Deadstick Bush Flight Simulator news

[Guest]

Deadstick Bush Flight Simulator has its own page on Steam now, including a discussion forum! And they also released a new (alpha) preview (see video below)! After no news about at all it since last December this is great new to me! Been waiting for this one and I will definitely get it! Release to be expected 'late 2018'.

Information from the Steam page
"Bush Flight Simulator, coming later in 2018, aims to replicate the challenges of surviving as a light aircraft bush pilot tasked with delivering cargo in remote, inhospitable terrain.

Deadstick captures the thrill of being a bush pilot, braving the elements in an attempt to keep both yourself and aircraft intact as you deliver cargo. The skill is of flying is no longer enough as you must use your superior pilot judgement to navigate low cloud, attempt daring off airport landings, and survive deadly storms generated by a dynamic and unpredictable weather system.

Explore in first-person outside your aircraft to load cargo, upgrade and maintain your plane, before jumping into the cockpit to perform pre-flight checks. Once prepared, head into the skies and fight your flight-stick above a beautifully-rendered, rugged fictional landscape heavily inspired by Alaska and Idaho. Every dial and button in your study-level cockpit is simulated, and every manoeuvre is significant, thanks to a painstakingly accurate, physical, and unforgiving flight model. Head into Deadstick’s fully-featured Sandbox Bush Pilot career mode and customise, maintain, and upgrade your craft as you perform bigger, more dangerous jobs."

Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/771800/Deadstick__Bush_Flight_Simulator/

Discord channel:
https://discordapp.com/invite/62pNCds

Various interesting quotes from the team on Discord

"Weight and balance - Deadstick is first person so not only do you need to get out to perform pre flight checks you will need to manually load and unload cargo watching cg and weight limits as you do. The aircraft will react to how/where you place loads and feel very different depending on cg."

"Navaids/Navigation - To start off with it's all dead reckoning/pilotage - we want pilots to navigate properly around the environment and fear getting lost. It's about creating the experience of being a bush pilot. As you earn more money/experience you can upgrade avionics which will allow you to use VOR/ADF etc and then try your luck in more challenging conditions."

"I'm a real world pilot and huge flight sim enthusiast so staying true to the flight model is super important to me - the flight dynamics use a model very similar to blade element theory and we accurately model advanced effects such as prop wash, p-factor, torque etc. Internally all avionics are functional including all circuit breakers and accurately simulated electrical loads. At the same time I've always felt that there are huge amounts that can be taken from games to give players much more purpose to their flying than previously experienced out of the box so really we're trying to mold the two and create a fun and compelling experience that people haven't seen before in flight sims without watering down the physics/simulation aspect."

"real world nav data is somewhat redundant in a fictional location. I'm sure you will not be alone in not liking the fictional aspect and that's fine - there are other sims that focus on the real world. The trouble is that with that approach/data comes several constraints as to the fidelity that can be achieved - they all look great up high but tend to break down when flying low and slow which is an area that I've always felt has been under catered for in other sims - we are talking sub meter resolution. It really comes down to what your 'mission profile' in a sim is. We are confident that with the approach we are taking we can achieve a level of visual fidelity/immersion not seen before for low and slow bush flying. We have our own planning tools."

"Deadstick is all about struggling to keep your aircraft intact and so we really want every bit of damage you incur to tell a story and be unique to your adventures, rather than swapping out to prefabricated states of increasing damage. To achieve that we've developed a dynamic mesh deformation system which will accurately damage the aircraft in the areas you hit it - We've tried to take cues from racing games that have been doing this well for several years. In short - if it looks like it should damage and break, it will."

"Yes the whole premise is around delivering cargo / taking on jobs to earn funds to maintain and upgrade your aircraft, discovering new strips and taking on more challenging tasks as you grow in confidence and experience. The focus is around you as a bush pilot. So the aircraft is really just the tool to do your job."

"With that then comes the responsibility of trying to decide when to risk scud running under bad weather to earn extra money or when to sit it out and wait for things to improve. When I did my PPL I was amazed that actually learning to fly the plane was the easy bit, having the discipline to sit out bad weather, plan flights safely and making sensible decisions is a never ending learning process and one that unfortunately catches many pilots out with often severe consequences. That's what I really wanted to convey/explore with Deadstick and will be required if you want to succeed."

"We simulate most major components under the hood which can individually wear and tear and fail if used incorrectly. Spark plugs can fowl, mags can fail, starter motor can be damaged or break entirely if engaged with engine running, vacuum pump can fail, the list goes on."

"We've tried to make sure that the walk arounds / pre flight aren't just a gimmick but essential to keeping your plane/self in one piece."

Edited May 11, 2018 by Guest

[Youngaviator11 0]

Wow, a real flying simulator!!!! Can’t wait till this comes out, take all my money! Lol

[Murmur 3,944]

Sounds very promising. Is it known what engine does it use? I presume the developer didn't write it from scratch? Hopefully it will be fps friendly. Is VR planned?

 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Murmur said:

Is it known what engine does it use?

Afaik it's Unity.

13 minutes ago, Murmur said:

Is VR planned?

It's on the shortlist of the developers to be added before the end of Early Access. I do hope it does come with TrackIR out of the box though.

[Silicus 888]

I will definitely try this one. Sounds and looks great. The only disappointment is the 'fictional' landscape. Why not use a real landscape from Alaska/Idaho/Canada, even if it is a small area to start off with?

Dynamic weather in mountainous area can be a real challenge! Hope it is implemented well....  

[Paraffin 2,197]

On 5/11/2018 at 10:39 AM, Silicus said:

I will definitely try this one. Sounds and looks great. The only disappointment is the 'fictional' landscape. Why not use a real landscape from Alaska/Idaho/Canada, even if it is a small area to start off with?

I can think of some reasons. First, it means people can't complain about accuracy. 😉

And this way, they're free to design "challenging" locations for airstrips. Real-world airstrips, even out in bush country, are always designed to make the safest takeoff and approach possible for that location. They can also place airstrips just far enough apart to satisfy the requirements of missions designed for the sim. And finally, it avoids direct comparison with what any built-up airstrips and airports look like in the current major flight sims.

It think it's a good move for what they're doing. Make it different enough, and focused on one thing, so it can stand out. We'll have to see the final product with frame rate, weather effects, etc. to know if it's worth buying, but it looks promising at first glance.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Paraffin

[rtodepart 761]

I will get this the day it comes out looks good to me so far ...

[jcomm 5,979]

Poor Jeroen ( and me... and Murmur, and many others... ) - we keep being tempted by the Curse of the Perfect Sim :-)

I look fwd for this one, as well as for the new series of short area / scope simulation proposals announced by Aerosoft.

After all I have adapted myself to maps and times that have nothing to do with modern days ( IL-2 ) , or are strangely out of sync with the flown aircraft models ( DCS without the Normandy Map and ww2 aircraft ) because I was in deep search for the holy grail of flight dynamics ( and indeed IL-2 provided me with my preferred "feel of flight" ever experienced in a flightsim for prop aircraft... ), so, using yet another restricted area, but highly detailed aim is no big deal for me.

I also use Condorsoaring, which has it's maps based on restricted areas and does a remarkable job at replicating gliding competitions... 

Let's wait and see - Christmas is promising this year, again …. :-)

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Paraffin said:

I can think of some reasons. First, it means people can't complain about accuracy. 😉

And this way, they're free to design "challenging" locations for airstrips. Real-world airstrips, even out in bush country, are always designed to make the safest takeoff and approach possible for that location. They can also place airstrips just far enough apart to satisfy the requirements of missions designed for the sim. And finally, it avoids direct comparison with what any built-up airstrips and airports look like in the current major flight sims.

It think it's a good move for what they're doing. Make it different enough, and focused on one thing, so it can stand out. We'll have to see the final product with frame rate, weather effects, etc. to know if it's worth buying, but it looks promising at first glance.

This. Plus the developer said that creating real world scenery that still looks good while flying low is hard to make. I think he is talking about photoreal scenery that looks good from 3000 ft and up but not so good when flying low. And in this sim you probably will be flying very low quite often (staying underneath the clouds, skimming the tree tops). Well, I don't know what he means exactly but that was one of the reasons to go for fictional scenery. From a gaming point of view I can understand this very well, just as Paraffin explained.

1 hour ago, jcomm said:

Poor Jeroen ( and me... and Murmur, and many others... ) - we keep being tempted by the Curse of the Perfect Sim 🙂

 

LOL Well, this won't be the perfect sim as in 'the sim that offers it all'! I don't expect DBFS (yes, we have a new abbreviation to remember! 😎) to replace my Majestic Q400 and P3D. This really is something else imho. It could become the perfect sim when it comes to graphics though...!

[jarsky 12]

Yup, this looks fantastic! If anybody on their development team reads here, then please know I register my interest in a stand-alone (e.g., non-Steam) version. I read somewhere that with sufficient interest, an alternative to Steam will also be considered. (I guess a digital download, but I'd prefer that to a Steam version.)

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Yup,

Watched the video, already hooked.

Pretty much hit all my buttons.

Looks like FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spirit Flyer

(Stephen)

[Guest]

Very interesting interview with Chris Cheetham, dev of DBFS:

https://pcflight.net/episode-10-deadstick-bush-flight-simulators-chris-cheetham/

The actual interview starts at 6:06.

[HiFlyer 9,371]

https://www.remexsoftware.com/careers

[wolke85 150]

On 5/23/2018 at 1:37 PM, J van E said:

Very interesting interview with Chris Cheetham, dev of DBFS:

https://pcflight.net/episode-10-deadstick-bush-flight-simulators-chris-cheetham/

The actual interview starts at 6:06.

Thanks for sharing the link to the interview here Jeroen.

Cheers, Chris

[Holdit 551]

I like the sound of it. If it..er...takes off...perhaps other areas of operation could be created inspired by different environments throughout the world e.g. jungle, desert, tundra etc.