Dev News #6 - UI Renovation

In this month, I have focused on Improving the Ui for the sequel!

New Title Menus

The boring, pitch black void title screen from 'Defender Patrol' had been replaced to a proper scene, with varied camera positions for each menus.

The keybinding menu also got some improvements. The troubled, cluttered keybind lists from Defender Patrol had been divided with dropdowns per categories to make it less confusing and find the needed keybinds faster.

There's also localization support added for the entire keybinding menu!

New Arming Menu

The helicopter rearming menu also got overhauled, replacing the overused dropdowns with collection of buttons to allow selecting armaments much faster. When selecting armaments for each pylons, the camera highlights the currently selected pylon.

One new unique feature added for this arming menu is loadout saves. You can save the current loadout settings with your customized naming to quickly equip your favorite loadouts without too much clicks. There's also a virtual keyboard available for VR to conveniently type the name while wearing the headset.

Mission Result Menu

When the player ends the flight, A result menu now shows up to summarize the player's performance in the last flight.

'Objective' describes the status of missions, 'Report' describes the overall combat results and what had happened to the player at the end, and 'Log' shows every combat history in timed order. The map at right side shows the player's flight trajectory with red lines.

There are also various scoring assigned for each actions, which is going to be used to measure the player's performance in campaign.

New Game Mode: Turkey Hunt

A new game mode had been created in 'Quick Flight' section, replacing 'Ground support' from Defender Patrol.

'Turkey Hunt' is a game mode focused on non-stop engagements with constantly respawning enemy units around the player base. The objective of this mode to locate and destroy the assigned 'Turkey' to complete each waves, while dealing with other enemy units protecting it. Once the player destroyed the turkey, another new target immediately appears at different location.

As the wave progresses, number of defending enemies increases and tougher enemy units start to appear. Based on the settings, the waves can last 5, 10, or go endless until the player's helicopter eventually gets destroyed.

Time Compression Feature

Another new feature that had been added for Low Level Hunters is the time compression. It is possible to simulate the game 2 or 4 times faster to quickly move toward target location, or make it slower by 0.5 and 0.25 times, or completely stop with 0 time scale.

When the world had stopped at 0 time scale, the player can still move their camera around. With 'Gameplay UI Toggle' key (backspace by default), it's possible to capture the static world in various angle.

M429 Proximity Fuse Rockets

One little new armament added in this month is a High-explosive hydra rocket fitted with M429 proximity fuse. this fuse searches 3.66 meters radius around its seeker, and detonates on the air once any solid.

The benefit over standard M151 rocket is that this rocket can still detonate and damage the targets even if the rocket was slightly missed, significantly increasing the killrate. It's also pretty good at taking down enemy helicopters!

Another detail added to many projectiles is the minimum arming range. If a rocket or missile impacted something too early, it will not detonate to protect the shooter.

Preparing for Campaign...

With all the UI improvements in this month, my objective for next month is creating the campaign mode, coupled with the pilot roster menu to save the campaign progress.

While working on the basic gameplay loop of campaign, which would be a reminiscent of the campaign from the flight sim classics like 'Gunship 2000', 'Harrier Jump Jet' and 'HIND', I'll also prepare to make the 3rd playable helicopter: UH-1H Huey II.

Roadmap

This is my current roadmap till the release:

• 2026 June: Create the basic gameplay loop of the campaign with promotions, awards, win and loss condition of the campaign.

• 2026 July - August: Create the playable UH-1H Huey II, along with Mi-8TBK Hip for Hijonstan side, and some Naval Units floating on water.

• 2026 September: Keep improving the campaign gameplay with various events and features.

• Added2026 OctoberIntroducing new pilot firearm options of M1911, Walter P-38, XM177 rifle, and M-79 grenade launcher inside MD-500, with unlock progression feature to obtain them.
• Added2026 NovemberCreate new interactive tutorials for all 3 helicopters.

• 2026 December: Debug and playtest of the campaign and other features. I want to share a playtest demo around this time period.

• Early 2027: Once everything is stable and ready, I'll be able to launch it finally.

Thanks for reading, and I'll make sure to complete next month's plans!

— Hijong Park