Why is it intuitive to have the up and down arrow keys reversed in flight simulation games?

Question

Some examples include: Flight Simulator, Descent (technically a FPS game), Terminal Velocity.

I've tried reconfiguring the keys to make the up key move the view upwards, and the down key downwards. But this felt really unintuitive. I'm wondering if the reason for this is because I'm simply used to having the keys reversed, or if there's another reason why it feels intuitive to have the up and down keys reversed.

Answer

Here's my guess for how it feels to control a flying vehicle. Also, here are some bits of flight dynamic terminology.

Pretend you are sitting in a plane. Imagine the plane has a big imaginary stick poking out the top of it, and you are holding a flight stick whose position represents how you want the imaginary stick to move.

In that case, how would you make the plane go up? You would pull the stick backward, because that would make the plane tilt backward and its nose point upward.

To make the plane go left, you could yaw by twisting the flight stick... but I don't think real planes can do that altogether well, so instead you would tilt the stick left for roll and then pull back for upward pitch. [Edit: See comments, apparently planes can move this way just not super fast.]

But as for whether you are just used to controls this way, I think so. A whole lot of people prefer non-inverted Y axis controls in games. But as you and I both know, those people are crazy ;). Once you get used to controls like these for flight games, it makes sense that would translate to preferring inverted Y for FPS games as well - that's what happened with me and StarFox.

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How to control a Helicopter

Question

I wany to know if some of you, pro gamers :D, know how to train controlling an helicopter. This because I love Battlefield P4F, but I still can't control an heli as I would wish. So, is there any free simulator (don't say FlightGear please) so that I can train, or is there any tutorials teaching the techniques?

Also, I can't use a joystick.

Thanks, Scorch

Answer

Ok I don't pilot plains and helicopters in games but I can recommend to you Microsoft flight simulator purely on the basis that there are tons of tutorials and guides for helicopters and plains which you can follow to help improve your flying skills in a very accurate physics simulator. In addition to this there are tons of websites that can help you with your flying skills even more e.g. http://www.hovercontrol.com/.

I hope this helps

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Identify freeware game series about cars/planes in various unlikely scenarios

Question

There was a series of 3 seperate freeware games for Windows a number of years ago (likely circa 2000 - 2006) that were about cars/planes in various unlikely scenarios. I'm asking about all 3 at once since they were all linked off the same developer's website. Each game is unusual, but thinking about all 3 of them as a series makes them more identifiable.

They were all in 3D with a chase camera behind the car. Some of them may have had first-person views too.

In the first game you drove this flowery, boxy, low poly car that could convert into a boat or plane or something. All you could do was drive around an island, there seemed to be no goal.

In the second, you had a car that you had to drive around off-road delivering pizzas. There was also a plane you could fly instead.

In the third game you could race different cars down a mountain, sort of like a skiing game with cars. It had decent graphics, and as I recall a first-person mode with a steering wheel inside the car as well.

Does anybody remember what these games were called? I think it was a Scandinavian title.

Edit: Solved, not enough rep to post solution, see below.

Answer

Sounds like Lego Island.

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Where to read diary from Wings (Amiga game)

Question

There was a nice WWI flight game from Cinemaware on the Amiga called Wings. Between the sections of the game was a diary which was actually quite a good read. I never played the game to the end and didn't get a chance to read the full diary. I wonder if the diary can be found on the internet somewhere as I want to finish it (20 years later...)?

Answer

The site Recorded Amiga Games has a long play of Wings here: AMIGA LONGPLAY #378 - WINGS.

It should contain all the diary entries. But you have to pause it to read them. You may also want to skip ahead a little in the video since it's over 9 hours long.

You can either download it from the site or watch in on YouTube here.

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Can't remember name of old flight simulator game…

Question

I'm trying to remember the name of an old flight simulator game I used to play as a kid (not too long ago, around the release of Windows 95 or 98). My memory is a little crappy, so please try to bear with me (the time frame should help, though - 1995/6 to 1998).

I remember playing the game as 3D, though it was front-facing into the computer with perspective, and as the pilot, I had to try and avoid hitting blocks that were coming at me on a grid. Does this sound like anything familiar? I was around 3-5 then, so I'm sorry I can't remember much.

If the color scheme helps, the background was reddish, and the blocks coming at me were blue. I remember that I kept getting to some screen with a bunch of flags on it (I assume a multinational disclaimer of some kind), but of course, I couldn't read, so I can't tell you anything beyond that.

I've been looking for this game for ages, and for whatever reason, the internet hasn't yet compiled a list of all released flight simulators, so I have nowhere to look this up. If anyone remembers anything like this, let me know... thanks!

Answer

Perhaps it was Cylindrix? One of its "maps" has blue blocks and red background. You can download and play it for free to check if it's the same.

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Cylindrix is not a flight simulator. The thing is, when you write

I had to try and avoid hitting blocks that were coming at me on a grid

It doesn't sound at all like a flight simulator. In the flight simulators I know th eonly obstacle is the ground (and sometimes buildings), and there's certainly no "grid". I think the reason you are having a hard time finding it is because you search for a flight simulator.

If anything, it sounds more like a fly-in-tunnel game, something like this flash game (only with added obstacles). Is that closer to what you remember? Unfortunately I don't remember any games like that from ~1995, only games in which you could not fly - such as the wonderful SkyRoads (also free).

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