Guardians of the Skies

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Guardians of the Skies
Guardians of the Skies video game logo.PNG
Developer(s) Threye Interactice Pvt Ltd (Threye: Military Games)
Publisher(s) Indian Air Force
Platform(s) Android, iOS, Microsoft
Release3 July 2014
Genre(s) Combat flight simulator
Mode(s) Singleplayer, Multiplayer

Guardians of the Skies is the first video game produced by the Indian Air Force, released in 2014. After an open tender process a private developer based in New Delhi, Threye, was chosen to develop the game. [1] [2] Air Marshal S. Sukumar launched the first phase of game on 3 July 2014. [3] The first phase went onto get over a million downloads and won the "Best Indian Game" on its app store award from Microsoft in 2014 before the second phase was launched. [4] On 12 December 2014 Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha launched phase two at the IAF Auditorium, New Delhi. [5] [6]

During the launch event Air Marshal Sukumar said the game is "a significant milestone in our consorted campaign to connect to the best of the boys and the girls among the nation's youth and motivate them to join the air force." [1]

The game presents a fictional storyline and enemy, and is based on the IAF having mission against an imaginary rogue nation called Zaruzia, which is politically unstable and economically under-developed and has also witnessed a coup d'état. [3] The game provides ten missions and lets the user experience the "pilot's seat of Indian Air Force's every platform - fighters, bombers, transports, choppers and special forces." [7] [8] Training missions help the user get a hang of the interface and controls. Difficulty settings can also be changed. However a review in Windows Central noted that "there are also times when the aircraft veers off course, straying randomly across the sky." [9]

After Guardians of the Skies, the IAF launched another game called " Indian Air Force: A Cut Above" on 31 July 2019 for Android and iOS. [10] [11] Both games are similar in many ways and puts the player in the role of the IAF pilot completing missions. [12] There are various other similarities also in the sense of overall graphics, but on the other hand user-interface and game design has changed. [12]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Indian Air Force launches 'Guardians of the Skies' 3D mobile game". News18. Press Trust of India. 3 July 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  2. ↑ "Indian Air Force (IAF) to launch Phase II of the 3d Air Combat Mobile Game 'Guardians of the Skies'". Press Information Bureau. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Indian Air Force launches country's first 3D mobile game". The Hindu. PTI. 3 July 2014. ISSN   0971-751X. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "IAF launches sequel to award-winning 'Guardians of the Skies' mobile game". Tech2 - Firstpost. Press Trust of India. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  5. ↑ Mehta, Archit (30 September 2019). "Wing Commander Abhinandan, Rafale aircraft and more in IAF's video game, A Cut Above". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  6. ↑ "Now be an Air Force Pilot, Right on Your Cell Phone". NDTV. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  7. ↑ "Guardians of the Skies - Official game of the Indian Air Force". Threye. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  8. ↑ Sarkar, Debashis (31 July 2019). "Indian Air Force is giving you a chance to be Abhinandan and fight 'enemies'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Ponder, George (21 May 2017). "Protecting the wild blue wonder with Guardians of the Skies". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  10. ↑ "Indian Air Force's video game goes up against Call of Duty and Angry Birds in Google's competition". Business Insider. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  11. ↑ "IAF launches its mobile game 'Indian Air Force: A cut above' for Android and iOS". Firstpost. 2 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Indian Air Force launches new game with Abhinandan: Here's how it is different from the older version". The Times of India. 2 August 2019. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
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