- New Art Style - 19 July 2026
Welcome to the July 2026 update for Blue Sky Aces, the long overdue update for our retro WW1 flight simulator. In this update we discuss the game's updated art style, and all the awesome improvements to the mission maps. Around this time last year we came to the conclusion that game's art style was preventing us from delivering our vision of the game, and we felt that there were too many inconsistencies in the game's assets. To resolve this we undertook a massive piece of work to reimagine many elements of the game with the intention of migrating all the assets to have a late 1990's look. This work included everything, from the terrain, trees, buildings, aircraft, and other vehicles. There's still a few elements that need to be upgraded, but the current demo should provide a much better idea of where things are going. Checkout the full update in the video below.
- March, April & May Update - 23 May 2025
Welcome to the March, April, & May 2025 update for Blue Sky Aces, a low poly WW1 flight simulator that is currently under development. The last few months have resulted in a big change in direction when it comes to map building, and we've gone back to the future with the new approach. We now have a map builder that we can start to build much larger, and far more detailed maps than ever before. In this update I'll discuss why we changed direction, and demonstrate the new approach. Other work discussed during this video includes: - Improvements to the mouse handling, especially with the simulation flight model. - An updated drag equation to prevent aircraft accelerating too fast. - More realistic handling at the edge of the flight envelope, particularly below the aircraft's stall speed. - And the ability to speed up time to make it more enjoyable to explore the maps.
- January & February 2025 Update - 3 March 2025
Welcome to the January & February 2025 update for Blue Sky Aces, a low poly WW1 flight simulator. The last couple of months have been really busy, but I finally managed to update the demo build on Steam, which importantly includes the new simulation flight model. This had been the source of many sleepless nights during the last quarter of 2024, so it was really great to finally get it released. In this update we show off two new aircraft, the Fokker DVI and the Royal Aircraft Factory Se5a. As part of this work we've also worked to improve the in cockpit animations for the weapons. Other work discussed during this video includes: - Improvements to the bullet hole rendering. - Fixes to the aircraft AI. - Map building from GIS data.
- Demo Update - 0.86.41 - 2 February 2025
The version 0.86.41 demo update addresses various minor issues with the aircraft AI such as: Their tendency to always fly at very low altitudes when being attacked. The problem where they would fire continuous bursts of fire that would jam their guns, leaving them unable to attack for long periods of time. Improvements have been done to make them better at aiming at higher deflection angles. They would sometimes attempt maneuvers at speeds and altitudes that could cause a crash. In addition, there has also been a number of other issues and minor improvements: The enemy offscreen direction arrows are now brighter, and resize based on the distance from the player. The scoring system around shooting accuracy has been changed to fix the case where you complete the mission without firing a shot. Accuracy is now just a bonus, and is no longer multiplied by the score. This should result in hig…
- December 2024 Update - 30 December 2024
Welcome to the December 2024 update for Blue Sky Aces, a low poly WW1 flight simulator. It's been a couple of months since my last update so there's a couple of great new features to talk about, plus an update on the simulation flight model. The first great new feature added is damage visual effects on aircraft, vehicles, and balloons, which simulate bullet holes. This is something that's been sitting in the backlog for a long time, until I discovered a great tutorial to turn simple cubes into tiny decal projectors using a clever shader. The next awesome feature is head tracking, which allows you to look around while flying in first person view in a really natural way, that makes you feel like you're almost in the cockpit. Check out this tutorial that teaches you how to set it up with nothing more than a standard web camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGoRnmXEXYQ Phase one of the s…
- Development Log 19 - 29 October 2024
Welcome to the 19th dev log for Blue Sky Aces. The work this month was quite varied, from adding two new aircraft, to starting work on a new simulation flight model, and introducing automated testing. The new simulation flight model is a work in progress to provide an alternative to the exiting arcade flight model, targeted at those players looking for a more authentic flying experience. I've also introduced automated tests to support this new flight model, which saves me massive amounts of time by allowing me to test all of the aircraft at the same time. The new aircraft added were the Hansa-Brandenburg D.I and the Sopwith Triplane, the latter provided the inspiration for the legendary Fokker Dr1, and the former was the primary fighter for the Austro-Hungarian empire for a large part of the war, despite being rejected by the German's for poor handling.
- Development Log 18 - 28 September 2024
Welcome to the 18th development video for Blue Sky Aces. The main focus of this month's video was a demo update scheduled to coincide with the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Steam festival which ran for a week starting in mid September. Following on from this we've continued working on new aircraft and features such as the Morane Saulnier Bullet. This aircraft shows off a really cool new feature which allows the aircraft's wings to warp like the real aircraft.
- Demo Patch 0.86.34 - 27 September 2024
The 0.86.34 patch for the game's demo fixes a bug that was preventing player statistics from updating, resulting in a player's total and living aerial victory scores not updating on the leaderboards. There was also a minor fix to prevent debug aircraft statistics from showing during the game when a specific key combination was entered.
- Demo Update - New Map and Missions - 14 September 2024
The 0.86.33 demo update adds a new fighter sweep mission based on a brand new map, with the ability to select which aircraft you want to fly against. This map has improved scenery, and has been optimized to allow for more units of all types. Aircraft Improvements The aircraft and their flight models have had a number of improvements such as: Better take off and landing characteristics, which are supported by more appropriately sized airfields. Minor improvements to the aircraft engine and wheel animations. The aircraft performance characteristics have been updated to be more realistic. The stall and gliding physics has been improved. Updated Soldier Models The soldier models have been completely redesigned to better match the games aesthetic, and there are now multiple variations for each side including infantry, officers, pilots, and mechanics. Bug Fixes Fixed various Spanish translati…
- Development Journal 17 - 27 August 2024
This is the 17th dev log for Blue Sky Aces. The last month was supposed to be all about preparing for a new demo update, however it didn't go entirely to plan. The last dev log did relatively well and that meant an influx of new players, but unfortunately they also found some new bugs. As a result the first part of the month was spent fixing these and preparing a hotfix which has now been pushed out. The second half of the month went much smoother with more progress made towards the next big demo update which is going to be released sometime before the Steam Planes, Trains, and Automobiles festival which starts in mid September.
- Demo Update 0.86.29 - 5 August 2024
The 0.86.29 build of the demo addresses a number of issues identified over the last couple of weeks that were affecting some players. Mouse movement issues at high frame rates have been fixed. This issue usually occurred when the v-sync was disabled, or when running on the low, or very low graphics setting. Issues saving the invert axis option on control bindings has been fixed. In addition a "save" button has been added to the control binding dialog, which makes it possible to change this option without changing the bound control. Improvements have been made to the AI aircraft head on avoidance logic to reduce the likelihood of them hitting each other, or the player's aircraft. A troubleshooting section has been added to the settings screen to help detect the source of input control issues, by making it easy to identify which devices are generating unwanted input. This screen also prov…
- Development Log 16 - 27 July 2024
The last month has been really busy with lots of great improvements to the game. Firstly there's a new "test flight" mission type where you can build your own simple mission by selecting what types of planes you want to fly against. This mission is based on a brand new map with lots of improvements over the current demo map. The next big change is the forests which are now much more dense. These not only look better but actually perform faster. Next is the towns and cities which are now larger, and have more buildings and other details. There's still more work to do to bring life to them, but they're already a big improvement. There's also been plenty of other improvements, bug fixes, and more. You can check out all the details in video here:
- Development Log 15 - 24 June 2024
Usually in these videos I like to focus on the positives such as new features or game mechanics, as let’s be honest, that’s what people like to see. However the reality of game development is that you spend a lot of time problem solving. This last month has been particularly bad for infuriating bugs, however I feel that solving them has made a big difference to the game. I've also got a couple of new aircraft to show off so check out the video.
- Demo Update - New preferences screen, and improved AI - 14 June 2024
The 0.86.26 demo update includes the addition of a new preferences screen, which provides for more customization of the game. The aircraft AI has also been reworked to make enemies more aggressive, and to improve their aiming to make them more deadly. Here's the full list of the improvements: The aircraft maneuvering and aiming AI has been improved, and they now lead the target. You can now configure the first and third person camera field of views. Change how the look controls work in first person mode. Define the visibility of various heads-up display elements. Configure weapon options such as how rockets are fired, and the delay on bomb fuses. Zoom is now available in first and third person modes. By default the 'V' key, left gamepad stick push, joystick button 6, and middle mouse buttons toggle zoom, but you can customize all except the mouse via the controls screen. Added a "look b…
- Development Log 14 - 22 May 2024
In this video I cover the big improvements to the mouse handling in the 3rd person view that were released in the recent demo update. I also discuss some of the new items being worked on including the new preferences screen where you will be able to customize the game further to your liking. Other items discussed include the addition of bombs and rockets, and the rather comical bug that was fixed as a result of these.
- Demo Update - Bombs, Rockets, Improved Models & Controls - 13 May 2024
The demo has had a big update with a lot of the features we've been working on over the last couple of months. This update includes an upgrade system, where you can research improvements to your aircraft such as additional guns, better engines, bombs, incendiary rockets, and more. The models for all the aircraft available in the demo have been completely recreated, and are a huge improvement over the old ones. Check out my development videos to see more of the new aircraft we've been working on for the full game. We've made improvements to the controls, particularly around mouse control in third person view. You're now able to look around using the mouse, providing much better situational awareness, and allowing for more exciting combat experiences. Keep watching as we add more of the features to the demo, and let us know in the comments what you're most looking forward to seeing in the…
- New Upgrade System Plus Updated Models - 25 April 2024
In this video I've started work on a new upgrade system for the aircraft, whereby you can earn research points towards various aircraft modifications such as better engines, weapons, gun sights, bombs, and rockets. In addition we've also updated two more aircraft models, the Albatros CIII, and the Nieuport 17. These two updated models mean that we've now completed updating all the existing models, and managed to add 4 new aircraft. In the next demo update you'll be able to check out some of these new models and features for yourself.
- Great New Aircraft Models + 2 New Planes - 4 April 2024
In this video I'm showing off some great new models for the Sopwith Camel, and its great nemesis, the Fokker Dr1 Triplane, made famous by none other than the red baron. In addition there's also two new aircraft, the Bristol F2, and the Spad VII. If there's a particular aircraft that you'd love to see added to the game then please leave a comment below and we'll do our best to get it added. Check out the video below to view the changes:
- Fokker DVII, Updated Models, New Infantry Assault System - 19 March 2024
This is the 11th development log for Blue Sky Aces. In this video I go into detail on the new infantry assault system which allows for hundreds of infantry to assault an enemy trench. There's also updated aircraft models for the Airco DH2, and the Fokker Eindecker, as well as a new aircraft, the Fokker DVII which was one of the best fighters of the war. Check out the video below for more information.
- Fly New Aircraft and Missions - 7 March 2024
This is the 10th development log for Blue Sky Aces. In this video I cover new features recently added to the demo including the ability to fly more aircraft and missions. I also provide look into some of the other work going on in the full game. Check out the video below for more information.
