Helicopter Flight Simulator

Introduction

Flight Simulators have been around for a long time and have become extremely popular since the advances in 3D computer graphics that occurred in the 1990s. Microsoft and their associated developers have firmly established themselves as the leaders in this field. Their [and others] simulators allow the user to pilot various aircraft through almost photo-realistic scenery. Simulators come in two forms: the hugely sophisticated simulators where the user has exact control over the aircraft and the combat simulators (where the user pilots a fighter plane or bomber and carries out various missions in different war scenarios). In combat simulators generally, the physics modelling is less accurate to allow the user to concentrate on the combat scenario and not on the piloting of the aircraft.

The most popular aircraft used in the simulators, as already suggested, is the aeroplane. There is a reason for this: in real life a helicopter pilot has to operate more than three control sticks to fly a helicopter due to the full freedom of movement that the helicopter has while airborne. For a computer simulator or game, the amount of (keyboard/mouse/joystick) input required would be overwhelming, possibly even for the most accomplished games player. Such problems detract from the entertainment value of a simulator and hence become unattractive to the consumer. In comparison, an aeroplane, which has limited capabilities, requires a minimum of four control keys. Normally these are the cursor keys to control the aircraft pitch and roll (sometimes a "rudder" as well, which I believe is not normally used during flight).

The aim of this Final Project therefore is to create a helicopter physics game engine that will require the minimum amount of input from the user. The specification of the project states that if keyboard input alone is not intuitive enough, then an alternative input device will be considered. This will almost certainly be a joystick. To carry out this task, research must be done in the area of the movement of a helicopter and if necessary the associated physics. Another requirement is that the user must be able to navigate around a large terrain segment. This opens the scope of the project to include implementing a graphics engine.

Helicopter Simulator Home Page

Abstract Introduction Specification

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