Appreciating Asymmetrical Aerospace Art (October 9, 2021)

[Bandit LOAF]

Today we celebrate off-centered spaceship cockpits: the Tarsus and Galaxy from Privateer and the Kor-Larh from Wing Commander Armada! Now we'd be able to display these double cockpits head on with a fancy widescreen monitor.





There was a question on Twitter:

Marc Callan: Interesting that in the Privateer side-by-side cockpits, they put the pilot's seat on the right. Wonder what influenced that decision?

LOAF:
Wow, interesting question! Odd choice as planes are typically flown from the left seat. And a US-based team so it’s not based on a car. I went back to the concept art to check and found it was originally a single-seater and that the double seat idea originated with the Galaxy!

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Original update published on October 9, 2021

 

[Wedge009]

I never really thought about the LHD vs RHD aspect, and when I played Privateer for the first time I would have been way too young to drive. It is indeed curious that the alignment was chosen as it was, contrast with something like Final Fantasy XV made by a Japanese team where they drive on the left side of the road but they deliberately wanted to evoke the feeling of a 'road trip through the US' hence the decision to make cars in the game drive on the right and measure distance in miles.

 

[tarsus]

Funny fact, the right hand Korlarh cockpit with the topographical map was the reason I used its space frame as a reference for the naktarg shuttle in the gemini sector RPG.