Ah, balsa wood. It may be slightly flimsy - potentially breakable, if you push it hard in the wrong place - but it’s also pliable, easy to build

Kerbal's creator is building from scratch with Balsa Model Flight Simulator, but intends to soar

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2021-08-27 10:30:08

Ah, balsa wood. It may be slightly flimsy - potentially breakable, if you push it hard in the wrong place - but it’s also pliable, easy to build with, and fuel for the hobbyist’s imagination. Oh: and it comes from South America. In all these respects, it’s a lot like the open beta build for Balsa Model Flight Simulator that’s launching on Steam today.

Designed by Kerbal Space Program creator Felipe Falanghe, it’s everything you’d expect from the man: a modular, mod-ready tool for unconstrained air vehicle creation and a sandbox for physics-enabled flight, delivered with a disarmingly gentle tone that finds comedy in the most disastrous crash.

Not that you would necessarily expect an early access indie project from one of the most successful designers in PC games. When Falanghe walked away from Kerbal studio Squad in 2016, I expected - as Falanghe did - that he would be able to walk through the front doors of an established studio and be showered with cash. After all, Kerbal itself is now the jewel in the crown of Take-Two publishing label Private Division, fast tracked for a sequel. Surely the instigator of that hit franchise would be wooed by a rival big name?

Not so. “I left with a massive amount of confidence, thinking I’m going to make my other dream game,” Falanghe says. “It was going to start big and have a large team. That never happened. Maybe I’m not the best salesman, I don’t know.”

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