Earthrise

Please read the Instructions and How to fly before playing the game. 

This 3d flight simulator uses realistic flight physics to enable you, the pilot, to fly your plane through realistic maneuvers. The multiplayer aspect enables you to fight other pilots.

Four aircraft types are available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses:

• Mitsubishi A6M Zero - an agile dogfighter with a light machine gun
• Vought F4U Corsair - a high-speed fighter with inverted gull wings
• North American P51 Mustang - a powerful multirole fighter
• Republic P47 Thunderbolt - a slow armored fighter with a powerful cannon

All are based on real WWII fighters.

Instructions:

Mouse for orientation control and throttle. WASD can also be used.

Landing gear can be toggled by pressing F.

When landed, press E to switch aircrafts.

Press Space to fire. Press Shift to toggle scope.

Press Escape to toggle fullscreen. Keep in mind that this will reset your progress.

When stopped, press Ctrl to turn on/off engine.

Press Enter to chat, and Ctrl to cancel. Press C to change your username. The game will save your username.

Press "/" to enter a command. Commands available:

• /vanish - turn on spectating mode (players cannot see you, but other spectators can)
• /unvanish - turn off spectating mode
• /takeoff - automatic takeoff (when landed)

How to fly:

To take off, you must turn right 90 degrees so you are facing along the runway. Then push the throttle to full to take off.

There are many ways to do this. If you are a beginner pilot, you can use WASD to taxi. Tap the W key to move forward. Do not hold down the W key or you will move too fast and run off the runway.

A and D turn the craft. At first you turn slowly, but if you hold down, you turn faster until you are at maximum turning speed.

Once you are aligned with the runway, you can hold down W to throttle up. If you left enough runway ahead of you, you should successfully take off!

In the air, A and D can be used to turn the craft, and W can be used to throttle up. Throttle will come down automatically.

Mouse control is more complicated.

Turning is accomplished by moving the mouse in the direction of the turn. The farther the mouse cursor is from the center of the screen, the faster your airplane turns.

Throttle is controlled by the vertical position of the mouse. If the mouse is below the centerline, throttle is zero. If the mouse is above the centerline, throttle is active.

If the mouse is close to the centerline, throttle is low, and if mouse is near the top of the screen, throttle is full. This way, you can control throttle by moving the mouse up and down.

WASD is easier to use, but mouse control is more fine and can improve accuracy.

Some players adopt a hybrid approach and use WASD for taxing and target acquisition, but switch to mouse control when aiming.

If these methods of control are too complicated, I'm open to suggestions! Put your ideas in the comments below.

If you want to practice your aim or flying, I also have a singleplayer version. When you land, wait a few seconds with throttle zero to "clone". When you do this, another (stationary) version of yourself should appear. Once you take off again, you will then see another aircraft fly along the path you previously traversed. As many as 5 previous selves can be in the sky at a time.

Gameplay and tips:

The goal of this game is to shoot down as many other players without being shot yourself. Some airplanes have a more powerful cannon (like the P47 Thunderbolt) and do not have to aim as accurately. Other airplanes such as the P51 Mustang have higher rates of fire but lower bullet power, requiring higher pilot experience and accuracy.

Note that the bullets are affected by gravity. When targeting faraway objects, you must compensate for bullet drop.

Some planes (such as the A6M Zero) have tighter turning radii as others. Players with Zeroes can turn faster than other players' aircraft and are very hard to shake off.

Fast crafts like the Corsair can outrun them, though.

You cannot fly past the world borders. There is also a flight ceiling.

If you leave the tab unattended for too long, your session will time out and your game may act strangely. (For example, messages may show up in your chat multiple times.) If this happens, please reload the page.

When landing, please do not drag your wing into the ground. If you do, you may crash.

I also have a version compilation here so that you can see how far this game has gone since it first started!