Project Wingman

Bulletin from HQ, it had a section from Crimson Team themselves.*More information on this article is available on  Wikipedia's **Project Wingman** page.*

## Project Wingman

### Publisher

Sector D2
Humble Games

### Platform(s)

Steam
Xbox Series

### Release date

December 1, 2020 (Steam)
October 28, 2021 (Xbox Series)

### Mode

Campaign
Conquest

### Media

Digital download

***Project Wingman*** is a single-player arcade flight action video game developed by Sector D2 and co-published with Humble Games. It released on PC on December 1, 2020. The game is a homage to the *Ace Combat* series and features many of its gameplay and story elements, such as enemy ace squadrons and sci-fi weapons and vehicles.

The campaign takes place on a future post-apocalyptic Earth called the "World on Fire." The player character, Monarch, is a mercenary pilot of the PMC Sicario, hired by the nation of Cascadia in its war for independence from the Pacific Federation.

## Gameplay

*Project Wingman* is a flight shooter game where the player flies a combat plane into battle and destroy enemy targets. The player can choose from over 20 aircraft inspired by real-life combat jets and equip them with special weapons. First and third-person views are available, with the former having the option of non-cockpit view. VR and HOTAS are both fully supported. If the player crashes, gets shot down, fails an objective, or flies out of the combat zone, then their are taken to a Mission Failed screen where they can either quit or restart the mission from the beginning.

Two game modes offer the player to play either the Campaign or Conquest. In Campaign mode, prior to each mission, the player receives a briefing detailing enemies, objectives, and events. Conquest mode presents the player with a territory capture game in which the player must complete combat missions in order to capture territories. There is an Alert level that starts at zero and slowly increases over gameplay time, leading to spawning enemies more numerous and skilled. After each mission, the player receives Prestige points and cordium engines to recruit pilots and buy airships as allies.

The player starts out with trainer aircraft, but can use Credits to purchase better planes, earning them throughout missions by destroying enemies. All planes start with standard missiles (STDM) and unlimited flares, but can be equipped with more than one special weapon along with special AOA Limiters as an alternate module. Credits can be earned through allied kills as well, though only 40% of the actual score would be deducted into Credits.

Additionally, an in-game codex named the Files Archive exists which allows players to learn about the lore behind characters, locations, factions, and story events. The archive is expanded as the campaign progresses, some entries containing revelations and events not featured in the actual storyline.

There are four difficulty levels, with each descending difficulty corresponding to tougher and more difficult enemies. Mercenary difficulty (aka Mercenary Mode) is unlocked after completing the Campaign mode for the first time, and features additional enemies on several missions as well as a dialogue-only extended ending.

* Easy - *The enemy is more than willing to help you feel your way around the aerial battlefield. For first-time players.*
* Normal - *The enemy will go toe-to-toe with you, and a little struggle is needed to best your enemies. Recommended for casual play.*
* Hard - *The enemy wants you dead, and will do anything in order to make that so. For experienced pilots out there.*
* Mercenary - *Death awaits.*

For even further difficulty, game modifiers can be enabled that will completely change the nature of gameplay. Unique combinations will make the game harder or easier to play, or even both at the same time.

In place of the absent save/load system is the option to reset all Campaign mode progression. Therefore, all purchased aircraft, unlocked Files Archive entries, and completed missions are locked away and will have to be earned again in a new playthrough.

For HUD options, you can adjust the FOV, camera sway and rotation, and AOA view as well. Unit HUD scale in VR and normal view is adjustable, along with whether or not to have full cockpit HUD. The HUD can be switched from the standard orange color to green, blue, and white. On a lesser note, the subtitle can be moved from up to bottom corner of the screen. The available localization options include German, English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Chinese.

## Development

### Pre-release

*Project Wingman* started out as a "free time venture" as far back as 2016. Since then, various demo videos and playable demos were released. May 21, 2017 saw the release of Update 1 of Alpha Test 4, and February 21 the following year seeing Revision 2 of Alpha 5. This is detailed in the gallery below. According to the developers, they had a clear vision of the game from the beginning, even attempting to create cutscenes for the game. Numerous inspirations, including *Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker*, were cited. The first cutscene was recorded on August 9, 2017. Eventually, however, cutscenes were scrapped for the sake of pacing as well as designing the game's writing around the lack of cutscenes; Matthew Nguyen stated they always intended for "The Deal" cutscene to be the only one in-game.

When questioned about multiplayer play, Nguyen said it was not in the development scope so they could focus on a decent singleplayer experience.

The game's Kickstarter page opened on May 29, 2018. Within 16 hours, the game reached its AU$35,000 funding goal. A meeting was held 12 hours after funding completion, in which the staff decided to put Stretch Goals behind properly finishing the game. Abi Rahmani, the main developer, posted on the 31st about the funding and expressed his gratitude. He promised to make the best of the game to his ability. In addition, a May 2019 release date was estimated.

One week later on June 6, Rahmani reported that feedback on the demo has led to extensive playtesting and adjusting Conquest mode. As well, funding exceeded 222% of the requirement and the Operation Blackout soundtrack released the previous week was promoted. Nguyen later revealed most of the playtesting was done on keyboard controls because they were "too lazy" to install controllers.

On June 25, version 0.4.1 of the demo was released, featuring Conquest mode for the first time. The same week, funding reached AU$97,000. During the month, the dev team acquired a total 2,180 backers and AU$103,251 in the process of developing the game engine. They also added ten more "Ace Squadron Scout" tier slots for those missing out and wanting their names becoming ace squadron names in-game. Funding concluded two days after the July 1 announcement, with a total AU$114,544 and 2,467 backers. On that day, the *Project Wingman* Discord server was promoted, and monthly updates were promised. A final patch was announced as well.

On July 18, surveys were held for backers to earn their rewards. VR testing was also announced, with a 21-second video attached on the Kickstarter website.

In late August, GameTomo, a Japanese conglomerate of game developers and publishers, invited Rahmani to their Game Developers from Around the World incubator program in Tokyo for a week. There, he discussed development-related ideas and hurdles.

On September 26, version 0.4.5, the final update for the demo, was released. The following day, details were given about the demo's changes: Bug fixes, quality of life changes, among other things. Concurrently, campaign development was reported to be smooth, and its script was constantly revised with new ideas. The old logo was altered into its present one.

The game was showcased at the Perth Games Festival, with an exclusive demo showcasing more features compared to previous versions.

On January 25, 2019, the 2018 Kickstarter Trailer soundtrack was released on YouTube. A month later on the 4th, a VR gameplay video of the Pillars of Communications demo was released. According to the developers, the mission would be updated to new standards to fit with other missions. Lighting, VFX, UI, and environmental improvements were made, with varied weather being developed. Cockpit modeling was said to be the most difficult to perform; because of this, a new workflow was discovered to ensure shorter development times. Landing and carrier operations have improved detailing. The SV-37 was the first aircraft to receive the workflow, before the demo releases. In addition, the F/E-18's cockpit received a massive overhaul. A partial human pilot model, comprised of a torso and a pair of legs, was properly included as well. AI can now takeoff from runways. In addition, the decision was made to upgrade the Unreal Engine version to v4.24. Although it took a long time, the game was optimized for the new version, as well as a Steam store page. Backer rewards were now in progress.

On May 16, a developmental delay was announced; this is due to optimization attempts at urban environments and the need to "include a few sci-fi-like elements" to the game's cities, as well as campaign development slowing down gameplay development. Revisions to its takeoff and landing sequences were made. A pair of videos showcasing the Sk.25U were attached. Plane skins for distinguishing factions and briefings were in progress. The UI was now confined to 16:9. VFX improvements continued as well. Carrier takeoffs were evidently scrapped at this point due to difficulties, as shown by an attached video. Despite the general developmental woes, development on the game somewhat proceeded by.

On August 11, Rahmani reported they had spent much progress on the campaign, gameplay, and assets. Game engine migration was reportedly complete. In place of the lack of new demos, a new limited alpha testing version is promised. Enemy spawn rates were reworked to avoid performance cluttering. As well, the radar placing was reworked so it does not rely excessively on the GPU, which overloaded in older versions; in general, performance improvements were underway. Multi weapon racks and helicopters were added into the game. Progress on the campaign reportedly went by smoothly; Nguyen said character scripting was top priority, and he did not want to "fall into some clichés". Regarding backer rewards, they were in the process of integrating Aerospace Engineers rewards and integrating all selected names. The hangar underwent a redesign and the F/C-16 and the Accipiter were teased.

On December 4, the developers stated they were in an important point in development. Plans were made to include multiple urban environments. Handcrafting, despite yielding better results, was simplified to a realistic workflow, using a homemade City Generator tool. In addition, mouse control and gameplay integration of VR has become highly successful. Rewrites and boss fights were completed by now; according to Rahmani, he drew inspiration from *Space Runaway Ideon* while drafting the story at first before Nguyen expanded it.

The following year on August 28, the developers addressed having to work in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its publisher was confirmed to be Humble Games, who also lended help in localization and quality assurance. The game has, by now, gone gold. Additionally, Fire with Fire and Active Contract were promoted. It was also revealed that voicework was done from the Voice Acting Club. Achievements and an exclusive VR demo were prepared for the game. This is also the point the game's key cover art and the addition of having Robin Kuo in two-seater aircraft was revealed as well. A teaser video of Stepping Stone is attached. Nguyen later said many of the VAs are knowledgeable in *Ace Combat* and its voicing format, most notably Kyle Quibell.

On November 10, surveys were posted for backer rewards. As well, the AOA Limiter module and modifiers were introduced. Below is the overall developmental progress:

* Campaign: 95%
* Conquest: 80%
* Assets: 90%
* Audio: 90%
* Post-Production: 95%
* Polishing: 80%
* VR Integration Campaign: 95%
* VR Integration Conquest: 70%

A December 1, 2020 release date was confirmed as well.

One week later, a campaign overview was given by Nguyen himself. He clarified they had to make do with the resources they had and therefore couldn't afford cutscenes. The *Project Wingman Artbook* was announced; it will feature additional lore bits from the story bible as well as a number of short stories. The story was planned cohesively from the beginning. This is also the beginning of the game world being referred to as the World on Fire. Nguyen would later state the world took two years to conceptualize while the plot outline was done in about three days and the script a week in his childhood room.

On November 22, Rahmani recapped on all the modes featured in the game. Two days later, he stated that not every plane they teased would be in the game, due to "reasons that we’d rather not get into", although he assured they would look into adding some of them back in, later including the Sk.30.

### Post-release

Three days after launch, Nguyen announced the immediate need for patches and that the game was the second best-selling global release. A lot of issues surrounding hardware and VR configurations, subtitles, localization, and backer rewards were highlighted. Though he promised the game would be updated and maintained, there are no major plans for the future. He also noted the demand for more two-seater aircraft. All game keys were sent out, and the artbook would be released much later. Nguyen explained the long delay by saying the team is not equipped for making update schedules; thus, it would be sporadic with long delays.

On February 20, 2021 on Reddit, the development team was questioned on a potential console port. Nguyen declined to comment formally, though he said it would be "pretty rad." An actual port to the Xbox One would release seven months later.

On March 8, Rahmani showed four screenshots showing redefined clouds. Each screenshot contained either a VX-23 or MG-29, making up two of each, to tease the upcoming patch. He said it would be taxing to performance.

On September 28, he showed a teaser loading screen featuring the Federation flag and airships in the background. The version number was v1.1.0.21.0928.3561, and "i dont know what to name this update yet" was overlaid.

The audiovisual film *Dawn: Animated Aerowar Audioplay* began production around this year. However, Nguyen affirmed that no work on the play would interfere with continuing work on *Project Wingman*.

The following year on January 29, he showed a clip of an F/C-15 tailing a C/T-17 dropping redesigned flares, one of many announced effects changes.

On February 1, a live orchestra was announced. Along with that, the two Peacekeeper tracks with intros were promoted. In addition, the *Project Wingman Artbook* was teased once more, with a title change underway. v1.5 was also announced; it was promised to be a plethora of fixes, tweaks, localization, voiceovers, UI, and content additions including new aircraft, Files Archive entries, and weapons. Mercenary difficulty and Conquest mode were undergoing a restructuring. More updates were announced as well. Two days later, he teased that there were three changelog bullet points that will slightly improve bombs. Regarding the update's production several months later, Nguyen clarified their unconventional schedule means they were taking advantage of the privilege to explore as much as possible.

On June 3, Rahmani previewed improved lighting, another effects change, through randomizing mission weather, previewing Mission 19 with weather from Mission 5.

A month later, Nguyen posted about coordinating voice actors for script touchups and new performance coordination and posted an image teasing a Cascadian Independence Force soldier making dying noises.

On October 29, Rahmani showed a video of an EUFB explosion dispersing clouds dynamically, saying they have a lot at work.

## Gallery

### Development

Project Wingman - Weapons System Testing - 01 - UE4August 21, 2016. Displays an F/E-18 testing out multi-lock capabilities against ground targets. Functions like a BML-U.Project Wingman - Natural Environment WIP Preview - 02 - UE4November 5, 2016. Displays an F/C-15 and an F/E-18 in a dusk environment, an F/D-14 and MG-31 in nighttime, and working radar on the latter craft.Project Wingman - Feedback Revision and Combat Improvements - 03 - UE4December 3, 2016. Displays an F/E-18 in a hangar with all its special weapons, a revised UI, an Sk.27 in a dogfight over a night city, bombsight improvements, missile alerts, and AI and ally improvements.Project Wingman - Rendering and Gameplay Improvements - 04 - UE4April 30, 2017. Displays new cockpit interiors, rain effects, updated explosion, smoke, and environment visuals, new cockpit HUD and game settings menu, improved mouse and keyboard control, and addition of voice acting and music.Project Wingman - Alpha 5 Overview - 05 - UE4February 21, 2018. Displays the exclusive Chainlink mission, various effects improvements including weather, new ground attack arsenal, enemy airships, difficulty, an overhauled main menu, hangar, and loading screen.Project Wingman - VR WIP Showcase - 06 - UE4March 12, 2018Project Wingman - Operation Blackout Uncut VR Gameplay - 07 - UE4February 4, 2019Project Wingman - FRONTIERSJanuary 13, 2020. Note that Comic flies an F/D-14.
### Trailers

Project Wingman - Kickstarter TrailerMay 29, 2018Humble Bundle Presents- Project WingmanMay 28, 2019. Depicts VR gameplay of the Pillars of Communications mission.Project Wingman - Arcade Flight-Sim - Announcement TrailerJune 13, 2020. Note the release date was stated to be Summer 2020.Project Wingman - Gamescom TrailerAugust 31, 2020. Note the difference in lighting in some of the missions presented, and that the release date was "early 2021".Project Wingman - LaunchDecember 1, 2020Project Wingman - Launch TrailerOctober 28, 2021

## Trivia

* The various fonts used in the game are as follows:
	+ The "PROJECT" part of the title uses Agency FB.
	+ Modeseven for the briefing and location text on the maps.
	+ Roboto for the subtitles.
	+ Reload Light for the menu, version number, boss warnings, and mission intros.
* A fan discovered that the missile alert sound was based on a Wells Fargo ATM beep, which Nguyen seemingly confirmed.

## References

1. ↑ We have many inspirations for how we intend to do cutscenes in *Project Wingmen*, however one of our most viable courses that we have prototyped is something similar to how *Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker* presents cutscenes In fact I just finished recording sessions for our first cutscene a few minutes ago -Statement by Matthew Nguyen, August 9, 2017, 3:59AM
2. ↑ I think, if we went back and were given the resources to comfortably do cutscenes, we still would've had very minimal because of pacing Minimal if anything at all -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, May 27, 2022, 8:09AM
3. ↑ Unfortunately, multiplayer is not in *Project Wingman'*s scope, so no plans for Multiplayer modes or functionality are in our future -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, December 14, 2017, 1:37 AM
4. ↑ UPDATE 1 : Project Fully Funded! Really!?
5. ↑ UPDATE 2 : Week One Recap
6. ↑ Nguyen, M. [FlyAwayNoVV]. (2021, 07 Jan). *to be fair most of testing was done with a kbm because we were too lazy to plug in the* [Comment on the online forum post *PW has better controls than AC*]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Project\_Wingman/comments/krolcv/comment/gid0k7a
7. ↑ UPDATE 3 : Conquest Prototype - Demo Version 0.4.1 - Final Week
8. ↑ UPDATE 4 : Final 48 Hours!
9. ↑ UPDATE 5: The Final Hours
10. ↑ UPDATE 6 : Survey Rollout
11. ↑ UPDATE 7: Demo Update – August/September Update
12. ↑ UPDATE 8 : Major Progress Update
13. ↑ UPDATE 9: Steam Page + Dev Update
14. ↑ UPDATE 10: Flying Faster
15. ↑ UPDATE 11: Crossroads
16. ↑ it was weird that i saw a lot of overarching story concepts resonate really hard with what i liked in stories in general. so in a weird way i saw a lot of PW in it and what i imagined PW was going to be back when i started out writing the early story concepts, story beats, and drafts before FAN fleshed it out. -Discord statement by Abi Rahmani, October 24, 2022, 16:04 PM
17. ↑ UPDATE 12 : Closer to Paradise
18. ↑ A lot of them had prior knowledge of Ace Combat and what the VO work in AC was Largest example being Galaxy, where Kay was just an Ace Combat player more or less -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, February 12, 2021, 7:27 AM
19. ↑ UPDATE 13: True Colors
20. ↑ UPDATE 14: Release Date
21. ↑ I locked myself in my childhood room and just banged out PW's script in like a week The story took like, three days That being said me and Arby spent two years prior just talking about PW's world before hand so it was easy to just get going -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, February 12, 2021, 7:24 AM
22. ↑ Report #2: CQ, VR, and QA oh my!
23. ↑ Report #3: Planes
24. ↑ Nguyen, M. [FlyAwayNoVV]. (2021, 21 Jul). *We're working on it.* [Comment on the online forum post *Why the fuck is the SK30 not a playable aircraft*]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Project\_Wingman/comments/oh90k0/comment/h4vfyrx
25. ↑ Post-Release Report #1: Version 1.0
26. ↑ Nguyen, M. [FlyAwayNoVV]. (2021, 02 Feb). *Bug fixes, updates, patches, yeah all that; we’re really bad about making plans though so we’re not in the position* [Comment on the online forum post *PW has better controls than AC*]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Project\_Wingman/comments/l9iodh/comment/glpaem9
27. ↑ Nguyen, M. [FlyAwayNoVV]. (2021, 20 Feb). *We have no official comment on a console port other than it'd be pretty rad* [Comment on the online forum post *Are they working on a console port?*]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Project\_Wingman/comments/lmhdzk/comment/go1gf69/
28. ↑ Rahmani, A. [@RB\_Dev2]. (2021, March 8). *[EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE] High resolution clouds for the upcoming patch. Comes at a really high performance cost. But it does look* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/RB\_Dev2/status/1368767709790437378
29. ↑ Rahmani, A. [@RB\_Dev2]. (2021, September 28). *The struggle of naming things. [WIP]* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/RB\_Dev2/status/1442785322304086017
30. ↑ My work on Dawn does not cut into my continuing work on PW I don't appreciate the insinuation otherwise -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, December 21, 2021, 9:06 AM
31. ↑ Rahmani, A. [@RB\_Dev2]. (2022, January 29). *Bright new flares. [WIP] Knee deep with some needed VFX tweaks.* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/RB\_Dev2/status/1487197607848198144
32. ↑ UPDATE 15: Live Orchestra Announcement! - Road to V1.5 - Future Projects
33. ↑ Nguyen, M. [FlyAwayNoVV]. (2022, 03 Feb). *The 1.5 update will address bombs a bit, there's like, three bullet points on the changelog about them* [Comment on the online forum post *Improvements to Bombs*]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Project\_Wingman/comments/sj69rr/comment/hvdmdep
34. ↑ we are generally working; we don't have a traditional schedule to particularly adhere to so we're exploring stuff here and there because we have the privilege of doing so atm -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, December 26, 2022, 11:39 PM
35. ↑ I think, if we went back and were given the resources to comfortably do cutscenes, we still would've had very minimal because of pacing Minimal if anything at all -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, May 27, 2022, 8:09AM
36. ↑ Rahmani, A. [@RB\_Dev2]. (2022, June 3). *I'll never get over how cool VR footage ends up looking. Stress testing improved lighting scenarios via randomization. In this* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/RB\_Dev2/status/1532444595703132160
37. ↑ Nguyen, M. [@flyawayn0w]. (2022, July 22). *One and a half years later, I am once again trudging through* Project Wingman'*s scripts doing touch-ups for the 1.5* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/flyawayn0w/status/1550215173625024512
38. ↑ Rahmani, A. [@RB\_Dev2]. (2022, October 29). *Melting GPUs Testing out some dynamic cloud masking with some of the bigger explosions. It's also fully dynamic in terms* [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/RB\_Dev2/status/1586368185896665089
39. ↑ oh godod oh fuck -Discord statement by Matthew Nguyen, December 14, 2021, 12:07 AM

## External links

* Humble Games page
* Steam store page
* Kickstarter page
* Developer page
* Xbox page