Why Airship Commander?
Hey folks. Thanks for reading the first developer diary for Airship Commander!
In this outing I want to discuss some of the reasons Airship Commander exists. Future diaries will cover the development process we use as a tiny developer, where I see the game going in the short and long term, and progress updates.
My obsession with the “airship” genre started in the 1980s. When I was around 14 years old, I was able to convince my parents into letting me attend a gaming convention in Anaheim, California. Some favorite sessions were given by computer game developers. One by Hero Quest makers Lori and Corey Cole, another from the team behind the ill-fated original Champions computer game.
As memorable as those were, the game of the show for me was a role-playing game called Space 1889. It was focused on an 19th century world where all you needed for space travel was an airtight ship, some balloons to take you into orbit, and enough plants on board to make oxygen.
Of particular electrifying impact was Mars in this universe. The Red Planet was a frontier, where swashbuckling Earthlings could become captains of “liftwood” airships. I wanted to experience what it was like to stand on the deck of one of these Sky Galleons, order broadsides and chase down merchantmen.
Fast forward years later and I’m an undergrad at San Francisco State. While I consumed interactive games of almost all genres, vehicle simulations were my favorites. Dogfighting games were plentiful, but what I really hungered for were capital ship sims. Task Force 1942 got very close by letting me command massive vessels, but the lack of the fantastical kept it from scratching the itch introduced by Space 1889.
I spent a lot of time time between classes bemoaning this absent dream game by taking copious notes and drawing countless doodles. Sitting on benches in Golden Gate Park, I spent many afternoons scraping out of my head every idea I had about what this game would look like.
Shortly after college I was able to get a job at Origin Systems, Inc. in Austin, Texas. The Ultima and Wing Commander series were base components of my gaming identity and I was floating about two inches above the ground when I joined. Beyond the amazing opportunity, being surrounded by colleagues making games daily was just the inspiration I needed to stop lamenting my dream game not existing. I made a commitment to try and make it.
Digging through all those college notes, and using a old copy of Turbo C donated to me from Origin, I was able to cobble together a MS-Dos version of my vision.
A shocking number of similarities exist between this 1990’s version and Airship Commander. In this show you see two "screws" in the distance (the cigar looking things with silver pins up front). There is a "kite" at high altitude barely visible and a POV-Ray rendered cannon discharging on the left for a broadside.
As crude as it was, it was playable, interactive and was the first tangible evidence outside of my head that this game could exist.
A career in video game production put my dream game on hold for over a decade. I can often determine how satisfied I am at work by the number of person projects i have going. It’s a good sign that for most of the 21st century I’d been focused on my day job exclusively, and the "airship" idea collected dust.
But in 2015 I started learning unity, and dabbling in VR, and the “airship” game started to eat more and more of my cycles. The stars started to align and in my mind it seems like now could be the perfect opportunity to polish up these old ideas and give them a fresh take using today’s technology.
Airship Commander was born.
Next diary will cover how I got started, my daily development philosophy and some lessons learned in making a game like this with a very, very small team. Thanks for reading!