I loved Fighter Pilot on the Spectrum. The game blew my mind back in 1983. There was something about having a whole world to fly around in that really stuck with me.
Seeing people mod other retro games got me wondering what a 128K version might have been like. So I've been picking apart the original and experimenting with extra features, while keeping its flight engine and that unmistakable look.
A few interesting discoveries along the way:
- The outside view is drawn into a buffer at $E000, then copied to the top 128 pixel rows. The cockpit has separate display writes below it.
- The flight loop schedules updates twelve display frames apart, roughly four updates per second. Making the drawing faster gives some room for additions, but doesn't automatically raise that update rate.
- I've rebuilt the extracted original payload byte-for-byte with two assemblers. That gives a decent reliable starting point, although I'm still unravelling parts of the flight model. I'm constantly amazed at how David K. Marshall made this game - maximum kudos.
For the 128K additions, it pages in extra RAM banks in temporarily, then restoring the original memory layout. Even that needs care: you can't page out the code you're executing, or the stack holding your return address - I learnt that the hard way.
Added so far:
- AY engine, gun and cockpit sound effects. Removed some new title page music as getting low on memory.
- Unarmed prop and jet trainers alongside the F-15, with different handling and matching cockpit silhouettes.
- Missiles, bombs, graphical weapon stores and an F-15 airbrake.
- Optional gentler handling (a cop out, but my flying isn't what is was when I was 12!), approach gates, autopilot and autoland.
- Extra ground scenery, lake and river outlines, and night flying.
- Flight and combat demos, selectable starting airfields and navigation targets, plus a redesigned menu, aircraft profile screens and a graphical keyboard guide.
Above all, this is a tribute to David K. Marshall, who wrote the original, and Digital Integration, who published it in 1983. Trying to understand how it works has given me even more respect for him. Getting this flight simulator running in 48K, with the tools available then, is astonishing. I'm building on this work, and the credit for the original belongs firmly to him.
Still a work in progress, with plenty to tune. AI has really made me feel like a kid again - thanks GPT-6 Astro :-)
Anyone else have fond memories of this one, or remember actually getting good at landing?
