![]() |
SimplePlanes | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Developer(s) | Jundroo LLC |
Publisher(s) | Jundroo LLC |
Engine | Unity |
Platform(s) | iOS, Android, OS X, Microsoft Windows |
Release | iOS and Android
|
Genre(s) | Simulation, open-world, Sandbox |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multi-player (with mod) |
SimplePlanes is a simulation video game developed and published by the American indie studio Jundroo LLC. SimplePlanes followed the release of SimplePhysics and SimpleRockets and preceded Juno: New Origins and SimplePlanes VR . The game was first released on Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows and was ported to iOS and Android later. It was released onto Steam on 17 December 2015 after going through the Steam Greenlight process. The game received mixed reviews from users and video game reviewers, with the main downfalls mentioned the most being the "slippery controls" and the graphical design. However, it is known for its innovative, though sometimes complex, building mechanics. From 2014 until 2023, SimplePlanes has got 12 updates (1.1 - 1.12, excluding minor updates, such as bug fixes). The latest version, v1.12.200 beta, was released in September 2023.
In SimplePlanes the player is able to build aircraft, and other contraptions using the materials and objects provided. Players can additionally use XML modifications (save editing) on their creation. Planes (or other creations) created by the community can also be downloaded from the SimplePlanes.com website, which has social-network like features: player profiles with their creations, aircraft rating via upvotes, forums, and a gallery of all designs. [1]
In SimplePlanes, parts can be reshaped by the player to make the complex curves of any aircraft. The fuselage block allows to set a cross section, corner style (hard corners or different variations of curved ones), length and offsets of a fuselage section, and the fuselage can smoothly blend between different cross-sections. The sections can be hollow, or feature intakes, cones and side cuts. Players specify the wingspan, chords and offsets of a wing section. Control surfaces can be customized and be bound to different inputs. Aerodynamics, weights and fuel volumes will be automatically updated when parts are modified.
Parts like engines, rotators, wheels and cannons are customizable: the player can change the size, power, controls, etc. of these components. Custom cockpit instrumentation can be created and made to display flight parameters. Moving parts, such as actuated doors, bomb bays, and custom landing gear can be created with rotators and pistons. The game provides a scripting language/editor named FunkyTrees (FT), which takes player inputs and flight parameters as input, processes them via mathematical and logical functions, and its output is used to control a part, such as setting engine thrust. These can be used to create complex moving parts and autopilot-like features. Currently, adding FunkyTrees functions to a craft requires save editing or mods.
While building an aircraft, the player must balance lift, thrust, payload, fuel, etc. They also must be sure the aircraft is stable and balanced, and that exhausting fuel will not change its center of mass so that the aircraft becomes unstable. By modifying the design, the player can adjust the performance of the aircraft.
When the creation or build is finished, the player can fly/drive/sail it around the game's map which contains five different islands with unique features, (4 on IOS or Android) and/or upload it to the SimplePlanes website. [2] The five islands each have unique environments/biomes. The islands include airports and other ground objects. Boats appear on the map and players can land or attack them. SimplePlanes contains challenge modes, involving short tutorial-type activities (such as the "take-off tutorial" and the "landing tutorial") but can become more advanced with specific missions, such as "SAM Evasion" and "Trench Run". [3] Different munitions are featured that are able to be attached to aircraft via pylons. Any part can be destroyed. Different parts may react differently, such as engines catching fire.
The game supports Modding, which can include custom parts, vehicles, UI, custom maps, and challenges, including real or fictional terrain. Multiple tool mods have been integrated into the base game. On PC, Mac and Linux (and formerly Android) SimplePlanes mods can be downloaded from SimplePlanes.com. Some mods are also hosted on the Steam Workshop. Mods can be created with a special Unity plugin that is shipped with the game.
Locations are spawn points where the player can spawn their aircraft. There are 3 types of Locations:
As of v1.12, there are 8 Default Locations and 21 Discoverable Locations. They are located on many islands:
SimplePlanes VR (often abbreviated SPVR) is another game for VR headsets, sold separately on Steam. It was released on 17 December 2021. The game supports Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality and is in App Lab for the Meta Quest 2. With the player stick, the player can interact with many buttons and levers. Unlike SimplePlanes, players cannot build or edit any aircraft but they can download VR-friendly aircraft from its website. [4] [5] [6]
Website curators
Website curators have a very important role of "curating" crafts which work in SimplePlanes VR. If a craft is curated, it will receive 30 points upon upvote instead of 15. A craft which works in VR is built up of cockpit parts which are all interactive, making a smooth and immersive VR experience.
Following the release of games SimpleRockets and SimplePhysics, [7] Jundroo LLC released SimplePlanes on Windows and Mac OSX. Soon after it was ported to iOS and Android. The Windows and OSX versions were first sold on Gumroad [8] [9] but when SimplePlanes was released onto Valve's Steam on 17 December 2015 after going through the Steam Greenlight process, all sales were moved there. [10] All purchasers from Gumroad received a free Steam key. Mac copies were also sold via the Mac App Store. Those who purchased the game through this method had to email the receipt for a Steam key. [11] The game received regular updates with new parts and locations, but the update rate became slower when the developers switched focus to Juno: New Origins and SimplePlanes VR, until the last update v1.12.200 beta in September 2023. [12] On April 26, 2024, Jundroo announced their newest upcoming game, SimplePlanes 2, expected to release around 2025. [13]
![]() | This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: Doesn't reflect later game updates (e.g. v1.10-v1.12).(September 2023) |
SimplePlanes received "mixed or average" reviews, according to Metacritic, where it garnered a score of 67/100, [14] but has very positive ratings on Steam and an average rating of 4.5+/5.0 stars on the App Store. The biggest issue critics had was the process of building. Nadia Oxford, a writer for Gamezebo gave SimplePlanes a 4/5 for its realistic flight challenges, sandbox mode and the amount of building options. The review was weighed down by the lack of tutorials and how "getting pieces to fit together doesn't always go as planned". [2] Jordan Minor from 148Apps criticised the game for its "slippery controls" and he noted the environment was "ugly, muddy and blocky". He compared the graphics to "a poor man's Wii Sports Resort" and said the planes looked like small wooden toys with the best compliment he could give the game being "who knows if the aerodynamic knowledge players learn from SimplePlanes can actually transfer over into the real world? But, gameplay and visual gripes aside, the fact that it at least feels like it can is probably the best compliment this game can get". [3] Ben Schwan, a writer for the German website Heise Online also criticised the building mechanics. [15] Mark Steighner, a writer for Hardcore Gamer did not criticise the controls but instead commented on the lack of charisma that games like Kerbal Space Program have. He also addressed the novelty issue and how after a while the game can get boring. [16]
Video game modding is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes and tweaks to complete overhauls, and can extend the replay value and interest of the game.
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. It is most well-known for its usage by Valve, but the engine has been used both by small teams and individuals to create modifications of Valve games, and other studios creating distinct games, notably Troika Games' title Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Valve continued to create incremental updates to the Source engine after its 2004 release, most of which coincided with games created by Valve. In the late 2010s, Valve created the Source 2 engine to replace Source, with it publicly debuting alongside Half-Life: Alyx. The Source engine is most well-known for its advancements in physics, AI, and graphics.
Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront managed by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 12, 2003 to provide game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing third-party titles on the 3rd of December 2005. Steam offers various features, like game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-Cheat measures, social networking, and game streaming services. Steam client's functions include game update automation, cloud storage for game progress, and community features such as direct messaging, in-game overlay functions and a virtual collectable marketplace.
Interstellar Marines is a science fiction first-person shooter video game that was developed by indie studio Zero Point Software until 2019. It was added to Steam Greenlight on September 3, 2012 and later released on Steam Early Access on July 2, 2013.
Serious Sam 3: BFE is a first-person shooter video game developed by Croatia-based indie development studio Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. It is part of the Serious Sam series and the prequel to the 2001 video game, Serious Sam. The game takes place in 22nd-century Egypt, during Mental's invasion of Earth, as implied in The First Encounter. The game features a 16-player online, as well as a 4-player splitscreen co-op campaign mode. The game was first released for Microsoft Windows on 22 November 2011. The OS X support for the game followed shortly after and was released on 23 April 2012. The Linux version of the game started being worked on after a high number of requests, where the first Linux-related update was the porting of the game's dedicated server. The game itself, however, was released one day after Valve opened the beta branch for "Steam for Linux", namely on 20 December 2012.
Terraria is a 2011 action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows and has since been ported to other PC and console platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures in a procedurally generated 2D world. Terraria is one of the best-selling video games of all time, selling 58.7 million copies as of 2024.
Kerbal Space Program (KSP) is a space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican studio Squad for Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In the game, players direct the space program of a species of green humanoid aliens known as "Kerbals". The game features a pseudorealistic orbital physics engine, allowing for various real-life orbital maneuvers such as Hohmann transfer orbits and orbital rendezvous.
Assetto Corsa is a sim racing video game developed by the Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. It is designed with an emphasis on a realistic racing experience with support for extensive customization and moddability. The game was first released through the Steam Early Access program on 8 November 2013, and officially left Early Access as final release version on 19 December 2014.
BeamNG.drive is a vehicle simulation game developed and published by Bremen-based video game developer BeamNG GmbH. The game features soft-body physics to simulate realistic handling and damage to vehicles.
Unturned is a free-to-play survival game by Smartly Dressed Games, a studio consisting solely of Canadian game designer Nelson Sexton. It was released for Windows, macOS, and Linux in early access on July 7, 2014. The full game release three years later, on July 17, 2017. Unturned allows players to create custom maps using an in-game editor. Cosmetics and mods can also be created using the game's Unity engine, which allows them to publish creations on the Steam Workshop. A retail version of the game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by 505 Games in November 2020. It was later ported to Nintendo Switch in March 2024.
Five Nights at Freddy's (FNaF) is a video game series and media franchise created by indie game developer Scott Cawthon. The franchise features ten main video games, several spin-off games, a novel trilogy, and a film adaptation.
Tabletop Simulator is an independent video game that allows players to play and create tabletop games in a multiplayer physics sandbox. Developed by Berserk Games as their first title after a successful crowdfunding campaign in February 2014, the game was released in June of the following year.
Stardew Valley is a 2016 farm life simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who inherits their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game was originally released for Windows in February 2016 before being ported to other platforms. Stardew Valley is an open-ended game, allowing players to grow crops, raise livestock, fish, cook, mine, forage, and socialize with the townspeople, including the ability to marry and have children. It allows up to eight players to play online together.
Cosmonautica is a video game that blends aspects of life simulation and space trading. Players take control of a spaceship and crew it with characters, each of which has their own needs and skills. By acquiring credits through missions, players can expand and customize their ship. It was released via early access on PC in 2014, and the retail version was released in July 2015 for Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android.
VRChat is an upcoming online virtual world platform created by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey and operated by VRChat, Inc. The platform allows users to interact with others with user-created 3D avatars and worlds. VRChat is designed primarily for use with virtual reality headsets, being available for Microsoft Windows PCs and as a native app for Android-based headsets such as the Meta Quest, Pico 4, and HTC Vive XR Elite. It is also usable without VR in a "desktop" mode designed for either a mouse and keyboard or gamepad, and in an Android app for touchscreen devices.
Nintendo Labo is a toys-to-life concept developed by Nintendo and released in April 2018. Labo consists of 2 parts, where one part is a game and one part is multiple sheets of cardboard. The games come as kits that include cardboard cut-outs and other materials that are to be assembled in combination with the Nintendo Switch console display and Joy-Con controllers to create a "Toy-Con" that can interact with the included game software and vice versa. Nintendo designed Labo as a way to teach principles of engineering and basic programming.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulation video game developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is an entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series which began in 1982, and was preceded by Microsoft Flight Simulator X in 2006. The game is a return of the series after 14 years, with development beginning six years prior to its release. It was released on August 18, 2020, for Windows, with a virtual reality (VR) version released in December of the same year as part of the free Sim 2 update. Microsoft Flight Simulator is the first game in the series to see a VR and console release, with it being released on the Xbox Series X and Series S on July 27, 2021.
Boneworks l is a 2019 first-person shooter game developed and published by Stress Level Zero. The game is designed to be entirely physics-based, with the player controlling a full virtual body that responds not just to the player's real-world input but also to obstructions in the game world.
Blade and Sorcery is a medieval fantasy simulation sandbox game developed and published by French independent studio WarpFrog, made exclusively for virtual reality. Combat and environmental interactions are driven by full physics simulation. The game initially released in early access in 2018, and had its full release on June 17th, 2024.