This month we talk to developer Santiago about his game: Tora Tora!

In March 2020 the Pandemic hit Argentina so Santiago decided to fill the lockdown time with a project. He made a list of all the games that he wanted to program and Tora Tora! was the one that seemed the most interesting to him. His goal was to develop and publish a video game on Steam, created during the Covid quarantine, based on the experience of the Japanese pilots during WW2 on the Pacific, especially the pilots of the A6m Zeros.

The game quickly aroused interest in the developer forums as it progressed, and he was able to receive a lot of help from other developers. One of the many helpful tips he received was to make a jump from Blitz3D to AppGameKit.

Santiago explains, “For many years I was looking for an engine that is consistent with my way of programming. AppGameKit turned out to be the right tool since it had a lot in common with Blitz3D, but with compatibilities and functions at the level of what is needed today to publish a video game.

Learning AppGameKit was not difficult since it has a friendly code syntax, and the community both in the forum and in Discord have an infinite will to help you solve all the difficulties that may arise.

Like many, I learned to program on my own. I got started as a programmer when my parents bought a Commodore, but I was able to enjoy making my own games when I met Qbasic4. I do not know the terminologies that programmers use but that was not an impediment to be able to re-develop Tora Tora! from scratch with AppGameKit and quickly, step by step, the game is in a state of play and at an advanced stage.

This will be the first time that Santiago will have one of his games for sale on Steam and he hopes to have the first version available in December.

Tora Tora! is an air combat simulator, based on the conflict of the Pacific Ocean in WW2. It aims to allow the player to live the experience of those pilots through intuitive game dynamics and a special graphic style.

Players fulfil missions starting from an aircraft carrier, flying to find the target, attack, defend, escort, photograph and, once the mission is complete, return to their aircraft carrier.

The pilots are created by the player, with each one having their own history, experience and abilities; and by completing missions can improve their skills. But if the pilot falls in action he will no longer be able to continue flying, and the player must create a new pilot.

Santiago specialises in Renders and 3D modelling and says, “The good combination of being able to model what one wants in 3D, and then bring it to life with programming, opened the possibility of creating my own worlds, it is the most wonderful concept that exists for anyone who lets his mind fly.”

Nowadays programming is a way of expressing myself, like an art. I usually make games just to play them and see what happens, see what development challenges will appear in the process – my brain loves to work and find solutions.

I'm looking forward to finishing Tora Tora! so that I can start a new project in AppGameKit. Maybe I’ll make something for mobile, or an app, or make a second version of my Naval Simulator ?

I certainly have a lot to learn from AppGameKit, so the constant goal is to keep learning.

I have to thank the communities, both AppGameKit and Syntaxbomb, it would not be possible to learn to program so fast if it wasn’t for all those good people, who are always there, willing to help you from anywhere in the world.”