The Mighty Eighth VR - B-17 Flying Fortress VR

SolKutTeR · Jan 28, 2026

Weiterer Devlog 5, dieses mal geht es um das Player Presence System.

Devlog #5 – Player Presence System
Hey pilots, welcome back.
In this devlog we’re focusing on something that affects every moment you spend in VR: presence. If your hands clip through the world, if interactions feel “floaty,” or if your body doesn’t seem like it belongs there, immersion breaks instantly.

So we’ve been building (among other things) what we call our Player Presence System: a set of interaction features aimed at making your in-game body feel physically grounded, readable, and believable, while still staying performant and comfortable.

What’s new in this devlog (player-facing)

Hands that stop on surfaces instead of passing through them

Clear feedback when your real hand movement is blocked by the world

Smarter gripping that adapts to different objects

IK-locked interactions for fixed controls like wheels, levers, knobs, and switches

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1) Physics-Aware Hands (No More Clipping)
We’ve implemented a hand physics system that prevents your in-game hands from intersecting solid objects. When you push your hand into a surface, the hand stops where it should — giving you that crucial “I’m really here” feeling.

To keep this readable (and avoid confusion), we also show a ghost controller when there’s a noticeable offset between your real-world controller position and your in-world hand position. This is intentional feedback: it tells you, at a glance, where your tracked hand is versus where the in-game hand is being physically constrained.
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2) Adaptive Hand Collision for Different Poses
Hands change shape constantly in VR: relaxed, pointing, reaching, gripping.

Instead of treating every pose the same, we swap the hand’s collision profile depending on what you’re doing (based on hand state and input). For performance and stability, we use simple collision primitives that automatically adjust to fit different use cases.

The result is fewer awkward collisions, more predictable contact, and interaction that feels consistent across a wide range of objects.
Click to expand...

3) Procedural Grips and Finger Placement
When you grab objects that support it, the hands don’t rely on a single canned animation.

We evaluate the motion from an open-hand state toward a closed-hand state and choose the most appropriate final finger placement for the object you’re grabbing. That means grips can look and feel more natural across different shapes and sizes — especially in close-up VR interaction where your hands are always in view.
Click to expand...

4) IK-Locked Interaction for Fixed Controls
Some interactions should behave differently than freeform grabbing. For fixed controls — steering wheels, knobs, toggles, levers, and cockpit-style inputs — we use a dedicated system that locks the hand to the control via Inverse Kinematics (IK).

This keeps your hand anchored and stable as you operate the control, so the interaction feels precise and intentional rather than slippery or approximate.
Click to expand...

Why This Matters (and what we’re watching closely)
Presence isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s a foundation. When interaction feels physical and consistent, teamwork becomes more intuitive, cockpit tasks feel more natural, and moment-to-moment gameplay becomes far more immersive.

This is still active development, and we’ll continue refining it as we test and iterate.

If you like the direction we’re heading, please wishlist The Mighty Eighth VR on Steam. It’s the single most helpful way to support development and makes a real difference in visibility.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far, and we look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
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roads · Jan 29, 2026

Das game sieht verdammt gut aus und wir sollten auch einen VR Forum Fortress permament im Einsatz haben. Ich habe nur den Eindruck, dass das Ding nie fertig wird weil sie zu sehr ins Detail gehen oder unspielbar scheisse rausgeworfen wird. Aber die Handanimationen sind so toll.

SolKutTeR · Jan 29, 2026

roads said: ↑

wir sollten auch einen VR Forum Fortress permament im Einsatz haben
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Ich wäre, denke ich, dabei.

axacuatl · Jan 29, 2026

Ich auch*

*FALLS
- ich mich dazu durchringen kann, mich auf feste Zeiten zu commiten;
- der zugewiesene Job nicht strunzlangweilig ist (Bordschütze seitlich, der während 45 minütigen An- und Abflugphase in der Nase bohren darf;
- das Spiel überhaupt was taugt;
- roads sich ein HOTAS zugelegt hat, damit wir nicht seinetwegen immer abkacken

ReVoltaire · Jan 29, 2026

Also ich kann mich nie auf feste Zeiten festlegen, da ist diese....Familie....die immer meine Pläne durchkreuzt!

roads · Jan 30, 2026

axacuatl said: ↑

roads sich ein HOTAS zugelegt hat, damit wir nicht seinetwegen immer abkacken
Click to expand...

Never again aber ich lass euch einfach fliegen. Gibt ja viel zu tun in der Kiste wenn man sich die Serie ansieht.

maxxs · Feb 8, 2026

mal auf Wunschliste gepackt

The Mighty Eighth VR - B-17 Flying Fortress VR

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