''A-10 Attack!'' is a
combat flight simulation video game for the
Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software ...
computer released by
Parsoft Interactive
Parsoft Interactive, or simply Parsoft, was a computer game company known for their series of technically advanced combat flight simulators. The name comes from Eric Parker, founder and chief developer. Their first release was '' Hellcats Over the ...
in 1995. The game features an
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twinjet, twin-turbofan, straight wing, straight-wing, Subsonic aircraft, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force ...
aircraft that takes part in a variety of missions in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
during a hypothetical limited conventional attack by the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...
. A-10 boasted one of the most detailed flight models of any game of its era, a physics model that extended to solid-body interactions with the ground and complete aerodynamics for every object in the game, including ordnance.
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macin ...
rated it "Best Flight Simulator" in a review of Mac simulations.
The game was followed by a
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...
named ''
A-10 Cuba!
''A-10 Cuba!'' is a flight simulator computer game developed by Parsoft Interactive and published by Activision in 1996 for Windows and Mac. The game was a sequel to the Mac-exclusive '' A-10 Attack!''. A third game in the series, titled ''A-10 ...
'', originally as a stand-alone game on the Mac and
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
-based PC's, but later re-released on the Mac as a plug-in module for the original game. The
Mac OS
Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded " ...
versions were produced by Parsoft, while the PC version of ''Cuba'' was a joint production with
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
. This partnership was renewed for Parsoft's final release, ''
Fighter Squadron: The Screamin' Demons Over Europe''.
History
Development of what would evolve into ''A-10 Attack!'' started after the release of ''Hellcats: Missions at Leyte Gulf'', an expansion pack for ''
Hellcats Over the Pacific'' that was released in 1992. Although ''Hellcats'' managed to do a lot with limited capabilities of the hardware, the game had a number of obvious drawbacks. For one, the missions were written in
computer code
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progr ...
as part of the
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the softwar ...
, which meant the user could not add new missions or modify the existing ones. Another problem was that the vehicles and other objects in the game were hard-coded with various behaviors, which likewise made them difficult to customize. Even the game map itself existed only in the code.
Parsoft started experimenting with a plug-in system to replace the hard-coded objects in ''Hellcats''. Known as the Virtual Battlefield Environment (VBE), the system still required programming tools to build out the objects, but once they were completed they could be loaded into the game engine from individual files. Adding these into a game simply required the files to be placed in the appropriate directories in the user's
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one lar ...
. VBE allowed anything to be added in this fashion; aircraft, vehicles, missions, and maps.
Another problem with ''Hellcats'' was its very basic physics, which simulated only the most basic flight dynamics and resulted in flight that was unrealistic in a number of ways. There were no structural limits either, allowing a number of unrealistic extremely high-g maneuvers. A completely new flight engine was created for the VBE system that simulated subsonic aerodynamics with a fair degree of realism, with effects like
dutch roll
Dutch roll is a type of aircraft motion consisting of an out-of- phase combination of "tail-wagging" (yaw) and rocking from side to side (roll). This yaw-roll coupling is one of the basic flight dynamic modes (others include phugoid, short ...
and
adverse yaw Adverse yaw is the natural and undesirable tendency for an aircraft to yaw in the opposite direction of a roll. It is caused by the difference in lift and drag of each wing. The effect can be greatly minimized with ailerons deliberately designed t ...
"falling out" of the engine without being deliberately coded in. Additionally, the system included a new
physics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer ...
that featured simple
finite element analysis
The finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat t ...
that allowed damage to be realistically simulated, including its effects on the flight dynamics of the aircraft. The resulting simulation was arguably the most advanced of its era.
All of this was combined with an improved version of the graphics engine developed for ''Hellcats'', allowing players to use multiple monitors and any resolution their machine could support. ''Hellcats'' used a
polygon-based flat-shaded system that used differential updating to avoid bottlenecks in the
computer bus
In computer architecture, a bus (shortened form of the Latin ''omnibus'', and historically also called data highway or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. This ex ...
and thereby improve frame rates. ''A-10'' retained the basics from ''Hellcats'', but added the ability for small areas of
texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for mapping a texture on a computer-generated graphic. Texture here can be high frequency detail, surface texture, or color.
History
The original technique was pioneered by Edwin Catmull in 1974.
Texture mappi ...
to be applied, which was used on the vehicles to add roundels and squadron markings. A combination of improved code in the engine and the rapid improvement in computer performance since the release of ''Hellcats'' allowed the new engine to feature greatly increased scene complexity.
Early versions of the game were shown at
MacWorld Boston
Macworld/iWorld was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Expo'' and then ''Macworld Conference & Expos ...
in the summer of 1993. At the time the physics and graphics engines were operational, although there was no "game" per-se. The world consisted of a single-runway airbase and a nearby target range with several "bullseye" targets. This was followed some time later by a fairly functional demo version, which took place on a mythical island with a number of friendly and enemy objects in the area.
For the release version, a series of missions in northern Germany were created, along with a new mission-planning map system that was widely lauded. As the game was being finalized for release, Apple introduced the new
PowerMac
The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...
systems. Running in the
68k emulator the game proved to be very slow, so a delay followed while they wrote a PowerPC "native" version, and the game was finally delivered in 1995, a full three years after starting development and about a year later than promised.
''
A-10 Cuba!
''A-10 Cuba!'' is a flight simulator computer game developed by Parsoft Interactive and published by Activision in 1996 for Windows and Mac. The game was a sequel to the Mac-exclusive '' A-10 Attack!''. A third game in the series, titled ''A-10 ...
'' followed, although at first it did not use VBE and was shipped in the form of a stand-alone application. It was only later that Cuba was re-released to run as a VBE module that allowed it to run in the original application. The VBE specifications were never released to 3rd parties, and the few public comments on the topic from Parsoft claimed it was simply not ready and required work to clean it up and document it. By 1997 Parsoft had already moved onto a new project, and it was clear that VBE had been abandoned.
Description
Gameplay in ''A-10 Attack!'' switched between a mission map and planning system displayed on a 2D map, and the in-game flying. The switch between the two modes could be made at any time during a game, with the plane turning on the autopilot and following the mission outline when the user was in the map mode.
Flight mode was relatively similar to most flight simulators, although control was normally via mouse or a joystick mapped onto the mouse. The "2" view looked down into the cockpit, showing all the instruments in a layout fairly faithful to the actual layout in the A-10. The mechanical cockpit controls and various displays, including the
HUD
Hud or HUD may refer to:
Entertainment
* Hud (1963 film), ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman
* Hud (1986 film), ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film
* HUD (TV program), ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadi ...
, were all likewise fairly good simulations of the original.
The game included a unique "active hand" system that allowed the player to manipulate the switches and controls without having to remember keyboard commands. Holding down the option key turned off mouse control of the aircraft, and made a hand-cursor appear that could operate the controls by clicking on them. The cursor changed as it moved over the controls to indicate what could be done, clicking, rotating or "rolling" the mechanical controls. Even complex weapons release modes could be controlled in this way, although doing so often required a series of clicks on different controls.
Weapons included a variety of conventional bombs and their laser-guided counterparts, as well as the
AIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prove ...
and
HARM
Harm is a moral and legal concept.
Bernard Gert construes harm as any of the following:
* pain
* death
* disability
* mortality
* loss of abil ity or freedom
* loss of pleasure.
Joel Feinberg gives an account of harm as setbacks to in ...
missiles, cluster bombs and rockets. However the cannon remained one of the most important weapons in the game (because the A-10 was built around the GAU-8A gatling gun). Even without completing the missions, the game engine itself was detailed enough to create a sub-game in which users attempted to place their Hogs in odd positions on the map, or use the engine for various other tricks.
In the map mode any object in the game that was close enough to have become visible to an allied object appeared as a "chit" on the display. Using controls on the chits the user could move their point of view to those objects, and see what they were doing. At the start of a mission only friendly or nearby neutral chits would be seen, but as the player flew into the mission, more would become visible as they (or other allied forces) approached them. Additionally, the user could display and control the waypoints for the aircraft in the mission through a dialog-box based editor, customizing their flight plans. Games would typically have the player switch back and forth between flight and the mission map, looking at their progress and perhaps newly spotted targets that were not immediately obvious from the cockpit.
The selection of missions included with the game generally increased in difficulty with an increasing number of targets and friendly vehicles. They covered a series of events after a fictional invasion of West Germany by limited
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...
forces, with the map covering the western Baltic area with Denmark in the upper left. Like ''Hellcats'', the A-10 mission system in VBE allowed the missions to be custom programmed, and some of them included such events as an attempted bombing of a dam. However, as in ''Hellcats'', ''A-10'' did not allow the user to create their own missions.
Reception
Christopher Breen had an extensive review in ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...
s September 1995 edition. He notes its "extremely fluid" graphics and excellent frame rate, but spends almost half of the article explaining VBE and its future potential. He concludes, "With VBE, A-10 Attack! represents a remarkable first step in a revolutionary Mac-gaming technology. As far as we're concerned, this lowly Hog is a blue-wibbon winner." His only complaints were "occasional crash bugs" and "sadly lacking" manual.
MacUser's
Steven Levy
Steven Levy (born 1951) is an American journalist and Editor at Large for '' Wired'' who has written extensively for publications on computers, technology, cryptography, the internet, cybersecurity, and privacy. He is the author of the 1984 boo ...
briefly reviewed the game as part of a 1995 gaming roundup, awarding it the title of "Best Flight Simulator". He noted it's "stunningly realistic" missions and its "gorgeously rendered" landscapes, concluding with a somewhat muted "A-10 Attack is a welcome addition to anyone's virtual battlefield".
Bob LeVitus
Bob LeVitus (also known as ''Dr. Mac'') is an American author of more than 75 computer-related books, particularly on the Apple Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad for the book series '' ...For Dummies''. He has been a columnist for the ''Houston Chronic ...
reviewed the game as part of a flight simulator round-up, which also included Out of the Sun and
F/A-18 Hornet. He titles the mini-review "It Soars Above the Rest". However, he complained about the documentation, noting "Its biggest downfall is that its documentation is the weakest of the three flight sims in this review."
Sales
The game sold 80,000 units by October 1996.
See also
*
A-10 Tank Killer
''A-10 Tank Killer'' is a 1989 combat flight simulation video game for DOS developed and published by Dynamix. An Amiga version was released in 1990. The game features an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. Following the success of ''Red Baro ...
(1989/90)
*
A-10 Cuba!
''A-10 Cuba!'' is a flight simulator computer game developed by Parsoft Interactive and published by Activision in 1996 for Windows and Mac. The game was a sequel to the Mac-exclusive '' A-10 Attack!''. A third game in the series, titled ''A-10 ...
(1996)
*
Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II (1996)
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
* {{cite book , title= The Secret History of Mac Gaming , first=Richard , last=Moss , publisher= Unbound Publishing , date=2018 , isbn= 9781783524877 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkIpDwAAQBAJ
1995 video games
Combat flight simulators
Classic Mac OS games
Classic Mac OS-only games
Video games set in Germany
Video games set in Denmark
Video games set in Sweden
War video games set in the United States
Cold War video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in East Germany