When you are building rockets, you're most likely going to run into the occasional rapid unscheduled disassembly. It happens to even the most experienced rocket surgeons. You might as well embrace it and take advantage of the opportunity and snag some spectacular photos.



In addition to the visuals, we also improved the physics of the explosions quite a bit. Now larger fuel tanks will create much larger explosions. We also approximate the surface area of parts and use that to determine how much it should react to an explosion. I've spent far too many hours now sitting on the launch pad blowing up parts before realizing that I had long ago crossed the line between working and playing. Don't tell the other devs.

Here are some more great shots I got this weekend. And of course, a GIF to make this post look complete.



I apologize to the BaconAircraft, Tully, CjrLdy, Shigure, and CoolPeach for blowing up their beautiful crafts.

I would like to apologize to everyone for the intermittent outages on our websites. Our service provider is having issues and they are aware of the issue and working on it. Hopefully, they will figure this out soon.

Also, I should probably mention something about schedule (I know my fellow devs love when I talk about the S-word). We are not going to be launching in October and we are now most likely going to be launching in early November. Please, don't send me any black licorice. I have already purchased some and will be munching on it soon. Sorry for the slippage, but thanks for sticking with us! We hope it will be worth the wait!

The Nav Circle in SR1 made it very easy to control rockets in a 2D game. It took me a while to figure out the best way to extend the Nav Circle into three dimensions. I ended up with basically two nav circles: one for heading and one for pitch. The end result is now called the Nav Sphere and it makes controlling rockets in 3D extremely easy.



The blue circle is for controlling the pitch of the rocket and the orange circle is for controlling the heading. You can click and drag the circles to adjust them or you can use keyboard inputs (or a gamepad) to control them. We will probably tweak the visuals a bit before release, but I'm really happy with how they've turned out.

SimpleRockets 2 now has a coming soon page on Steam along with a new teaser trailer to entice you to come check it out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/870200/SimpleRockets_2

We're still shooting to release on Steam Early Access this summer. We plan to keep adding features and responding to player feedback until we feel the game is ready, at which point we will release the final version on all platforms at the same time. This includes iOS, Google Play, Humble, GOG, and of course Steam (Windows and macOS).

Some of you have noticed that a small update has been released.

Why are we releasing such a small update?

I'm sure a lot of you may have noticed emails from a bunch of companies with updated privacy policies in response to GDPR. We have been doing preparation ourselves and decided to ease the burden by removing non-essential third-party libraries from SimplePlanes, giving us less to worry about. This includes the Facebook SDK, Unity Analytics, and Everyplay (since it was discontinued by Unity).

We also removed the ability to register from within the game and now redirect to the website to centrally locate account creation.

We didn't want to make it totally feature-less though, so Andrew included a few XML modding related items that advanced modders have been asking for.

I know it may be disappointing to see an update come down the pipe with so few features, but rest assured that we will resume working on 1.8 later this year as we've previously discussed.

Official 1.7.1.0 release notes:

• Removed Everyplay. Unfortunately, Everyplay is shutting their services down, so we had to remove it.
  
• Removed in-game registration. Registration must now be done through SimplePlanes.com.
  
• Added dragScale, calculateDrag, and diffuseInertiaTensors XML attributes

Discussion : https://www.simpleplanes.com/Forums/View/789331/v1-7-1-0-Minor-update-info

Thanks!
Philip

SimpleRockets 2 is currently under development. We are hoping to release on Steam Early Access in June. You can read more about our development here and also read our FAQ here.

SimpleRockets 2 is currently under development. We are hoping to release on Steam Early Access in June. You can read more about our development here and also read our FAQ here.

The 1.7 update is now available! Here is the trailer showing the new features.

Here's what's new in 1.7:

• Countermeasure Dispenser (Chaffs / Flares)
  
• Torpedo
  
• Unguided Rocket
  
• Cleaver (cruise missile)

• Part Transform tool
  
• Improved Damage Model
  - Parts can now take damage instead of instantly exploding
  - Engines can catch on fire
  - Control surfaces, RCNs, rotators, etc can be shot out
  - Wings can leak fuel
  - Improved look and performance of bullets
  
• Countermeasures
  - Chaffs and flares can now prevent and break locks
  - Aircraft size and engines also play a role in how difficult it is to acquire a lock
  
• WW2 Destroyer with Flak Cannons
  
• WW2 Torpedo Mission
  
• Number entry on Fuselage Properties
  
• Redesigned Fire buttons

• Cycle designer part properties buttons in reverse via right-click
  
• Improved mirroring in the designer
  
• Disable Auto-Sizing of nose cones after it has been manually resized
  
• AI fire countermeasures
  
• Bridge Demolition Mission is a bit harder
  
• Collisions between dynamic rigid bodies now downscale the impact force if the other body has less mass.
  
• Bomb explosions have been updated
  
• Some smoke damage particle effects have been updated
  
• Damage for various weapons has been tweaked as well as the health of the ships. It may take more to sink them now.
  
• AI plane tweaks (dogfighting should work better now)
  
• Bombs and missiles that have been fired are no longer affected by explosions (easier to carpet bomb now).

• Fixed part menu scrolling
  
• Fixed bug that allowed missiles without cameras to load terrain.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs related to races.
  
• Fixed some issues with wing leveling mode.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs with control surface deflection calculations.
  
• Fixed a bug with the 'Loading...' label getting stuck when attempting to enter a level with banned parts.
  
• Fixed a bug with AA missiles exploding at the wrong position.
  
• Fixed a bug with mirroring scaled parts.
  
• The fuselage rise/run limits have been increased to 5.
  
• Fixed a bug with part property sliders sometimes showing an incorrect slider position.
  
• Fixed a bug with incorrect calculations for control surface deflection.
  
• The propeller engine no longer restricts modded engine power to within normal range when selected.
  
• Made some tweaks to the missiles related to them traveling at their specified max speeds.
  
• Reduced the distance that a piston snaps to its target position, so it's less jarring when looking closely.
  
• Rockets now check the impact force when collisions occur, no longer blowing up if sneezed on.
  
• Fixed an issue with rotators failing to find a joint after being mirrored. It's still not perfect, but much improved.
  
• The tire squeal no longer plays at the camera.
  
• Fixed bug with center of mass being incorrect for bodies with 0 total mass. (fixes 0 mass missile wobble on detachers)

• Ability to invert input from XML by placing a minus sign in front of the input
  
• Updated the boolean type inputs for input controllers to return -1 or 1 rather than 0 or 1. This allows the use of the input controllers min/max values to be used in conjunction with the boolean input types.
  
• Add firingDelay XML Option to Existing Weapons
  
• Hidden XML Option for Self Destruct and Burn Time on Rockets.
  
• Add Support for input="Activate1" (that’s AG1) on InputControllers
  
• The “disableAircraftCollisions” attribute on guns can now be used to prevent your bullets from colliding with your plane.
  
• Missile XML now supports a 'maxSpeed' attribute. Existing planes (but not new ones) with low mass missiles will now auto-upgrade to a higher than normal max speed.
  
• Added "invertType" option to the InputController. Defaults to "axis" for most parts and to "output" for rotators.
  
• XML support for scaling bullets (now set with "bulletScale", not the part's scale - old planes auto-upgraded).
  
• XML support for disabling gun muzzle flash ("muzzleFlash" - true/false)

• Added Unity version check to the mod builder window.
  
• Removed warning about multiple mods loading the same exact assembly.
  
• Added load priority for mods to better manage mod dependencies.

Thank you so much to all of the beta testers who helped us squash an insane number of bugs!

The 1.7 update is now available! Here is the trailer showing the new features.

Here's what's new in 1.7:

• Countermeasure Dispenser (Chaffs / Flares)
  
• Torpedo
  
• Unguided Rocket
  
• Cleaver (cruise missile)

• Part Transform tool
  
• Improved Damage Model
  - Parts can now take damage instead of instantly exploding
  - Engines can catch on fire
  - Control surfaces, RCNs, rotators, etc can be shot out
  - Wings can leak fuel
  - Improved look and performance of bullets
  
• Countermeasures
  - Chaffs and flares can now prevent and break locks
  - Aircraft size and engines also play a role in how difficult it is to acquire a lock
  
• WW2 Destroyer with Flak Cannons
  
• WW2 Torpedo Mission
  
• Number entry on Fuselage Properties
  
• Redesigned Fire buttons

• Cycle designer part properties buttons in reverse via right-click
  
• Improved mirroring in the designer
  
• Disable Auto-Sizing of nose cones after it has been manually resized
  
• AI fire countermeasures
  
• Bridge Demolition Mission is a bit harder
  
• Collisions between dynamic rigid bodies now downscale the impact force if the other body has less mass.
  
• Bomb explosions have been updated
  
• Some smoke damage particle effects have been updated
  
• Damage for various weapons has been tweaked as well as the health of the ships. It may take more to sink them now.
  
• AI plane tweaks (dogfighting should work better now)
  
• Bombs and missiles that have been fired are no longer affected by explosions (easier to carpet bomb now).

• Fixed part menu scrolling
  
• Fixed bug that allowed missiles without cameras to load terrain.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs related to races.
  
• Fixed some issues with wing leveling mode.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs with control surface deflection calculations.
  
• Fixed a bug with the 'Loading...' label getting stuck when attempting to enter a level with banned parts.
  
• Fixed a bug with AA missiles exploding at the wrong position.
  
• Fixed a bug with mirroring scaled parts.
  
• The fuselage rise/run limits have been increased to 5.
  
• Fixed a bug with part property sliders sometimes showing an incorrect slider position.
  
• Fixed a bug with incorrect calculations for control surface deflection.
  
• The propeller engine no longer restricts modded engine power to within normal range when selected.
  
• Made some tweaks to the missiles related to them traveling at their specified max speeds.
  
• Reduced the distance that a piston snaps to its target position, so it's less jarring when looking closely.
  
• Rockets now check the impact force when collisions occur, no longer blowing up if sneezed on.
  
• Fixed an issue with rotators failing to find a joint after being mirrored. It's still not perfect, but much improved.
  
• The tire squeal no longer plays at the camera.
  
• Fixed bug with center of mass being incorrect for bodies with 0 total mass. (fixes 0 mass missile wobble on detachers)

• Ability to invert input from XML by placing a minus sign in front of the input
  
• Updated the boolean type inputs for input controllers to return -1 or 1 rather than 0 or 1. This allows the use of the input controllers min/max values to be used in conjunction with the boolean input types.
  
• Add firingDelay XML Option to Existing Weapons
  
• Hidden XML Option for Self Destruct and Burn Time on Rockets.
  
• Add Support for input="Activate1" (that’s AG1) on InputControllers
  
• The “disableAircraftCollisions” attribute on guns can now be used to prevent your bullets from colliding with your plane.
  
• Missile XML now supports a 'maxSpeed' attribute. Existing planes (but not new ones) with low mass missiles will now auto-upgrade to a higher than normal max speed.
  
• Added "invertType" option to the InputController. Defaults to "axis" for most parts and to "output" for rotators.
  
• XML support for scaling bullets (now set with "bulletScale", not the part's scale - old planes auto-upgraded).
  
• XML support for disabling gun muzzle flash ("muzzleFlash" - true/false)

• Added Unity version check to the mod builder window.
  
• Removed warning about multiple mods loading the same exact assembly.
  
• Added load priority for mods to better manage mod dependencies.

Thank you so much to all of the beta testers who helped us squash an insane number of bugs!

If you're looking for something to do over this holiday weekend, how about beta testing the new version of SimplePlanes? We just uploaded a new version to the beta branch. Version 1.7 - Damage Control. Here's what's new:

• Countermeasure Dispenser (Chaffs / Flares)
  
• Torpedo
  
• Unguided Rocket

• Part Transform tool
  
• Improved Damage Model
  - Parts can now take damage instead of instantly exploding
  - Engines can catch on fire
  - Control surfaces, RCNs, rotators, etc can be shot out
  - Wings can leak fuel
  - Improved look and performance of bullets
  
• Countermeasures
  - Chaffs and flares can now prevent and break locks
  - Aircraft size and engines also play a role in how difficult it is to acquire a lock
  
• WW2 Destroyer with Flak Cannons
  
• WW2 Torpedo Mission
  
• Number entry on Fuselage Properties
  
• Redesigned Fire buttons
  
• Allow downloading any sized plane on mobile (as long as you are logged in)

• Cycle designer part properties buttons in reverse via right-click
  
• Disable Auto-Sizing of nose cones after it has been manually resized
  
• AI fire countermeasures
  
• Bridge Demolition Mission is a bit harder
  
• Collisions between dynamic rigid bodies now downscale the impact force if the other body has less mass.
  
• Bomb explosions have been updated
  
• Some smoke damage particle effects have been updated
  
• Damage for various weapons has been tweaked as well as the health of the ships. It may take more to sink them now.
  
• AI plane tweaks (dogfighting should work better now)
  
• Bombs and missiles that have been fired are no longer affected by explosions (easier to carpet bomb now).

• Fixed part menu scrolling
  
• Fixed bug that allowed missiles without cameras to load terrain.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs related to races.
  
• Fixed some issues with wing leveling mode.

• Ability to invert input from XML by placing a minus sign in front of the input
  
• Updated the boolean type inputs for input controllers to return -1 or 1 rather than 0 or 1. This allows the use of the input controllers min/max values to be used in conjunction with the boolean input types.
  
• Add firingDelay XML Option to Existing Weapons
  
• Hidden XML Option for Self Destruct and Burn Time on Rockets.
  
• Add Support for input="Activate1" (that’s AG1) on InputControllers
  
• The “disableAircraftCollisions” attribute on guns can now be used to prevent your bullets from colliding with your plane.

• Added Unity version check to the mod builder window.
  
• Removed warning about multiple mods loading the same exact assembly.
  
• Added load priority for mods to better manage mod dependencies.

• Open the Steam client.
  
• Right-click on SimplePlanes in your library and click “Properties.”
  
• Click the “Betas” tab.
  
• From the “Select the beta you would like to opt into:” drop-down dialog, select **public-test**.
  
• Steam should start downloading the public-test version of the game. You can also verify that you are playing the public test by checking the version in the “About” menu from the initial menu: 1.7.0.0

Test the new features outlined above. Test your existing designs and make sure they still work! Test how the new part damage works. Test the new parts. Test the new WW2 Torpedo mission. Let us know if anything looks whacky. You can reply to this post, or contact us at beta@jundroo.com.

Thanks for playing!

If you're looking for something to do over this holiday weekend, how about beta testing the new version of SimplePlanes? We just uploaded a new version to the beta branch. Version 1.7 - Damage Control. Here's what's new:

• Countermeasure Dispenser (Chaffs / Flares)
  
• Torpedo
  
• Unguided Rocket

• Part Transform tool
  
• Improved Damage Model
  - Parts can now take damage instead of instantly exploding
  - Engines can catch on fire
  - Control surfaces, RCNs, rotators, etc can be shot out
  - Wings can leak fuel
  - Improved look and performance of bullets
  
• Countermeasures
  - Chaffs and flares can now prevent and break locks
  - Aircraft size and engines also play a role in how difficult it is to acquire a lock
  
• WW2 Destroyer with Flak Cannons
  
• WW2 Torpedo Mission
  
• Number entry on Fuselage Properties
  
• Redesigned Fire buttons
  
• Allow downloading any sized plane on mobile (as long as you are logged in)

• Cycle designer part properties buttons in reverse via right-click
  
• Disable Auto-Sizing of nose cones after it has been manually resized
  
• AI fire countermeasures
  
• Bridge Demolition Mission is a bit harder
  
• Collisions between dynamic rigid bodies now downscale the impact force if the other body has less mass.
  
• Bomb explosions have been updated
  
• Some smoke damage particle effects have been updated
  
• Damage for various weapons has been tweaked as well as the health of the ships. It may take more to sink them now.
  
• AI plane tweaks (dogfighting should work better now)
  
• Bombs and missiles that have been fired are no longer affected by explosions (easier to carpet bomb now).

• Fixed part menu scrolling
  
• Fixed bug that allowed missiles without cameras to load terrain.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs related to races.
  
• Fixed some issues with wing leveling mode.

• Ability to invert input from XML by placing a minus sign in front of the input
  
• Updated the boolean type inputs for input controllers to return -1 or 1 rather than 0 or 1. This allows the use of the input controllers min/max values to be used in conjunction with the boolean input types.
  
• Add firingDelay XML Option to Existing Weapons
  
• Hidden XML Option for Self Destruct and Burn Time on Rockets.
  
• Add Support for input="Activate1" (that’s AG1) on InputControllers
  
• The “disableAircraftCollisions” attribute on guns can now be used to prevent your bullets from colliding with your plane.

• Added Unity version check to the mod builder window.
  
• Removed warning about multiple mods loading the same exact assembly.
  
• Added load priority for mods to better manage mod dependencies.

• Open the Steam client.
  
• Right-click on SimplePlanes in your library and click “Properties.”
  
• Click the “Betas” tab.
  
• From the “Select the beta you would like to opt into:” drop-down dialog, select **public-test**.
  
• Steam should start downloading the public-test version of the game. You can also verify that you are playing the public test by checking the version in the “About” menu from the initial menu: 1.7.0.0

Test the new features outlined above. Test your existing designs and make sure they still work! Test how the new part damage works. Test the new parts. Test the new WW2 Torpedo mission. Let us know if anything looks whacky. You can reply to this post, or contact us at beta@jundroo.com.

Thanks for playing!