Devblog: The Concept Art of Foxhole Airborne

Hi everyone, Julian here. Like the Naval Update and Inferno before it, Airborne is one of our largest updates yet. This time, the team was working on a feature we thought would be impossible to add into the game. How the camera should work became the focus of a number of meetings and gameplay tests. Falling back on the original vision for the game as a guide, it was decided that we should keep the top-down camera and make flying a plane ‘feel like’ Foxhole, and not make Foxhole into something else.

Development history

Over the years of development, there have been a few explorations regarding how we could represent planes in Foxhole.

In 2019 planes weren’t possible, but we wanted to explore the idea that aerial battles were happening in the world. Screenshot paint-overs were developed as a test. We only had time to develop one of the planes as a model for the world before we had to shift back to higher priority issues for the game. These, however, got some ideas rolling on the eventual themes for the planes in the future.

Airborne Themes

Paratroopers

The iconic story of paratrooping behind enemy lines has always been the goal for driving the Airborne update. In fact, since the beginning of the project it's something the game designers have wanted, but thought was out of reach. When production on Airborne started, meetings about troops/paratroops were more confirmation that it's finally time to add it to the game.

Seaplanes A few key meetings with game design led to the idea of including support for seaplanes. The team has always liked the visuals of them. At that time, we had just gotten all the naval physics into the game, and took the opportunity to let planes land and take off from the water. It seemed very doable within the scope of the Airborne Update.

Aircraft Carriers Aircraft carriers were an early goal for the update. Coming off of Naval Warfare, we wanted to excite players while adding complexity and depth to all theaters of war. We knew it would be very technically demanding to make them work in game, but that didn’t deter us from going for it. The main issue was the scale of the boats, as we had a hard limit in order to fit them in the dry docks.

Scout planes and the new Boats

Scout planes were a late addition to the roster of planes. The idea was to add in an accessible early war plane to simply get used to all the mechanics of flying. One of the 3D modelers pitched the addition of new early warboats; these two ideas in combination created the momentum for the addition of the new early naval game. A number of meetings took place to figure out exactly what we would need in order to add a ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ dynamic between the boats and scout planes.

Faction Airplane design When it finally came time to start work on the Airborne update, the concept art team had grown to two, so we discussed and developed a few themes and rules for each faction to guide the plane designs.

Colonial Airforce

The main visual themes that developed for the Colonial planes were:

- Stay closer to WW2 than the Wardens, but still lean back into the interwar era of plane designs. This was to follow the larger visual theme of the faction's other vehicles.

- Open exposed radial engines. Colonial vehicles have always prioritized function over form - think of a ‘pickup truck’ compared to Wardens' over-engineered ‘sports cars’. For their planes, instead of pickup trucks, we wanted the feeling of purpose-built muscle cars. Large, exposed radial engines would become a key to the visual design of the planes.

- Engines mounted in the wings on larger planes. This was in keeping with the look of planes closer to the 1940’s.

- Large raised paneling. The visual lining running the wings and body of larger colonial planes was a way to lean back to the first all metal planes.

- Exposed gunners. In order to keep Colonial planes a little ‘out of time’ and push back to the interwar era, we decided that all gunners would be exposed and visible from the outside of the plane.

- With the theme of keeping things visually exposed, landing gear would never fully retract into the planes. You would always see part of it. This was inspired by a lot of interwar planes and the early BT1 diver bomber prototypes.

- We decided to lean into twin boom aircraft. Inspired by the P38 Lightning looking like a power house of a fighter, it was discussed that Colonial planes would favor twin boom aircraft. This doesn’t mean that every plane would be a twin boom design, but that one or two out of five could be. The idea actually originated from how we could make the silhouettes of both factions more distinct to troops on the ground as the planes flew overhead.

Warden Airforce

The main visual themes that developed for the Warden planes were:

- Warden planes would favor older designs, Interwar and earlier. Like the Colonials, this was to follow the larger visual theme of the faction's other vehicles.

- Wardens would get inline engines. In the original sketches from 2019, the crashed Warden plane was inspired by the P-51 Mustang; its engine led to the theme for the faction.

- Additionally, the Warden engines would not be built into the wings of their larger planes. We were referencing a lot of seaplanes, biplanes and interwar French bomber designs for the faction at that point. Conversations about how to help separate the look of the two factions at a glance were going on, and we decided on this engine placement, as it would be very distinctive.

- Wardens would favor biplane aircraft. Similar to the Colonial twin boom guideline, we wanted to have a theme of biplanes for the wardens. It would visually enforce the faction's look of being little out of date.

- Early in visual exploration, a theme to help explore designs was that Warden planes would originally be designed for another purpose before the war, and then pressed into combat out of necessity. Cargo or transport planes, leisure flight or racing planes, seaplanes, flying boats and test airframes were all options to explore. This led to a more motley look for the fleet of aircraft, one that we embraced as a distinct character from their ground forces and navy.

I want to point out that we are not making a hard rule that twin boom or biplanes are locked to either faction. For the other faction, it will be a rare special plane that gets the design. It will need to stand out visually. Fighters

The Warden fighter was needed for the initial prototypes and CG trailer, and was designed first. However, with both fighters we wanted to capture the feeling of a natural rivalry between WW2 fighting aces, and reinforce the visuals players would expect from the era.

The Warden fighter inspiration started with the Mustang in 2019. It moved further away from that look with the rounding of the wings, the addition of a weapon pod, and flipping of the air intake to the top. The goal was to make something that might have started its design work before the war, like the Supermarine S6B, and then had weapons attached.

The Colonial fighter took inspiration from the Hellcat and Corsair but with an exposed radial engine. We knew this was going to be a carrier Fighter, so we let that guide direction. We wanted an aggressive plane, and the wing shape was taken from actual birds of prey, specifically raptors. To keep it looking mean, we wrapped the guns around the engine.

Bombers

The original plan was for larger, four engine bombers but after some block-in tests for scale (before concepts had been drawn), they ended up looking like cute toys with too much engine to wing. Twin engine bombers looked correct. The Colonial bomber took a lot of inspiration from Russian bombers.

Informing the Wardens' bomber was an idea that started in 2019. We wanted to explore the idea of WW1 era biplanes, built from WW2 era materials. Effectively biplane silhouettes (with only the bottom wing) and made out of metal. Later, Luke pitched the idea for the open siding, which gave the impression that the Wardens were removing as much weight as they could to maximise the amount of ordinance the light bomber could carry. The final look with its pusher engines gives a ‘test airframe’ feel that is explorative and un-optimized; this felt unique and uniquely Warden.

Troop Planes

For the Colonial troop plane, a number of designs similar to the American Douglas were sketched up, but we wanted to break away a little from that iconic plane. The faction's troop planes would inform a lot of the personality of the faction, as most players would interact with them. This, combined with the twin boom theme, led us closer to a C-119 Flying Boxcar. During a meeting with game design, it was mentioned the plane looked like the Sea Duck, once that was pointed out, it was something everyone liked.

The Warden troop plane retained the more expected look of a paratrooper plane from the era. With the rounded glass canopy inspired by the HE-111, the addition of raised propellers and second mini wing, Luke created something looking slightly un-ideal that might have seen life as a cargo plane before war broke out.

Dive and Torpedo Bombers The dive bomber was actually inspired by the British Vampire jet. Though the Lighting inspired the entire twin boom idea, the Vampire looked like it would fit a large, unique airbrake well, and had a nice shape for the engine up front. The goal of the design was to actually make an expendable looking airframe. Kind of weak with its singular engine and exposed crew, this was an airframe the Colonials would assume might not come back to base.

With the torpedo bomber, we explored a three engine idea to avoid another large, two engine plane. Inspired by Italian three propeller designs, but with a raised wing, the plane is meant to look like it can handle the weight of the torpedoes it carries.

Scout Planes The scout planes were actually the last airplanes designed. There was a need to have an accessible plane that could be used to fly that had a lower cost in the case of crashing or being shot down. We wanted them to look weaker than the fighters. However, they also needed to seem useful throughout the entire war, a cheap option to gather direct intel on the enemy. The idea to add anti-ship weapons actually also came right at the end, as the early game boats and the combat loop between the boats was figured out.

The Colonial scout plane needed a redesign to fit the floating mine. At first, to keep it lithe, it only had one pontoon.

The Warden scout plane was inspired by interwar era flying boats like the B1 Flying Boat. Luckily, the plane didn’t need alteration when it needed the mini torpedoes added. The thought that the Warden's first plane would actually be a boat was a fun one - that, and a nod to a certain flying pig.

Warden Sea Fighter When the Warden carrier design was decided upon, there was an added need for an extra aircraft for the Wardens, which came in the form of the Sea Fighter. This plane also provided an additional opportunity to add some visual story telling with the theme of a fighter made specifically for the Warden navy.

Early game boats Infantry boats Both factions' infantry boats are their anti-air and anti-infantry options, providing the dual use of defending ships from air attack, while also being able to threaten the crews of other ships. The Colonial boat took on an armoured speed boat look, while the Warden boat ended up with the look of a heavy picket ship. The Warden boat, designed by our latest artist Steve, was meant to look like it can take hits. The boat also originally had an additional function on top of the anti-air turret. The scope of the new boat pitches was expansive, and there are a few things we have not been able to share yet.

Medium boats Medium boats were dubbed ‘tanks on water’ by the game designers. Ironically, during the devbranch testing they proved to be anything but. Redesigns were prioritized, since the ship's role was so critical in the early game loop.

Siege boats and the Colonial Gunboat The siege boats sat outside the combat balance of the scout planes, medium, and infantry boats. They needed to threaten fortifications on the shore, and be a target for everything else. Before the siege boats were needed, the Colonial gunboat redesign was underway. We had some previous designs for gunboat variants, and luckily one worked to repurpose into the Colonial siege boat.

Light Freighter An absolute last minute addition to the entire update, Max pushed to get this in. Seen as a key addition in conjunction with the rest of the ships. The tight schedule meant that Luke had to go with his gut and design the boat in one shot, creating a pleasing, compact early game design.

Aircraft Carriers For the carriers, we wanted to explore both flattops and seaplane tenders to represent the different eras of history. Both boats were very technically demanding to get into the engine.

The Colonial aircraft carrier underwent a lot of changes from its original concept. Originally inspired by the HMS Furious with its lower catapult, our first carrier was simply too big to fit into the dry docks (despite significant effort to make it fit). We eventually went back to a smaller, but still giant, alternative concept. With all the effort put into them, the two boats have acted like test beds for future content.

Flak cannons The visual for the flak cannons had to look identifiable from the other artillery cannons in the game. Unique barrels and shields on the emplacements were meant to make them a proper new addition to trench lines, while also a distinct target for enemies.

CG Trailer For the CG trailer made in 2025, we developed a set of story boards. This trailer mini project was a fun exploration for the studio.

Promo Art This Update we thought we would share the series of sketches made for the final Promo Art.

Top Secret Video We want to end this devblog with something no one has ever seen outside the studio. In 2018 we did a test to see if airborne paratroopers was something the team could pull off. We made an internal proof of concept video.

Looking back on it now is fun for us. At the time, there was no flight physics, no code or anything. We mocked up a plane and skinned it to a truck driving on a road down below. Nothing was ‘real’ but we created some FX and SFX and a parachute with a basic animation. HB created the video for us, driving the truck and jumping out of the plane. This was what we needed as reference and to prove that it wasn't yet time to try Airborne.