There are only a couple of flight worlds in VRChat where there's not only aircraft variety, but also all the aircraft made are designed and modeled in-house by the world creator. One of these worlds is Gomasaba Archipelago by Yakisaba . This world just celebrated its first anniversary , so we thought it would be a good idea to come back and revisit this world with a new pair of eyes. We also convinced some of our friends and partners to tag along, which made the experience a lot more social and dynamic. WORLD LAYOUT AND IDEA This world is made to be explored, as it consists of many small, disconnected islands that could or could not have something for you to discover on them. There are a plethora of different vehicles and ways to move around, as well as a couple of static hot air balloons and a dirigible platform for those that would just like to take in the views instead. There is a port area, two dedicated airports on different islands and a road circuit around one of the main island. This allows anyone to just grab the type of aircraft, car or boat they want, and enjoy the world the way they want. This type of experience is quite rare in VRChat, and is quite refreshing to see that it is still getting some love even a year after its release. AIRCRAFT AND VEHICLES The focus of the world, more than in its terrain or architecture, lies on its aircraft and ground vehicles. The main aircraft and the most representative of this world is the Ri-Gou . A twin-engine amphibious float plane, this plane can carry 10 players if you include pilot and co-pilot positions. It can be quite fun to just fly your friends around, an idea that I can get behind as our very own Dragonfly has the same design philosophy. The other pure floatplane is the Rogou-2 , which can also be quite fun to fly! There are also some other two-seaters around, such as the Gunnel Biplane, Nigou-ko monoplane and the Nu-gou PC-21-styled Turboprop. All of these aircraft offer a variety of flight experiences and sensations, so I recommend you give them all a try! Another aircraft that is available is the To-gou , a Coaxial Kamov-style helicopter that is impressively fast. It is also float-capable, which means that you will be able to land wherever and whenever you want. In another unique note, all the aircraft present in this world are for sale on the author's Booth page, which you can find here . TRY THIS WORLD OUT! If what you want is to chill out and just enjoy some combat-free flying in VRChat, then Gomasaba Archipelago is the right place to go. We will continue visiting this world in the future, and we will most likely post about that in our socials, so keep an eye out! About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter  | Discord : Cubeboy

Where are we now? How does this work? An invite to indie developers! Hello, everyone! Aaron "RIbbon-Blue" Mendoza here with an update for the Indie Highlight Series here on Skyward Flight Media. While there is no release planned in November 2025 for this indie flight action game focused interview series, there are good reasons for that. Meanwhile, this month progress is also still being made for the longevity of the series. We do not want to leave you wondering about what is going on, so let us discuss what is happening this month. SERIES HOME PAGE For anyone unaware, the entries of the ongoing Indie Highlight Series can be found in two locations. On the home page for the series and in a secondary tab on the Indie Flight page of our website. Screenshot of home page. 'FAN' ON BUSINESS Anyone following the series has probably picked up on the general pattern for releases. Usually something happens around this time of each month. A teaser post on a Monday with the next entry of the series posted on the Saturday of the same week. This month the lead interviewer of the series, Matthew "FlyAwayNow" Nguyen (FAN), is on a business trip. This is the primary reason there is not an entry of the series being posted this month. Sometimes it is as simple as that, isn't it? While there is no entry to be released in November 2025, things are still moving in the background to keep the series going. BACKGROUND PROGRESS This was mentioned in the July 21st announcement to formally begin the series, but let's go into a bit more detail about how the series is currently operating. 'FlyAwayNow' is the primary means of contact for indie developers that are featured in the series. Skyward Flight Media staff operates in a support role for all other facets of the series. Once an indie developer has been contacted and an agreement to include them in the series is made, a Google Drive folder is created with permissions for access given to all parties involved. With a set of questions proposed by FAN and some follow up questions proposed by Skyward, the words and media gathered during the interview process are put into the GDrive. The content is assembled by Skyward staff and formatted with any extra needed media gathered from the internet or directly from publicly accessible builds of games or demos. Once a final draft is approved, it is ported to the website with social media posts created. Thus far this team approach has yielded great results for all parties. There are interviews with eight indie games and solo developers so far: Aggressors Fantasy Air Combat Delivery Must Complete Kirk Woodes Modern Jet Fighters Online Nova Squadron Project Fairy Supermaneuver Zakon PUBLIC INVITATION TO ASPIRING DEVELOPERS There are already confirmed upcoming interviews with yet to be announced developers going into 2026. The process to figure out which developers are to be contacted next is usually handled privately with communications made in emails, direct messages or voice calls. Starting this month, we are making a public facing addition to the process. We are putting out an open invitation to indie / grassroot developers creating flight action games . Take a look at the aforementioned developers we have interviewed in the Indie Highlight Series thus far to see if your project would fit. You can contact us in the following ways: FlyAwayNow Bluesky FlyAwayNow X.com Skyward Bluesky Skyward Discord Skyward Email Skyward X.com Keep in mind that even if your particular game does not 100% match up with what this series is currently focused on, Skyward Flight Media as an organization has covered indie flight games of all types since 2020. There is still a good chance that we will cover your project outside of the Indie Highlight Series. All you have to do is shoot your shot and see what happens! Thanks for checking in with the Indie Highlight Series. See you in December with the next release. About the Writer 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 ]

The Pressure of a Long-Range Threat If there is one thing Nuclear Option by Shockfront Studios needed, it was a new map with longer distances. While the chaos of a full scale, peer-to-peer, nuclear equipped conflict full of constant ground convoys and aircraft falling from the sky is fun, I personally wanted the ability to have somewhat slower paced, but more complex engagements. On March 24th, 2025, a second map was released with topography that favors beyond visual range engagements. Here, across the open ocean, the unrestricted threat of long-range surface-to-air missiles can truly be felt. Second Map Ignus Archipelago Ignus Archipelago is the second map for Nuclear Option. The original map, now known as Heartland, is at roughly 80% land in the areas frequently used by players. In comparison, the archipelago is quite the opposite. Ocean occupies most of it, with few hills and mountain ranges across its islands. Ignus is also quite a large, with map dimensions of 164 x 82 kilometers. All of this open ocean is ideal for naval based operations, while land based aircraft operations will frequently cover long distances in comparison to the shorter distance flights on the Homeland map which frequently center around large-scale battles between land forces. Gameplay is noticeably different between the two maps. Purpose Built SAM Sites During the initial research sessions of this map in the mission editor, my focus first fell onto the air bases and airports across the archipelago that players will use during every session. To my great surprise, four of the islands include purpose built surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites. They can be found on Ashwood, Broken Atoll, Cliffline and Harmony Sands. Static SAM site. Their design is based on real world configurations of semi-permanent / permanent SAM sites. While any anti-aircraft unit in Nuclear Option will fit, these seem to be purpose built for the longest range SAM in the game, the Stratolance R9. It is analog to real world long-range SAM site systems like David's Sling, HQ-9 or MIM-104 Patriot. The SAM sites features dug outs or earth-barriers for mobile erector launchers, with a raised terrain pedestal for the search and track radar (HLT Radar Truck) in the middle of the installation. There are extra pads that can be used for whatever the mission editor decides, but incorporating a short-range air defense system of some type along with a Munitions Truck seems to be a good use. The Munitions Truck in particular is useful for both keeping the SAM site constantly supplied with missiles while giving players an incentive for hitting the munitions trick, potentially causing it to explode and splash damage the rest of the missile launchers or radar vehicle. There are a few other areas in the islands that are austere, but compatible with medium and long-range SAM sites. A remote SAM site. Area Denial The long range of the Stratolance R9 is especially prevalent when deployed correctly in the Ignus Archipelago. I would even go as far as describing it as genuinely overwhelming for combat aircraft attempting to approach it without a game plan. So long as the HLT Radar Truck of the SAM site can detect and illuminate incoming targets, they will guide semi-active radar guided missiles from up to 50 kilometers away. Depending on the aircraft and weapons players are using, even approaching the SAM site is a type of boss battle in itself. With Nuclear Option incorporating radar notch game mechanics and a visual reference in the player's Heads Up Displays suggesting which direction players should turn to defend against incoming missiles with optional use of self-protection jammers. When approaching from long distance with no terrain to mask behind, players and non-player controlled units must frequently evade while trying to close distance. They will need to choose when to evade and when to press the attack directly into the incoming missiles to close a few more kilometers at a time before turning to evade missiles in the last seconds before impact. It could take a single, unsupported aircraft quite a while to close distance and successfully suppress the SAM site. KR-67 Ifrit in a failed radar notch maneuver. The Stratolance is also able to intercept weapons that are attempting to destroy it. Anti-radiation missiles, glide bombs and cruise missiles can be reliably intercepted at maximum range. Even friendly Stratolance missiles engaging enemy aircraft or ordinance can be counter-intercepted by hostile Stratolance SAM sites. These purpose built surface-to-air missile complexes can be further hardened by surrounding them with short range air defenses (SHORAD) - as they would according to real world doctrine. Tactics, Technology The most obvious answer to overcoming such a sturdy surface-to-air missile site would be the use of an electronic warfare aircraft, like the EW-25 Medusa. While it can automatically triangulate the position of radars and share those positions via datalink, the electronic countermeasure pods are the most effective means to suppress SAM sites. However, these jammer pods have a generally effective maximum range around 40 kilometers . With the ECM pods using a capacitor that only lasts for a few minutes at a time, the EW-25 would need to press into the edge of the Stratolance engagement envelope while cycling its jammer pods off and on to suppress the SAM site. With the radar unable to guide missiles, the Medusa or other aircraft have a window to rapidly close distance and attack. While this purpose built technology is great for the EW-25, all other aircraft in the game must do things the hard way over the open ocean. EW-25 launching anti-radiation missiles from standoff range. Saturation attacks from standoff range with air launched cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles and/or glide bombs can be effective. Though, a large quantity of munitions is needed, as the Stratolance R9 will have ample time to intercept many of these weapons. The go-to tactic is to rely on radar notching against volleys of missiles to close range with the SAM site and increase the likelihood weapons launched from aircraft reach the SAM site. Flying in at wave top altitude in an attempt to get beneath the azimuth of radar emitters is also possible depending on the topography of the landmass the SAM site is placed on, though players can still expect to notch incoming missile volleys until they are close enough to take advantage of a potential radar blind spot. A mixture of these tactics and technology is the most effective way to suppress or destroy these purpose built SAM sites. T/A-30 Compass ingressing at low altitude to an island housing a long-range SAM site. Skyward's Reception The impact of these surface-to-air missile sites is substantial in the eyes of the Skyward Flight Media mission editor. Their impacts on gameplay are being further explored, as they are now key parts of two upcoming missions that already have working prototypes. One mission focused on naval rotary wing operations during a raid, and the other focused on long-range suppression of enemy air defense missions against an integrated air defense system. Look forward to them! About the Writer 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 .

Ever since it came out, I have been keeping my eye on the JF-17 Thunder by Deka Ironworks. Recently, I finally got my hands on it. My expectations were rather high since I had heard great things about it from some of my close friends. Expect a full review at some point. The module looks the part and has been masterfully crafted. But today I wanted to talk about the feature that surprised me the most: its functional programmable data cartridge (DTC) system! Not only has this feature been wonderfully implemented, but highlights a gap that exists on several DCS modules. To access the feature, you will have to go to OPTIONS and the click on the SPECIAL tab. From there, to the right, scroll through your modules until you find the JF-17. You will be presented with all of these options: You can edit your entire DTC from here. You can tune and program your countermeasure programs, set bingo quantities for chaff and flares, select which gunsight type you prefer, set your gun burst time limiter and even switch between different voices for your warning annunciator! Customization seems to have been a priority for Deka it really shows. After you are done setting it up, the configurations will apply to ALL your flights. No more will you need to program your countermeasures programs at the beginning of each flight. It saves a lot of time and makes flying the Jeff an even better experience. With such a good implementation of a data cartridge already in the game, it makes you wonder why modules such as the F/A-18C Hornet or the F-16CM Viper lack this kind of customization . In particular, I am extremely puzzled as to why the Viper does not have something like this. The F-16C has a similar DTC system on board , one that can store pilot preferences just like these. MFD page presets per mode, countermeasure programs, radio frequencies, etc. It is a feature I have used extensively in Falcon BMS for a long time, and it is one that I hope gets prioritized by the devs over at Eagle Dynamics. We know the feature is coming from the feature list that ED released earlier this year. For now, I will just keep enjoying the wonderful DYC that Deka have provided us and just keep on programming my countermeasures every time that I use the Viper, which is quite frequently. About the author: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord : Cubeboy #9034

A Real Heads Up Display Changes Everything Long before Skyward went "wheels up" for Flight Sim Expo 2023 , we had a set list of planned visits with the many companies and communities in attendance. While winding through the elaborate displays and small but informational booths, I had walked past something that made me triple take. Looking not once, not twice, but three times to assure myself that what I saw was real. There in a quiet corner away from the Microsoft Flight Simulator couches and behind a row of museum aircraft was a row of heads up displays. Actual heads up displays. Not a computer tablet using its camera to superimpose the image. A genuine, image projecting, collimation reliant, beam splitting glass heads up display. Pictures of the booth are below: Since then, conversations with Dan Hall, CEO of Heads Up View LLC , started an ongoing relationship between the two companies. This has led to this product unboxing and first impression of their DT1 HUD . I'll take a moment here to thank them for this opportunity to not only unbox it, but use it long-term for many flights in many simulators to come. Of course, despite Heads Up View recently being announced as a sponsor of Skyward Flight Media, this is a honest take on a rather unique piece of flight simulation kit. Unboxing Skyward Flight Media staff members, T.J. "Millie" Archer and Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza , performed the unboxing after receiving the product from Heads Up View. The box itself contains: (1) dust cover, branded (2) gloves (1) heads up display base (2) HUD brackets (1) HUD beamsplitter glass (4) HUD bolts (4) HUD washers (1) microfiber cloth (1) protective gloves (1) 10' Video Cable/HDMI Cable (1) 10' 12V Power Cable (1) setup guide An extra set of minor instructions were sent to us as well, to be included in upcoming shipments. These units come with a 30-day money-back guarantee from the date the customer receives the order. It states that if for any reason the customer is not satisfied, the return of the unit in its original packaging will validate a full refund. HUV LLC provides a 1-year warranty from the original invoice date, guaranteeing its workmanship and material quality free from defect. The company agrees to, at its option during the warranty period, to repair any defect in materials, components or workmanship or to furnish a replacement unit free of charge. All of this information was explained in a letter placed beneath the top flap of the box, making it the first thing customers see when they open the box. An extra set of minor instructions were sent to us as well, to be included in upcoming DT1 and SC1 shipments. To receive warranty service, emailing support@headsupview.com starts the process. The most notable part of the box from the outside is the sheer size and weight. It looks and feels like a solid piece of kit. But rather than being packed from top to bottom with bubble wrap, a significant portion of it was protective styrofoam packaging. Two layers of sturdy styrofoam panels on all sides of the hardware itself. So secure, it was a bit hard to remove certain items from the box. A good problem to have. Admittedly, one of the things we worried about with something as sensitive as this piece of equipment. Hardware All items in the box come in separate packages, with the main part of the HUD being the heaviest item in the box. A pair of blue vinyl gloves were helpful when handling the more delicate equipment like the beam splitting glass pane and the 6-inch lens on the top of the HUD base. The smaller components like the HDMI cable, DC 12V power supply and HUD glass mounting brackets were made of reliable material, though now that I know adjustable metal HUD brackets are on the way, I certainly look forward to using those in the near future. The most difficult part of the unboxing was removal of the blue protective film on the HUD glass and projection lens. The protective film was very firmly attached to each surface. The included gloves did reduce the chances of accidentally causing damage during installation, but patience in slowly removing the film to reduce stress on the glass is important. Curiously, the HUD base has a speaker built into it. Alongside the ample amount of power sources and display ports on the back of the unit, the presence of audio ports and the speaker was unexpected. During our initial use we did not use the speaker, but did need to disable it as an audio output on our computer to prevent it from grabbing audio. With a handful of screws and a screwdriver, it took very little effort and know how to assemble the HUD correctly. It was very straightforward with an easy to understand double sided piece of paper guide. The overall size of the DT1 is a bit on the large side height wise, but minor redesigns are already in the works to alleviate this somewhat. The space requirement from between the PC monitor and the rear of the DT1 being about 8 to 12 inches did trigger an unusual on the spot redesign to accommodate the HUD for testing. As someone that has frequently favored more compact desktop flight simulator setups that emphasize modularity and the ability to detach flight sim gear as needed, this heads up display was somewhat incompatible. Some quick thinking and readjustments resolved this issue, but this was an example of how the design philosophy of a cockpit focused builder and a desktop flight sim rig are rather different. More on this later. Software This is where we ran into a few problems on our end, and most likely others who do not normally deal with this sort of thing will find a few hang-ups. During this part of the setup, really only patience and the willingness to learn a few new things you may not have done before are what brings the entire process together. The DT1 and other products from Heads Up View LLC acts as a second screen or display for the personal computer. Depending on which flight simulator the HUD is being used with, the ease of integrating the DT1 changes. For example, Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D and older versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator have built in HUD only views that can be undocked into a separate window, then dragged into the DT1 display area. From there field of view adjustments can be made literally on the fly - while flying - without having to type any code; though that is an option for those that are more technical like that. Example of P3D/FSX setup. On the other hand, Eagle Dynamics' Digital Combat Simulator World is very dependent on editing LUA files. The more monitors a user has, the more complicated the setup gets. This is something that has to do with DCS itself, rather than the heads up display. When the DT1 is connected and powered on, DCS does recognize it in its list of monitors. This helps simplify setup to a degree, but for people that are not used to working with .lua files or using multiple displays, this can seem like a daunting task. This is where patience and the willingness to learn a bit come in handy. Fortunately, the Supported Simulations page of the Heads Up View website has all the needed .lua files in .zip files with an ample amount of screenshots to further explain what needs to be done. These files need to be placed in very specific folders. Most importantly, some basic math will need to be done to calculate the combined dimensions of both displays. Those dimensions are then used in the .luas that export the heads up display outside of DCS World into the DT1 secondary display. And of course, since this is editing .luas that are a part of the simulator's base files, it is possible that an update to DCS World could override any user made changes. While that does sound annoying, this problem is easily circumvented just by copying and pasting the user's HUD settings into a separate word document. In the event data is overwritten by an update, pasting the data into that file can be done within a minute or so. Example of DCS World setup tutorial. Once the DT1 is running in sim, further adjustments to HUD position and size can be made to work best with the user's hardware setup. Adjusting the HUD image vertically or horizontally is also done by changing X and Y values in the corresponding .LUA files for each aircraft. Other simulators utitlize third party software to make this process much easier, so it is best to check the HUV website or send an email to their support staff to ask more specific questions. First Impression During our unboxing day, we flew short non-combat sorties using the F/A-18E Super Hornet in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and the F/A-18C Hornet Lot 20 in Digital Combat Simulator. The DT1 worked exactly as advertised, even in the most difficult of visual conditions like bright white clouds in the midday. The HUD image was not completely washed out. The back side of the HUD unit also has its own set of controls for changing contrast, brightness and more. So even the brightest of high definition 4K+ monitors do not washout the colors of the DT1. After further adjustments were made for the desktop setup we used, the DT1's image clarity and its ability to physically project the HUD image had an immediate impact on immersion within each simulator. That authentic feeling of it "really being there" permeated everything we tested. This was especially true when using head tracking with the DT1. Without the heads up display being ever present on the computer monitor, peeking around the HUD or seeing how the information somewhat appears and disappears during changes in the user's seating position further adds that "real feel" experience. With the HUD being an addition that is unmoving, unlike a rudder pedeal or HOTAS that is constantly being manipulated, once it is in place there is no need to relocate it or adjust it. Unless it needs to be removed from a multi-use desk area. With a majority of the visual adjustments to the information displayed made within each simulator, physically moving the HUD out of the way, if needed is not a massive problem. I believe that, on its own merits, the heads up displays from Heads Up View are the most authentic and realistically priced way for very serious flight simulation users to get their hands on this type of accessory. Rather than paying a many thousands of US dollars for a 1:1 design accurate, fully licensed HUD that would only fit in one simpit, the approach of Heads Up View offers a more grounded approach. With their design being more universal, made of more accessible materials and capable of standalone use, simmers can purchase the DT1 at a more realistic price point of around 795.00 USD. Certainly it is still a high price when you think of other flight simulation accessories around or beneath the same pirce point. In conversations with the CEO of Heads Up View, I brought up the point that these devices are very niche in the sense that it is a sea changing piece of flight sim gear but not absolutely vital to all flight sim operations. This truly is a cockpit builder level accessory. I cannot say it is something that will be as prolific as rudder pedals, for example. However, it is an eye opening type of hardware that makes you reconsider how you approach flight simulation as a hobby. Within minutes of flying in each simulator, there was a palpable mix of excitement to see a genuine heads up display working outside a near-professional use simulator and gradually understanding what the addition of this level of flight simulation hardware to a desktop style flight simulation setup means in the long-term. A hand between the DT1 and PC monitor. The Tip of the Iceberg For the past few days the Skyward staff has been discussing what our next step with flight simulation is because of the presence of the Heads Up View DT1 in our collection. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, the use of the DT1 has pushed us into an unexpected position with this level of flight simulation. In the near future, a second article discussing the DT1 and the next level of flight simulation is set to release with what we think are informative points of view being in this transitional point we are now. Expect an unusual team project from Skyward to be announced in the near future. Heads Up View DT1 with branded dust cover. About the Writer 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. [Profile]

From Flyout to Aviassembly and everything in between , we have always had a predilection for covering build-your-own-plane flight games. But, when covering this peculiar genre, there’s always been one game we’ve mentioned, yet never covered on its own; the benchmark, the standard, the one all are compared against. And, alongside the more space-focused KSP, it could be argued it’s what started this genre to begin with. I’m talking, of course, about SimplePlanes. Released in 2015, SimplePlanes did not feature impressive graphics or super detailed flight simulation mechanics. What it did offer, however, was an extremely flexible building system which put almost no bounds on players’ creativity, as well as means to share these creations. The end result is that across its 10 years of existence, SimplePlanes has seen thousands of creations uploaded by its player community, covering everything from airplanes to cars, ships, and even functional, fully articulated mecha. On a personal note, many years ago I was a small part of this playerbase - and though my take on Santos-Dumont’s Demoiselle was once featured on the game’s home page, I never considered myself anywhere close to being one of the best creators out there. The level of quality and detail some folks managed to achieve is truly mindblowing (check out this nearly simulator-level F-5E , for instance!), and while I’m sure the developers could never have anticipated their game would be used in such a way, they did support this community with a great deal of updates designed to give players even more ways to explore their creative madness. So it should come as no surprise when Jundroo announced they would be doing a week-long open playtest of its sequel, we were excited to try it out! Rising Up to the Challenge Of course, there’s a problem with sequels in gaming. A sequel has to at least equal, and hopefully surpass, its predecessor; and when the predecessor in question is a creative sandbox with thousands of user creations attached to it and a highly dedicated player base, that bar is very high. Too often, we see games that either fail to rise up to the expectations set by the original entry, turn out to be a mismanaged mess, or both; and after the catastrophic failure of Kerbal Space Program 2, I’ll admit that I was worried when Jundroo first announced SimplePlanes 2. I had several doubts regarding some of the proposed features, and despite my appreciation for the developer’s work in the original game - or perhaps exactly because of it - I approached this new entry with more than a healthy degree of skepticism. I’m happy to report that this playtest demo has addressed the majority of those doubts. There’s real effort and care put into this game, and the result is very promising. Some key features were not yet available, therefore some questions still linger; but overall, this was a great experience. Cleared for Startup Upon starting the game, you are greeted by the game’s new mascot, Major Chad. He also serves as the avatar for the player and was one of the changes I was deeply worried about but ended up being positively surprised with; we’ll get back to him later. The menu UI is pretty simple and easy to navigate, and upon hopping into the builder/aircraft editor, a list of default crafts built using SimplePlanes 2’s new features is available. Some of the base game vehicles available. Many of these crafts were built by longstanding members of the community which were invited by the developers to participate in internal testing; a showcase of the developer’s engagement with the player base. Unfortunately, players were not able to interact with the game’s building system in the demo; thus, all that was left to do was pick the game’s standard F4U Corsair replica and step into the cockpit. When the scenery loaded up, I was suddenly hit by this strange feeling - the UI was familiar, but much easier on the eyes. The visuals were completely different, yet they still reminded me of the original game somehow; and to top off the cozy atmosphere, the game’s brand new, 80’s-infused soundtrack shows off one of the tricks up its sleeve - it changes dynamically during gameplay! I wasn’t expecting this much effort to be put into the music for a plane builder game, but I’m glad it was - it pairs with the game very well, and while I eventually got tired and switched to my own playlists, that only happened after a few hours of continuous flying. Gone are SP1’s flat oceans and smooth terrain; water now features dynamic waves (which, besides being eye candy, actually affect ships and seaplanes) and clouds are now volumetric, instead of a flat skybox. Comparison between the water in SP2 (left) and the original SimplePlanes (right). The brand new map features greatly improved terrain, both in terms of modelling and textures; airports and towns are decorated by lovingly crafted 3D models which match the game’s visual identity perfectly; and trees now populate the previously barren grasslands, making low-level flying feel much more dynamic. Unfortunately, only a small area of the map was accessible in the demo, encompassing a single island; however, we know Jundroo is working on a much bigger map, full of locations to explore - just like in the original game. But going back to low-level flying, what happens if one of your wings has an unscheduled meeting with local vegetation? Well, the trees have hitboxes, so the result is almost certainly going to be a fireball. If you’ve played the original SimplePlanes, you’re probably expecting the cockpit piece - the part which defines the player’s POV, so often scaled down to 0.1% in order to visually hide it in custom builds - to go flying off to the stratosphere. But this is where Major Chad steps in. Even in craft where the new player character doesn’t show up visually, once the player’s vehicle is destroyed Major Chad jumps from the explosion like an action figure hero, and the player’s controls and POV switch from the vehicle to the character. Even upon being launched towards the ground at 600 knots, the Major will effortlessly come to a standing stop without a scratch, like he’s an anime protagonist or something. Bro’s built different. The player is then free to walk around the scenery, and either respawn the craft (either at the initial or present location) or just wander around. Players may also elect to exit their craft to explore on foot at any time: Major Chad can run, swim, and even push your vehicle around - which comes in handy for smaller airplanes if you need a little pushback in a remote grass strip. Players also have several customization options for their character, which serves as their avatar in multiplayer. This player character was one of my main concerns going into SP2; it is such a major departure from the original game’s concept. Yet, having seen how it’s been implemented firsthand, I can now confidently say this is a great feature and was a smart move by the developers. After testing out the game’s default vehicles and their showcasing of the game’s new features - the new wings with built-in flaps, the targeting pods, the improved aerodynamic simulation system which results in far more believable handling qualities. These are all marked improvements over the previous game; but they are not the game’s most impressive feature. It was time for the real test: Backwards compatibility. Some creations made for the original SimplePlanes are absolutely stunning, such as this bushplane by TheCatBaron As advertised, players would be able to import creations from the previous game into SP2 - a huge deal, since there are literally thousands of them. But with core systems such as the aerodynamic simulation changed in this new game, I wondered how they would behave - it’s no use being able to import a design from SP1 if it is completely non-functional, after all. I open up SimplePlane’s website and look at my creations: Uploaded six years ago. It’s been that long? Holy smokes. I should be worried about this thing’s compatibility with the latest SP1 updates, let alone SP2! I reckon if this works in the new game, anything will. What shall be my airframe of choice for this stress test? My eyes immediately turn their gaze to the most cursed option available - the asymmetric S. Ca. 163 Quimera. It’s got a bunch of custom systems made from SP1 parts - custom landing gear, custom cannon, custom missiles. Most importantly, it is an affront to basic aircraft design principles, has very temperamental handling characteristics, and had several quirks even in its original game. In other words: it’s perfect. Behold. my most adorable abomination! With a certain degree of hesitation, I load it into SimplePlanes 2. It loads into the game’s aircraft editor - immediately, SP2’s new shaders means it looks better than it did in SP1. But will it fly? I take the clumsy bird to the runway, throttle up, rotate… and an ear to ear grin grows on my face. Lo and behold, the imported aircraft work great! Sure, there are a few quirks with very complex designs, but overall, craft imported from SP1 behave just like they did in their native installment. It lives! Look at how happy it is! This is, to me, the very best feature of SimplePlanes 2 ; considering so many of the systems (aerodynamics, construction) are either brand new or thoroughly revamped, it would have been far easier for the developers to just make it a completely separate game. But instead, they deliberately took the extra effort to make the game backwards compatible with the legacy systems of SP1, allowing players to enjoy their old creations alongside SP2’s new toys. This decision highlights the passion the developers have for this project, and the regard in which they hold the community which has formed around their game; it acknowledges the thousands of creations players have made, and shows respect and admiration for the thousands of collective hours spent on them. Instead of being relegated to obsolescence, all of these little products of human creativity are now given a second chance to shine in a brand new stage. I cannot overstate how praiseworthy this is; it is rare to see developers put this much care into acknowledging player’s effort and time, let alone making sure virtually all content from their previous game gets carried over to the sequel. Well done, Jundroo. Airliners, Airships, and Armageddon Unlike its predecessor, SimplePlanes 2 features multiplayer support from the get-go , without any need for mods - and I was very surprised to see it already implemented in this demo. Could use an ATC feature though, I'm not sure this is FAA compliant... Flying your creations (or the standard craft) alongside your friends in SimplePlanes is great - there is nearly unlimited potential for all sorts of silliness and debauchery. For this purpose, SimplePlanes allows you to create private lobbies, from which you can invite your friends via Steam. However, public lobbies are also a thing. What happens when you give people nearly unlimited creative power, weapons which can be XML edited to have ridiculous stats , and the opportunity to use these tools against their fellow humans in a virtual environment? Average day on an SP2 multiplayer server. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to conclude the answer is pure, utter and unbridled chaos, with so many megatons of explosives being dropped each minute it’d make MacArthur blush. There’s also the players with absurdly overpowered spaceships with auto-aim insta-kill lasers - although admittedly it was fun hunting them down with a bog standard 4th generation fighter. So why on earth would you want to play multiplayer SP2 in a public lobby? Well, because if you happen to come across some people who aren’t solely looking for a power trip, there’s cool interactions to be had. Jundroo knew this would happen, which is why lobby owners can select the “Peaceful Mode” option, which disables weapon damage. Ill-intentioned players can still ram others, or just be a nuisance by causing huge explosions which drop everyone’s frame rate, but these cases can be easily dealt with by kicking the offending players from the lobby. Escorting a Mriya flown by a random player online. In the few hours I spent in peaceful public lobbies, I flew formations with complete strangers, landed a pre-WWI aircraft on top of another player’s sci-fi spaceship carrier, buzzed a player who was drifting their car in the touge-like circuit of the woodlands, and generally got to see a plethora of different vehicles I would have never seen otherwise. The future meets the past: I coordinated this landing with the ship's owner, which walked out to meet me. Another noteworthy feature is the event system - players can start events such as races (both for cars and aircraft), team deathmatches, and even co-op combat events, such as intercepting AI bombers or fighting against an invasion of AI mechs. Get that Gundam out of here, air power is still king! These events can be started both in single and multiplayer, and in the latter case players who do not opt into the event won’t be affected by it. In my opinion, this is a great way to implement this system and I’m eager to see what new events show up in the final product! When in an event, participating players on your team turn blue on the HUD. Outside the Test Envelope Let’s talk about some of the features which were not yet available in the demo, because there are some pretty big items on the list. The first and biggest of them all is the in-game builder itself. In the demo, players were able to access a pretty good selection of default/example vehicles, as well as import creations from SP1; however, all builder features were disabled, meaning there was no way to try out the new parts and building system of the new game. This leaves a lot of questions open: how similar (or different) is it to the original? Are crafts made in SP1 editable in SP2, and if so, how easy will it be to retrofit them with SP2’s new wings, for instance? And most importantly, how on earth did they make the demo aircraft look so beautifully smooth? So smooth! And then there’s the new wings. SP2 uses a completely new wing modelling system, as described in the game’s news hub. This should, in theory, make it a lot easier to get the shape and look you want, without employing the various subterfuges which were necessary in SP1; but crucially, the physics modelling has also been rebuilt from scratch. The new system features a vastly improved drag model; and now accounts for things such as spanwise lift distribution, induced drag (with the associated wingtip vortices!), and control surface moments - which alongside accounting for the effects of flap deployment on the wing’s Cl-Alpha curve, means we finally get flaps which actually work like flaps! All of this sounds very exciting, and has been extensively documented and explained by the developers in their dev blog - a fact I greatly appreciate - and we were indeed able to get a small taste of this new system with the game’s preset aircraft. However, in the demo, this system was a black box - you could not modify or create new wings, so just what new possibilities will be opened by this new implementation are yet unknown. Finally, there’s the new engines and transmission systems. They are now simulated in much greater detail, which should improve the immersion and fidelity of car designs. Players will be able to change the number of cylinders, their sizes, and other such configurations; again, we weren’t able to play around with this, but the game’s default cars do suggest this system is implemented and working. The base game sports car is pretty fun to drive around! The long-time reader may have had a sense of déjà vu with SP2’s new wing and engine systems; and that would be no coincidence, because the procedural systems used for them are a lot similar to what Flyout has implemented (at least on the user-facing end). And thus, the big question is: How easy (or not) will these new systems be to use? While they offer players a lot of new options to play with, SimplePlanes’ greatest strength has so far been its relative simplicity: it strikes a balance between Aviassembly’s casual gameplay and Flyout’s aerospace engineering freshman complexity. It is very approachable at first, and becomes as intricate as your creativity allows. Flyout has also arguably already captured the more hardcore, super-in-depth audience for aircraft building games (a niche within a niche!). It’ll be interesting to see the direction SimplePlanes 2 ultimately takes in this respect. Conclusions When it was first launched, SimplePlanes was criticized for its flat graphics and lack of personality. In other words, it didn’t truly feel like a game; and while I’d argue the community that formed around it is proof that the game found its niche and the early critics missed the point, SimplePlanes 2 does feel like a welcome injection of game-iness into the original concept. With its renewed visuals, charming soundtrack, and lovingly crafted terrain and buildings, the game has a much more interesting atmosphere than the original; and the built-in multiplayer system gives players a whole new dimension to explore that world in. If SimplePlanes 1 was more like an engineering proof-of-concept, SimplePlanes 2 seems to be shaping up to become its final product, the result of a decade of user feedback and developers’ work. The effort and passion the developers have poured into this game is evident, and the retrocompatibility with SP1 ensures the new game can tap into an entire decade of the collective playerbase’s efforts in content. Even though the demo’s gameplay was limited, and some of the new features remain to be seen, it was enough to give the impression SimplePlanes 2 will be what so many sequels fail to: Just like the first one, except better. About the Writer Caio D. "Hueman" Barreto An incurable aviation fanatic since childhood, fascinated by the design and history of practically anything that flies. A long-time fan of flight games, he holds a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering and pursues his hobbies of drawing, writing and flight simulation on his spare time. See Staff Profile .

Appreciating a DCS World Content Creator As we mentioned roughly a week ago , the former "Creator Highlight" series here on Skyward Flight Media focused on discussing content creators making flight related content is being revamped. As we find our way forward with the series, including searching for a new series name, we take a look at by far one of my favorite Digital Combat Simulator content creators, Venom Cinematic . Without naming names here, for anyone that has watched DCS gameplay video for a few years now, there is a certain pattern that is followed. Well scripted cinematic videos crafted to show the in-combat actions of a specific aircraft or long casual livestreams that last a few hours. This makes creators that have a different variety to their content rather appealing if you know what you are looking at. Within the last six months or so, Venom Cinematic has been hitting that sweet spot in DCS World content for me. May 9, 2025 This YouTube channel started posting videos as early as May 2022. During the first year of its operation, you could tell that the two reoccurring personalities, one of them being named 'Venom', were relatively new to DCS, but quite invested in learning more about the simulator and jumping into player vs player (PVP) multiplayer servers. While there was a minor variation in content in the beginning as the direction their channel would take, by the time the YouTube channel reached 1000 subscribers on September 7th, 2022, it seemed like more traditionally edited gameplay videos would be the main focus of the channel. Venom Cinematic once had active profiles on Twitch, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram between 2022 to 2024, but while those gradually ebbed and flowed Venom decided to gradually shut those down while maintaining activity on the YouTube channel and letting himself be found in Discord servers attached to DCS multiplayer servers he frequents. Why is that? Who can say. Venom Cinematic has certainly found success in their current video format and approach within the DCS world online community. For example, the first video from this content creator that caught my attention was an official pre-release preview video for the Heatblur F-4E Phantom II for Digital Combat Simulator. A major achievement for a creator of this size. May 17th, 2024 Objectively speaking, this was a notable product preview video as it was not a clinical clickthrough of every switch in the cockpit, but a high energy demonstration of a Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer flying and fighting in the aircraft with live communication, working the instruments as needed to survive and win. At a glance a majority of the videos up to 2024 focused on fixed-wing fighter operations on well-known DCS World multiplayer servers like BlueFlag, BuddySpike, Contention, Enigma's Cold War Server (now Heatblur Simulations Cold War Server), Grayflag, Growling Sidewinder and Tempest's Blue Flash to name a few. What I appreciate is how Venom Cinematic shows experienced, expert level flying in the simulator, while being able to communicate in required brevity for air operations in multiplayer and use casual commentary in between. All in videos much shorter than livestream VODs; between 7 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the video. November 1st, 2025 However, Venom is also fully capable of flying more than just the newest fixed-wing fighter added to the sim. Venom is competent enough to fly missions with multiple different types of aircraft. From Cold War era sweethearts to slightly more unusual aircraft for the simulator like the JF-17 Thunder. It is great to have variety. October 20th, 2025. Further adding to the variety is other people that appear in his videos are either players known to him or complete strangers he works wish to finish the task at hand. This leads to some pretty interesting combinations of aircraft working together. This is exemplified in the videos where Venom is utilizing rotary-wing aircraft working alongside fast jets and combined arms vehicles. Venom is one of the few DCS content creators out there still producing engaging videos of the OH-58 scout helicopter. March 3rd, 2025. Today Venom Cinematic has an engaging blend of well edited gameplay footage from online servers or some limited scenario PVE co-op missions that now incorporates cinematic camera views you would expect from amazing set pieces from other content creators that only make heavliy scripted, mini-movie style videos. Shoutout to Venom for finding their way and keeping the variety going! Connect with 'Venom Cinematic' Instagram YouTube Linktree About the Writer 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 ]

An interview with a proliphic VRChat aviation creator! Over the past three years, VRChat has become an unlikely hub for some aviation enthusiasts thanks to the release SaccFlight, a vehicle system made by Sacchan that enabled users to make properly usable aircraft without coding knowledge. That being said, that does not mean that some creators haven't pushed the limits of the system to their limits. Some have created 3D models of original aircraft designs, some have tried making ridiculously complex fictional aircraft, and others have pushed for a more realistic flight sensation despite the limitations of the system. Today's interviewee, VTail, falls on the latter category. He has pushed the limits of what can be done with SaccFlight to build one of the most interesting aircraft ever made with this system. Hello, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with us. Please introduce yourself to our readers.  Hello, and thank you for having me. My name's VTail. I am a VRChat world creator and photographer affiliated with a VRChat aviation community called the Black Aces. How did your interest in aviation begin?  My interest in aviation started practically as early as I was born. My father has been an airline pilot for longer than I’ve been alive, and his job and interests ended had a big influence growing up. As I grew older into middle and high school my interest in aviation waned while I was extremely occupied with classes, and it wouldn’t be until the Covid lockdowns where I began to regain that interest. Before becoming a VRChat Aviation world creator, did you have previous game related projects?  Yes I did, back between 2018 and 2019, I spent a lot of my free time learning about the Source Engine and making game maps for Garry’s Mod using the Hammer Editor. I worked on countless files, but only ever publicly released a handful of them. The first ones I made were not that good, but I’d say I ended up making decent maps by the time I stopped developing them. Beyond that however, I went into creating VRC flight worlds blind from a development standpoint. How did you become involved with VRChat?  I began to play VRChat back in the middle of 2017 when I purchased an Oculus Rift CV1. While I had owned early development kits, I hadn’t been too interested in VR by the time the first full VR setups were entering the market. It wasn’t until my brother bought his own CV1 and let me try it out, as well as playing VRChat on desktop, that I then changed my mind. When I first got into the game using VR, I only knew the bare basics on how to upload poorly rigged avatars, and just hung around as a mute. But within the month I was talking with new friends and learning more about Unity and how to create content for the game. You made your first VRCA test world in April 2021. Using the SaccFlight prefab , what were some of the challenges you experienced while experimenting with flight on this platform?  I learned of SaccFlight and plane worlds during a short period of time playing the game again after playing very intermittently. While meeting up with an old friend, they showed me Zweikaku’s F-14 world, and I was so impressed that I wanted to make a flight world as well. When I worked on that first test world though, it was admittedly a lot of trial and error and banging rocks together learning both SaccFlight, and making VRChat worlds as a whole. Beyond Sacchan’s Test Pilots world and Zweikaku’s carrier world existing, I did not know a whole community existed, and I was too nervous to ask either creator for help solving issues with making the planes work. That left me practically flying blind so to speak figuring out how to make a flight world, with just Sacchan’s own documentation file. Thankfully it documented everything on how to set up the prefab, and explained what each variable did to the plane’s handling. After tinkering for almost 2 months, I had several planes flying around in a basic world before losing interest in VRChat for several months. You could say that your first major exposure in the VRCA community as a whole was the Black Aces March 2022 showcase for Russian designed aircraft. Thinking back, do you have any thoughts on it?  It was certainly a lot to process at the time and pretty nerve wracking. When I was given the chance to work on a showcase, it was more so because there was no other creator who had the capacity to make a showcase for that month. I had just released my second world a month prior, but I still was relatively new and felt self-obligated to work on the showcase, if not there wouldn’t have been one that month. Thankfully with collaboration with world creators Non and RaptorItasha, we assembled a showcase world with a really interesting lineup of soviet-era aircraft. But from the moment the event started to the group photo at the end, I was nervous, worried that I had missed something important that would only surface during the actual event. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly without a hitch. Speaking of the Black Aces, you have worked with them for quite a while as the official photographer. Your penchant for large dimension, high resolution photos from both the air and ground is certainly your calling card.  Photography in VRChat is something I almost love more than making flight worlds. Unlike real life, you don’t need thousands of dollars of camera bodies and lenses, just lots of practice, a keen eye, and timing. For me, I love to take photos of planes and events that not just capture the moment, but show the action, the story, or the beauty behind what it is I’m taking a picture of. For each event, there are upwards of 500+ photos I end up taking, and out of all of those, I usually end up getting about 20 photos that I’d consider good. This large amount of files was from lots of experimenting with angles, zoom, focus to create photos that really capture the action. Your most current project, and one that has been in the works for the past 13 months, is the F-14A -Naval Interceptor- world. How has this development journey been for you so far, and which difficulties have you encountered? Developing this world has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. Initially the original scope and concept behind the world was just like any other flight world you would find on VRChat, only with nicer visuals. I figured I didn’t need to properly plan out development like I had done in my previous world since I expected the project to be done in a matter of two to three months. Very quickly however the project ballooned out of scope, with many additional features on the planes and the world itself. Along with the nightmare of trying to wrangle the project together, I ended up in a semi-burnout phase five to six months in, where the overall development crawled to a slow halt. At that point, I’d say at least seventy five percent of what was in the world at launch was completed, but all the small features I wanted to add made meaningful progression quite a mess. It wasn’t until other creators (thankfully) urged me to release the world by the end of the year. With two months left to get the world into a polished state for release, I started to shift development to get the world into a usable state as a normal flight world, then plan updates for the world with all the additions for the future. Of all aircraft you could have chosen after you were done with your Viggen Project, you chose the F-14A. Are there any particular reasons why you chose this aircraft? After finishing the Viggen flight world, I wanted to make another world with the same level of detail or more, but with a more recognizable aircraft. Out of a list of three aircraft I put actual consideration into, it just ended up being the F-14A. Mainly because there was so much about the tomcat that could be done in VRChat that hadn’t been done before. I wanted to try things that hadn’t been seen in a VRC flight world visually or under the hood, and using an aircraft filled with quirks and intricate nuances seemed like the perfect option. Your F-14A might be one of the most complete aircraft ever brought to VRChat, with its plethora of systems and features, but what distinguishes it from other ones?  There are various features that either set the F-14A above the average flight world, and some that allow the plane to stand out amongst everything else available. A lot of care went into the sound design, with a whole system to muffle audio when inside an interior or another plane, being the first flight world to do so. Between fellow VRC world designer Sournetic, various effects like fire, smoke, and explosions were enhanced, while additionally new effects were introduced, such as heat distortion, engine exhaust, contrails, and more that are rare to see in VRChat. With the help of another VRC creator, Zhakami Zhako, each gauge in the cockpit works, the yaw string moves around, and in a future update, even the radar will work. But the plane isn’t just all looks, even the way the plane flies is also significantly different than other worlds. Beyond the flight values that are tuned for a ‘sim-lite’ experience, chunks of Sacchan’s original code were completely rewritten to suit my needs. The biggest example was how the original way SaccFlight calculated thrust and afterburner was extremely arcade-like, so I overhauled the thrust system to allow for a more accurate thrust calculation, and stages of afterburner to progress through to reach full output. Another system overhauled was the original code that handled overstressing the aircraft. Now instead of simply losing health and exploding, pulling way harder than the airframe was designed for could result in the wings ripping off, turning your aircraft into a burning meteor. Developing complex systems that interact with Sacchan’s SaccFlight prefab was not an easy task. Which systems did you manage to implement on your F-14A? Along with the revised code for thrust and over g systems, one feature that is entirely new I coded in was a wing sweep system. Traditionally, wing sweep on planes in VRChat was purely visual and just tied to the airspeed of the aircraft, it never actually meant anything in terms of flight handling or characteristics. I designed a system that not only modifies how the plane flies based on wing angle, but implements the ability for a player to switch between an automatic wing sweep control, to a manual one if they so chose to. I wish I could tell you the reason I did something admittedly overly-complex like this, especially since most players will never touch the wing sweep, but it’s there. Most players probably wouldn’t realize it does affect flying, until they realize having their wings swept forward prohibits them from going supersonic. While a system like that makes perfect sense for any flight game, such effects have not been done on a VRChat flight world until now. You are known for adding more flight simulation like features to your aircraft. What is your inspiration for this?  I was mostly inspired by the large selection of flight games currently available to play such as War Thunder and DCS. While SaccFlight in its basic form was meant to resemble arcade-like flying, I felt like by adding sim-like features, it would make flying in VRChat more diverse and interesting. Even if a SaccFlight plane is made correctly, without either extensive tuning to the flight values or extra features being coded in, most planes end up feeling the same besides speed, armament, and turn rates. But by doing such tuning and adding those features, it makes each plane feel more unique or interesting to fly because there’s so many differences than the usual plane.  What are some of the features in your worlds that you are most proud of?  Definitely the visuals and audio are the elements I’m proud of the most. Despite being superficial at the end of the day under normal circumstances, in my perspective, visuals and audio are extremely important in VR. It’s a fine balance between performance and visuals, but making something that people see and just are stunned by the visuals from the planes, the clouds, the sunrises and sunsets, and above all else, the visceral feeling of flying these planes, that is what I am proud of. Does your approach to world building and creating custom flight characteristics make the development process longer than the average VRCA world process?  Unfortunately it most certainly does. Putting aside my own perfectionist view of what I work on, there are several things that I do that naturally increase development time. One of the largest time sinks during development is everything else but the planes in a world. Traditionally, the terrain of a world is one of the last things thrown in with little thought beyond where the runway is. I however feel that the terrain the planes fly around is as important as the planes themselves, and for better or for worse, take lots of time planning out the terrain for worlds, the design of the airfields, etc. And once I start working on integrating or coding new systems into worlds to suit a plane’s niche functions, naturally the longer the development will take. But in the end I feel like all the extra work is worth it. Thank you for your time with this interview. We appreciate it. Is there anything you would like to say to our viewers in closing? Thank you again for inviting me to talk about my VRChat flight worlds, and what goes on behind the scenes during development. It has been now a multi-year passion, and I want to continue and improve upon it for many more. There’s plenty in store for the F-14 world down the line, along with future worlds that are currently on the drawing board, so keep an eye out! About the writer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter  | Discord : Cubeboy

Indie Demos from October 13th through 20th Whether they are indie developer game jams or full-on game festivals, events that showcase demos for upcoming games are great. For years now we have made it a point to cover them here at Skyward Flight Media. It is time once again to see what interesting flight games have demos available for Steam Next Fest October 2025 . While our compilation article about a selection of flight game demos comes just two days before the current Steam Next Fest ends, we did push the event on social media to ensure people knew of the flight focused devs that are participating right at the start of the event. If you have a free weekend, be sure to get some game time in with these demos! Death in Abyss There are many spiritually inspired by Star Fox style games these days. Some play is closer to the original with a vibrant cast of andromorphic characters and futuristic settings. Instead of that Death In Abyss by Agelvik travels deep into dark horror. As deep as the uncharted seas and maddening depths that players will fight mind bending monsters infected by a mysterious outbreak. Let me tell you, when I say I had to enter "full sweat mode", I mean it. There is not really a sliding scale of difficulty in this game. Players will die fast and learn even faster. After a brief period of letting players explore the controls during the first level, waves of some genuinely horrific enemies appear. First in swarms of parasite like piranhas. Eventually much larger horrors appear with spear like tongues and energy weapons. Only consistent, accurate fire, well timed dashes and dodges and knowing when to absolutely hammer down on key enemies will bring players to success. Fortunately, as enemies are defeated the player's ship recovers energy and health. "Unfortunately" this also means that constantly remaining engaged in combat is the only way to survive. Even disengaging from an area overwhelmed with enemies by boosting to a safer area only provides a handful of seconds of non-combat. By my third attempt I started getting the hang of it. Embracing the chaos, staying highly mobile and learning how to maintain good aim with blasters while dashing and rolling leads to a frenetic playstyle that is truly the only way to survive against the beasts within. While I can understand the gameplay style referring to Star Fox, Death In Abyss truly strikes out on its own. Between the relentless visually disturbing enemies, sudden jump scares of new horrors for the deep-sea darkness and sustained combat, I truly want to see what else lies ahead. This was a refreshing take on a storied genre. Freelancers: Rogue Skies All I needed to see was "open world" and about 60 seconds of gameplay for me to immediately want to play Freelancers: Rogue Skies by developer by ExodusIndie, published by GameLab. I find myself playing more roguelites / roguelikes in flight games lately. A game that encourages exploration while also denying long-term persistent power build up and still having a narrative story is rather unusual. In the demo the primary focus is gameplay. I would recommend playing with keyboard mouse for now. During combat the aiming precision needed to hit maneuvering targets at near maximum distances is very important. So far that precision is only achievable with a mouse. You could use a gamepad, but the sensitivity is quite high and hard to manage. Looking around at the celestial bodies of this unknown solar system gives a general sense of the play area. Even proceeding along at full afterburning thrust the planets seems like it would take hours to reach. Alternatively, the warp function to travel large distances in just a few short jumps, without an elaborate need to resource manage it, makes traversing the solar system very engaging. With little direction from the start (which turned out to be a choice), players wander the solar system purely by whatever catches their eye. Who knows what each planet, cluster of space objects or elaborate space station holds? As players explore, they find objects and locations they can scan to gain more information. Most commonly objects that can be added to their cargo holds or more mission critical objects like refueling cells and repair kits can be found. While there isn't a way to store those types of items for use later (for now), scanning them and leaving their locations active in UI is an easy way to find them quickly for use later. The official website for the game discusses eventually taking materials to trade, completing tasks and some other things to further gain upgrades. Combat in Freelancers: Rogue Skies is unexpectedly fast paced since the time to kill is decently low for non-upgraded ships. An accurate two second burst can be enough to defeat an enemy fighter. Likewise, one bad head on pass between the player and an enemy can result in the player being destroyed equally as fast. Learning how to speed boost, side strafe and even short-range warp out of bad combat engagements is vital for survival. This is going to be a game I plan on returning to for a more detailed playthrough on its launch day for sure. I am interested in seeing the more detailed parts of its exploration, ship upgrades and seeing just how far the open world will let a player wander. I've been bit by the wanderlust bug. House Fighters: Total Mess I may sound insane, but there is actually a strangely well-established niche of flight games set in fantastical toy-like settings. Recalling off the top of my head, one of the earliest instances of this I can think of is the extra content discs for the Aero Dancing series starting as early as January 2000. Aircraft flying inside houses or in backyards have appeared from time to time since then, but usually as a one-off game level. House Fighters: Total Mess by Revulo Games goes all in on the concept; you could even say they went a lot further with the concept. The controls of this game are easy enough to use with keyboard mouse or a gamepad. Needless to say, it is a pure arcade experience, but the easy-going manner that aircraft can be flown contributes itself towards the theme of the game. Controls do not let players roll fully inverted, but performing maneuvers like The Immelmann and Split-S will automatically flip the aircraft right side up. Colliding with an object is forgiving enough to not instantly destroy an aircraft that collides with an object, but players still take damage. In each mission players can wander the home to complete their objectives, but also pick up necessary items like repair kits, gun ammo and rockets. This arcade flight shooter puts players in control of a few characteristically different, aesthetically customizable pint-sized aircraft charged with winning the 'war at home' - literally in a home. Using guns that have a bit of aim assist, short-range missiles and bombs, players play through a series of narrative driven missions set throughout a house. Some missions are as simple as defeating a set of enemies after flying to a specific room in the house. Others involve gathering materials in a kitchen to help bake a cake for a party. Helping a toy construction team finish a RC racetrack while fending off the enemy forces. There is even a battle against an enemy ace pilot - Baron Von Speilzerg! Someone that only appears once in the demo, but I hope is a recurring character in the main game. I appreciate that this game embraces this more whimsical setting seriously. It does not get too tongue in cheek about it. It felt like a fun breakaway from the usual flight games and simulators I frequently partake in. It is easy enough to have a fun time without feeling as though things have been made so basic it doesn't feel "fun to fly". A bit of a hard concept to explain, but I am sure some of you understand the sentiment. I believe that the decision to focus on a singleplayer experience for House Fighters: Total Mess rather than finding a way to work in multiplayer may have been a solid long-term choice for this game. The handful of levels I played through seems to contribute to that, but fortunately for me, the full game is already available to play. I can test that theory for myself a bit more extensively. Kamikaze Strike: FPV Drone For about two years now Skyward staff has debated whether or not FPV drones are a type of flight game that we should cover or not. With the proliferation of this type Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) both in the real world since 2017 and now throughout specific video game genres, it does seem to be time to start coverage. Kamikaze Strike: FPV Drone  by Dinomore Games is now the first FPV dedicated game that we have ever tried here in Skyward Flight Media. The demo for this game is quite short, but with a tutorial and two missions, it does give a good feel for what the game is about and what the combat FPV genre as a whole generally aims to portray. Whether you are using the Arcade controls or Simulator controls, the feeling of flying these drones is both immensely twitchy and reliant on momentum in forward flight more than anything else. With no fancy avionics or external stores to rely on, piloting these FPV drones relies on a surprising amount of just feeling them out. Doing mental calculations on how gravity and the weight of the drones will carry them towards their targets. Flying an aircraft that is the munition rather than an aircraft that needs to stay aloft to deploy munitions is a bit of a mentality shift. Much like in videos that circulate through certain websites, the most common flight path of FPVs is a brief dive into targets in an effort to increase accuracy during the terminal dive and also decreased the amount of time to target has to potentially evade the incoming FPV. However, the enemies are not always just standing out in the open. Learning how to slowly, but deliberately maneuver a drone into buildings or behind terrain increases survivability and ensure that even targets hiding in rooms upstairs can be found. Players that learn fine control can also maneuver their FPVs behind buildings to bypass lower threats to hit higher priority objectives. Thus far enemies consist of drone jammers, logistics vehicles, battle tanks and assault rifle equipped infantry. In gameplay, infantry is the most prolific threat able to shoot down a drone with their rifles. The drone jammers have a rather short distance around them to disrupt the player's control over their FPV drones, but they are often placed in strategic areas. Flying into their jammer range disables vertical and lateral control, but players can still control the throttle. Predicting how a drone will lose control before entering a jammer's effective area lets player still somewhat steer it using throttle torque, allowing the drone to arc on a ballistic path and still potentially hit the intended target. Sneaking a drone through a contested area to strike a high value target before they boarded a helicopter and left the area was a good culmination of the demo by the end of it. While Kamikaze Strike: FPV Drone does not have a date for full release of the game yet, the developers have announced the addition of two new drones inspired by Chinese and Ukrainian designs, adding to the current roster of five drones in the base game. Other Notable Demos There are many other flight focused demos that are a part of Steam Next Fest that we did not cover in detail here but did spend a good amount of time playing. In fact, it is likely they will appear on Skyward Flight Media at some point in the near future. Drone District G-Rebels Hijong Park's Defender Patrol In the Black Paper Wars Wrath and Retribution About the Writer 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 .

A Critical Eye of a Series Classic I’m not sure you could make Ace Combat 04 today.  Ace Combat 04 (2001) is an axiomatic military techno-thriller wrapped in a character documentary; a time capsule of a popular interpretation of western military organization and professionalism put through an obsessive Japanese lens surrounded by the post-postmodern framing of a classic war movie. A melting pot of Allied heroism of World War II powered by the echoes of post-Gulf War UN Coalition victory and a recent historical Cold War lens. It hearkens to a time when right made might. But does this even vibe with today’s post-truth forever wars? With Ace Combat’s hell-bent insistence on a postmodern bend through what now makes up the vast majority of its chronology, the classical interpretations of 04 not only feel dated and quaint, it almost seems alien. It feels so distant now that it’s hard to believe we could have ever related to its sincerity. In fact, it seems bizarre to believe that this game was the one that launched the Strangereal universe we follow today. The AC04 Project had its work cut out for it to come off the heels of Ace Combat 3 (1999). Neutered in its export release, it took a few years for the internet to mature for us to understand what we missed in that drop. But for what we had in our hands, it was… kinda strange. Even today it still acts as much its own game outside of its series and can be appreciated as a singular entity. It’s a rather strong (if derivative) cyberpunk postulate disguised as a war game. If we were to be realistic about this game’s western demographic skewing younger than the “teen” ESRB rating would have wanted, Ace Combat 3 probably wasn’t very accessible by the majority of its players. That would change with Ace Combat 04. The 2000 TGS trailer presents a bleak but familiar setting, panning over what you learn to be Newfield Island while a static-stricken pair of aviators speak through. Modern-day aircraft cut through the air as the high-energy trailer unfolds and the music rises in what resonates in desperation while the AWACS and pilot vector to engagement. A flash of light at the end and a receding shot of Anderson Crater, delivering the backdrop of a planet rocked by a cataclysmic event and foreshadowing the world-class visual storytelling to come. It could probably be surmised that Ace Combat 04 was developed in the zeitgeist of the World War II shooters of the time, with the cinematic and story-driven Medal of Honor defining the atmosphere. Project Aces would dip into this type of inspiration many times over the next few years with varying levels of success. UI/UX Design The acuity of Ace Combat 04’s aesthetic delivers an emulsification of digital and analog presentation, almost as though they recognized the end of an oncoming era. On a CRT of the time, the artificial scan lines and faded colors presented a traditional warmth in sharp contrast with Electrosphere. There’s no flash of action here. Just simple options to select, and a muted backdrop. The range of cool blues meet a digital teletype font that feels straight out of the movie WarGames . The distinctive sound of a thrashing hard drive and a flash lamp powering up for each briefing across a simple lined overlay and vector-inspired map invokes a well-equipped but aging technological atmosphere. Music The motif of the Independent State Allied Forces is presciently represented in just about every piece of music that the game presents. The ISAF theme proper itself presents in a triumphant symphony during the introduction of the war’s catalyst, properly driving home the importance of the military alliance that you fight to defend and avenge. Sitting Duck takes the theme and within the short time you hear it provides a trifecta of atmosphere, combining a down tempo electronic/brass introduction and a desperate cadence as it climaxes into a high action guitar. Motifs continue to play an important role in story immersion, with Stonehenge’s theme prominent whenever you are threatened by the turret network’s onslaught in the early game. The theme proper makes an explosive entrance in mission 12, never letting up on the horror of the machination that you are there to destroy. The music expands beyond the tactical into the strategic—once you’ve turned the tide, Second Strike blankets your briefings going forward, injecting fresh energy into the offensive phase of the war. Each time it fires up it enhances the power fantasy that the game builds to with your avatar. The game concludes with the epic symphony and choir of Agnus Dei, revisiting the ISAF motif for a penultimate time in such a massive cacophony that it may not immediately be identifiable to the untrained ear. It succeeds in spades no matter your decision to extend the fight in your engagement with Yellow Squadron or to desperately remove the final Ulysses threat from your fragile victory in Farbanti. Cutscenes It’s remarkable how serious Ace Combat 04 presents its story and its hard to explain how respectful the game treats its outlook on war. Devoid of humor and drowning in melancholy, the intertwining story and themes presented in the narrative interludes weaves brilliantly with Mobius One’s airborne exploits. The hand-drawn, hand-colored illustrations that chronicle the Continental War are presented in the style of a graphic novel while the audio, reminiscent of a radio drama with vocal narration peppered with an effective sound set, follow the experiences of the narrator living as a child in an Erusian occupied San Salvacion. From the first moment we are taken into a very consequential world—kicking the story off with an understated personal tragedy and an enigmatic vow. It carries a quote that is also rather profound:  “War was an abstract idea, nothing more than a show on TV … something that happened in a faraway land.”  Obvious perhaps, but almost deliberately understated. It sets the tone going forward so presciently.  Each cutscene carries purpose and vision, often expressed with poetic resolve. The narration’s gloomy tone never lets up, yet never feels melodramatic or boring. This presentation is world-class, and is just as fitting as a standalone story that remains under-appreciated for video games in the present day, let alone during its own time. It carries multiple themes of resistance, capitulation, self-doubt, and resilience. It slowly interweaves your actions into the story about one-third of the way through as Yellow 13 calls you out, and your actions start having more direct consequences by the halfway point when you down his trusted wingman. This trickle of narrative interplay is key to the atmosphere of the game and carries half the weight of the power fantasy build up that encompasses the mythos of Mobius One—you. The Heroic Ace  Ace Combat 04 introduced the now ‘series standard’ concept of the player becoming a heroic ace pilot in a modern battlefield. In Ace Combat 1 (1995) and Ace Combat 2, we play as barely referred to mercenary forces, who even in the final stages of these games, are not receiving direct name appreciation. The full story of Ace Combat 3 is an abstract concept removed from a traditional war setting with players playing as an artificial intelligence named ‘Nemo’ (Greek for “Nobody”). While their actions impacted the story they were really more of a pawn in an elaborate plot than anything else.  It is not until Ace Combat 04 that the name brand hero tradition begins. Whether it was the silent burning admiration of an opposing squadron or friendly rifleman yelling over the radio in celebration, the ‘legendary’ Mobius One was known to be flying above the battlefield. This same pilot would go on to appear in future releases as easter eggs and standalone game modes in future Ace Combat games. All player controlled protagonists after Ace Combat 04 would be built around common plot points that take them from relatively unknown individuals to known by name heroes that were the sole deciding factor in the ultimate outcome of a war.  While that is great for Ace Combat and the “Ace-like” genre the series has spawned, these days, even the World War coded concept of ace pilots being public facing figures changing the tide of battle and inspiring nations is lost in the modern perception of armed conflict. For example, the same weekend the Ghost of Kyiv was introduced as a staunch defender of Ukrainian skies in 2022, it could be seriously argued that the international view of the existence of such a pilot on a modern battlefield was never fully accepted as fact. It just seemed impossible today. However, when we turn to movies and generation defining flight games like Ace Combat, the belief of the war winning, ode worthy ace pilot still outshines the reality of the conditions such a pilot would exist in.  Control and Gameplay Ace Combat 04 is a return to tradition away from Ace Combat 3, taming turning recoil to such a degree and restoring complete analog control that the only limitations to your capability are yours and yours alone. With a limited selection of aircraft available to you each aircraft feels properly unique in the way it handles. Turn rates have just enough variety as you advance through your hangar selection that you will want to advance your collection. However, roll rates in late-model aircraft will feel exaggerated, with complete rolls being possible in what feels like a split second. Combined together, as mobility stats increase, aircraft tend to exhibit a prominent tailslide which can betray you in a low-altitude pull, with the Su-37 being egregious in this regard. However, between a combination of the modest acceleration and a working low-speed angle-of-attack physics you’ll find that it almost grants you passive post-stall mechanic. The analog triggers of the PlayStation 2 are in full display here, granting fine control of both throttle and yaw. This is best demonstrated when performing carrier ops, where careful manipulation of the throttle provides a modest simulation of a flared nose on takeoff and landing. Though there are clear flaws in the handling mechanics of Ace Combat 04, it retains a unique character that merges Newtonian flight mechanics with arcade feel in ways that no release that followed it provides. All this comes together to provide the familiar gameplay loop we’re used to. The refinement of it perhaps--though Ace Combat 2 defined the base mechanics that we’re used to, Ace Combat 04 solidified it, providing the combination of aircraft, secondary weapon, and livery that persists throughout the series and it’s contemporaries. Mission Design It would be hard to explain that the cliché of the back from the brink bomber intercept didn’t exist in quite the same way as it does today. At the time, Sitting Duck was breathtaking. If you subscribe to the interpretation that Ace Combat 04 is actually a soft reboot of Ace Combat 2 (1997), the implications are self-evident; a graphics and sound uplift rivaling that of the new generation of fidelity that the Playstation 2 represented over it’s predecessor. Combined with the desperation of the muted color palette, music, and voiceovers, what is effectively a simple tutorial mission becomes a perfect jump point for the story. This extends into Imminent Threat, which provides a soft but comprehensive familiarization for ground attack mechanics and a chance to use the secondary weapon that was teased to you in the hanger. It also presents a subtle but important detail of the thought put into what each mission represents tactically. Take out the substation, Mobius One. Deep Strike is still unparalleled in how it hid the fact that it is the representation of the typical canyon strike mission that remains a staple of the flight arcade genre. It also subverts the genre in that it provides story-based context for why you can’t exceed the altitude of the canyon walls as Stonehenge unleashes its fury against you and your comrades. All this wrapped within a rational mission objective that is actually quite satisfying to practice your gun marksmanship on. Comona remains the pinnacle of arcade furballs and has not yet been succeeded, despite valiant efforts in every game following. Fast paced with multiple objectives, its all-air-to-air, all-the-time, with only the most skilled players succeeding in clearing the map of threats. Backed by a screaming rock guitar and offering a plentiful array of targets, this remains the Ace Combat standby for a no-holds barred de facto air skirmish mode. These mission types build upon themselves as the missions go on. One could probably make the argument that Ace Combat 04 is the only video game ever made where the escort mission archetype is actually entertaining to play, though it’s something of an escort-in-name-only as even modest skill will keep your charge from falling to the enemy. Admittedly the mission Broken Arrows might be the only low point in mission design, being both the most egregious filler mission, though still strategically sound for the campaign as a whole. It’s a frustrating tail chase against cruise missiles that bleeds frustration rather than fun. Though it traces its roots back to Ace Combat 2’s late-game missile chase, this is one homage that should have probably stayed tabled. The Death of the Rational War     In the modern day, particularly from a Western perspective, the ISAF almost seems hyper-competent, and unapologetically so. Each mission’s reason and purpose is clearly communicated during each tightly packed briefing. Any wartime concept the player might be unfamiliar with is laconically described and actually seems to require a novice understanding of real-world military strategy. ISAF pilots and ground forces seem highly competent and well-motivated to perform the missions required of them. The grand strategy to eliminate Stonehenge and advance on Farbanti is layered out and each tactical objective seems to lead into it. There’s no in-flight questioning of the politics of the banner you’re fighting under, just what feels like a unified fight to stop the Erusian war machine.     Whether it’s the explanation that Operation Bunker Shot is required due to Stonehenge covering any possible port landing sites or the push to interdict enemy petrochemical supply lines while covering your own alliance’s build out of space-based intelligence operations, the ISAF’s push into the mainland after the destruction of Stonehenge feels justified and satisfying. Something that doesn’t seem to carry over to later parts of this series. At one time it was said that the general banter in Ace Combat 5 (2004) wouldn’t be tolerated due to its politically charged, over-explained, emotionally-driven dialogue. It was “unrealistic” compared to its predecessor.  Perhaps in today’s geopolitical climate the opposite is now true. It would be extremely naïve to think that Ace Combat 04 is nothing but romantic in its portrayal of warfare. Actual combat, no matter what nation partakes, in the air and on the ground, is messy and filled with confusion and chaos. But there was a vestigial aura left over from news, movies, radio, and books that portrayed well-coordinated and well-communicated tactics and strategy from wars fought in the 20th century--A time when wars between powers were as much battles of wit, chivalry, conventions, treaties, and science. A time when wars actually… ended. Looking back on any real-world conflict with rose-tinted glasses probably eschews nothing but privilege, but from the perspective of “the show on TV” that Ace Combat 04 intuitively touches upon, it’s hard to see the action and dialogue in Ace Combat 04 resonating with a young person who might only have experience and memories of a post GWOT-world. Ace Combat 04’s greatest strength and greatest weakness is the swan song that is the portrayal of warfare as a series of rational actions. Even with the interplay between the homefront portrayed in the cutscenes, it can’t help but feel like Ace Combat 04 is now unrelatable. About the Writer T.J. "Millie" Archer T.J. "Millie" Archer is Life-long realist and aviation enthusiast. Once the co-founding Administrator of the Electrosphere.info English Ace Combat Database. In the present day he is freelance, roving the internet in search of the latest aviation news and entertainment. [ Read Staff Profile ]