---
title: "Jet combat"
package: "@phaser-ae/jet-combat"
tier: Pro
version: 3.0.0-3
released: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-19
description: "The rules of an into-the-screen jet combat shooter, where the whole view rolls with the banking jet, with barrel rolls, a vulcan, lock-on missiles and enemies from ahead and behind."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/jet-combat
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Jet combat

An into-the-screen jet combat shooter, where the whole world rolls as the jet banks. The pack owns the flight, the
weapons, the lock-on, the enemy waves and the stages; `scaled-depth` projects, rolls and orders the sprites.

## What it does

The jet flies on its own depth plane in front of the camera. The stick sets its place on screen, its bank and its
climb: the ground, the horizon and every sprite roll about the jet as it banks, a bank turns it so the world scrolls
sideways, and climbing or diving moves the horizon. A hard reversal of the stick flies a full barrel roll that cannot
be steered or cancelled, and a banked jet is a thinner target. With the throttle on, a lever sets the speed up to the
afterburner, and because enemy speeds are absolute, it changes how fast things close, overtake or fall back.

The vulcan fires continuously toward the gun sight. A target that stays in the sight is boxed after a hold time, and
each missile press launches a homing missile that drops, ignites and steers to it, from a finite stock. A tanker
refuels the stock before chosen stages, and base landings restock it.

Enemies fly authored formations with their own motions: flights head-on that fire and peel away, sets that overtake
from behind and turn back, hovering gunships, a tail gunner that keeps station behind you until you outrun or
overshoot it, homing missiles from behind that a late dodge can beat, crossings, authored depth paths and ground
targets. Canyon stages stream rock walls and towers around a base to raze. The game runs the carrier take-off,
refuelling, landings, scoring, a HIT count, lives and the stage order, and you draw its field through its camera and
present the events it drains.

## Features

- **A rolling view** — the world rolls about the jet by a share of its bank you set, from bolted to the jet down to a
  level view.
- **Barrel rolls** — triggered by a hard stick reversal or directly, with their own time, reversal window and
  sideways shift.
- **Vulcan and lock-on missiles** — a continuous gun toward the sight, lock boxes held for a set time, and homing
  missiles from a capped stock.
- **Refuelling and restocks** — tanker refuelling before chosen stages, base landings, take-off from the carrier and a
  carrier landing to finish.
- **Throttle and afterburner** — optional, with a Mach gauge, so speed becomes a tactic against enemies from behind.
- **Enemies as data** — kinds with hit points, points, lethality, lockability and fire, and projectiles that are
  straight or homing, with a commit distance and the option to be shot down.
- **Waves and formations** — eleven formation shapes or your own offsets, mirroring, and eight motions from head-on to
  tail gunner, with warning events when something sits behind you.
- **Canyon and base stages** — lethal walls and towers streamed around the heading, flown low.
- **Scoring and difficulty** — points for flight and kills, a HIT count, an optional clear bonus, extra lives, and
  Easy, Normal and Arcade.
- **Snapshots** — save and restore a whole game.

## Good for

- **Into-the-screen jet shooters** with a rolling view, in the style of After Burner and After Burner II.
- **Dogfight shooters** in the style of G-LOC or Galaxy Force, with formations ahead and enemies on your tail.
- **Space dogfights**, with a black ground far below and bands of stars as scenery.
- **Helicopter shoot-outs** with a level view, slow cruise, crossing gunships and ground bunkers.
- **Canyon racers**, using canyon stages alone with no waves.
- **Fantasy flight**, such as a dragon whose breath homes in like a missile.

## Make it yours

A configuration is plain data and a preset is only a starting point. The view's size, horizon, the jet's depth and the
share of roll; the flight's bank, turn, climb, roll and speeds; the gun and the missiles with their stock, launch, turn
and lock window; the enemy kinds, their fire and projectiles; the waves, stages, terrain legs and scenery; and the
scoring, timings and ending are all fields you can change.

Two presets show how far apart the games can be. `afterBurnerPreset` is 18 battles and a carrier landing at a fixed
speed, with up to 50 missiles on a slow launch, refuelling before six stages, one hit to down the jet, and every
target worth the same points. `afterBurnerIIPreset` is 23 stages with the throttle from Mach 0.8 to 3, up to 100
missiles on a quick launch, base landings, canyon towers that can be shot, tail gunners and missiles from behind that
you shake with the throttle, and points while you fly. Beyond them, setting the view roll to nothing and slowing the
cruise turns the same rules into a level helicopter shoot-out.

## A quick look

Start a game from a preset, feed it the stick, triggers and lever, and draw the rolled bands and sprites:

```ts
const JC = game.jetCombat;
const g = JC.createJetCombat(JC.afterBurnerPreset({ difficulty: 'normal' }));
g.start();
g.tick(dt, { x, y, fire, missile, throttle });   // stick -1..1 (y up = climb), triggers, lever
for (const e of g.drain()) present(e);            // lock, missile, destroyed, refuel, warning, stage-clear…
for (const b of g.camera.bands(g.ground)) drawBand(b);   // rolled about the jet
for (const s of g.field.view(g.camera)) drawSprite(s);   // s.rot is the view roll
drawSight(g.sight); drawLocks(g.state.locks);
```

## Works with

- `scaled-depth` — required: the camera and its roll, the field of objects, lock-on picks, missile steering, ground
  bands and swept collisions.
- `heli-assault` — uses this pack's formation shapes for its waves, and a jet stage can sit between its helicopter
  stages as two games on one world.
- `scaler-runner` — for a runner whose view never rolls.
- `wire-cockpit` and `rail-route` — for a first-person cockpit on a camera path.
- `typography` — for the score, missile count and warnings.

## Good to know

- It is pseudo-3D, as on the original hardware: heading is a sideways scroll, pitch moves the horizon, and enemies do
  not fly true 3D paths. For true 3D flight, use the 3D packs.
- The presets' speeds, formations, fire rates and missile handling are estimates from manuals, walkthroughs and arcade
  frames, as no disassembly was found.
- Neither preset awards extra lives or a clear bonus, since no source documents them; both are settings for your own
  game.
- Bounds: at most 999 stages, 64 members a wave and 4096 objects in the field, and a snapshot restores into a game
  made from the same configuration.

---

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