Air (1977 video game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the 2000 Japanese computer game of the same name, see Air (visual novel).

Air is a text-based air combat mainframe computer game written in 1977 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. Air preceded the first graphical MMOG, Air Warrior, which was released by the company Flinn and Taylor later founded, Kesmai. Air Warrior in turn spurred the development of key original MMOG titles including Neverwinter Nights (Don Daglow and Cathryn Mataga, 1991), Ultima Online (Richard Garriott and Origin Systems, 1997), and Everquest (Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost at Sony Online Entertainment, 1999).

[edit] History

The first version was created in 1977 and enhanced through 1979. Kelton Flinn has described Air as one of the ancestors of online graphic games:

If Air Warrior was a primate swinging in the trees, AIR was the text-based amoeba crawling on the ocean floor. But it was quasi-real time, multi-player, and attempted to render 3-D on the terminal using ASCII graphics. It was an acquired taste.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mulligan, Jessica Bridgette Patrovsky Developing Online Games: An Insiders Guide New Riders 2003 p. 443 ISBN 1592730000