Belgian game studio LuGus Studios, best known for the game Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing, announced on the social network X (Twitter) that it has a solution for military drone operators and is contacting authorities in Ukraine for cooperation.
Belgian game studio LuGus Studios, best known for the game Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing, announced on the social network X (Twitter) that it has a solution for military drone operators and is contacting authorities in Ukraine for cooperation.
This is how LuGus Studios responded to a post by a Ukrainian military man with the nickname tacticalturist on X (Twitter), who is being treated after being injured in a hospital and drew attention to the situation with publicly available drone simulators.
«It’s really sad that Ukrainian engineers are ignoring this area. I only realized this now, when I came across it. There are few projects, and those that are there are miserable… Of course, flying in a Liftoff is like a classic and all that, but I think many will agree that after hours of flying it becomes stupidly boring, and you want to kill something somewhere, blow it up, etc.,» the military man wrote.
He noted that existing Ukrainian FPV simulators have certain shortcomings.
«FPV Battleground is raw and unoptimized, with strange physics, on a Unity engine, and in general looks, to put it mildly, weak, but it costs as much as 400 (!!!) hryvnias,» says tacticalturist. According to him, the Russian FPV simulator Kamikaze Drone, which is «essentially better,» in contrast costs only 120 hryvnias.
«There is another Ukrainian-made simulator, namely UFDS (Ukrainian Fight Drone Simulator), it looks like a decent project, but the problem with it is something else. It is at the testing stage, and to get access you need to sign up for a subscription. Which is currently impossible to sign up for, but for active military personnel it is free,» the Ukrainian military officer noted.
According to him, to get a key to UFDS on Steam, you need «an official letter of application with the military unit seal and the commander’s signature.»
The official account of LuGus Studios commented on this post by the Ukrainian military.
«The Liftoff developers are here! We have created a solution that directly addresses your suggestion, and we are actively trying to work with your government to implement it. However, despite our efforts over the past two years, we have been consistently ignored, and we do not know why,» LuGus Studios noted.
This post gained popularity on social media, and later the developers of Liftoff announced that they managed to contact the «right people» and deleted their first post for reasons «that you understand».
«Thank you for your support on our last post. We have removed it for reasons you understand. We believe the best way to help is out of the spotlight. Good news? We have contacted the right people to make it happen,» the Belgian developers said.
They indicated that at this point they «just need a constructive response» and believe that «the opening of lines of communication was a huge step in the right direction».
Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing is one of the most popular FPV drone simulators on Steam and is popular among Ukrainian military drone operators who hone their skills in it.
«I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your product. Liftoff has trained many pilots, including me. Thank you», — tacticalturist wrote.
This signed Ukrainian flag we received today holds a special place in our hearts, truly the greatest honor. Thanks to the Ukrainian SBT team and Хортицька Вартa for this touching gesture. The flag will proudly fly at our studio! 🇺🇦 #Honored #Ukraine #UkraineWillWin pic.twitter.com/IJZhbTbY0q
— LuGus Studios (@LuGusStudios) July 26, 2023
The developers recently reported receiving over 10,000 player reviews on the platform. Liftoff currently has «very favorable» reviews, with 94% of them being positive.
The game is also not available in Russia. «We stopped selling Liftoff in Russia early. Unfortunately, most other popular FPV simulators continue to offer their FPV training tools there», — LuGus Studios noted.
