Play Volo Airsport right now, get it through our website, the Humble Store, or Steam.

See the Volo Airsport User Manual for instructions on downloading new updates.

New Release

Today we’re releasing Volo Airsport v3.4, featuring the new Course Editor! With it, you can create your own time trials, exactly like the ones we introduced in v3.3. You can read all about it in the last Beta Feature post, or you can check out this featurette video:

The course editor, like the game itself, is in early stages. Right now you can only place rings with it, and while sharing courses with your friends is possible, we really need a proper platform like the Steam Workshop for this. Still, it’s a good first step, and our testers have already shared bunch of splendid courses on the forums.

Thanks to everyone who helped test this feature! It’s the first time we did a testing round like this, and you’ve helped us find and fix a whole bunch of problems that would have taken us much longer to catch on our own.

Continue reading →

(As part of our development process we release test versions of the game. These are bleeding-edge builds that we can update and distribute much faster. You can opt in to these versions to see what we’re working on, help us find bugs, and give us feedback on design choices before big official releases. Interested? Check the manual for details.)

Today we’re pushing the first beta feature to the test branch: The Course Editor.

Course Editor Beta UI

This first version of the course editor does exactly what it says on the tin: It lets you design and share time trial courses. You can load it up at any time during play, create as many courses as you like, and share them with your friends.

Frank has been working on this baby for a while now. It’s rough around the edges (like the rest of the game, really), but at this point we’re really curious what you think of it.

If you’d try it out, check out the detailed post in the Beta Forum Section. And while you’re there, be sure to give us some feedback on it!

Download Volo Airsport v3.2

As usual, download the update through your personal Humble Store library page (after logging in), or by following the original download link you received when you purchased the game. Don’t have your key anymore? Use the Humble Key Resender.

What’s New

(I’d have a featurette video ready to show you what’s new, but Humble surprised me and pushed the update a mere hour after I sent it to them. Err, expect the video later this week!)

What do you do when you love a game very much? You put a ring on it. Or you know, several!

Time Trial courses are now dotted throughout the landscape. Some are easily found, others take a bit of work to find and actually start. Fly through a starting ring and the full course will reveal itself. Finish the course successfully and you’ll see your completion time.

We’ve designed courses for beginners, experienced pilots, and straight up masochists. There’s something for everyone. (Although, Terminal Ferocity is really just for me. Really, don’t even try, I warned you!)

These courses are the first type of event that you’ll be able to design yourself soon. Making these courses is a bunch of fun, and sharing them with friends to see who’s The Ultimate Wing King (yes, that’s what it’s called, honest) is even more so.

Other than that, we now have motion blur, the option to add spin to your exits by holding pitch or roll as you press respawn, and a whole bunch of fixes and improvements.

Oh, and we also built in handy update notifications that pop up as soon as a new version of the game is available for download. This means you won’t have to keep refreshing the main website every day to stay up-to-date. 🙂

For a full list of changes, see the Volo Airsport Change List.

Enjoy, and discuss v3.2 on the Forums!

This guide is now part of the Volo Airsport User Manual.

I had a chat with Tim Stone of Rock Paper Shotgun this week, which ended up in a lovely article about Volo Airsport and Becoming‘s wingsuit game. We talked about the next things on the todo list, the overal direction for the game, and some key inspirations.

It’s been a good reminder to blog more. Thanks, Tim!

Here’s some bits that didn’t make the final cut, but which might still be interesting:

RPS: Did you have any flight sim design experience before embarking on Volo?

Me: I did not have any flight sim design or game development experience to start with. Going with Volo as my first project was ill-advised in hindsight, and seeing it through is still a fool’s errand in a lot of ways. I’m happy to do it, though! I yearn for this particular flavour of game, and few others seem interested in making it.

RPS: What, specifically, inspired the project?

Me: Wingsuit basejumping exploded in popularity around 2010, mainly because cheap head-mounted cameras resulted in lots point-of-view Youtube footage. I stumbled upon videos from Phoenix Fly around then, and I remember stammering, agasp and aloud: “Y- you can do that with just your body and some fabric?” The sport looked at once elegant and clumsy, equal parts thrilling and serene. I was surprised no one was building a game around it.

That sparked memories left by Pilot Wings 64 and SSX Snowboarding, among other games. Easily disregarded as ‘arcade’ games, I tend to view these games as impressionistic, opinionated simulations. I am fascinated by complex systems, but I don’t want Volo Airsport to become a dry simulation experience. Seeing how these games carefully choose, accentuate and exaggerate what they simulate is useful. I’d also be disappointed if I couldn’t work some Shadow of the Colossus and Dark Souls influences in there! (I’ve not noticed this before, but all those games are Japanese. That probably says something.)

A quick update for today!

You can now catch me working on the game live regularly on Twitch.TV. I’m also more active on social media these days, so follow the m_zandvliet & voloairsport twitters for more immediate updates and streaming announcements. I even set up one of those Ask.fm things!

I have a couple of in-depth posts queued up that will outline both the more immediate and far-off plans I have for the game. Look for them this week!

Some screenshots in preparation for a demo at Indigo 2013, where I should be showing a complete version 3 build.

You can also download high resolution (2560×1440) versions of these screenshots.