''Flight Unlimited'' is a 1995
aerobatic
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...
flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed and published by
LookingGlass Technologies
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...
. It allows players to pilot reproductions of real-world
aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
and to perform
aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in Formation flying, formation with several others. Nearly all a ...
s. They may fly freely, race through floating rings against a timer or take lessons from a virtual
flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...
. The instructor teaches basic and advanced techniques, ranging from
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
turns to maneuvers such as the
tailslide
The tailslide is an aerobatic maneuver that starts from level flight with a loop up into a straight vertical climb (at full power) until the aircraft loses momentum. When the aircraft's speed reaches zero and it stops climbing, the Pilot (aerona ...
,
Lomcovák
A Lomcovák (or incorrectly spelled Lomcevak) is a family of extreme aerobatic maneuvers where the aircraft, with almost no forward speed, rotates on chosen axes due to the gyroscopic precession and torque of the rotating propeller. and
Immelmann turn
The term Immelmann turn, named after German Empire, German World War I Eindecker fighter ace Leutnant Max Immelmann, refers to two different aircraft maneuvers. In World War I aerial combat, an Immelmann turn was a maneuver used after an attack ...
.
''Flight Unlimited'' was the first self-published game released by Looking Glass Technologies. It was intended to establish the company as a
video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer.
They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...
and to compete with flight simulator franchises such as ''
Microsoft Flight Simulator
''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' is a series of Flight simulation video game, flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and diff ...
''. Project leader
Seamus Blackley
Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley (born 1968) is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001.
Career
After enteri ...
, a
particle physicist
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and ...
and amateur pilot, conceived the game in 1992. He felt that other flight simulators failed to convey the experience of real flight, and he reacted by coding a simulated atmosphere for ''Flight Unlimited'' based on real-time
computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid dynamics, fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required ...
. Aerobatic pilot
Michael Goulian
Michael George "Mike" Goulian (born September 4, 1968 in Winthrop, Massachusetts) is an American aerobatic national champion aviator who raced in the Red Bull Air Race World Series under the number 99.
Biography
Goulian was born into an avia ...
endorsed the game and assisted the team in making it more true to life.
''Flight Unlimited'' received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success; its sales exceeded 780,000 copies by 2002. Reviewers lauded its realism, flight instruction, graphics and sense of flight, but some criticized its high
system requirements
To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These prerequisites are known as (computer) system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed ...
. The game was followed by two sequels: ''
Flight Unlimited II
''Flight Unlimited II'' is a 1997 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The player controls one of five planes in the airspace of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is shared with up to ...
'' (1997) and ''
Flight Unlimited III'' (1999). A combat-oriented successor, ''Flight Combat'', was released in 2002 as ''
Jane's Attack Squadron
''Jane's Attack Squadron'' is a 2002 combat flight simulator developed by Looking Glass Studios and Mad Doc Software and published by Xicat Interactive. Based on World War II, the game allows players to pilot fifteen reproductions of that era ...
'' after a series of setbacks. Soon after ''Flight Unlimited''s completion, Blackley was fired from Looking Glass. He went on to design ''
Jurassic Park: Trespasser'' at
DreamWorks Interactive
Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to M ...
and later spearhead the
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
project at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
.
Gameplay
''Flight Unlimited'' is a
three-dimensional
In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...
(3D)
flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
video game: its gameplay is a simulation of piloting real-world airplanes.
Players may control the
Bellanca Decathlon,
Extra 300S
The Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 is a two-seat aerobatic monoplane capable of Unlimited category competition. It was designed in 1987 by Walter Extra, a German aerobatic pilot, and built by Extra Flugzeugbau.
Design and development
Design of the ...
,
Pitts Special S-2B,
Sukhoi Su-31
The Sukhoi Su-31 is a Russian single-engined aerobatic aircraft designed by Sukhoi as a lighter and more powerful version of the Sukhoi Su-29.
Design and development
The design of the aircraft started in 1991 as a single-seat development of the ...
and
Grob G103a Twin II
The G103 Twin II (originally designated the G 118) is a high-performance two-seat sailplane manufactured in Germany by Grob Aircraft. The aircraft is of T-tail configuration, and is fitted with upper-surface airbrakes and a non-retractable under ...
sailplane. The game begins at the
fixed-base operator
A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...
(FBO) interface—a traversable 3D room whose contents represent menu options. For example, the player interacts with a row of
scale airplane models to select an aircraft, and with a world globe to change airfield locations.
Six settings are available, including
Sedona, Arizona
Sedona ( ) is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...
and
Springfield, Vermont
Springfield is a New England town, town in Windsor County, Vermont, Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 9,062.
History
The land currently recognized as Springfield is the ...
.
The player may choose to begin flight on a
runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
or
taxiway
A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...
, or in the air.
Aircraft are controlled via
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
,
joystick
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...
,
head-mounted display
A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet (see helmet-mounted display for aviation applications), that has a small display optic in front of one (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular vision, bi ...
or specialized input devices such as
pedals
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...
.
During flight, several third- and first-person
camera angles
The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The diffe ...
may be selected. For example, the third-person Flyby View places the camera in front of the plane as it flies past, while the first-person Three-Way View displays more information about the plane's position and speed than other angles. Certain camera angles, including the Three-Way View and 3-D Cockpit view, provide the player with simulated
flight instruments
Flight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with data about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, heading and much more other crucial information in f ...
such as an
altimeter
An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water.
Ty ...
,
airspeed indicator
The airspeed indicator (ASI) or airspeed gauge is a flight instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometres per hour (km/h), knots (kn or kt), miles per hour (MPH) and/or metres per second (m/s). The recommendation by ICAO is to u ...
,
accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...
,
variometer
In aviation, a variometer – also known as a rate of climb and descent indicator (RCDI), rate-of-climb indicator, vertical speed indicator (VSI), or vertical velocity indicator (VVI) – is one of the flight instruments in an aircraft used to in ...
and
tachometer
A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a axle, shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrat ...
.
The game is designed to allow players to perform
aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in Formation flying, formation with several others. Nearly all a ...
s such as the
Immelmann turn
The term Immelmann turn, named after German Empire, German World War I Eindecker fighter ace Leutnant Max Immelmann, refers to two different aircraft maneuvers. In World War I aerial combat, an Immelmann turn was a maneuver used after an attack ...
,
tailslide
The tailslide is an aerobatic maneuver that starts from level flight with a loop up into a straight vertical climb (at full power) until the aircraft loses momentum. When the aircraft's speed reaches zero and it stops climbing, the Pilot (aerona ...
,
Lomcevak and
Cuban Eight
A Cuban eight or Cuban 8 is a figure eight aerobatic maneuver for both full-scale and radio-controlled fixed-wing aircraft.
Variations include the half Cuban eight and reverse half Cuban eight, intended as directional changes and which are liste ...
.
Performances may be recorded and played back, with controls that allow the player to pause, rewind and
fast forward
To fast-forward is to move forwards through a recording at a speed faster than that at which it would usually be played, for example two times or two point five times. The recordings are usually audio, video or computer data. It is colloquiall ...
. At any time, the player may stop a recording and resume flight from that point.
The game contains lessons that cover basic and advanced flight techniques, ranging from
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
turns to challenging aerobatic maneuvers. A simulated flight instructor offers real-time advice based on the player's performance.
Certificates are earned by performing well during lessons. In Hoops courses, the player undertakes a
time trial
In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...
through rings that float in the sky, with the option to enable a "
ghost plane" of the highest score. Four types of Hoops courses are available: Basic, Challenge, Distance and Trick. The last is intended as a highly demanding test of the player's aerobatic ability.
The game's sole non-powered aircraft, the Grob G103a Twin II sailplane, features its own game mode focused on energy management.
The player attempts to use the direction of the wind, thermals—which realistically occur above areas that absorb more heat, such as plains and parking lots—and the
orographic lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...
caused by slopes to stay airborne for as long as possible.
Development
Origin

The concept of ''Flight Unlimited'' originated from
Looking Glass Technologies' discontent with contemporary
flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
s.
Company co-founders
Paul Neurath Paul Neurath is a video game designer and creative director. He founded both Blue Sky Productions (later renamed Looking Glass Studios) and Floodgate Entertainment. He was the creative director of Zynga Boston. In 2014 he founded OtherSide Enterta ...
and
Ned Lerner wanted to develop an exceptional game in the genre, and Neurath considered the idea during the production of ''
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'' and ''
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds''.
In 1992,
Seamus Blackley
Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley (born 1968) is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001.
Career
After enteri ...
, who had been undertaking graduate studies in
particle physics
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...
at the
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located in Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle phys ...
research facility, was hired through a
want advertisement that Lerner had placed on a bulletin board.
[
] At the company, Blackley programmed the physics modeling system for a racing game and designed a large number of standalone physics demonstrations. He became fascinated by physics programming. An amateur pilot and flight devotee, Blackley asked Lerner extensive questions about his earlier game ''
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer
''Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer'' is a flight simulation video game published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It was originally released as ''Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator''. Due to a legal dispute with Microsoft over the term "F ...
'', which Blackley held in high regard.
In reaction to Blackley's enthusiasm, Neurath suggested that the company develop a "traditional
Cessna
Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...
sim".
However, Blackley instead proposed an
aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...
training simulation, which he had conceived while reading an aerobatics magazine on a
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...
bus. Collaborating with ''Ultima Underworld II'' programmer Greg Travis, he created a thirty page concept document that outlined the game.
His core idea was to recreate the "yummy, visceral, fluid feeling that you get when flying a real airplane".
He wanted the project to bear more resemblance to a
playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...
than to a video game, and he sought to give it simple controls and realistic terrain to decrease the
learning curve
A learning curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between how proficient people are at a task and the amount of experience they have. Proficiency (measured on the vertical axis) usually increases with increased experience (the ...
for beginners.
Blackley assumed the role of project leader and then engaged the team in "flaming sessions" to generate ideas.
According to programmer
Doug Church
Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in Evanston, Illinois), is an American video game designer and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with Looking Glass Studios, when they were making primarily MS-DOS-based im ...
, Blackley's concept of the game was not fully developed, but he clearly expressed his thoughts and motivated the team. The first months of the project produced disparate prototypes that demonstrated prospective features.
The company committed to full development of the game in early 1993, and production commenced in March.
Production
Blackley's first objective was to code the game's simulated physics. He began by deciding on a programming method—in particular, he sought one that would allow aircraft to perform the "knife-edge spin" maneuver that he had witnessed at
air show
An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are trade fair, exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without which they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground.
The ...
s. In 1995, he said that he had never played a flight simulator with an accurate sense of flight.
He later described his belief that the genre had stagnated, and that flight games were evaluated "by
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
implementation of the standard feature set", rather than by their enjoyability.
Blackley researched physics programming in contemporary flight simulators, and he discovered that many used large databases of
wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
and plane sensory equipment information to dictate how aircraft would operate in prerecorded scenarios.
Higher-end simulators used a "
Newtonian" system, in which algebra-based measurements of
force vectors determine a plane's position in real-time. However, Blackley believed that neither system correctly simulated the experience of flight.
In reaction, he used his knowledge of particle physics to create a real-time
computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid dynamics, fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required ...
(CFDs) model for ''Flight Unlimited''.
The result is a simulated atmosphere: air acts as a fluid that automatically reacts to the shape of any object placed within it.
Blackley gave the example that a
lawn chair
Garden furniture, also called patio furniture or outdoor furniture, is a type of furniture specifically designed for outdoor use. It is typically made of weather-resistant materials such as aluminium which is rust-proof.
History
The oldes ...
, if placed within the game's real-time CFDs model, would fall merely because of its shape. The game's planes fly because the interaction of their architecture with the atmosphere creates
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...
, as with real-world aircraft.
Changes in the plane's direction are caused by the interaction of their
flight control surfaces
Flight control surfaces are aerodynamic devices allowing a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's flight attitude. The primary function of these is to control the aircraft's movement along the three axes of rotation. Flight control surfaces ...
(
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...
s,
elevators
An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...
and rudders) with the simulated atmosphere.
Because it simulates the dynamics of flight in real-time, the system allows for aerobatic maneuvers that were impossible in previous flight simulators.
In 1994, Blackley said that it was possibly the first flight code designed for aerobatics.
In constructing the CFDs model, Blackley and the team built from the
Navier–Stokes equations
The Navier–Stokes equations ( ) are partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They were named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and the Irish physicist and mathematician Georg ...
of fluid motion, which Blackley described as "horrible, complicated
partial differential equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...
s". According to ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'', Blackley did not seek to represent the equations with perfect accuracy, and he was satisfied when the results were consistent and the sensation that they generated was correct.
After programming a basic version of the CFDs model, Blackley used several programs to examine the simulated currents of air that flowed across a model of a flat plate. He adjusted the code until the plate fell realistically, and then constructed test models for a plane wing and
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
. He eventually built a complete but dysfunctional plane by using data from "
pinhead books". By reading aircraft design manuals, he discovered that the problems were caused by his plane's incorrect tail and
center of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...
. Following this, he created an exact
three-dimensional model of the Extra 300S over roughly three days. As he had not yet simulated the physical attributes of its
propeller
A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
, Blackley programmed the plane to be propelled from the rear. However, the accurate model performed properly in the simulated atmosphere.
Artists Mike Marsicano and Kurt Bickenbach played critical roles in the creation of the game's aircraft models, which were built in
3D Studio
Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabi ...
.
As reference material, the team photographed real planes at several airfields, and they received
blueprint
A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...
s and
datasheet
A datasheet, data sheet, or spec sheet is a document that summarizes the performance and other characteristics of a product, machine, component (e.g., an electronic component), material, subsystem (e.g., a power supply), or software in sufficie ...
s from aircraft manufacturers.
The game's
Grob G103a Twin II
The G103 Twin II (originally designated the G 118) is a high-performance two-seat sailplane manufactured in Germany by Grob Aircraft. The aircraft is of T-tail configuration, and is fitted with upper-surface airbrakes and a non-retractable under ...
sailplane was based directly on the one that Blackley owned at the time.
The sophistication of the real-time CFDs complicated the 3D modeling process, as the planes required accurate geometry to fly properly. While attempting to meet this goal, however, Bickenbach said that the models he created were overly detailed, which caused the team to struggle with performance issues related to the high number of
polygons
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon' ...
. Reducing the number altered the plane's shape, which in turn reduced its flight realism; this necessitated a balance between performance and accuracy.
To obtain audio for the planes, Greg LoPiccolo and Tom Streit—former bassist and road manager, respectively, of the band
Tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
—visited a Florida importer of Russian aerobatic aircraft.
The two placed microphones inside the cockpits and next to the engines,
and they flew each plane at multiple speeds while recording with a
digital audio tape
Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a Compact Cassette, using 3.81 mm / 0.15" (commonly referred to as 4 mm) magnetic t ...
machine.
Combining this material with
digital recordings of wind sounds, the team fashioned a physics-based sound system: sounds of the wind and engine are altered in real-time based on wind speed in the game.

The
flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...
was created by programmer Andrew Grant and voiced by Tom Streit.
It monitors the player's controller input during "each frame of animation". If a maneuver is attempted, the instructor "interpolates the initial control movements" and predicts which maneuver is being performed. The instructor then gives advice on how to complete the maneuver and offers guidance if a mistake is made. Grant believed that the code is sometimes "too picky", and he stated that it expects players to perform maneuvers more precisely than is humanly possible.
The team initially planned to include an online
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
component, which would have allowed 64 planes to fly in the same area—thereby giving players the ability to compete with one another.
However, the feature was not implemented into the final game.
The staff members also sought to include aerobatic competitions in which the player could participate, but the idea was dropped because of difficulties with realism. Problems with
artificially intelligent
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
judges were also a factor in the feature's removal.
''Flight Unlimited''s terrain graphics were created with
stereophotogrammetry
Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...
.
The team gathered
aerial photographs
Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography.
Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...
from locations in France and the United States.
They combined two to three images of each area to create digital reproductions roughly in size.
Each location in the game was based on two
stereoscopic
Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...
sets of photographs,
which were processed for more than 72 hours by a "dedicated Pentium tucked away in a dark corner". From the contrasting images, the computer generated a terrain "data blanket" with 3D height variations. While the team had considered using satellite or
surveillance aircraft
Surveillance aircraft are aircraft used for surveillance. They are primarily operated by military forces and government agencies in roles including intelligence gathering, maritime patrol, battlefield and airspace surveillance, observation (e. ...
images to create the game's terrain graphics, they found that the resolution was inadequate. Material from
geographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...
s was also studied, but associate producer Paul Schaffer said that it would have been "astronomically expensive" to obtain data with the necessary resolution.
After assembling a playable demo of ''Flight Unlimited'', the team requested assistance from then-US Aerobatic Team member
Michael Goulian
Michael George "Mike" Goulian (born September 4, 1968 in Winthrop, Massachusetts) is an American aerobatic national champion aviator who raced in the Red Bull Air Race World Series under the number 99.
Biography
Goulian was born into an avia ...
, who worked as a flight instructor at the nearby
Hanscom Field
Laurence G. Hanscom Field , commonly known as Hanscom Field, is a public use airport operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority, located outside Boston in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.
Hanscom is mainly a general aviation airport, ...
.
Because of the game's flight code, Goulian was able to execute aerobatic maneuvers within less than three minutes of playing the game; and he later performed his "entire basic aerobatic routine".
Blackley told ''
PC Gamer US
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' that, while Goulian disliked flight simulators, "When he flew ''Flight Unlimited'', he just said 'pretty cool.' I was so psyched".
Goulian assisted the team during the next year of development: he co-designed the game's flight lessons and advised the team on adjustments to the plane models.
Aerobatic pilot
Patty Wagstaff
Patty Wagstaff (née Patricia Rosalie Kearns Combs; born September 11, 1951) is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.
Wagstaff was introduced to aviation as a child; her father was a pilot for Japan Airlines. After gradua ...
was also consulted.
At one point, the team encountered problems while testing a maneuver in the game's
Sukhoi Su-31
The Sukhoi Su-31 is a Russian single-engined aerobatic aircraft designed by Sukhoi as a lighter and more powerful version of the Sukhoi Su-29.
Design and development
The design of the aircraft started in 1991 as a single-seat development of the ...
, and Blackley was concerned that he would need to rework the game's physics code. However, Goulian phoned a colleague—a Russian pilot—who told them to compensate for the plane's abnormally large ailerons. Using his advice on flying the real-world plane, the team found that the maneuver worked correctly.
Goulian endorsed ''Flight Unlimited'' and wrote the foreword to its official strategy guide.
The graphics and physics code increased the game's
system requirements
To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These prerequisites are known as (computer) system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed ...
, and the team worked to optimize performance during development.
They struggled to improve the game's memory usage: the process consumed nearly as much time as the creation of the physics model, according to Church. Programmer Eric Twietmeyer ran weekly tests of the game's performance by disabling certain parts of the code—such as the physics calculations—to isolate which parts used the most memory.
By 1994, Blackley's physics code took up only 1% of
CPU time
CPU time (or process time) is the amount of time that a central processing unit (CPU) was used for processing instructions of a computer program or operating system. CPU time is measured in clock ticks or seconds. Sometimes it is useful to con ...
, with the rest allocated to the terrain renderer.
Blackley optimized his code by converting the mathematical calculations of air from the 3D game world into a "math-friendly space", during which time the Navier-Stokes equations are applied. Afterwards, the data is returned to 3D space. According to ''Computer Gaming World'', this method increased speed by "a factor of 100, with almost no loss in precision."
The team had trouble with complex memory-related
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived technical fault, such as a transient one that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among pl ...
es during development. Church called them "crazy", and programmer Greg Travis noted that
debugging
In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the Root cause analysis, root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bug (engineering), bugs.
For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, Logf ...
the terrain
cache
Cache, caching, or caché may refer to:
Science and technology
* Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access
* Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals
* Cache (archaeology), artifacts p ...
system was a "nightmare".
While leading the team, Blackley adopted a loose style of supervision. According to ''Opening the Xbox'' author Dean Takahashi, "Blackley
as notultra-organized. His idea of good management was to invite someone over for a gourmet dinner and have a casual conversation about work". However, Takahashi wrote that "Blackley worked hard to inspire his team", and he described artist James Dollar's belief that, "in contrast to other Looking Glass managers, he didn't take over tasks and make others feel stupid".
During the first two years of production, the team was divided into small groups that worked on the game's elements separately. For example, Blackley programmed the game's physics, while Eric Twietmeyer and Tim Day created the terrain renderer.
However, Doug Church later said that, while "the team
ida bunch of very cool stuff, the FBO, the flight model, the instructor, the renderer, so on", the result "was almost like four separate programs, with no connection".
Following the completion of the concurrently-developed ''
System Shock
''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...
'', a significant part of that game's team—including Church,
Marc LeBlanc
Marc "Mahk" LeBlanc is an educator and designer of video games.
LeBlanc attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT where he received a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science.
Through his work with Looking Glass Studios, LeBlanc contributed to ...
and Rob Fermier—moved to ''Flight Unlimited'' to add connective material.
At the time, Church said that it was difficult to meld the game's elements,
but he later stated that they largely coalesced by the end.
Publication
''Flight Unlimited'' was self-published by Looking Glass Technologies. Their previous games had been developed for other
video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer.
They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...
s, and had generated $90 million total earnings for those companies. However, Ronald Rosenberg of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' reported that Looking Glass was "no longer satisfied as a backroom player surviving on royalties".
Doug Church later explained that the company wanted to self-publish in order to escape the "treadmill of waiting for advances", which would allow them to make long-term plans without needing to satisfy the immediate demands of a publisher.
In late 1994, Looking Glass announced that
venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
investors, including
Matrix Partners
Matrix (formerly Matrix Partners) is a US-based venture capital investment firm. The firm invests in seed and early-stage companies in the United States and India, particularly in the software, communications, semiconductors, data storage, Int ...
and
Institutional Venture Partners
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a US-based venture capital firm focused on fast-growing technology companies. IVP was founded in 1980, as one of the first venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
History
Reid W. Dennis, the founder of In ...
, had provided the company with $3.8 million. The sum was intended to fund the development and self-publication of ''Flight Unlimited''. According to Michael Humphreys of Matrix Partners and Ruthann Quindlen of Institutional Venture Partners, the decision was partly influenced by the past success of the company's co-founders, Paul Neurath and Ned Lerner.
Looking Glass intended ''Flight Unlimited'' as a gateway into the video game publishing industry. According to Lerner, the idea of self-publishing had been considered when the company was founded. In 1995, Looking Glass projected that sales of ''Flight Unlimited'' would increase royalty revenues to $10 million that year, up from $1.5 million in 1994. Jeffrey A. Kalowski, the company's vice president of finance and administration, expected that the game would recoup its development costs and make a return before the end of the year. He predicted that, over the following 12 to 18 months, the company's number of employees would increase from 52 to 82. The company's executive vice president and general manager, Jerry Wolosenko, told ''The Boston Globe'' that the company hoped to publish six games each year.
According to Doug Church, the pressure for ''Flight Unlimited'' to succeed meant that the concurrently-developed ''
System Shock
''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...
'', which was not self-published, received little attention from the company's management.
''Flight Unlimited'' was placed in direct competition with several major flight simulator franchises.
Before the game's release, Shelby Bateman of ''
Next Generation Magazine
''Next Generation'' was a US video game magazine that was published by Imagine Media (now Future US). It was affiliated to and shared content with the UK's ''Edge'' magazine. ''Next Generation'' ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was ...
'' wrote, "1995 is going to be a real dogfight in the flight-sim and aerial-combat categories, and LookingGlass is betting its bankroll ... that it can capture significant market share from the likes of Microsoft ''Flight Simulator'' and the debut of Spectrum HoloByte's ''
Falcon 4.0'', among others."
Describing the situation, Johnny L. Wilson of ''Computer Gaming World'' wrote, "The games that sell big are the ones that allow you to blow stuff up, so, if anything, that could be a problem for ''Flight Unlimited''."
Doug Church explained that, because the game did not feature combat and bore little resemblance to ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'', the team spent "many late nights" on marketing strategies. However, he noted that the game had a wide appeal among those who tested it during development, which he called "a really good sign".
Talking to Bernie Yee of ''
PC Gamer US
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'', Paul Neurath said that he thought the game would sell well. Yee noted that Neurath "fully
xpectedit to prove more popular than ''Microsoft Flight Simulator''".
In January 1995, Looking Glass showed ''Flight Unlimited'' alongside ''
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri'' at the Winter
Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
, under their "Immersive Reality" marketing label.
In March 1995, the ''Boston Globe'' reported that the team was performing "11th hour checks" of the game to prepare it for shipment to a
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
Compact Disc manufacturer. According to the newspaper, Looking Glass planned to begin by shipping 100,000 units to retailers in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and the United States. Another 100,000 copies were to be sent to
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and the United Kingdom at a later date.
However, upon the game's June 7, 1995 release for MS-DOS, 200,000 units were distributed simultaneously in the United States and Europe. The game's European releases were localized with German, French and English text and voice acting, which was made possible by "close coordination with international partners".
Versions for Macintosh and Windows 95 were later released;
the former was shown at the Macworld Expo in April 1996.
Reception
''Flight Unlimited'' was a commercial success.
It debuted in twelfth place on a June 1995 sales chart compiled by NPD Group, while ''Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.0, Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1'' took first place.
The game went on to sell more than 300,000 copies by 1997,
and more than 780,000 by 2002.
According to Constantine von Hoffman of the ''Boston Herald'', ''Flight Unlimited'' successfully competed with ''Microsoft Flight Simulator''.
''PC Gamer''s Lee Buchanan wrote that it "soars above the pack of flight simulations", and he considered it to be "the most fun [he had] had in a computerized cockpit".
Frank Vizard of ''Popular Mechanics'' hailed it as "the new top gun of flight simulators",
and Doug Bailey of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' considered it to be the "first real serious challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the genre".
''The Record (North Jersey), The Record''s David Noack believed that the game's physics and stereoscopic terrain set "a new standard in flight simulation".
Writing for ''Computer Gaming World'', Bob and John Nolan stated, "If anything, you should at least take a look at this product, because you'll be looking at the future of simulations."
The game was a finalist in the 12th Annual Awards for Technical Excellence held by ''PC Magazine'', whose staff called it "the simulator by which all others will be judged."
It was named the best simulation of 1995 by ''Computer Games Magazine, Computer Games Strategy Plus'' (tied with ''Apache (video game), Apache''),
and the best of 1996 by ''Macworld'', whose editor Steven Levy wrote that it "puts you in touch with what makes flying special."
Inside Mac Games and ''PC Gamer'' both nominated ''Flight Unlimited'' as the simulation of the year, although it lost these awards to ''A-10 Cuba!'' and ''Apache (video game), Apache'', respectively.
Design
Vizard stated that ''Flight Unlimited''s "very advanced computational fluid dynamics make [each] plane react according to spec".
Buchanan lauded the fluid model for creating a "sensation of actual flight [that] is nothing short of magnificent",
while ''PC Magazine''s staff commented that it makes "planes behave more like real aircraft than any simulator we have seen".
Bob and John Nolan called the game's physics programming "groundbreaking",
and Chris Ware of the ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' found the game to be the most accurate simulation of flight beyond "those multimillion-dollar flight simulators [used by] fighter pilots and astronauts".
Noack agreed: he wrote that the game "is about as close to flying within going to the airport".
In 1996, ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' presented ''Flight Unlimited'' with a Special Artistic Achievement Award For Physical Model. The magazine's staff praised Blackley's programming for pushing the genre "higher into the realm of simulation",
and listed the game's sophisticated physics model as #5 on its list of "the 15 best ways to die in computer gaming".
Ware found ''Flight Unlimited'' approachable and noted its "simplicity of use and depth of instruction".
Buchanan hailed the lesson mode as "a dream come true for any budding pilot".
A writer for ''The Washington Post'' called the game "[the] world's first truly easy-to-use flight simulator" and "a good entry product", in which "rank amateurs can just launch the program and start cruising immediately".
''The Washington Post''s John Gaudiosi wrote that, while many games in the genre are overly complex, ''Flight Unlimited'' lets "those who aren't rocket scientists ... experience the thrills of stunt flying." He found its control scheme simple to understand.
By contrast, Bailey found the game difficult and initially "frustrating": he complained that he had to play the lesson mode before even taking off.
Denny Atkin of ''Computer Gaming World'' characterized the game's learning curve as steep, thanks to the accuracy of the physics programming, but he noted the scalable difficulty options.
Bailey later recommended the game in a holiday shopping guide. He wrote that "it can be difficult to master. But once you're up, it's worth the trouble."
A writer for ''The Washington Post'' commented that "serious flight freaks will like the racing and advanced maneuvers".
According to Gaudiosi, dedicated players will learn "all about aerodynamics and stunt flying"; he considered the latter to be "hard stuff, even with green hoops guiding you".
Similarly, Buchanan characterized the Hoops courses as "incredibly demanding", and Atkin cited that mode's Trick Balance (game design)#Difficulty level, difficulty level as "amazingly tough".
Bob and John Nolan wrote that people who "love to loop around the skies of ''Flight Simulator 5'' will go bananas for" the aerobatics; but the pair commented that Combat flight simulation game, combat flight simulator players "might get a little edgy once the wow-power wears off."
However, Atkin believed that only those "never happy without something to shoot at" could be disappointed by the lack of combat: other players will "be too busy choreographing aerial ballets, pulling off death-defying aerobatic stunts, or just enjoying a quiet soar down the ridge line to miss that stuff".
Likewise, Ware called the non-violent gameplay "refreshing",
and Buchanan wrote, "If [you are] a battle-weary veteran of air combat sims, ''Flight Unlimited'' might be just the sort of [rest and relaxation] you need."
Presentation
Atkin found the cockpit and terrain graphics to look "almost real". He commented, "Every few years a sim comes along that lets reviewers use the 'sets new standards for graphics' cliché, and ''Flight Unlimited'' is the 1995 entry in this club."
Bob and John Nolan called ''Flight Unlimited'' "the ultimate show off piece for your new Pentium", thanks to "unbelievable" graphics superior to those of any other computer game.
Gaudiosi concurred: he characterized the visuals as "photo-sharp" and "better than any I have seen".
''PC Magazine''s staff found the graphics "impressive" and "even more stunning than those in ''Microsoft Flight Simulator''".
Ware noted the "stunning 3-D photo-realistic scenery",
while Bailey stated that the "graphics are brilliantly rendered and whiz by smoothly".
Buchanan called ''Flight Unlimited''s terrain "just superb" and Vizard described it as "amazingly real".
Buchanan believed that "what you hear in ''Flight Unlimited'' is every bit as good as what you see", thanks to "utterly convincing" sound effects.
Atkin praised the instructor as "one of the best uses of voice ever in a multimedia title".
Bailey wrote that the game needs "a real beefy machine" to run properly;
Atkin stated that the "massive horsepower requirement will restrict many gamers to lower resolutions and detail levels".
Bob and John Nolan similarly found that the game "hogs computing power".
Buchanan wrote that the
system requirements
To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These prerequisites are known as (computer) system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed ...
listed on the back of the game's box "must be a joke", and that a high-performance computer is necessary to run the game.
In 1996, ''PC Gamer US'' presented the game with a "Special Achievement in Graphics" award. The editors wrote, "While it requires the most sophisticated computer hardware on the market to be enjoyed, ''Flight Unlimited'' rewards gamers with some of the most stunning scenery ever seen in a flight sim."
Aftermath
''Flight Unlimited'' was the first of three self-published titles released by Looking Glass Technologies. However, the next two products, ''
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri'' (1996) and ''British Open Championship Golf'' (1997), were commercial failures. As a result, the company ceased self-publishing and was left in dire financial circumstances.
Doug Church later explained that Looking Glass' attempt to publish came at a difficult time for the video game industry: "the other mid-sized publishers were mostly going out of business or getting bought". He believed that the company had been "overreaching itself" with the venture, and that it was "being a little overambitious and a little cocky".
Sequels
''Flight Unlimited'' was intended to be followed by a combat-oriented sequel,
which was developed under the working title ''Flight Combat''.
In 1995, Seamus Blackley told ''PC Gamer US'' that he wanted the game to "feel so real that pilots will be afraid. They'll ''feel'' the gun hits."
Talking to ''Computer Gaming World'', he stated that the game would teach players the "same curriculum [as] the Air Force", and that it would feature competitive online play.
However, a company manager, newly instated by venture capital investors who disliked Looking Glass' management style, instead demanded that Blackley create a direct sequel to ''Flight Unlimited''. The two argued regularly, and Blackley later accused the manager of "ripp[ing] the guts out of Looking Glass". In response to Blackley's refusal to create ''Flight Unlimited II'', the manager fired him.
Blackley left the company in late 1995 with designer Austin Grossman, and both were hired by
DreamWorks Interactive
Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to M ...
to create ''
Jurassic Park: Trespasser''.
He later spearheaded development of the
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
.
Constantine Hantzopoulos directed ''
Flight Unlimited II
''Flight Unlimited II'' is a 1997 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The player controls one of five planes in the airspace of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is shared with up to ...
'', which was published by Eidos Interactive in 1997. The team could not continue using the real-time computational fluid dynamics of ''Flight Unlimited'' because, according to Hantzopoulos, it was "all black box spaghetti code from Seamus". The aerobatics focus of its predecessor was dropped in favor of general civilian aviation.
The development of ''Flight Combat'' was hinted at during the production of ''Flight Unlimited II''.
A third game, ''
Flight Unlimited III'', was published by Electronic Arts in 1999; and it continued the focus on general aviation.
That year, ''Flight Combat'' was officially announced as the World War II-themed, Electronic Arts-published ''Flight Combat: Thunder Over Europe'',
but its name was eventually changed to ''
Jane's Attack Squadron
''Jane's Attack Squadron'' is a 2002 combat flight simulator developed by Looking Glass Studios and Mad Doc Software and published by Xicat Interactive. Based on World War II, the game allows players to pilot fifteen reproductions of that era ...
''.
The game was canceled as a consequence of Looking Glass Studios' closure in 2000. However, it was later finished by developer Mad Doc Software and released in 2002 by publisher Xicat Interactive.
Notes
External links
*
{{featured article
1995 video games
DOS games
DOS games ported to Windows
Flight simulation video games
Looking Glass Studios games
Classic Mac OS games
Single-player video games
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games