Fireflight Patrol

Becoming a New Hero 

The island sanctuary with the Great Tree — the oldest living creature in the world — is in great danger. Fierce drought and human indifference form a dangerous mix, and the sanctuary could easily be destroyed by fire.

In this top-down helicopter simulator strategy game, you need to patrol the sanctuary, located on a distant island. Respond when you see the first signs of smoke or fire, and try to put it out before it reaches the Great Tree. 

But saving this unique biome won’t be easy — the sanctuary is a maze of landscapes with mountains, geysers, an old, dormant volcanoes and man — maid objects. Even reaching water to put out the fire is a challenge! 

Features 

• Enjoy the flight. 

- Take pleasure in soaring above the beautiful forest with the easy-to-control helicopter, playable on PC, joystick, and adaptive controllers! 

• Play again and again. 

- Strategize your flight to save larger areas of the forest and protect its inhabitants — both great and small. 

• Challenge yourself. 

- Find the quickest way to extinguish the fire and become the fastest saviour of the nature reserve! 

Inspired by our visit to the Forest exhibition at Tekniska Museet, we developed the idea of a firefighting helicopter game during a brainstorming session at the museum. The session sparked creativity, with ideas such as a teachable game for kids, addressing climate change, and creating a fun, immersive experience where children could fly their own helicopter. These ideas came together in a quick and effective brainstorming process.

Key milestones in development included implementing the grid system for the fire spreading mechanic, creating a helicopter model with animations for flying, water collection and release, and a crash sequence. 

We conducted a playtest at Tekniska Museet with our target audience. This provided valuable feedback on usability and game balance. For example, we added a difficulty adjustment for the fire-spreading speed and improved the water tank indicator with clearer text showing when it is full or empty. 

Our intended audience includes young players as well as casual gamers who enjoy dynamic, accessible gameplay. 

This project emphasized the importance of clear priorities, iterative feedback, and adaptability throughout the process. 

Designers 

• Philip Jensen – Project Owner/Producer 
•  Heitor Mendonça – Assisting Producer/Level Designer 
•  Kasper Enwall – Assisting Producer/Technical Designer 
• Tetiana Tretilova – Narrative/Level Designer 
• Juno Gillström – Sound Designer 

Animation/VFX:

•  Rebecka Timper - Generalist VFX/Animation 
•  Andreas Johansson - Generalist VFX/Animation 
• Arda Boyacioglu Nahmiyas – Generalist VFX/Animation 

Artists:

•   Yana Chechunina – Game Artist 
• Zyrile Mae Martens – Game Artist 
• (Therese) Ira Aspelin – Game Artist 

Programmers:

•  Elliot Coffell – Gameplay Programmer 
• Zhengyang Lyu – Generalist Programmer
•   Yongqin Yu – Tools/System Programmer 
• Oliver Henriksson – UI Programmer