Lunar Flight (Steam) on Sale for $2.50 until May 25th

**HeatSurge** · 05-22-2012

Since I thought there are people here who might enjoy this, I decided to give you all a heads-up on this sale.

Small, indie game, one developer, unity engine.

What it is: Lunar lander remake in 3D.

My impressions: Very realistic physics and general movement, precise and tight controls (keyboard is perfectly adequate, you don't really NEED a controller of any kind), superb graphics, very configurable overall (views options, etc.). Creates a GREAT immersion/ambience, outstanding music and radio chatter.

I've played 9 hours, and honestly I'm bored at the game at this point. I mean there are three types of missions you can do, and three maps and that's it. But the experience has been amazing.

I feel like this game is a MUST for anyone who appreciates flying a "helicopter" - type craft in low gravity, sci-fi themes, space, ambience, simulators. The learning curve is kind of steep in the beginning (if you ask me about stuff I can maybe try to help) and it took me about an hour or so (and 10+ crashes) to really start getting the "hang" of it, but that's one of the rewarding things for me when you actually know what you're doing later. It's basically like flying an underpowered helicopter, but with no air resistance (infinite acceleration!) and in really low gravity. Most of all, it's tons of fun and really enjoyable and satisfying.

For me, the most comfortable and enjoyable setting is cockpit fullscreen (F1, C) with the speed vector camera on the right and map on the left. I've been playing cockpit lately and it's OK, but not as enjoyable. You do get the XP bonus for flying a mission entirely in cockpit view though (F1) NOT fullscreen. FS is glorious though.

It's on sale for $2.50 until May 25th and it bears the notorious HeatSurge Seal of Great Success (tm). In other words, I feel like it's absolutely worth the price. In fact, I'd say that it's probably the best single-player game purchase of mine for quite some time - maybe even more than a year.

Save 75% on Lunar Flight on Steam

The screenshots don't really do it justice btw IMO. It really looks awesome when in motion with great attention to detail like the stars twinkling slightly, "dust" streaks flying by, shaders on metal surfaces, the shadow of the lunar lander on the moon surface, the terrain in motion, etc. etc. It really is a beautiful game, in a stark, deserted, rocky, grey, "moon surface" way.

If I could add one thing to the game, it would be a replay feature so I can watch the flights in fly-by... and of course more content (maps/missions/etc.). But even for what it is, it's a glorious success for a one-man team.

P.S. If you don't enjoy "uncompromising" sims, and are not patient and in general expect somewhat of an "arcade" experience you will NOT enjoy the game - especially at the beginning when you're learning how it works and how to control it.

**RainMotorsports** · 05-23-2012

I bought it, crashes on start up... oh well lol. Will be interesting if it ever works.

Edit - Verify game cache failed redownloading.

YAY this is awesome. Landed with 0 damage on second try.

**HeatSurge** · 05-23-2012

Quick tip to save you a LOT of pain in the beginning: purchase extra fuel one-time-use thingies and use them when you're running out (due to a mistake or whatever). Also, lost cargo missions really suck sometimes (hard to find the cargo) so get comfortable before doing them. :-)

**RainMotorsports** · 05-23-2012

Originally Posted by HeatSurge

Quick tip to save you a LOT of pain in the beginning: purchase extra fuel one-time-use thingies and use them when you're running out (due to a mistake or whatever). Also, lost cargo missions really suck sometimes (hard to find the cargo) so get comfortable before doing them. :-)

Yeah i started to take a lost cargo mission said screw it and crashed. Just before heading out I did a transport Charlie to Alpha, too easy. Plenty of calculated moves one should be making that can save a ton of fuel in this game/reality. But Hops like that are easy and the flight control is second nature to me. Its really easy to get yourself in a bind trying to correct. Much easier to waste fuel doing so as well.

**HeatSurge** · 05-23-2012

Yeah, once you get going pretty fast in a certain direction, it takes a LOT of fuel to change directions (especially without upgrades).

Translation (WASD) controls really help lining up landings though. The game would be annoyingly difficult without them!

**Off the Rails** · 05-23-2012

Anybody tried using a joystick yet? Doesn't seem to recognise mine.

EDIT: Helps if you plug it in first.

**RainMotorsports** · 05-23-2012

Originally Posted by HeatSurge

Yeah, once you get going pretty fast in a certain direction, it takes a LOT of fuel to change directions (especially without upgrades).

Translation (WASD) controls really help lining up landings though. The game would be annoyingly difficult without them!

Within the design of the game, because this craft is not designed to do what we are doing. You should probably actually be pitching the aircraft back and using the descent stage engine to slow the rate forward motion. It carries more thrust. Since we get to use the descent stage motor to take off again and keep altitude in this game we can also abuse it for the purposes of slowing the craft down. The RCS thrusters just don't have a ton of power and really only can muscle it with the ascent stage in orbit.

Pitch and roll just add complication to the whole thing and I am sure its something people want to avoid but it is useful.

**HeatSurge** · 05-23-2012

Complication? o_0 I pretty much use entirely pitch and roll to maneuver around. I mean, like you say the RCS is REALLY underpowered... so good luck stopping yourself with that once you get it up to 15-20 whatever units of velocity there are, while carrying cargo, without going outside of the map and taking like 10 minutes to stop. Much faster and more fun to just point your ass towards the speed vector and use the main engine... which is kind of the point of the game anyway :-).

I don't really touch the RCS except when I'm landing, or for slight corrections of heading. When I'm turning, I pitch left/right 90 degrees and use the main engine though. You could pretty much play the entire game with only RCS but it's not nearly as much fun ^.^ .

BTW the speed challenges on the "hard" map are... hard :-) I kinda gave up on those; so much frustration.

**Dirty-Lex** · 05-23-2012

Heatsurge,

This game is fucking AWESOME. thanks for sharing dude.

True Born Gaming

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