Flak Jack - a farcical VR WW1 dogfighting shooter

Hi all,

I wanted to share a project I’ve been slowly working on for a while.

It’s very early on in development. I’ve been tinkering with it as time has allowed for the last year or so, but only really in the last few weeks has free time opened up a little more and I’ve been able to focus on it again.

Flak Jack is a third person VR game, where you take part in chaotic aerial dogfights, flying your plane with head movements, while shooting with hand held weapons. It’s a mad mix of Indiana Jones style action, Tarantino gunfights, and the comedy of something akin to Monty Python and Black Adder.

Key Features:

  • Full VR motion control
  • Third person character driven action
  • Procedural combat scenarios
  • Detailed FX and destruction models
  • AI that uses real world flight manouvers of the era
  • Large 200kmx200km area of The Western Front based on real world DEM data and trench maps of the time
  • Fully Volumetric clouds and dynamic lighting
  • Physics driven flight model controlled by VR head movements
  • Short but intense play sessions

Right now the focus is on creating the vast terrain for the game. Early tests of the flight model and shooting were positive, but I will be revisiting them and starting fresh making use of more physics driven systems.

I’m working towards a reasonably realistic look for the game, that underpins the crazy over the top action that will take place moment to moment.
The game is absolutely NOT a flight sim, the focus is on fun and over the top situations.

If you love the air combat and intensity of Battlefield 1, well Flak Jack is going to be right up your alley!

I’m keeping a dev blog here, where I will be posting tutorials and progress, especially in regards to the huge terrain I’m working on:

http://lippykid.com

I also keep a twitter account with snippets and updates relating to the game:

https://twitter.com/Lippykid

Here is a small sample of the atmosphere I’m working on creating:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mEYlW42lfRs

Enjoy!

Hi all, I’ve just posted the first part of a big making of series I plan to do as I develop this large terrain
The Great War - Recreating The Western front - part 1

Part 2 of my making of guide is now up on my blog, it outlines how I used Houdini to create complex geometric patterns to texture the landscape

The Great War - Recreating The Western front - part 2

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