Development
Andy Hollis and Arnold Hendrick started thinking about a helicopter simulation right after Solo Flight and F-15 proved that there is a market for flight simulation. After some initial research in early 1985 work on Gunship started in the summer of '85.
The first draft was centered around the Vietnam-war era Cobra helicopter. Microprose president "Wild Bill" Stealy named it "Cobra Gunship". The battlefield of this first version was much more urban and the gameplay arcade-ish.
Around that time in the mid-80s a new helicopter came into production, the Hughes AH-64A Apache.
Being a much more modern helicopter and more sophisticated in it's technology, the guys at Microprose soon put their eyes on this new machine and finally made the decision to make a AH-64A simulation.
Originally aimed for fall 1985, the release date was postponed and finally dropped completely. Meanwhile Sid Meier had developed a new 3D-engine (on one of the new Amiga machines) and everybody at Microprose was convinced that this is the way to go.
At that time Microprose already put a lot of work and money into the project, but the aim of Microprose was to produce quality software, rather to make some quick money.
Work continued, the 3D engine of Meier was ported to the 8bit systems. In parallel Arnold Hendrick did extensive research on the new helicopter. Of course lot of information was till classified at that time, but advertisement and unclassified information provided enough for Microprose.
Michael Haire, the graphic artist worked on the cockpit design and all the award-, arming, options screens.
In october 1986 Gunship was released (18 month after it's initial announcement). When I mail ordered my copy in 1986 I was still in school. It was the first "real" simulation I played and I was hooked up from the first moment.
The manual taught me a the basics I had to know about the virtual battlefield for the upcoming sims. I remember thinking "that is perfect. It couldn't be better". Well, as it turned out, I had no clue.
To close this little overview and as a little bit of contrast you might take a look at this AH-64 simulator: Combat Helo
A lot of info on the development comes from flightsimbook.comBeing a much more modern helicopter and more sophisticated in it's technology, the guys at Microprose soon put their eyes on this new machine and finally made the decision to make a AH-64A simulation.
 |
| AH-64A "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" - by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway |
Originally aimed for fall 1985, the release date was postponed and finally dropped completely. Meanwhile Sid Meier had developed a new 3D-engine (on one of the new Amiga machines) and everybody at Microprose was convinced that this is the way to go.
At that time Microprose already put a lot of work and money into the project, but the aim of Microprose was to produce quality software, rather to make some quick money.
Work continued, the 3D engine of Meier was ported to the 8bit systems. In parallel Arnold Hendrick did extensive research on the new helicopter. Of course lot of information was till classified at that time, but advertisement and unclassified information provided enough for Microprose.
Michael Haire, the graphic artist worked on the cockpit design and all the award-, arming, options screens.
 |
| Gunship - My personal C-64 copy |
The manual taught me a the basics I had to know about the virtual battlefield for the upcoming sims. I remember thinking "that is perfect. It couldn't be better". Well, as it turned out, I had no clue.
To close this little overview and as a little bit of contrast you might take a look at this AH-64 simulator: Combat Helo
No comments:
Post a Comment