Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Microsoft Games | ACES Studio
UI Artist | 2006
Background
Microsoft's Flight Simulator X is the 10th version of the extremely well-known video game & simulator. The first release of Microsoft Flight Simulator dates back to 1982, and has since evolved into an extremely realistic game. The game is so well rendered and contains such accurate real-world rules, such as gravity, geography, and weather, that it is widely used by real pilots.
Artwork
I was extremely honored to have played even a small role in the development of this award-winning release. As a UI Artist for this title, I was charged with the task of designing and implementing the in-game and game-setup user interface elements, such as dialogs, buttons, and sliders. I was given artistic freedom when creating some of the destination postcards, which was a lot of fun.
Tools
Some of the tools I used included Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as the Xbox User Interface Tool (XUI). When creating dialogs, I used Microsoft's in-house, proprietary Ace Dialog Editor, which was developed specifically for designing and developing dialogs for Flight Simulator.
Technology
When new elements were created, they needed to be included in the build. Because there were hundreds of people contributing to this title, new items were to be included in the build via Microsoft's Source Depot, which is Microsoft's source-versioning tool. Once assets were inserted, it was necessary to recompile the build and test each new addition. We were also expected to play Flight Simulator on a regular basis to see our new entries in action.
