Volo Airsport Wingsuit Sim Wings Into Early Access
Literally just falling with style
Volo Airsport has been released, which prompts familiar thoughts: there's little in life as awesome as wingsuits. They're like so many other in-game items for empowering mobility, except they actually work that way.
Volo Airsport was also released before, in free prototype form. Now that it's being turned into a 'full' game, this early access it-costs-money release is still incomplete, but represents a further step towards accomplishing what got Tim Stone so excited back in May.
Tempted to go flying? Be warned: the game is still slight, containing little more than a single (albeit large) landscape, a single wingsuit, and Oculus Rift support. I've played it for around fifteen minutes and enjoyed each one of my attempts at wrangling its physics towards thrilling forward movement, and while the above trailer is representative of its current condition, much of what has been discussed is not yet present in the game. For example, as outlined on the game's Steam Greenlight page, future plans include local and online multiplayer, parachutes, events and challenges, and mod support.
In his chat with Tim Stone back in May, designer Martijn Zandvliet also suggested grander ambitions for the game's fly-by world:
The world around you is as important as the flight model, and we’re working on conceptual and technical levels to flesh it out. This means bigger and more detailed terrain, but we’re also applying a thin layer of fiction to help elevate it from the generic islands we started with. Don’t expect narrative content or cutscenes, but more inspired ecology and hints of culture. I’ll be working with Michael Manning to create musical soundscapes for the world, to be tightly coupled to physical space and environmental conditions.
Which sounds potentially lovely. For now, for those who take the plunge, plunging and gliding is all you'll be able to do. Keep that in mind before you consider committing $20/£12.26 towards playing it.
Still: coo, isn't that a lovely trailer? And aren't wingsuits awesome? Yes.