Sitting in SimplePlanes 1’s vast ocean is one of the game’s most iconic locations, which isn’t an island at all, nor necessarily a building; it’s a ship.

The USS Beast has been a much-loved part of the original SimplePlanes, but with its last revision being all the way back in 2019 with Version 1.8, it’s been long overdue for an upgrade.

The USS Beast II

I’m not gonna mince words: Kevin has done a phenomenal job giving the Beast a complete remake. The entire thing was completely rebuilt from scratch, nothing was untouched. The entire model is so much higher in fidelity, feeling more like a real location than the Beast ever has, with some neat new features to boot.

Letting Kevin take over for a minute, here’s some insight into the creative process behind the Beast II:

The USS Beast II aircraft carrier was inspired by the real-world CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford class. I kept the iconic silhouette of the angled flight deck and island superstructure so it’s instantly recognizable as a modern naval powerhouse. But from there, I deliberately left the design open so we could work around some frustrating gameplay elements with the elevators in the landing zone along with vertex budget management. The goal wasn't to create a perfect 1:1 replica, but something that is authentic and grounded/game-ready.

Alongside an entire new model, the Beast II sports some neat extra additions:

• Destructible planes are parked all over the deck
• There are fancy new buttons in the UI for using the catapults and elevators
• The carrier’s movement leaves a wake in the ocean behind it with actual physics, creating hazardous water conditions for any vessels following too closely
  
  

If you happen to be wondering where the carrier’s typical destroyer escort is, don’t worry – the old escort duo has been retired so you can’t see them anywhere in this showcase, but they are pending new, more modern replacements that will be ready to keep your trigger finger in check same as ever :)

In the wake of the new Beast II, you might have noticed that the water in SimplePlanes 2 is looking quite a bit different from the very flat water in SimplePlanes 1. That’s because it is!

Using an asset called Crest by Wave Harmonic – the same asset that allows us to have bodies of water above sea level for things like rivers – we’re finally able to support significantly improved water graphics and physics.

The biggest thing Crest gives us aside from rivers is support for actual waves that jostle your craft around. The flat seas of SP1 are no more, now you have to design your boats with turbulent water in mind lest you get caught in the waves and capsize. Here you’ll see a gif with a debug tool showing some behind the scenes stuff for the physics, with little pink nodes showing exactly what parts of the water are being sampled to gently (or violently) bounce your craft around.

Wave size varies depending on the weather, water depth, and location, meaning things will be much more intense if you set the weather to stormy far out in the sea than if you’re in fair weather on the coast.

(Gif at 2x speed to make gif compression easier)

Thanks to a mod by Gestour (with help from Nicky), you’ve actually been able to play SP1 with waves for nearly five years. As such, crafts that were made with this mod in mind may behave better in SP2 than ones that weren’t. If on the other hand you designed your ships for the flat mirror-like oceans of SP1, you may unfortunately be in for a slight rude awakening. We’ve tested a ton of crafts from the website and many of them don’t take to the seas of SP2 very well, so you may have to do some extra tuning to survive out there.

Aside from just waves that throw you around, the new water has a whole bunch of visual improvements. Improved underwater graphics, caustics on both the sea floor and your craft, sea foam, different colours based on the environment, coastal waves… It’s all a huge gamechanger not just for ship builders, but for pretty much anybody.

If you like what you're seeing, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam. If you'd like to see bits of these blogs early, consider joining our Discord Server!