I started working on yet another title for the XNA platform about 3 weeks ago. It is an overhead scrolling shooter called "Angels Ten". I always loved games like Life Force, Gradius and Raiden while growing up so I figured that would be my next thing to tackle.
Someone asked my about the name once pointing out that it seemed odd to them. So I just showed them the following definition from an Air Force terminology website and it was all cleared up...
"Angels: Altitude in thousands of feet. "Angels ten" indicates 10,000 feet of altitude. "
(the link to where I found this is here... http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/airdic.shtml )
So what's the milestone? The main character of the game (a souped up version of the new DoD F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) is finished (at least the weapons are done - still working on the animations for when the character get's killed of which there will be several variations from an abrupt arial explosion to a slow decent and crash complete with pilot ejecting).
Here are the weapons (each category is in order from weakest to strongest)
Standard Ordinance (burst and rapid fire - w single double quad and spread variations for all types)
Vulcan
Laser
Super Laser
Flash Shell (sort of an air to air mortar with energy explosions)
Particle Cannon
Missles (there are 4 missle hardpoints on the plane)
High Explosive Phoenix Missle
Plasma Phoenix Missle
Bombs
High Explosive
Napalm
Plasma
Super Weapons
Super HE Bomb (sort of like a fuel air bomb)
EMP Burst (knocks out *most* enemies on the screen - some are sheilded from this attack)
Super Flash Shell (big version of the standard flash shell described above)
Super Particle Blast (big cone that spreads out in 45 degree angles from the nose of the plane)
Rift Cannon (fires a tesla like ball of energy out in front of the plane that opens up into a temporal rift sucking everything that doesn't have a "rift sheild" activated) - this is the most powerful weapon in the game.
I'll post some screen shots once the crashes are done. After I finish those I am going to start working on bosses - then the levels, then finally the actually scenery and enemies.