HELI HERO

Rescue the stranded hikers and get them back to base before your fuel runs out!

This game runs in your browser, with touch screen controls for mobile and keyboard controls for Desktop.

Mobile Controls

Desktop Controls

Flight Controls:
 
   Up/Down Ascend/Descend
Left/Right Coordinated Turn
       W/S Forward/Backward (Pitch)
   Shift+W Forward Lock
       A/D Slew (Roll)
       Q/E Turn (Yaw)
       1-9 Point to Compass Points
         5 Point to Rescue / Base
       J/I Lower/Raise Winch
 
Display Controls:
 
       +/- Zoom In/Out
         0 Reset Zoom
       O/P Orbit Helicopter
         C Toggle Camera View
         / Toggle Camera Tilt
         M Toggle Camera Motion
         Y Toggle Perspective
         . Toggle Strobe Lights
         G Clear Down Gauges
 
Game Controls:
 
     SPACE Pause
         K Show Instructions
         F Full Screen
         H Start Rescue Mission
         R Return to Base
         N Toggle Night Mode
         L Generate New Landscape

Credits

This game was 100% coded by AI, using Cursor, GitHub Copilot and OpenAI Codex. Not a single line of code was written by a human.

Thank you to Redditors and the VibeCodingList community for making suggestions and giving feedback!

Sound samples from freesound.org:

Warning sound by satchdev | License: Attribution 3.0 | Timestamp: 2025-08-13 12:51:33.793882+00:00
Explosion_003.mp3 by cydon | License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 | Timestamp: 2025-08-13 07:25:07.436935+00:00
helicopterRaw_16sec.wav by lorenzosu | License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 | Timestamp: 2025-08-09 20:45:59.676475+00:00. Thank you Lorenzo!

Wilhelm Scream from bigsoundbank.com

Helicopter model by Free3D creator Zakardian

Change log

Version 1.3.3

Support for Android phones

Version 1.3.2

Residual smoke from cancelled rescue missions is now correctly removed

Space bar can now be used to exit pause mode

Version 1.3.1

Fixed bugs with key editor

Explosion no longer pauses while assets load

Version 1.3.0

Added the ability to edit key bindings, as requested!

Version 1.2.10

Added T key binding to mute/unmute sound

Version 1.2.9

Yet more hitbox adjustments.

Version 1.2.8

Further fixes to hitboxes in landscape mode.

Version 1.2.7

Fixed issues with double counting previously rescued hikers when returning to base

Version 1.2.6

Fixed an issue with hitboxes not aligning with flight control buttons in landscape mode.

Version 1.2.5

Fixed a reversion that prevented audio from working.

Version 1.2.4

Reinstated red ground clearance indicator next to altimeter in mobile mode

Version 1.2.3

HUD captions no longer treated as selectable text by browser

Version 1.2.2

Fixed an alignment issue with touch controls in landscape mode

Version 1.2.1

Radar blips now move to the outer edge of the radar when far away

Enabled swipe to orbit and pinch to zoom on touch devices

Added menu icon at bottom screen on touch devices

Version 1.2.0

Support for iPhone (Android soon hopefully!)

Relocated fuel/rescue cluster to top right

Helicopter can no longer move on the helipad when the game starts

Version 1.1.11

New main rotor model

Prevent helicopter from sliding on the helideck

Maximum altitude changed to 1,000 feet

Tweaked daytime water colour

The moon now glides smoothly into view rather than popping in

Version 1.1.10

Helicopter volume is now dependent on distance from camera

Version 1.1.9

Terrain building / disposal now linked to camera position not helicopter position

Version 1.1.8

Press M to toggle camera movement

Changed helicopter body strobe colour and pattern

Version 1.1.7

Fixed a bug that could cause the side of a tall mountain to disappear

Frame rate optimisation

Make the daytime sky more blue

Version 1.1.6

Daytime colour scheme now correctly restored when exiting night mode

Version 1.1.5

Fixed an audio issue

Sped up applying new landscape seed

Version 1.1.4

Fixed reflected stars at night

Frame rate optimisation

Version 1.1.3

In Landscape Generator screen, you can now navigate between controls using TAB, click buttons by pressing SPACE, and close the window by pressing ESC

Added progress bar while applying a new landscape seed

Can now dismiss Pause and Crash screens by pressing any key

Version 1.1.2

Improved frame rate

Version 1.1.1

Prevent splash screen from auto skipping

Reinstate help panel when launching game

Version 1.1.0

Added water reflections

Version 1.0.5

Press / (slash) key to toggle camera tilt 🤢

Fixed an issue causing heading to revert after coordinated turn

Adjusted build parameters for faster load time

Version 1.0.4

Adjusted tilt angle while descending and moving forward

Performance improvements

Version 1.0.3

Fixed rescue state and UI where one or multiple hikers do not survive

Version 1.0.2

Number of rescued people now correctly reset when starting a new rescue mission.

Version 1.0.1

Detect person on winch colliding with terrain

Fixed yaw and direction finding bugs

Version 1.0

New splash screen

Rescue panel now shows status of each person to be rescued

Rescued people now stand clear of the helicopter when on the helipad

Altimeter and speed gauge moved closer to the helicopter

General tidy up and optimisation

Version 0.9

Added speed indicator

Added terrain elevation indicator to altimeter

Press G to progressively clear down gauges

Redesigned and repositioned help panel

Adjusted helicopter handling and drift

Fixed a bug that could cause multiple rescue missions to be active at once

Removed audio glitch when pressing O to orbit helicopter

Version 0.8

Added inertia to heli motion

Can now orbit while moving

Added altimeter

Rescue distance changed from metres to feet

Keys + and = both work for zoom in to support extended keyboards

Made helicopter audio loop more seamlessly

Squashed various bugs

Version 0.7

Pressing A, S or D while holding Shift no longer engages lock in that direction

Returning to base by pressing R now cancels forward lock

Returning to perspective view at night correctly restores dark cloudless sky

Added moon to night sky

Added a secret key for infinite fuel. It's hidden in plain sight!

Version 0.6

Press . (period) to permanently disable / enable flashing strobe lights

Updated help page layout

Twinkling stars!

Version 0.5

Hold down Shift while pressing W to lock forward motion

Reduce graphical settings where no GPU is detected

Zoomed out orthographic view to see more of the world

Fuel balloons

- Are higher above the clouds

- No longer materialise right in front of you

- Consistently disappear after being used

- Look better

Changed font

Version 0.4

Splash screen

- General tidy up

- Added tips

- Added version number

Landscape

- Re-mapped landscape generation to key L

- New landscape generation screen including randomise, type, paste and copy seed

Fuel balloons

- Appear more frequently even when far from origin

- Sit above the clouds

- Drift across the sky

- Disappear when used to refuel

Rescue

- Randomised number of people to rescue from 1-3

- Fixed a bug which caused the second person to be automatically hoisted into the helicopter at high speed

- Rescued people no longer float in the air when celebrating back on the helideck

- Rescue hook now snaps to person more easily

- Improved height and shape of rescue smoke

- Smoke can no longer pass through terrain

Trees

- Trees can now be tall and thin

- Randomise tree width

- Hopefully fewer flying trees

Other

- Clouds should be visible wherever you go

- Improved night mode texture of snow

- Nudged tail rotor position slightly so it lines up with the body model

- Tidied up instructions panel

- Tiny change to daytime sky colour

- Zoom setting now stays put

Version 0.3

Started using version numbers

Stopped flooding console with height messages. Thank you to the Redditor who pointed this out!

More information

Status	Released
Platforms	HTML5
Author	Mark Hammond
Genre	Action
Made with	Three.js
Tags	3D, Flying, helicopter, Procedural Generation, rescue
Average session	A few minutes
Languages	English
Inputs	Keyboard

Heli Hero