Hi all,
I've been developing a bush flying video game and I'm curious to know if anyone here is interested in this type of thing.

I'm calling the game Groundfall and it is currently a combination of bush flying simulator and first person survival shooter game. However, now that the core elements are in place, the game/simulation could take many different shapes and I'd like your input. For example, one thing I've considered is making simulations for various airstrips on shortfield.com (e.g. you could fly a simulation to get a better feel of the terrain before you land at Mile Hi in real life ).

Most flight sims seem to focus on really large terrains and long cross-country flights at high altitude. I've always wanted a flight game with more focus on STOL operations, the ground environment, and more options for exploring the world both inside and outside of the airplane. I wanted a simulator that felt more like a game! So, I started Groundfall about four years ago and within a couple months I had a playable sandbox based on real-world terrain from the Frank Church Wilderness.

It was fun banging up my Super Cub as I made water assisted landings onto river sandbars and flew into airstrips perched on mountainsides, but if I was going to turn it into a fully developed game, it would need more detail, richer terrains, menus, loot, gear, guns, game objectives, and more. So, I've been chipping away at it and I finally think I'm close to having a demo for people to test out.

If you're interested in this project, visit the GroundFall Discord channel and join the conversation and/or respond here.

Thanks,
Chris

Is the "first person survival shooter game" for game getting, by that I mean animal NOT human ? Anything I'm aiming a gun at has to be on four legs not 2 and edible !!!

Mapleflt wrote:Is the "first person survival shooter game" for game getting, by that I mean animal NOT human ? Anything I'm aiming a gun at has to be on four legs not 2 and edible !!!

"First person shooter" is a style of video game that refers to the player's perspective and to the game play style. This game is still in development and the individual missions could run the spectrum from the realistic (e.g. search and rescue) to the fantastic (e.g. zombie extermination). Currently, in this game, you can shoot/kill wildlife for food, but there is also a mission where you are patrolling a national park infested with zombies. It's a video game. Neither man, beast, nor zombie will be harmed in real life!

I think many of the people here will want the game to be more realistic: STOL competitions with friends, airplane equipment upgrades and mods, etc. I want that too, but I also like the idea of doing things that are fun and that can't be done in real life...so, there are many options going forward.

Realistic is good, zombies are a long way from realistic but that's just my take on it. As for shooting I was taught from a very young age to never point a gun at people and I have a HUGE aversion to that too this day, call me weird but I'm ok with that.

Sorry but shoot people isn't fun, just ask anyone who's had to pull the trigger. Playing at killing people just isn't necessary or good and I'm thinking that I pull out of this conversation, my most sincere apologizes if I've touched a nerve for anyone !!!!!

Mapleflt wrote:...Sorry but shoot people isn't fun, just ask anyone who's had to pull the trigger. Playing at killing people just isn't necessary or good and I'm thinking that I pull out of this conversation, my most sincere apologizes if I've touched a nerve for anyone !!!!!

I think most people here would agree that "playing at killing people" isn't a good thing...especially, with real guns! No nerves touched here.

I’m interested!

Having had to pull the trigger, I will back up what Maplefit said about it not being fun. Psychology is too inaccurate to determine the effect of game reality on our empathy or lack of.

Oregon Trail was a good simulation back in the day when computers were seen as teaching aids rather than just game platforms. We had to monitor the kids or they would just shoot buffalo and not move on toward Oregon.

Good luck with your project. You could incorporate lots of good teaching points.

v1d5r wrote:I’m interested!

Great! I'll be updating this thread periodically. What kind of things (features, missions, game play) would you like to see in a game like this?

contactflying wrote:Good luck with your project. You could incorporate lots of good teaching points.

Thanks! At this point, I'm planning to leave the teaching/instructing up to the professionals. I'm more focused on a game that is entertaining.

If I end up incorporating some of the sim elements into shortfield.com, the focus would be less on entertainment and more on accurately depicting the terrain surrounding airstrips.

I am another that does not believe in ever pointing a gun at a person, not even to pretend or in a video game. That said, I think this sort of thing would be great fun. I have no objections to shooting monsters or aliens if you want, I like to play or read fantasy stuff.
I have done the flight sim stuff and it left me mostly cold, one that is based on the type of flying that I like to do would be great.

A visually realistic back country adventure; float flying, ski flying with changeling terrain, glassy water, overflowed ice bring it on very cool. Maybe a "fly in" big game hunt or some fly fishing would be a nice added extra

Love the name.

I, like many, like having choices. You'll have more mainstream success if you incorporate some shoot-em-up adventure to the story. Let players choose a mode with or without violence. Have a vanilla mode with just flying, and an enhanced world mode with Zombie outbreak or meth lab perimeter patrol that sees you deadstick after an engine out.

I've played enough games to think it would be a fun addition. Never killed anyone and don't plan on it. I feel fortunate to have had the choice to not make those memories. But this is a video game. if people want a dedicated flight simulator they can just buy X-Plane.

I would definitely be interested in a demo. Not a fan of zombie anything, but I like the idea of first person shooter.

A first shooter feature for big game would be a cool addition especially to a back country flying game. Have a means to earn/acquire accessories to "better" the hunt. Maybe throw some curve balls, weather, geography, unprovoked bear attack and if zombies are a must at least provide a deselect for that feature so one can opt out and thereby never see them......please !!!!

chrisg wrote:

v1d5r wrote:I’m interested!

Great! I'll be updating this thread periodically. What kind of things (features, missions, game play) would you like to see in a game like this?

Personally, I think the various mechanics that others mentioned would be great!

With that said, I’d imagine you don’t have limitless resources to put towards this, so it might make sense to release a version that focuses on getting the flying part right. Once that is there, other features could be added.

Take a look at the development process KSP followed; I think it would work well in this situation as well.

Also, make sure every player’s first landing is a ground loop, just to put an end to that particular topic.

Looks very cool.

A word of caution though-- I've been in the hardware (3d graphics) and software side of game development and know it is a very difficult and expensive to build an immersive game. I'm concerned that the target market isn't big enough to see a payout on the time and money it will take.

Unlike the people responding so far, the gaming community is long on shooting people and short on realistic flying adventures.

In the 90s I developed a line of clothing for windsurfers and was the leader in the market for a while but still couldn't pay my bills because the market was just way too small. A buddy compared it to dominating the mainframe computer market in Sudan... you get to say you are number one but there isn't much ROI in that.

All that said, I know a few people that have made a lot of money by doing exactly the opposite of what I suggested they do.

Good luck, I admire your accomplishment to date.

v1d5r wrote:With that said, I’d imagine you don’t have limitless resources to put towards this, so it might make sense to release a version that focuses on getting the flying part right. Once that is there, other features could be added.

Take a look at the development process KSP followed; I think it would work well in this situation as well.

Yeah, my resources are definitely limited...especially compared to the millions of dollars the big studios spend on developing games. The flying part is pretty solid as I built it around an established flight physics engine (I made changes for things like flaps and ground handling, etc). I think it's pretty comparable to a lot other flight sims I've played in years past.

I'm somewhat familiar with KSP (Kerbal Space Program), but I've never played it. I'll do some research into their development process. At this point, I just want to get people playing it, having fun, and providing feedback. I'll probably make a free demo available in the next couple months.

albravo wrote:I'm concerned that the target market isn't big enough to see a payout on the time and money it will take...Unlike the people responding so far, the gaming community is long on shooting people and short on realistic flying adventures.

Yeah, the GA community is relatively small to begin with, and the segment that will pay money to play a bush flying video games is going to be really small. That's one of the reasons why I want to get people playing it and only invest time/money if people are interested and wanting more. I'm not going to bet the farm on this. That's also why I might incorporate gameplay elements (like shooting) that might have a broader appeal.

Shooting will open the market a bit but PLEASE not people, big game, birds on the wing but not PEOPLE please !!!!

Sign me up as an interested candidate. I’m not much for most current video games as they seem to be centered on an shooting an endless onslaught of of Zombies and bad guys. That being said, a video game that included some realistic backcountry flying might entice me to try it. (Like a Dealer handing out free free samples)