Liftoff: Micro Drones News

2023 is finally upon us! Our goal for the year is that with a little hard work and a lot of coffee, we'll have this project wrapped up this year. And like any good wrapping, there's good stuff to be found inside!

[h2]The road to V1[/h2]
The end of the road towards an official release is in sight! The following things are planned and in the works for the release version:

• A scripted in-game tutorial system for new pilots.
  
• A night-time variation of Sawdust Inc.
  
• A track builder and Steam Workshop integration. Build and share racetracks with other players!
  
• Empty versions of the existing environment for you to build in, including a "Drawing Board" style space.
  
• A brand new environment, being teased in the blogpost banner ;)
  
• General polish and fixes

[h2]When?[/h2]
The items on the roadmap will become available as part of a few updates. As for the actual launch version, announcing a release window is like jumping off a cliff and hoping you'll fly... or at least that's what it feels like. But we feel bold and brave and will make a reckless "we hope for spring" statement.

More importantly, the V1 release is far from the end of the project, it's actually just the start really. We fully commit to supporting and updating the project after this V1 release, as we have done with our other Liftoff simulators.

We want to thank you all for supporting the Liftoff simulators. When Liftoff: Micro Drones launched in Early Access just over a year ago, we would not have imagined such a great and supportive response from the community. Thank you for being awesome!

This update is another love letter to the community, every single point in the changelist was requested by you! Enjoy :)

[h2]Changelist[/h2]

• Added Fractal 65 and 75 Ductless frames.
  
• Updated flight physics: The Experimental Branch physics are now released to the main version of the game.
  
• Quick rates, Actual rates, Raceflight rates and KISS are now available in the flight controller settings.
  
• When changes have been made to the camera angle and/or flight mode during flight, you are now asked whether to save these changes to the drone configuration upon leaving the game session.
  
• Updated the order of levels in the level selection screens. San Lipo Drive has been moved back so that it's not the default environment due to its perceived difficulty flying in it.
  
• Fixed issue with multiple labels in the flight controller settings all showing 'MID'.
  
• Fixed issue with not saving the 'Start' and 'End' values of the throttle settings in the flight controller settings.
  
• Updated the pilot position in Hoverton High daytime and in the In Transit daytime and night time versions so that there's more room to trippy-spin the pilot ;)
  
• Slightly reduced the forklift horn volume.
  
• Fixed issue in the manual calibration menu, where the 'Invert' axis toggle would something apply the wrong value.
  
• Fixed issue with the 'Disarm' command not working.
  
• Fixed multiplayer connection stabilization issue.
  
• Hidden some extra secrets in some levels ;)
  

[h2]FPV Gnomes[/h2]
Those who have explored the Liftoff: Micro Drones levels In great detail might have found the occasional hidden FPV gnomes in each level. Now you can win a real life FPV Gnome and all you have to do is follow us on Twitter and retweet our contest tweet that's it!.

We will announce the winner in exactly a week. We will use a random number generator to pick the winner. Good luck! :D

The Liftoff team is at Gamescom to celebrate the Liftoff franchise and its amazing community. To share the celebration, we have activated a double XP week!

Playing any Liftoff game available on Steam will earn you double the amount of XP points in-game.

Note: A free Liftoff Pro Account is required to earn XP. XP points are shared between Liftoff: FPV Drone Racing and Liftoff: Micro Drones, so gathering XP in Liftoff: Micro Drones will help you to unlock gift boxes in classic Liftoff much faster!

These past few months the team at LuGus Studios has carefully gone over every single line of code of the physics and flight behaviour systems in Liftoff: Micro Drones. While at its core Liftoff: Micro Drones uses the same simulation technology found in other Liftoff simulators, many systems have been redesigned with the micro drone class in mind. A few small errors in the system have been fixed and some parameters have been tweaked. We are now ready for testing them on a temporary Experimental Branch.

[h2]What and why?[/h2]
While Liftoff: Micro Drones is still in Early Access, we want each public version to offer an enjoyable and stable experience. This puts a lot of pressure on our development team whenever we are pushing for crucial updates that can have a big impact on the game. The Experimental Branch allows us to release experimental features (such as physics updates) much faster for testing, without having to worry too much about polish yet. It also allows us to break the game to a certain extent if needed, and try out features that we are not sure should make it to the final game yet. For the development team it means we have more freedom, for the player it means they can have an even bigger impact on the development and progress of the game.

By testing the Liftoff Experimental Branch and giving us feedback, you help us, and weigh in on the decisions we make for the future of Liftoff: Micro Drones.

[h2]Experimental Branch: what you need to know[/h2]

• The Experimental Branch (EB) should be used for testing purposes only.
  
• At any time you can switch back to the main version of the game. We recommend doing this after testing.
  
• Versions on the game on the EB can be expected to be unpolished, buggy and unbalanced.
  
• It is to be expected that not all game features work on the EB.
  
• Features and updates available on the EB are not guaranteed to make it to the main branch of the game.
  
• The dev team cannot give dedicated support for experimental game versions available on the EB.
  

[h2]How to get access to the Experimental Branch[/h2]

1. Right click on “Liftoff: Micro Drones” in your Steam Library
   
2. Click “Properties”
   
3. In the “Properties” menu, click the “BETAS” tab
   
4. Select “Experimental Branch” in the dropdown menu
   
5. Restart Steam to trigger the download. Happy testing!
   

In order to switch back to the normal version of Liftoff: Micro Drones, follow the same instructions, but instead of selecting “Experimental Branch” in the last step, select “NONE - Opt out of all beta programs”.

[h2]What feedback do we need?[/h2]
Very simple, our primary question is: does this feel better? Yes/No?

Answering that question will allow us to learn if our fixes and tweaks have worked. If the answer is a clear YES, we can push these improvements to the public version of the game. Any additional feedback is more than welcome! We'd love to know in more detail how you feel about the flight behaviour, where exactly you think things feel strange, at what scale things feel different etc.

If you encounter any bugs, weird behaviour, or if you have more general remarks about Liftoff Experimental Branch, please contact us through:

The dedicated Steam Forum The official Liftoff Discord server
The Liftoff Community Group on Facebook

Thank you very much for your help, and happy testing!

We're excited to introduce the Fractal 75, one of the most durable yet sharp and lightweight 75mm ducted FPV frames, to Liftoff: Micro Drones! 

[h2]Changelist[/h2]

• Added: Fractal 75 frame.
  
• Added: Transparent propeller skins.
  
• Updated: Splashscreen has a new coat of paint.
  
• Fixed: The password reset form now works again.
  

[h2]Fractal 75[/h2]

We're excited to introduce big brother Fractal 75, one of the most durable yet sharp and lightweight 75mm ducted FPV frames! Don't believe us? Check out the review video from Infinity Loops. A big thank you to Heads McFlyawhoop for testing and approving our virtual recreation! :)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Steady progress! [/h2]



Looking back at the first eight months of the project, we are really happy with how things are moving with Liftoff: Micro Drones. While this graphic doesn't show the complete picture and leaves out 90% of the work that has been done, it does provide a top-down overview of the progress made so far. Though still in Early Access, Liftoff: Micro Drones is already a more solid package to enjoy, and we are excited how the project will further change with the next steps. 

[h2]Talking about the next steps[/h2]

We have one more Fractal Engineering related update right around the corner. Next up, we are going to focus on taking the next leap in flight physics development. We might have an experimental version of an improved flight simulation available for testing very soon. We'll be looking for talented pilots willing to give it a spin and provide feedback directly to the team.

In terms of content, after crushing it with the development of Sealand and Sawdust Inc, the art team is now focusing their attention on more frames and parts (as seen in this update) and the development of a new level for classic Liftoff. Once that's done, we'll jump back to Liftoff: Micro Drones levels.