Every time I load up the Patreon Alpha for Combat Pilot, I see a lot of changes. The UI has changed, the flight model is being tweaked, instruments on some aircraft are coming alive. It’s really quite an exciting time for the sim. I’ve got a bigger editorial that I’ve been cooking coming up but let’s do a quick summary of some of the latest changes.

All the way to Alpha Update 8!

It takes a long time and a lot of effort to build a new flight sim, however, Combat Pilot is making some progress. Recent updates to the alpha are showing how pieces of the sim are coming together bit by bit as the sim develops.

Going by the patch notes of the last several updates, the sim has changed in many different areas. They’ve adjusted how the external cameras work, changed the control binding system, added individual wheel steering and animation, instruments are beginning to be animated, and camera movements are beginning to be smoothed out now too when using keys.

Then we have some bigger changes with the flight model seeing continual updates adjusting how the mathematics works, adjusting pitch control systems, fine tuning landing gear suspension systems, and adjusting the P-Factor on the propeller more than a couple of times. That’s not all as the sim has started to pick up electrical model changes too with radio, gunsight, lighting, and starter all being tied into the new system. Active systems can also now drain the battery and affect an aircraft’s ability to start up. It’s still just the beginning as a note indicates that they’ve left placeholders in the system for other features that aren’t yet implemented.

Each update shows incremental progress adding systems and features, bit by bit, as the whole starts to take shape.

The changelogs are available here and they help give a sense of how this sim is developing.

I’ve got a longer piece that I hope to have out before the end of the year looking a little more in-depth at the current player experience in the Alpha so stay tuned!