| Microsoft Space Simulator | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bruce Artwick Organization Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Designer(s) | Charles Guy |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
| Release | 1994 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Space flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Microsoft Space Simulator is a space flight simulator program, based on Microsoft Flight Simulator for MS-DOS. It was one of the first general-purpose space flight simulators and it incorporated concepts from astrodynamics, motion, and celestial mechanics.
Microsoft Space Simulator was released under the Microsoft Home line in 1994. It was developed by BAO Ltd., a company run by Bruce Artwick (who was also behind the development of Microsoft Flight Simulator ) with Charles Guy as lead developer.
It provided support for 256-color graphics on three resolutions: 320x400, 640x400, and 800x600. The graphics featured dithered gouraud shading 3D vessels, with texture mapped planets, moons, and deep-sky objects. [2]
Microsoft Space Simulator uses Newton's laws of motion but takes account of relativistic effects by decreasing a spacecraft's acceleration as its speed approaches the speed of light. [3] It does not take account of time dilation.
Atmospheric effect are not modeled and all planetary surfaces are treated as flat spheres. A limited collision detection between vessels is implemented by using docking ports.
The simulator featured 14 different spacecraft, most of them futuristic. Historical or current tech craft include the Space Shuttle (with its Manned Maneuvering Unit) and Apollo Command/Service Module and Lunar Module.
PC Gamer gave the simulator a score of 84% in its September 1994 issue, praising its graphics and realistic approach to space travel, while criticizing the poor or non-existent sound and the interface. Others praised the lack of sound indicating how it added realism. [4]
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of 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 differed significantly from Microsoft's other software, which was largely business-oriented. Microsoft Flight Simulator is Microsoft's longest-running software product line, predating Windows 1.0 by three years, and is one of the longest-running video game series of all time.
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is an adventure video game developed and published by Interplay Productions in 1992, based on the Star Trek universe. The game chronicles various missions of James T. Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise. Its 1993 sequel, Star Trek: Judgment Rites, continues and concludes this two-game series.
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Sublogic Corporation is an American software development company. It was formed in 1977 by Bruce Artwick, and incorporated in 1978 by Artwick's partner Stu Moment as Sublogic Communications Corporation. Sublogic is best known as the creator of the Flight Simulator series, later known as Microsoft Flight Simulator, but it also created other video games such as Night Mission Pinball, Football, and Adventure on a Boat; educational software; and an Apple II graphics library.
Star Wars: X-Wing is a space simulation video game, the first of the X-Wing combat flight simulation games series. The player's character flies starfighters, including the X-wing, for the Rebel Alliance. The narrative precedes and parallels the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Microsoft Flight Simulator began as a set of articles on computer graphics, written by Bruce Artwick throughout 1976, about flight simulation using 3-D graphics. When the editor of the magazine told Artwick that subscribers were interested in purchasing such a program, Artwick founded Sublogic Corporation to commercialize his ideas. At first the new company sold flight simulators through mail order, but that changed in January 1979 with the release of Flight Simulator (FS) for the Apple II. They soon followed this up with versions for other systems and from there it evolved into a long-running series of computer flight simulators.
Bruce Arthur Artwick is an American software engineer. He is the creator of the first consumer flight simulator software. He founded Sublogic after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1977, and released the first version of Flight Simulator for the Apple II in 1979. His Apple II software was purchased by Microsoft in 1982 and became Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0.
Space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.
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A flight simulation video game refers to the simulation of various aspects of flight or the flight environment for purposes other than flight training or aircraft development. A significant community of simulation enthusiasts is supported by several commercial software packages, as well as commercial and homebuilt hardware. Open-source software that is used by the aerospace industry like FlightGear, whose flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to space industry standards, is also available for private use. A popular type of flight simulators video games are combat flight simulators, which simulate combat air operations from the pilot and crew's point of view. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.
Flight Simulator is a video game published in 1980 by Sublogic for the Apple II. A TRS-80 version (T80-FS1) followed later that year. It is the first in a line of simulations from Sublogic which, beginning in 1982, were also sold by Microsoft as Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Flight Simulator II is a video game developed by Bruce Artwick and published by Sublogic as the sequel to FS1 Flight Simulator. It was released in December 1983 for the Apple II, in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64, in 1986 for the Amiga and Atari ST, the Atari XEGS as a pack-in title in 1987, and in August 1988 for the Tandy Color Computer 3.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulation video game developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is an entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series which began in 1982, and was preceded by Microsoft Flight Simulator X in 2006. The game is a return of the series after 14 years, with development beginning six years prior to its release. It was released on August 18, 2020, for Windows, with a virtual reality (VR) version released in December of the same year as part of the free Sim 2 update. Microsoft Flight Simulator is the first game in the series to see a VR and console release, with it being released on the Xbox Series X and Series S on July 27, 2021.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a 1986 video game developed by Sublogic and published by Microsoft for the Macintosh.
Airfight is an early 3D graphics-based multi-user flight simulator, created on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Control Data Corporation (CDC) PLATO system in the early 1970s.
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