Where are the Retro Flight sims?

[republic]

Probably spawned by Minecraft, retro looking games are all the rage.  I would imagine the low fidelity graphics save a good chunk of change.

I would really like to see a flight sim with retro graphics but fidelity between Strike Fighters and DCS: Lock On.  Not a study sim, just a sim that replicates the feel of different airframes that is somewhat easy to get into.  In-air refueling should be able to be accomplished within a few hours of play.  It has been frustrating waiting on the Edge engine for DCS, and it often seems the bulk of the development goes into prettifying a flight sim and not making it actually fun (dynamic campaigns, any story whatsoever, etc.)

We have no intro flight sims anymore.  We have arcade shooters (Ace Combat) then we have near military grade study sims  (DCS: A10/Blackshark/MI-8/etc).  Thirdwire has seemingly given up the PC.  Where is the bridge for a kid playing Ace Combat on his Xbox and DCS?  I was lucky to start with Aces over the Pacific and the like and eventually graduate to Flanker, IL2, LOMAC, DCS...

[JasonPratt]

The retro flight sims are on GoG. :)

[SgtRock]

If some one made a Flight Sim or any other type of simulation game today without Super graphics, I doubt it would sell.

[Grim.Reaper]

If some one made a Flight Sim or any other type o
f simulation game today without Super graphics, I doubt it would sell.

Unless the game came with an awesome truly dynamic campaign..I would sacrifice graphics for that.  But I do realize most people would prefer it to be pretty instead.

[republic]

It used to be that graphics made the game, but I think that the new indie games have shown that if the gameplay is solid, and the art style is good, the graphics don't necessarily have to be ultra-realistic.

Its times like these I wish I weren't so dumb and could program... :(

[Darkspire]

Gunship on the ST. We used to have hours of fun trying to beat each others service records, no campaigns, just random generated missions with excellent mission briefings, would love to see a true remake of that with retro (Minecraft type) or modern graphics.

Darkspire

[republic]

I think the vocal members of the flight sim community painted themselves into a corner.  They fought for more and more fidelity and every button able to be mashed and now I would imagine developers don't want to touch the flight sim with a 10 meter pole...

Just like with space sims, it is going to take a successful kickstarter or something of that nature to 'kick start' the genre again.  Just a year ago no one was making space games...now we have Elite, Star Citizen, and about a dozen others.

Hopefully someone new will come along to create a new flight sim using Unity or some other existing engine, that way they can focus on gameplay and not reinvent the wheel like every flight sim seems to have done.

[Darkspire]

They fought for more and more fidelity and every button able to be mashed and now I would imagine developers don't want to touch the flight sim with a 10 meter pole...

Your line reminded me of something I had long forgotten, two words, keyboard overlay  :)
I miss those as much as a proper printed manual and all the other bits you used to get in a box, always felt like Christmas because you never knew what would be in there.

Darkspire

[jomni]

[deleted]

[Father Ted]

IL2 46 looks pretty retro these days and is still going strong. If you want an entry level CFS, then War Thunder seems to be doing okay.  The genre is actually undergoing a bit of a renaissance with Battle of Stalingrad and DCS 1944 in the pipeline.  Even poor old CloD is getting some love and is beginning to look like the game it should have been.

[jomni]

IL2 46 looks pretty retro these days and is still going strong. If you want an entry level CFS, then War Thunder seems to be doing okay.  The genre is actually undergoing a bit of a renaissance with Battle of Stalingrad and DCS 1944 in the pipeline.  Even poor old CloD is getting some love and is beginning to look like the game it should have been.

I recently loaded up CloD and I still think it's IL2 in a new skin.  I just can't get into these games (anything done by Maddox).

[Gusington]

I have always loved Wings from Cinemaware...it fell in between a simpler arcade game and a just slightly more advanced 'sim' and had one of the best campaigns ever.

[bbmike]

I miss Flight Assignment: A.T.P. I played that for hours on end. I wonder if I still have the old 3.5" floppy somewhere around here?

[Toonces]

I think flight sims were like they were back in the day not because they were the awesomest, but because that was the best we could achieve with the technology that then existed.  Especially something like a flight simulation, you really want the best graphics you can afford to put in there because visuals are such an important part of flying.  I don't agree that something like flight sims really lend themselves to "retro" gaming.

Now then, where I will agree is that flight simulations have been becoming higher fidelity and better simulations at the expense of the "game".  DCS is a perfect example of a great simulation but a shitty game.  I fly more in Air Hauler than I do in DCS because in Air Hauler at least I have a unique, dynamic experience every time I boot it up.

I would like to see us go more retro in that sense, capturing the gameplay magic of sims like Tornado or Pacific War 1942, but I don't see any reason to sacrifice simulation fidelity or graphics to achieve that.

[republic]

Of course if I had my choice, I'd want it all.  But I think for the flight sim to to back to a gameplay focus its going to have to be done by a very small team where there probably won't be the graphics artists to pull off DCS like image fidelity.  It is with that in mind that I say, please bring the retro looking flight sim.

I'd happily trade image fidelity to have a simulated dynamic war like Falcon 4 but with approachable avionics, a large array of flyable craft, multiplayer capability, story with a career path, etc.