Interview: Legendary Pilots (BerkBox Games, MicroProse)
- Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
The personal computer port of this retro style indie flight simulator releases on April 21st, 2026
Just before release we managed to get a last-minute interview with BerkBox Games, the developers behind Legendary Pilots. This retro style indie flight simulator originally released on mobile devices but has been revamped for release on personal computer via the Steam store while being published by MicroProse.
I have not played the mobile version of this title, as I do not normally play mobile games, but it being prepared for release on PC caught my attention some time ago. It was a flight simulator for smart devices that also incorporated managing a fleet of aircraft to conduct business. That is pretty unusual.
Our interview was made possible with coordination from a MicroProse representative as the dev team is in the middle of their "crunch time" before the PC port releases on April 21st, 2026.
Hello! The release of Legendary Pilots on PC is just a few days away. This is usually a pretty busy time for a developer. Thanks to your team for taking time to answer our questions
Hi there! Thank you guys for the opportunity to show off the game! We're Lucas and Daniel Franca, brothers from Brazil. We're from Berkbox, a small team that started to make games long ago in 2011, when were released our first "Winds of War" for the Apple app store. Back then, we had very old Mac-Mini, that I updated the [RAM] memories myself in order to make it work... and I kept carrying it between my house and my brother's for the everyday dev session.... the game was made in FLASH! Can you believe that?
Flash?! That takes me back. I have just remembered a lot of random, good video games. Something that helped me understand BerkBox Games a bit better is a statement on the official website. It says that your team is committed to never following industry standards. What a statement! How has game development under this direction been?
Hahahua... we're self-taught, so even if we try, we can't do the industry standards. We've learned everything by ourselves, from drawing to 3D modeling and code, but somehow, we get it done, and we're proud of this intuitive way we chose. Keeping your own values helps with authenticity, I think.
BerkBox is strongly supportive of the Godot game engine. Your team is porting all of its games to Godot as well. Moving already released products to an entirely new game engine when you do not necessarily have to is notable. What is it about Godot that got your team interested?
Working with Godot, and other open-source platforms, is awesome. You can feel they're one hundred percent focused on the project itself. No distractions, no chasing money all the time. Not that money isn't important, it is, but in general, if you're working in a creative field, you should use tools that value creativity above all, right? Right?...
We also use Krita, Gimp, Blender... they all have the same sense of community. It just feels right.
Legendary Pilots is the first flight simulator you have developed. It does not claim to be a 1:1 pure realism simulator, but the description of the game says it was “developed by someone who truly loves aviation”. I’d love to hear some more about that.
Long story short, when I was only 5 years old, in 1978, a P-2 Neptune (also known as the P-15 Netuno) from the Brazilian Air Force, in its last flight, decided to make a low pass over the beach where I was... the plane passed 3 meters over my head. Since then, loving aviation wasn't an option anymore. lol
A General Aviation focused game set in a fictional world always catches my attention. What do you think some of the benefits of using a fictional setting are?
Oops. The info is outdated on the website. We changed the scenes to real STYLIZED maps. my bad... huahuah!
Oop! Well, hey, now the people know! I think that having some sort of task is an important part of the experience. Even in the largest flight simulators out there. Being able to fly hundreds of nautical miles whenever you want is great, but without a task at hand I eventually find myself flying shorter sessions. What types of things can players do in the game’s pilot career mode?
The game is quite simple and oriented to encourage gamers to try flight simulators without requiring an engineering degree in order to play. Because it's about FLYING, not about how many buttons you can memorize, right?
You can fly normal routes in 3 different scenes, where you make in game money, then you can increase your fleet. You can also do aerial firefighting missions and cargo missions, where you have to have some notion about radio compass (ADF) navigation.
Aerial firefighting does not appear all that often in flight simulators. Seeing some GIFs of waterbombing in Legendary Pilots really piqued my interest. How in depth does firefighting get?
The more firefighting you do, the more fires will appear for you to deal with them. You can't earn a lot of money here, like in real life... that's the simulation part... haha!
I am especially interested in this type of aviation, so it sounds like I will have my work cut out for me in. How many aircraft are in the roster? Will players have access to them immediately or will they be unlocked over time depending on the player’s choices?
10 airliners for routes and 3 extra planes you can fly on free flight sessions. There's a progress path in place. Earn money flying, then buy your planes. The bigger your fleet is, the more TAX you pay... you guys wanted simulation, not my fault. :)
Not even here can we escape taxes, huh? That sounds correct. Haha! The mobile version of Legendary Pilots was released in December 2025. What were some of the key adjustments or changes that were made for the PC port?
There are many differences. The Flight model is different, there's an input map system, there's no in-app, all the maps are available from start, 737-200 etc.
Not everyone that tries this game will be a seasoned sim pilot, of course. So, I have to ask: What types of penalties do players incur if flights do not go as planned? Is there ever a “game over” situation?
Every time the gamer crashes the plane we're going to run "format c:/" in their computer.... lol.
No, of course not, but the gamer loses experience points, and the planes have a bigger degradation. Considering that the plane may have in-flight failures below 80% overall condition, that would be a financial and operational problem if it crashes too much.
Will any flight simulation hardware be supported?
Flight sticks, gamepads, Steam Deck... the gamer sets their own inputs.
How does it feel to have this game published by MicroProse? How has the experience been so far?
The P-2 I mentioned before was the beginning of my story with aviation, but it was MicroProse that kept me going. Having my game published by MicroProse is a dream come true and I think David, Shane and the whole team are heroes for giving space for small devs like us, and this is precious. If I can contribute just a little with the history they're making, I'm happy. If one has a good project, I can really recommend pitching the game to MicroProse, they value what matters the most.
Thank you for your time in this interview and your work on the PC port of Legendary Pilots. I look forward to flying soon. Those raging wildfires will not be safe from me!
Hauhauh... Thank you guys!
Connect with 'Legendary Pilots'
About the Interviewer
Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Staff Profile]
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