''Dogfight'' is an aerial combat

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

written by Bill Basham for the Apple II and published by Micro Lab in 1980. The game is a clone of

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

's 1975 arcade game ''

Jet Fighter Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

''.

Gameplay

The player controls an aircraft that always moves in the direction is it pointed and can be rotated left or right and shoot. The screen wraps around at the edges, such that a player heading off the right edge of the screen will re-enter from the left. Players can play solo against the computer or up to 8 humans can play against each other. Since all input is via the single built-in keyboard of the Apple II, this involves the players crowding up against each other to reach their 3 keys. Each plane is identified by a number drawn next to it. When a plane is shot, it becomes a parachuting figure, which transits the screen from top to bottom a few times and also may be shot.

Development

The game was written by Bill Basham in Rockford, Illinois. He obtained an Apple II and began to program in

machine language In computer programming, machine code is any low-level programming language, consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). Each instruction causes the CPU to perform a very ...

, and wanted to explore the animation capabilities. He ended up being able to smoothly animate up to 56 items on the screen at the same time. Part of the performance was obtained by using a lookup table.

Reception

''Dogfight'' was number 6 on ''

Softalk ''Softalk'' () was an American magazine of the early 1980s that focused on the Apple II computer. Published from September 1980 through August 1984, it featured articles about hardware and software associated with the Apple II platform and the p ...

s "The Top Thirty" list in the February 1981 issue.

Legacy

''Dogfight II'', released in 1981, is an update to the original game that includes support for the Joyport device, and two new game modes: multiplayer and anti-aircraft gunner. ''Dogfight II'' was re-released as shareware with Basham's ''Diversi-Copy'' and ''Diversi-DOS'' utilities.

References

{{reflist 1980 video games Apple II games Apple II-only games Multidirectional shooters Video game clones Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer and single-player video games