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VACE is a new aircraft set that brings VTOL aircraft to OpenTTD.

VTOL - Vertical Take-Off and Landing. Aircraft that go straight up and down, no runway needed! Kind of like a helicopter, but faster and with better range. This is a mix of real and fictional aircraft. Real aircraft include those in production, those that were tested but never went into production, and those that are on the drawing boards. Fictional aircraft include some based around real world technologies and some that are a bit more fanciful.

Graphics and code by Oftcrash. Real World aircraft research by Kamnet. Sprites created using Zephyris' PixelToo

License: GPL v2

There are currently 12 aircraft, starting with the (real) Canadair CL-84 Tiltwing in 1964 and ending with the fictional Orbitas S-1 VTOL Scramjet in 2050. You can choose in the parameters to play with just real aircraft, just fictional aircraft, or both.

You can find this on Bananas under VACE. Direct link if Bananas isn't an option. Source:

I think this would be much welcomed by fans of using air vehicles, especially later in the game! Can't wait to see what you turn out.

Not sure if I would be happy with using planes from a company called Oftcrash...
Seriously, very nice! Indeed also curious to see what you will come up with, a very nice addition for the game!

Good idea!

Kamnet pointed out some research he'd already done on real world VTOL aircraft, so I'm going to take a stab at a few of them, plus a few I've dug up on my own.

In Progress

• Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor (available 2005) - Animated props, rotating rotor pods on landing, and even folded wings when going to the hangar. This one works, but I'm not happy with the sprites - I'm going to redo them a bit bigger.
• LTV C-142 tiltwing (available 1965) - Animated props and rotating wings. This one works and I'm actually pretty happy with the sprites.

Real World Under consideration

• Moller m400 Skycar
• Moller m600 Skycar
• Bell V-280
• Bell Boeing Quad Tiltrotor
• Karem TR53 AeroTrain
• Karem Joint Heavy Lift
• AugustaWestland AW609
• Dornier Do 31

Fictional under consideration

• A couple more tilt jets
• a couple vector thrust, including a supersonic craft
• A couple ducted fan craft
• Possibly a space plane similar to that in Avatar

Interesting that you're including the Moellers, even though they're only able to carry one or two passengers and a few hundred pounds of cargo. Not very functional, but it's very nice eyecandy. If you want more vehicles like that, I can look them up.

kamnet wrote:Interesting that you're including the Moellers, even though they're only able to carry one or two passengers and a few hundred pounds of cargo. Not very functional, but it's very nice eyecandy. If you want more vehicles like that, I can look them up.

Nah, I just had an urge to draw one. I probably won't bother with the m400, but the m600 would carry 6. I have a soft spot for them since I did a paper on VTOLs in high school and the Moller actually seemed like it would become a reality. 23 years later we're still waiting

oftcrash wrote:

kamnet wrote:Interesting that you're including the Moellers, even though they're only able to carry one or two passengers and a few hundred pounds of cargo. Not very functional, but it's very nice eyecandy. If you want more vehicles like that, I can look them up.

Nah, I just had an urge to draw one. I probably won't bother with the m400, but the m600 would carry 6. I have a soft spot for them since I did a paper on VTOLs in high school and the Moller actually seemed like it would become a reality. 23 years later we're still waiting

You can buy the original M400X prototype for just $3.5 million.

You could also look at drawing the Terrafugia TF-X, it seats 4 and is a VTOL personal air vehicle.

BTW, I've done a few more updates to the spreadsheet.

So, I was outside with my daughter and saw a dragonfly. Apparently I've been too focused on making VTOLs the last few days and thought, hey, maybe...

So here's a throw-away grf of a funky orange dragonfly Ornithopter that, due to an error on my part, flashes its colors when it flies. I'm going with it though

This won't make it into the full VTOL grf, but maybe an improved version will as a far future vehicle.

These are really cool!!!

I'm seeing those traditional helicopters listed. Are you interested in developing more of those?

kamnet wrote:I'm seeing those traditional helicopters listed. Are you interested in developing more of those?

Those are from AV8. I didn't disable that GRF before I took the screenshot.

I may look at making a few other helicopters or maybe the compound helis at some point, but probably not for a while. I don't want to overcommit. I have a couple other ideas non-aircraft related that I want to try out too. And maybe even get back to finishing up Martian Industries someday

It's been so long since I've actually played a game, I forgot that AV8 had some nifty helos in it.

A quick update. So far we have:

• Dornier Do 31 Vector Thrust
• Canadair CL-84 Tiltwing
• LTV C-142 Tiltwing
• Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor

I have to fix some stats and costs, plus a spelling error or two, but I hope to have an alpha available later today or tomorrow for people to start playing with.

Looking slick!

Updated first post with latest list and download.

The sprites look really nice! Great work with PixelTool!

Zephyris wrote:The sprites look really nice! Great work with PixelTool!

Thanks for the great tool! I ended up downloading a local copy to set up some presets and put a merge button right on the screen. I didn't see that option until after I'd had to go back and change wings a few times, then add in the props, etc. Being able to keep all the elements separate now is a huge help!

One of these days maybe I'll actually teach myself Blender, but until then, Pixeltool is my goto resource

Nice work with PixelTool!

I only use (and draw) 8 bit pixel art for OpenTTD, so I'm always happy to see people learning how to make more of that

(I've got nothing against other ways of making sprites, and have made rendered animation and game sprites in another part of my life, but for me the major appeal of TTD/OpenTTD has always been the limited-palette pixel art. I never saw another game that did this style better).

andythenorth wrote:Nice work with PixelTool!

I only use (and draw) 8 bit pixel art for OpenTTD, so I'm always happy to see people learning how to make more of that

(I've got nothing against other ways of making sprites, and have made rendered animation and game sprites in another part of my life, but for me the major appeal of TTD/OpenTTD has always been the limited-palette pixel art. I never saw another game that did this style better).

Thanks

I use Photoshop too, but at this point mostly just for applying the palette. I've tried creating a couple buildings in Photoshop, but my results are iffy. I haven't gotten the knack of texturing and shading down yet. I use a lot of your art for inspiration and guidance on buildings and vehicles. I'm getting a little better