it here: Sailing test version - A Painted Ocean by Neil Thapen (itch.io)
thanks
this is one of the best games ive played but the screen is too small and i dont know why and it opens the script things.
oh also how do i take screenshots of the game lol,i was tryna show it to my friends and it simply just showed the script thing not the actual game
Is it running full screen, or in a window? And what OS are you running it on?
In any case, the problem may be that the default resolution, 640x480, does not work well on a modern system. To change it you have to edit the file settings.txt. Comment out (with a #) the "resolution 640x480 fullscreen line" and uncomment, say, the 800x600 one.
it goes on full screen but it goes on a small square and it opens another thing with the scripts,im using windows btw
also can you say it again? how do i change the rez?
like how do i uncomment
sorry again for sending another message but i also found a bug like,when u go free flight and open the command bar pressing ' and spawns a enemy jet the enemy jet (or ai) spawns under the map and end up dying,will there be more updates so we can spawn enemies and wingmans on free flight?
That's not exactly a bug. There are commands to reposition planes after spawning them. Look at the files in the scripts directory for what these look like.
You can also put your own scripts there, and run them by typing "run <script name>" in the command console. Try "run test".
There are no plans for updates - it's a ten year old game now.
oh damn
how do i position enemy planes on free flight?
Best game and it only takes 9MB how
cause its zipped
It's not using any game engine, like Unity, but just some fairly basic graphics, sound and physics libraries. There isn't enough going on in the world to need more.
I love the control system, unorthodox but easy to get the hang of. Once you do it feels completely natural. Do you have it open source? I would love to tinker with it.
It's not formally open source, but I can send you the source if you tell me where to send it, and you are welcome to tinker with it (you already can, with the scripts, although they don't do much). It's about 20MB and in D, which I haven't used since this project, 10 years ago. I don't know how stable the language/libraries have been since then.
That's okay, you can send the source to pittanthony73@gmail.com if that works for you. Thanks
oh nice. Could you also post it on github if you don’t mind? I’d like to peek around how you did the flight model
Probably not on github, but I can send you the code.
Ah, could you send it to — then?
Thanks!
This is so fun and challenging! I just keep retrying until I beat the mission for that mmmmmmm sense of accomplishment. I had to learn using the wingman command (that I didn't realize exists) to beat the last escort mission scenario. Did I mentioned the flight model is beautiful?
The unorthodox controls might be my only nitpick.
is there a way to invert mouse control?
Sorry, no.
i cant start the game why?
What are you running it on, and are you downloading it or using the itch launcher? What exactly happens when you start it in the launcher, or download it and run VENUS PATROL.exe?
dowloading
but when irun .exe nothing happens
What operating system are you using?
The game should create a log.txt file in the game directory when it's run. Can you find the file, and is there anything useful in it?
windows 10
ill try the suggestion
This is great. I really like the style and physics. I also appreciate how you set up the folders, cause it allows you to easily mod the game.
I am just curious, are you still working on it?
Thanks! No, it's fairly old now and I don't have plans to go back to it.
The Planes are totallly uncontrollable! They frequently lose control. The controls are really bad!
If you're too heavy with the controls, you can get a spin or a stall. Start with small mouse movements, and try bigger ones when you are used to how the plane controls. I think there is a command somewhere to change mouse sensitivity in the game, if that's the problem.
Thank you so much sir!
It's very fun, but I wish the camera control was better. I hate having to hold down a button just to have a tolerable view.
Late reply, but - the reasoning behind this is that in a real plane, the pilot get physical cues about how the plane is moving through the sky. This is not captured in a conventional flight sim, where your only experience of the world is a fixed, narrow forward view. I want to capture some of it by emphasizing the third person view with the wide FoV, visual trails behind the wings, etc. That's the idea; I agree it's not a total success.
Thank you for the response. Looking back, I think I was pretty rude, I apologize.
Are any of your games open source?
The ones on itch are not formally open source, but I would be happy to send you the code if you're interested. I released two html5 things under an MIT license: https://dood.al/pinktrombone/ and https://dood.al/oscilloscope/
I am shocked at the elegance and depth of this game. I wish I had played it before today :)
nice mechanics
thanks ^^
YOUR GAME IS FUCKING SHIT, INSTANTLY CRASHES IN LESS THAN SECOND!!!
it is not shit dude its good when you play it
Billyboibot i'm going to guess your a bot because of the level of stupidity you are showing. In other words, screw off.
pretty cool, wish it had joystick support, or remappable keys.
Whenever I try to open this game it immediately crashed before launching.
Edit settings.txt and see if it will run in a window. What are you running it on?
I did, it still won't run, Here's what happens:
Thanks! From the log, I wonder if it's something to do with sound (which uses the OpenAL library). You could try adding the line "nosounds" to settings.txt and see if it works -- you should still get the opening music.
Worked perfectly ^^ Unfortunately however it would seem i'm terrible at your game, beautifully made though!
this game is amazing and has so much potential if you could expand the missons and put in more aircraft this would on my top ten for the year
Thank you! Maybe one day. I've found it difficult to come up with missions that keep the right tone.
this is inaccurate because the surface pressure on Venus is 93x that of earth and the temperatures average at a scorching 410C so it would crush the vehicle from the inside out and like fry all the electronics
The game isset about 50km above the surface, where the pressure and temperature are earthlike. The surface you are flying over is a cloud layer.
It's actually really cool that you took the time to consider that/think that out!!
Here is NASA's take on it: https://youtu.be/0az7DEwG68A
im not hating on ur game im not saying its bad. i know you spent a ton of work on it and i respect that
ONLY 9 MB? 9 MB? How did you... Nah, as long as it's good i shouldn't care.
its amazing!
this game is awesome :D