

INDIE HIGHLIGHT
Indie developer interview series
featuring Matthew "FlyAwayNow" Nguyen



Indie Highlight Series: November 2025 Update


Indie Highlight 005: Delivery Must Complete, Zakon


Indie Highlight 004: Kirk Woodes, ZhakamiZhako


Indie Highlight 003: Nova Squadron, Supermaneuver


Indie Highlight 002: Aggressors F.A.C., Modern Jet Fighters Online


Matthew "FlyAwayNow" Nguyen Joins Indie Highlight Flight Game Series


Indie Highlight 001: Series Start

Artwork by alice (@atrousyolks)
Hey, howa’ doin.
My name is Matthew Nguyen, otherwise known by my online handle: FlyAwayNow. I am the writer and producer of Project Wingman and its ongoing developments, as well as beyond.
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I think I can fairly say that I understand combat flight action, arcade flight sims, Acelikes, Ace Combat, at least better than most, and I have from a young age. I’ve been working on games that involve easy access combat dogfighting since I was 15, and I’m 28 now, and if it means anything, me and Ace Combat share a birthday, separated by only two years.
This wasn’t what I set out to do as a young man; in college I dual majored in both Political Science and American Studies in order to serve the political campaigns that I knew would always come around every few years in the United States, but an offhand conversation I had, along with my pre-history of also working on another combat indie game flight project as a young teenager, lined up for me my part in Project Wingman, and well, the rest is History.
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In the time since Project Wingman has released, I’ve traveled far and seen many things, and I’ve seen the beginnings of many more combat flight indie games and I’ve come to know quite a few of the devs behind them.
The series that I present to you with the help of Skyward Flight Media is a unique insight to perhaps what would be the next generation of combat flight games, inspired by all that came before, and even things that have yet to come to pass.
Ace Combat’s eighth entry is yet to arrive as we crest over the 30th anniversary of the series, and indeed for as much as they define what we know in this arcade segment of flight sims, there are still yet other factors yet to consider: other games that might very well leave a mark that as all things must, upon this genre in its broadest definitions and then its narrower focus. This is why in these following articles I offer questions, answers, and then insight for those that could very much change the landscape, or the sky more rightly speaking, of the games to takeoff.
I sat down with multiple developers in this genre, some of whom I work with even now to bring their games to you, the player, and started a dialog so you can get to know both game and developers behind what might be your new favorite game in the future!
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Indie Highlight Series: November 2025 Update


Indie Highlight 005: Delivery Must Complete, Zakon


Steam Next Fest October 2025


Air Pico: A Micro Flight Simulator


Nuclear Option: UH-90 Ibis


Indie Highlight 004: Kirk Woodes, ZhakamiZhako


GroundFall: Island Hopping


First Impression: Sky Aces (August 2025 Demo)






