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Steam News14 February 20264mo ago

Dev Blog - 13 Feb 2026

This week I’ve been focusing on terrain optimisation - making it look dramatically better without increasing performance cost. For Supersonic Fight, terrain matters.

In this update3

Full notes

Full Supersonic Fight update

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What changed

0 fixes2 additions8 changes0 removals
  • Maps
  • Performance
  • Gameplay
changedThis week I’ve been focusing on terrain optimisation - making it look dramatically better without increasing performance cost.
changedFor Supersonic Fight , terrain matters. You’ll be flying low over mountains, coastlines, cities, and forests. I want it to hold up at 30,000 feet and 30 feet.
changedSmarter Texture SystemModern materials use Physically Based Rendering (PBR), that means surfaces react to light realistically - metal looks metallic, snow scatters light properly, rock feels solid.
changedSmarter Texture SystemOne third of the memory usage ✔
changedSmarter Texture SystemBetter performance ✔
changedAdding Real Depth (Without More Triangles)To really sell the terrain up close, I implemented Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM) .

Supersonic Fight changes

changedThis week I’ve been focusing on terrain optimisation - making it look dramatically better without increasing performance cost.
changedFor Supersonic Fight , terrain matters. You’ll be flying low over mountains, coastlines, cities, and forests. I want it to hold up at 30,000 feet and 30 feet.
changedModern materials use Physically Based Rendering (PBR), that means surfaces react to light realistically - metal looks metallic, snow scatters light properly, rock feels solid.
changedOne third of the memory usage ✔
changedBetter performance ✔

This week I’ve been focusing on terrain optimisation - making it look dramatically better without increasing performance cost.

For Supersonic Fight, terrain matters. You’ll be flying low over mountains, coastlines, cities, and forests. I want it to hold up at 30,000 feet and 30 feet.

Smarter Texture System

Modern materials use Physically Based Rendering (PBR), that means surfaces react to light realistically - metal looks metallic, snow scatters light properly, rock feels solid.

Normally, that requires five or six different textures per material. That’s a lot of VRAM!

So instead, I packed all that data into just two textures. The result:

  • One third of the memory usage ✔

  • Fewer texture lookups ✔

  • Same visual quality ✔

  • Better performance ✔

More realism. Less cost.

Adding Real Depth (Without More Triangles)

To really sell the terrain up close, I implemented Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM).

Rather than adding more geometry (which would drastically increase triangle counts), POM uses the height data to simulate real surface depth inside the texture itself.

Here’s what that means:

  • The mesh stays exactly the same.

  • No extra triangles.

  • But the surface suddenly has depth and structure.

Rocks feel raised. Ground detail feels carved. Surfaces stop looking flat.

In the image below, you can see Parallax Occlusion Mapping in action. The green wireframe shows the actual triangle mesh - the added depth comes entirely from the shader.

The illusion holds as long as the camera remains about 20cm above the surface - well within the constraints of Supersonic Fight.

The following image shows a close-up of mud. The geometry hasn’t changed - the depth you’re seeing is pure POM.

Why This Matters

For me, Supersonic Fight is not just about the aircraft - it’s also about the world you’re flying over. Now, the terrain is starting to match the vision I had from the beginning.

Thank you for following development. If you’re enjoying these updates, please consider wishlisting - it really helps.

Rich

Source

Steam News / 14 February 2026

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