Deadstick, the bushpilot flight simulator, hasn’t had very many updates for a while but now we’ve had two in rapid succession and they have detailed the direction they are going with their development in some very exciting and interesting ways. Let’s have a look at what their latest developer diary is talking about and the ways that Deadstick separates itself out from the pack.

Unique combinations of features

In some ways, Deadstick is doing things that other flight simulators are doing. Their developer diary talked about things like G-force modeling, blackouts, multiplayer, and even hypoxia (running out of oxygen). That sounds pretty typical but there are some unique combinations here as well and that makes me really excited.

Deadstick is all about the pilot experience and consequences of flying and of making mistakes. That requires a detailed world to be built around it which was largely covered in their recent update. But this update goes a step further talking briefly how they have made sure that their sim supports multiple biomes.

…another big addition has been the support of varying terrain biomes. This allows us to have distinct and varied locations within our world, each with their own challenges/considerations as a pilot. From dense forest to sparse tundra and snow capped peaks, pilots will have to learn to quickly adapt to operating in a variety of different conditions and locations all with unique challenges!

Deadstick developer diary

There’s still some details to fill in there but I can imagine from their other discussions that features like landing on ice and snow or mud and in a rainstorm are all part of the challenge.

They go on to talk about environmental effects and damage models. They have built their damage model to ensure that each ding, dent, and scratch is caused by something you as the player did. A rough landing or scraping a wingtip will all be visually recorded on your persistent aircraft.

There’s also details such as getting mud and dirt on your aircraft. The developers say that they have programmed this to have factors such as mud sticking to the aircraft or being washed off in a rainstorm. Very cool!

Multiplayer goes a few steps further

Deadstick will support multiplayer in traditional and non-traditional ways. A centralized server will create a kind of massively multiplayer experience where logging in and doing your missions will be done with other players being added into your experience. This makes the world come alive naturally.

They have thought about the potential for ‘griefing’ (the act of irritating or annoying other players) so they have also made it so that player collisions can be turned on and off. You still get the alive world experience but without the potentially troublesome nature that it can bring. Players can also disable the experience if they want or they can have private experiences on their own.

Deadstick will also have VOIP and a VHF radio simulation out of the box so you can have the experience of chatting on specific frequencies. Radio range simulation is built in too!

Your pilot is alive

The final part of the developer diary talks about making sure that your pilots life is taken into account as well. Fatigue, G-force effects, and Hypoxia or oxygen loss are all simulated. If the weather is bad or you’ve done a long flight, your pilot can pitch a tent and have a rest.

These are all features that the developers of Deadstick are implementing or have already implemented into their ground up sim that makes it feel like a living world and that gives this simulation some unique features above and beyond the bush pilot flying that you can already do in other sims.

I like what I’m seeing here and I look forward to more updates on Deadstick. In the meantime, read the latest update right here.

Finally, one note before I end it up. I couldn’t pass up on some alliteration in my title there. I apologize but I regret nothing! 🙂