Airfight
| Company type | Video game |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Founder | Brand Fortner, Kevin Gorey |
| Headquarters | Urbana-Champaign , United States |
| Products | Airfight (video game) |
Airfight is a 3D multiplayer flight simulation and first-person shooter game developed for the PLATO IV computer system in 1974. Created by Brand Fortner and Kevin Gorey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it stands as one of the earliest examples of recreational flight simulators and networked team-based gaming.
Gameplay
Players experience the game through a first-person cockpit perspective, incorporating one of the pioneering implementations of a heads-up display in video games. The cockpit instruments provide essential flight metrics including altitude, G-forces, roll, pitch, and radar tracking of enemy planes. Competing teams aim to eliminate opposing aircraft using missiles, with successful hits increasing both individual and team scores. The game also issues warnings for immediate threats such as stalls.
Participants select from two opposing teams—Circle Squadron or Triangle Squadron—or opt to observe without engaging in combat. Available aircraft models are inspired by military jets like the MIG-21 and Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, each featuring unique attributes like weight, wing surface area, and velocity. Players can outfit their planes with fuel and missile payloads within weight constraints; refueling necessitates landing at designated airstrips.
Each user chooses a distinctive username that appears during gameplay events such as crashes or kills. Certain monikers became well-known due to expert players, although there was no password system to prevent name duplication. In keeping with many PLATO multiplayer titles, Airfight included an in-game chat function.
The game operated in a “background” mode, utilizing unused PLATO system clock cycles. While running in real-time, progression through gameplay actions was controlled individually by players pressing the NEXT key on their terminals.
Development
Airfight was developed following two earlier first-person flight titles on PLATO: Spasim by Jim Bowery and Airace by Silas Warner. Spasim introduced 3D graphics on PLATO with up to 32 participants in an arena-style shooter, whereas Airace emphasized realistic flight simulation focused on team racing without combat elements. Brand Fortner, a physics student at Urbana-Champaign influenced by Airace, sought to create a combat-oriented flight simulator with comparable realism.
Fortner collaborated with fellow physics major Kevin Gorey to program the game using the TUTOR language native to PLATO. Unlike most PLATO games that relied on character-based graphics, these 3D titles utilized line-drawing graphics along with the plasma display’s selective erase capabilities. To enhance authenticity, Fortner incorporated an airplane dashboard displaying vital flight data. The software was classified as a “background” application, running during off-peak hours after 10pm when system resources were more available at Champaign-Urbana.
The initial release of Airfight occurred in mid-1974. Fortner later rewrote the code independently in 1976 to improve performance. It quickly became one of the most popular games on PLATO, rivaling Empire as the leading action title. Top players earned considerable recognition throughout PLATO’s networked communities.
Legacy
Together with Spasim, Airfight helped establish a foundation for first-person flight simulators on PLATO, introducing many users to 3D graphics and multiplayer gameplay without requiring expensive graphical terminals.
Flight simulators evolved into prominent multiplayer network games. Examples include Dogfight for Silicon Graphics (SGI) workstations, which featured early flat-shaded polygonal 3D multiplayer combat. In 1987, Kesmai’s Air Warrior pioneered multiplayer action over the GEnie timesharing network. Sierra On-Line’s Red Baron also supported multiplayer via the Sierra Network.
Contrary to some claims, Airfight did not serve as an influence for A2/FS-1 Flight Simulator, the inaugural title in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series. Its creator Bruce Artwick, who worked at the Aviation Research Lab in Champaign-Urbana, acknowledged awareness of PLATO flight simulators but stated he never played them.
Brand Fortner subsequently contributed to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He was involved in early work on the NCSA Mosaic web browser and later joined Spyglass Inc., which commercialized Mosaic technology.