SUPPORT: Discord - bugs in #bug-report (tag Drone Warfare Simulator), questions in #support, in English.
Drone Warfare Simulator is a game system for Unreal Engine: FPV drones that fly from real physics, an arena to fight in, and bots that fly with the same sticks as the player. Use the whole game, or take just the drone and build your own.
The flight
Three ready drones: a nimble 5" quad, a 7" long-range quad and a heavy-lift hexacopter with a winch.
Flight from real formulas: rotor thrust and torque, brushless motors, a battery that sags under load, ground effect and drag. Cut the power and the props windmill.
A flight controller with angle and acro modes, Betaflight-style rates, assisted keyboard flight with height hold, and position hold.
Keyboard and mouse out of the box, every key rebindable in game.
An FPV camera with uptilt, a wide lens and vibration; three views: stabilized FPV, the raw FPV camera and a chase camera.
An on-screen display in two styles, goggles and tactical: battery, link, timer, speed, height, home arrow, damage panel and warnings.
A radio link to your base: buildings in the way bring noise into the picture, and leaving the arena starts a return timer.
The game
Actions on keys 1-8 with an action bar, icons, cooldowns and charges. Every action is a Data Asset: damage, damage over time, slow, shield, heal, speed boost, area effects, looks, sounds and camera shake.
Component damage on props, motors, battery, electronics and frame, with a damage panel and hit feedback.
Teams Blue and Red with team lights, markers with health and distance, arrows to the drones off screen, and a heading-up minimap with enemies, allies and home.
Cargo: crates on a physics sling with a winch; hook, carry and release them, and feel the weight in the flight.
Bots that fly the same physics as you and see through their own camera: they roam, pursue, attack the pilot, dodge, take cover, carry crates and hold the hill.
Team-safe actions: no friendly fire between teammates.
Game modes: Team Combat, King of the Hill and Courier, plus free flight with practice targets and practice drones.
Start menu, How to Play page, Controls page and interface skins.
Original sounds, each one replaceable in Project Settings. Carbon and camo paint options.
Multiplayer
Listen server and dedicated server, server-authoritative, with prediction for the local pilot.
Tested with 8 drones in one match: 4 server bots and 4 client bots, 5 minutes on a dedicated server.
Built to customize
C++ with everything a project uses exposed to Blueprint; actions are Data Assets you duplicate and edit.
Modular: the actions, the game modes and the menus are separate modules. A drone that only flies works on its own in any level.
Included map
L_DWS_Range: a test range and arena with team bases, a plaza, cover and a relay tower, used by every mode.
Technical details
Unreal Engine 5.7 and 5.8, Windows (Win64).
Modules: DWSCore (engine-independent flight physics), DroneWarfareSimulator (drones, camera, display, link, damage, bots), DroneWarfareActions (optional actions), DroneWarfareGame (optional game modes and match HUD), DroneWarfareUI (optional menus and key rebinding).
162 automated tests on the flight core.
Engine plugins used: Enhanced Input and Niagara.
Default keys: Enter arm, W A S D fly, Space / Left Shift climb and descend, Q E turn, left mouse fire, 1-8 actions, V or C change view, H hold, Tab scoreboard, F1 controls, Esc menu.
Documentation in the plugin's Docs folder: a Quick Start, how-to guides, a full reference, the flight physics guide and known limits.
Coming next
More drones.
More actions, effect icons over targets and a kill feed.
Civilian FPV drones: racing, freestyle and filming versions.
More improvements to flight, bots and game modes.