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Conceptual Flight Sim:

To the absurd.

April 2018

OBJECTIVES

Our goal here was to create a concept game that would throw out the traditional rules for something that made no sense. In other words, a game meant to break out of the purpose of video games.

 

In order to accomplish this, we targeted a lesser played game genre to work with. We eventually landed on the simulator game genre. The appeal of these games are that they’re taking ordinarily difficult tasks, (flying, driving, or being a goat) and mapping them into a controller in a game setting that’s easily accessible to gamers. Our idea of an absurdist game design would be to take one of these simulator games, and remove/alter all parts of the game that make it feel like a “game,” and more like their real life counterparts.

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Our result? The mockup of the very first absurd flight simulator:

panel_sketch.png

Gameplay

For example, a flight simulator has many aspects to the gameplay. This includes all the individual controls, maintenance, and flying conditions your virtual plane might go through. The absurdist version of this simulator would have the same aspects, but with a realism that borders on unplayable. Also, the controls would be mapped with the steepest learning curve in mind. Some examples of this would include:

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  • Binding all the movement controls to WASD, and mapping all other controls to different areas of the keyboard.

  • Making the mouse useless (where would you find a mouse on a plane?)

  • Attaching in-game weather conditions to real life weather conditions.

  • Hiding the majority of the features behind a paywall for the user, but making some of them mandatory to play the game.

  • Requiring legitimate knowledge as a pilot in order to successfully play the game. Make the game impossible to play without a co-op partner (real planes have two pilots most of the time.)

  • Skip the idea of using in-game time, make the simulator utilize real-world time, no matter how ridiculous that may be. 

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Since it was about as far away from an actual flight console as it could be, we eventually settled on the idea of using a standard QWERTY keyboard rather than a controller. This was partially due to the larger variety of key bindings that would be needed.

qwerty.png

​Controls (Unknown to the player)

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  1. Brings up Primary Flight Display

  2. Highlights Altitude Indicator

  3. Toggles Direction Finder

  4. Adjusts System Information Display

  5. Toggles Navigation Controls

  6. Highlights Radar Display

  7. Setup/Triggers Landing gear

  8. Prepares activation for engine 1

  9. Fuel Indication/Display

  10. Prepares Activation for engine 2 (0 key)

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Primary Flight Display: (Navigated with Arrow keys) Activated by pressing [1]

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List of things that will appear on the console

  • Select Destination -> (Brings up a list of three cities) -> (Player selects city, whatever city is selected determines level parameters, i.e. necessary fuel, distance, direction, and flight time.)

  • Fueling -> (Player must hold [9] for required amount of time, dependent on city. Timer for indication?)

  • Check for Maintenance -> (Player Runs this function that either returns green light (true) red light (false). I’m currently thinking 70% chance true 30% false.

  • Contact Air Traffic Control -> (Player must have selected this option or else flight will fail).

  • Green Light for takeoff

  • Red Light for failure

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Altitude Indicator: Activated by pressing [2]

  • Displays Current Altitude -> (In meters, determined by how long the player is holding down the up/down arrows)

  • Climb -> (Up arrow)

  • Descend -> (Down arrows)

  • Abort -> (Press E three times to eject)

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Direction Finder: Activated by pressing [3]

  • Displays current direction (NSEW) -> Brings up a large compass showing the current position of the plane (Completely random starting direction)

  • Displays direction to destination (NSEW) -> (compass points East)

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Adjusts System Information Display: Activated by pressing [4]

  • Brings up option for player to remap controls onto the keyboard. -> Reassigns the number controls and their corresponding functions. (This purposely meant to confuse the player. Prompt adjustment with y/n?, but give no other information.)

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Navigation Controls: Activated by pressing [5]

  • Toggles the direction of the plane onto the arrow keys. -> Brings back the compass display, only this time the player controls where the plane is pointing with the arrow keys, left and right respectively.

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Highlight Radar Display: Activated by pressing [6]

  • Displays radar (shows what else is in your vicinity up to 100 meters) -> Literally brings up a radar with nothing on it. Maybe another plane. There really is not gameplay value to this control other than to provide the player with information that has no value.

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Landing Gear: Activated by pressing [7]

  • Press 7 to put down landing gear, press 7 again to retract. (If not done during landing, plane crashes. If not retracted during takeoff, plane crashes upon landing) -> (Player presses 7 after takeoff, which can be determined by the altitude. Player must put down landing gear before the altitude goes below 100 ft.)

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Engine 1: Activated by pressing [8]

  • Maps engine one throttle and direction onto WASD. Press 8 to start up engine one, and 8 again to stop engine one. -> (Player must press 8 to start engine one, and hold W to gain speed until maximum speed is achieved.)

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Fuel: Activated by pressing [9]

  • Press 9 when on the ground to begin fueling. -> Player must hold 9 to continue fueling for necessary amount of time, dependent on destination. Timer will count down to determine how long the player needs to hold down the button.

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Engine 2: Activated by pressing [0]

  • Maps engine 2 throttle and direction onto IJKL. Press 0 to start up engine two, and 0 again to stop engine 2. ->(Player must press  to start engine two, and hold I to gain speed until maximum speed is achieved. Must be done in conjunction with engine 1.)

Below is a short gallery of the concept art we mocked up for what the player of the simulator would see. After playing with a few ideas, we decided that though the game aims for hyper-realism, the visuals can afford to be less so. 

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