This is a work-in-progress flight simulator I've been working on.
The flight model is mostly implemented, but may need some tweaking. And I'm still to implement crashing into buildings and some sort of map or navigation aid.
I've never flown a plane, and only dabbled in flight sims, so I would really appreciate some feedback from anyone with more experience than me, so I can try to tweak the flight model parameters to be a bit more realistic.
The plane is based on the Cessna 172.
Controls
- Arrows - ailerons/elevators
- Player 2 up/down (E,D) - throttle
- Player 2 left/right (S,F) - rudder
While holding down X
- Up/down - adjust trim
- Left/right - adjust flaps
You can also control it with a single controller by holding down circle to switch from ailerons/elevators to throttle/rudder.
When on the ground:
- Dropping the throttle to 0 and continuing to press down activates the wheel brakes.
- The rudder controls also control the nose wheel when your speed is less than 10 knots.
Instruments
From left to right the instruments/controls are:
- Airspeed in knots
- Altitude in feet
- Vertical speed in feet per minute
- Flaps
- Throttle
Taking off
- Leave flaps set to 0 (i.e. the default)
- Set the throttle to full
- Wait until the plane speed reaches 55 knots
- Pull back slightly (down arrow) to raise the nose
Landing
- Aim to approach at 4.5 degree glide slope and 65 knots.
- Each airport has a coloured glideslope light:
- yellow = too high
- green = in range
- red = too low
- Once you reach the runway:
a. level off at 10 feet above ground.
b. Try to slowly descend to 5 feet.
c. Drop the throttle to 0
d. Try to fly just above the runway for as long as possible until gravity takes over
(This is admittedly easier said than done with Pico-8 controls :-)
Aircraft damage
These things will damage the aircraft:
- Heavy landings/crashes
- Exceeding "never exceed speed" (158 knots)
- Tight turns when exceeding "design maneuvering speed" (97 knots)
- Taxiing on the wrong surface types
Flight model
If the game feels difficult, you can change the flight model in the pause menu.
"simple" disables stalls and damage due to stressing the airframe at high speeds.
"easy" disables all damage and lets you land on or take off from any surface.
Impressive scale and detail and delightful to fly around in. I thought I was doing great at landing until I realized it's impossible to crash! Would absolutely love to see this fleshed out more.
circle?
finally, playstation controllers are used on computers by anyone other than me!
I have been following the progress of this for a while and it is amazing what you've done. I thought I'd nailed landing like kozm0naut until I tried crashing the plane and got the same result :D
(I notice you don't mention elevators in the controls - is that because there aren't any on the plane model - the lack of tail is a bit disconcerting, but I guess necessary to keep the poly count down)
@drakeblue thanks for pointing that out. I've updated control docs.
Elevators are simulated, but crudely - it doesn't simulate forces & torque at control surfaces - it basically just rotates the aircraft based on the controls.
And yeah. 3D in Pico-8 generally has to be as low poly as possible.
Also I've (just) implemented damage, but it needs a bit of testing and tweaking before I upload it.
Having way too much fun with this already for just being a prototype, can't wait for more.
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I don't know what direction you're considering taking this in, but in addition to traditional flight sims you could look to the GTA flight school missions for some inspiration.
Also, would love to see an attitude indicator, but I know that's a bit trickier to draw.
Thanks for this toy!
@kozm0naut yeah, I was thinking of a basic story mode; a little company that does deliveries, charter flights, maybe some crop dusting or whatever I can think of.
Perhaps unlock some different planes along the way (just not super fast planes as the map is only 16km across). A seaplane might be good.
Missions would essentially be implemented as waypoints to fly through.
I did have an artificial horizon in an early combat chopper version. Unfortunately it takes a lot of tokens to get right, so it was one of the first things that got the chop.
@Mot Don't mind at all! No attribution necessary. Those ideas sound delightful, I know it will probably come down to what else can fit, but I'll be pleased with any of it. 16km is huge! Super impressive for PICO-8 and with this level of detail unprecedented afaik.
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