Adventurer #4
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
I wanted to d o something very different from AN INTERVIEW WITH what had already been done: take a pivotal part of history and loo k at it from bot h sides. LARRY ow did you get started design- to get into. I want them to be able to hop ing and programming combat in the cockpit and fly. flight simulators? Of course, the flight model has It all started with my HOLLAND improved over the course of our flight involvement in the PHM simulators. In fact, I was afraid it would H Pegasus and Strike Fleet get too difficult, so I broke it up into reg- projects. Noah Falstein was the game ular and advanced modes. Ultimately, Id designer on those games, and I was the like to do games that are variable and software designer. Both were modern configurable, so that we can make as naval simulations . After that, I started many people happy as possible . doing research for a third naval simula- What do you think the impact of tech- tor, and I became very interested in the nology will be on flight simulators over the World War II carrier battles between the nextfew years? U. S. and Japan . I was also interested in Up to now, weve seen a very steep doing some kind of air simulator — I change in horsepower, and thats wha t wanted to create a game that was up to pursue a doctor- Well, Igo to has allowed sims to advance so rapidly. I close, fast paced, and action oriented . ate at U.C. Berke- the library . I read think were reaching a plateau in that The problem was, we needed the proper ley. At that point, I a ton of books, regard, though . Id like to see improve- technology. I didnt want to do another dont think Id ever mostly first person ments in the way video cards work . polygon based simulation, where it was seen a computer , accounts, as well Right now, a VGA card is a bottleneck . hard to recognize the different aircraft. even in college. as some strategi c The memory on a video card is slower t o So I started working with bitmaps, to During the dawn of overview. As fo r get to by a factor of 15 to 20 than the make things more recognizable, and the computer age, I analysis and inter- computers main memory. Typically, hopefully more enjoyable . Once Id was traveling all pretation, I like to flight simulators use 320x200x256 reso- developed the technology, I realized tha t over the world. leave that for the lution graphics. Although there are high- no one was really doing World War II When I got here, I was working as a che f player . I give them the facts and details er VGA standards available, there just sims. Its really one of the most interest- at a restaurant in Berkeley — and I real- as accurately as possible, and let the isnt the horsepower to push that many ing periods of history, especially in term s ized I didnt particularly want to do tha t players draw their own conclusions . We pixels around at the rate necessary in a of air combat. Thats how Battlehawks for the next six years while I worked o n also talk to living experts, including for- flight simulator . So unless we see a 1942 was born . At the time, I didnt my doctorate. At the time, my roommate mer pilots and historians. I try to get a change in the way video memory is han- really think, "Oh, Ive got seven games had an Atari 800, and he was into pro- handle on the issues of the war . Its very dled, we wont be able to go to a higher here, we can do a whole series." I wa s gramming. I thought, "Hey, what a coo l important to decide what strategic ele- resolution. just worried about getting the first one machine!" So I finally got a Commodor e ments a player should have control over. CD-ROM will definitely have a super done! I wanted to do something very dif- 64 and spent all my spare time teaching Of course, there are infinite factors, bu t impact. Right now, CD technology ferent from what had already been done: myself how to use it. Back then, thats we focus on a few key elements tha t doesnt have the speed we need for a take a pivotal part of history and look a t how most people got started with com- were crucial, like oil production i n flight simulator, but there are other ben- it from both sides . Up to that point, puters. There were no books, no classes SWOTL . efits to the technology . Sound is incredi- flight simulators really focussed on th e — you had to teach yourself and rely o n How important is it to have a realisti c bly important . And theres also a benefit other people who had computers. Id flight model in an air combat simulator ? in terms of how we deliver the product . always wanted to build some- It depends if youre talking about per- The games being made now are just a thing, but I just hadn t ceived realism, or the way it really much too big for the media were using — found the right medium . works. The two are very different . We — were talking about games that com e Computers seemed to me t o get letters from former pilots, who say, on 10 disks and take up tons of room on be the perfect combination o f "Wow! This is great! This is just like I your hard disk . With CDs, we can build engineering and cre- remember it ." Theyre talking about a bigger games that wont take up thre e ativity. gut, sensory impression about the real - quarters of your hard disk. I finally got a job ism of flying and interacting with othe r How did you choose the four expansion with HES (Human planes — not the hard-core mathematical disksfor SWOTL? Engineered Software) . models. So far, Ive focussed on that gu t We knew everyone wanted to see the So I got out of the feeling of realism rather than the strict P-38. I didnt think it belonged in th e kitchen and into pro- mathematical stuff. Ive emphasized actual game, because it was much mor e planes, rather than the times, the people , gramming. Since then, com- plane to plane engagement, seat of the important in the Pacific Theater . But and how the battles influenced th e puters have become my pants flying. I like to keep the controls as even before we released the game, many course of the war . Thats what I set out lifes passion. And I still have the flexibil- simple as possible, so someone can jump of our customers told us how much they to do with Battlehawks, and its become ity as an independent contractor to take in and enjoy the game. Of course, the wanted to fly the P-38, so that was a nat- my philosophy for all the sims Ive done . classes and keep learning about history more technically accurate the flight mod- ural choice. The P-80 is a natural choice , How did you get started programming ? and anthropology in my copious spar e el is, the more difficult it is to fly . Unless too, because it lets you get up to par with My background is in archaeology and time. (laughs ) theyre really familiar with flight simula- the Germans. It would have been th e anthropology, actually, so Ive always Yourgames are very historically accu- tors, people tend to be intimidated by first reasonable American jet — in fact , been interested in history, in the drama rate. What goes intoyour research for a having to learn the uses of a bunch o f four of them did make it to Europ e of things. In 1981, I came to California game ? different keys . That makes a game hard before the end of the war. Some peopl e "Going from a prop-driven plane to a jet was like getting out of an old car and getting into a brand new one." U.S. Air Force Captain Thomas Marsters, former T-33 flight instructor wanted to see British planes like th e Mosquito or the Lancaster, but I wanted LOCKHEED P-00 SHOOTING STAR LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING HEINHEL HE 162 VOLKSJAGER DORNIER DO 33S PFEI L to keep to the theme of Secret Weapons of The P-80 Shooting Star, One of the most innov A light fighter born out of the Nicknamed the Pfeil, or the Luftwaffe, ® which is Americans vs. the first operational U .S. ative, versatile, and recog- rubble of Germany in the final "Arrow," the D0 335 employe d Germans. I chose the two German jet fighter, earned its reputation in nizable aircraft of the Second World months of World War II, the a radical centerline thrust concept. planes, the He162 and the Do335 , the late 1940s and during the Kore- War, the twin-boomed, twin- Heinkel He 162 will be forever asso- Two engines were mounted on the because they were the two really impor- an War. The P-80 was designed and engined P-38 Lightning saw exten- ciated with the last desperate fuselage, one with a conventional tant interceptor aircraft that didnt make built in 1943, at a time when coun- sive action on every battle front . In attempts of the Third Reich to hold tractor propeller in the nose and the it into the war.