Flight Simulator

Name: Flight Simulator
Programmer(s): Bruce Artwick
Publisher: Sublogic
Year: 1980

Description:

Flight Simulator was one of the first realistic flying games for home computers when subLOGIC released it for the Apple II in 1979. Created by Bruce Artwick, this groundbreaking program let players control a small aircraft from inside the cockpit, showing the world through the pilot's eyes.

The game put you in control of a Cessna airplane with working instruments just like a real plane. You could see the artificial horizon, altimeter, compass, and airspeed indicator on your screen. The view out the windshield showed a simple wireframe world with mountains, buildings, and runways drawn in green lines against a black background. This was cutting-edge technology in 1979 when most games were still text-based adventures or simple arcade shooters.

Flying the plane required real skill. You used the keyboard to control the throttle, elevators, ailerons, and rudder. Push forward on the stick to dive, pull back to climb. Bank left or right to turn. If you weren't careful, you could stall the engine or crash into the ground. The game included several airports where you could practice takeoffs and landings, the hardest parts of flying. Weather conditions like wind and turbulence made flying even more challenging.

Players could fly anywhere in the game world, exploring different airports and landmarks. Some versions included combat modes where you could dogfight with enemy planes or bomb ground targets. The game also had an aerobatics mode for practicing loops, rolls, and other stunts. You could even fly at night or in clouds that blocked your view.

The Apple II version ran on just 48K of memory but managed to create a convincing 3D world. The graphics updated slowly, showing new frames every few seconds as the computer calculated your position and drew the wireframe scenery. Sound was limited to simple beeps for the engine and warning alerts.

Flight Simulator became hugely successful and spawned many sequels. Microsoft bought the rights and turned it into Microsoft Flight Simulator, which continues today. The original Apple II version proved that home computers could handle complex simulations, not just simple games. It inspired countless other flight simulators and helped establish simulation as a major game genre.

For 1979, Flight Simulator was revolutionary. It gave ordinary people a taste of flying without leaving the ground and showed what personal computers could do beyond spreadsheets and word processing. While primitive by today's standards, it laid the foundation for all modern flight simulators.