Flight Simulator gave birth to 3D video-game graphics (2023)

Sega infamously worked with Lockheed Martin/GE Aerospace to develop the graphics hardware for their Model 2 arcade board [1].

[1] https://segaretro.org/Lockheed_Martin

(2023) Discussion at the time (52 points, 48 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34955179

Pity they don't show the even older graphics on TRS-80.

Delight in the 128x48 monochrome display, max 6 fps.

http://www.trs-80.org/t80-fs1/

The basic layout (airfields, mountains) you see in the article was kept for a few iterations even after MS bought them.

Early flight simulators were a real leap forward in technology, even though the frame rate and graphics processing were very primitive at the time, and 2 frames per second was only part of the "brilliance". But just like the first flight simulation game I played as a child, although the graphics were simple, the sense of immersion and freedom is still exciting when I think back now. I think the work of people like Foley and Van Dam is really underestimated. Their technology paved the way for today's 3D game graphics. They are really heroes ignored by the times!

I think Foley and van Dam's work in 3D rendering really laid a solid foundation, but you're right, their book did come out a few years after Artwick's flight simulator. Still, their influence has been significant in later game engines.

1989; SGIs flight sim GL demo on a brand new 4D-220. It did not appear to be a complete "game", could have been developed for military sim?, but nothing on a PC or home machine came close, as I recall.

I was surprised Foley and van Dam were not mentioned — but it looks like that text came out a few years after Artwick's first flight sim.

Bold claim. Elite probably has a stronger claim considering it's a , you know, game.

But subLOGIC flight simulator was a seminal product.

I learned my initial 3D graphics rendering from Bruce Artwick's 1984 book

https://www.amazon.com/Microcomputer-Displays-Graphics-Anima...