The next game I will highlight is Altitude. It is not a terribly popular game but it did well for an indie title. It’s simply a good game.
Alitutde is a 2D aerial combat game. Although it’s not a genre one regularly sees in esports, the Altitude team has proven that it is extremely well suited to competitive gaming.
The crux of Altitude is that two squadrons of airplanes are battling to destroy the other’s base. That deceptively simple description gives way to significant depth. There are five different airplanes all sporting varying characteristics and statistics (in regard to speed, shape, weapons, handling and overall strength). The variety of maps played another role in shaping play styles.
In the end, Altitude’s simple to learn but impossible to master gameplay is reminiscent of legendary esports titles such as Quake.
I was introduced to Altitude around 2008 on the BattleReports.com forum (where the creator posts) and, in early 2009, I introduced it to Team Liquid (a major StarCraft website). The introduction (in combination with a similar introduction on the Something Awful forums around the same time) resulted in a large influx of players.
From there, I created the first league and casted its first matches with co-commentator and the brain-behind-the-operations tec27. Recently, I was inducted on the first ballot into the Altitude Hall of Fame, a fact that I still find both ridiculous and an honor to this day. Tec27 is also in the hall, a fact that makes much more sense.
Altitude’s relationship with Team Liquid has proven a pretty big deal for the game on several levels.
In addition to a huge influx of players and the creation of a competitive league that can be credited in large part to Team Liquid members, the game also sponsored a number of Team Liquid StarCraft 2 tournaments in 2010, promoting its brand of esport to the quickly growing StarCraft 2 audience.
Altitude’s growth demonstrates the potency of indie titles, of grassroots promotion and of cross-pollination in esports. From a major community such as StarCraft or Counter-Strike, ideas spread across the gaming world. Competitive gaming is contagious. It may not always work on a large scale for a number of reasons (whether they be the game itself or for commercial reasons) but, even on a small scale, it produces many of the same positive outcomes.
Altitude has maintained a competitive scene since 2009. Although the number of competitive players is only about a couple of hundred (compared to the couple of thousand of regular players), that is all it takes to for a significant competitive scene to exist.
Altitude is one of the most instantly fun and easily watchable esports I have ever played.