Corncob 3D

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Corncob 3D was a flight simulator combat game by Pie in the Sky Software and released in 1992 as shareware. It was later released retail as Corncob Deluxe by MVP Software in 1994. It also received an expansion called The Other Worlds Campaign in 1992.

Setting[edit]

The game takes place in a world where Hitler died in childhood and World War II never happened. In its stead, aliens have invaded the Earth. The player must take control of a F4U Corsair, the only World War II plane that made it into this alternate history, and defeat the alien invaders. The game takes place in a variety of different locations and was noted for its original gameplay and presentation.It is also known for being one of the few shareware flight simulators.

Gameplay[edit]

TBD

Development[edit]

"Corncob was collaboration between myself and my good friend George. I was a physics graduate student at Duke University, an he was a post doctorate. I had become interested in 3D graphics after creating InnerMission, and had seen the flight simulator for Apple II when I was in high school. My buddy Wayne let me play it in the afternoons after school. Sublogic Flight Simulator for Apple II. With all the amazing resolution, color depth of the EGA display, and the cpu horsepower that modern 16-bit 80286 computers had, I felt I could make something at least as cool as SubLogic did. The game engine was written in 100 percent 16 bit 8086 assembly code. I used the Microsoft MASM assembler and launched it from the DOS command line. I wrote assembly routines for line, sphere and polygons, then worked out the 3D models by doing arithmetic on paper and specifying the coordinates in arrays in the source code. I got an old book from a used bookstore which explained the mathematics of flight, and I got my first practical use of my physics education."
--Kevin Stokes

Release[edit]

"Corncob initially was released as a shareware product, like InnerMission. I created a zip file with a readme.txt file in it, and started uploading to BBS systems. In those days the internet existed, but almost nobody had internet access in their homes yet. Instead, people in the local community ran Bulletin Board systems. This would be a dedicated computer attached to one or more telephone lines in their home. Anybody could call and log in and chat, leave or get messages and download or upload programs. And so like InnerMission, I uploaded it to every BBS I could find, calling long distance with my modem to states all around the US."
--Kevin Stokes

Mission Builder[edit]

"This just another build of the game engine, but with lots of key combinations for creating and placing objects. It was like a very early Garry's Mod where you just created objects where you stood. This worked for creating missions but was not very satisfactory for building good-looking things out polygons."
--Kevin Stokes

Reception[edit]

Computer Gaming WorldTemplate:'s reviewer, a United States Army Aviation Branch pilot, stated that "Corncob 3D delivers one of the best attempts at a VR-like 'living environment' in a flight sim so far". He praised the "total, virtual, freedom" in the game world, the smooth animation, compatibility with lower-end computers, and "believable" flight models, while criticizing the lack of terrain features, air-to-air combat, and limited control options. The reviewer concluded that Corncob 3D "offers some new ideas that will certainly be seen in future games", with a high "price/challenge/fun" ratio.

Video[edit]

External Links[edit]