Me restoring ye olde Virtual Sailor (VS) Shipyard sent me down the rabbit-hole of history.
And that led to the following semi-chronological and absolutely-NOT-complete graph:
Interesting to visualise the connections.
And to realise just how much different people have the same interests.
Sometimes we do things separately; but sometimes we also do things together.
And sometimes it is commercial. But sometimes also for free.
Looks like it started in the United States with Bill Gates'/Microsoft's "Flight Simulator".
Then Canadian-American programmer Sid Meier made his own "Solo Flight".
He then went on to create the first Civilisation (which I played A LOT!).
And finally he was the one to add the pirate element.
In the meantime, Ilan Papini from Israel made first his own "Hangsim" flight simulator.
Next up: "Micro Flight" and his own foray into sailing with the aptly-named "Virtual Sailor".
By the time I tried that, Ilan had already implemented waves and submarines.
And eventually he ended up combining virtually (hehe!) all modes of transportation, including cars and space flight!
I was very heavily involved there for a few years myself during my secondary school years:
Notice - The Virtual Sailor Shipyard
We had quite a multinational community going, with key members from Spain and Scandinavia.
There must've been Americans too, but I don't specifically remember those (sorry).
Behind the former "Iron Curtain", the Russians must've been inspired by very similar things.
"Waves" were key and they created the "Storm Engine", with "Sea Dogs" being the first game running on it.
Eventually I believe they largely rewrote huge chunks of it and released Pirates of the Caribbean with version 2.
All subsequent games in the series (Age of Pirates/Sea Dogs) run on updated versions of this engine.
A "Storm Engine 3" was never officially made,
though of course @ChezJfrey's "Maelstrom" could be considered as such.
The "Storm Engine" was sold by Akella to various different game developers.
For example the ones behind "Voyage Century Online",
which explains how that uses the same file formats we here are familiar with.
On the more professional side, Dutch company VSTEP took up Ship Simulating as well.
I almost did my graduate study there, but ended up choosing for the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).
As a classmate and good friend of mine couldn't find a place for his study, I hooked him up with VSTEP.
So in the end, everybody happy.
Turns out that MARIN also does their own simulator development these days.
But really, even though I work there, this part is the most foggy to me as I've only been in a different department.
This is the official data flyer though, for those who might be interested:
https://www.marin.nl/storage/uploads/3613/files/DOLPHIN.pdf
What stands out to me is that there are a LOT of people worldwide working on very similar things.
More often than not, this happens independently and sometimes is even considered as competing.
And yet it doesn't have to be; because the biggest successes I remember are when we all work together.
The Virtual Sailor community was at its best when we were all having fun together, while still pushing forward.
And let's not underestimate our own PiratesAhoy! home-away-from-home.
We started in 2003 around a game that never really found a massive audience.
While we haven't accomplished all our goals and dreams, we are still here; alive and kicking!
Our flagship "Build Mod" had its most recent update, courtesy of @Grey Roger, only just over a month ago.
@Jack Rackham and @Bartolomeu o Portugues are still working on brand new story content.
Our "Hearts of Oak" project led @Captain Murphy and @Flannery to cooperate with the HMS Unicorn Preservation Society.
And our very own @Armada is now developing a commercial Indie pirate game at Skyward Digital!
Plus, I myself actually got into real life seafaring for 4 years study and 5 years professional.
And I've been the proud owner of a very seaworthy sailboat of my own for a bit over 3 years now as well.
Quite the complex story then.
With no end yet in sight.
Where does our route lead next?
Or better question: where do we want to go (read: sail) next?
And that led to the following semi-chronological and absolutely-NOT-complete graph:
And to realise just how much different people have the same interests.
Sometimes we do things separately; but sometimes we also do things together.
And sometimes it is commercial. But sometimes also for free.
Looks like it started in the United States with Bill Gates'/Microsoft's "Flight Simulator".
Then Canadian-American programmer Sid Meier made his own "Solo Flight".
He then went on to create the first Civilisation (which I played A LOT!).
And finally he was the one to add the pirate element.
In the meantime, Ilan Papini from Israel made first his own "Hangsim" flight simulator.
Next up: "Micro Flight" and his own foray into sailing with the aptly-named "Virtual Sailor".
By the time I tried that, Ilan had already implemented waves and submarines.
And eventually he ended up combining virtually (hehe!) all modes of transportation, including cars and space flight!
I was very heavily involved there for a few years myself during my secondary school years:
Notice - The Virtual Sailor Shipyard
We had quite a multinational community going, with key members from Spain and Scandinavia.
There must've been Americans too, but I don't specifically remember those (sorry).
Behind the former "Iron Curtain", the Russians must've been inspired by very similar things.
"Waves" were key and they created the "Storm Engine", with "Sea Dogs" being the first game running on it.
Eventually I believe they largely rewrote huge chunks of it and released Pirates of the Caribbean with version 2.
All subsequent games in the series (Age of Pirates/Sea Dogs) run on updated versions of this engine.
A "Storm Engine 3" was never officially made,
though of course @ChezJfrey's "Maelstrom" could be considered as such.
The "Storm Engine" was sold by Akella to various different game developers.
For example the ones behind "Voyage Century Online",
which explains how that uses the same file formats we here are familiar with.
On the more professional side, Dutch company VSTEP took up Ship Simulating as well.
I almost did my graduate study there, but ended up choosing for the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).
As a classmate and good friend of mine couldn't find a place for his study, I hooked him up with VSTEP.
So in the end, everybody happy.
Turns out that MARIN also does their own simulator development these days.
But really, even though I work there, this part is the most foggy to me as I've only been in a different department.
This is the official data flyer though, for those who might be interested:
https://www.marin.nl/storage/uploads/3613/files/DOLPHIN.pdf
What stands out to me is that there are a LOT of people worldwide working on very similar things.
More often than not, this happens independently and sometimes is even considered as competing.
And yet it doesn't have to be; because the biggest successes I remember are when we all work together.
The Virtual Sailor community was at its best when we were all having fun together, while still pushing forward.
And let's not underestimate our own PiratesAhoy! home-away-from-home.
We started in 2003 around a game that never really found a massive audience.
While we haven't accomplished all our goals and dreams, we are still here; alive and kicking!
Our flagship "Build Mod" had its most recent update, courtesy of @Grey Roger, only just over a month ago.
@Jack Rackham and @Bartolomeu o Portugues are still working on brand new story content.
Our "Hearts of Oak" project led @Captain Murphy and @Flannery to cooperate with the HMS Unicorn Preservation Society.
And our very own @Armada is now developing a commercial Indie pirate game at Skyward Digital!
Plus, I myself actually got into real life seafaring for 4 years study and 5 years professional.
And I've been the proud owner of a very seaworthy sailboat of my own for a bit over 3 years now as well.
Quite the complex story then.
With no end yet in sight.
Where does our route lead next?
Or better question: where do we want to go (read: sail) next?
