Overview
Stunt Island is a flight simulator and movie making sim released for the PC in 1992 by Disney Interactive. While basically a flight simulator at heart, the game allows for the creation of short films using the in-game Set Design creator- including placement of cameras, props, vehicles, and more- and the Editing Room, where multi-camera films can be edited, scored, and finally viewed and exported for viewing by others, making it one of the earliest forms of Machinima creation software.
Story
The Stunt Coordinator. Smug, behind a desk. While lacking a traditional narrative, the player can choose to either create their own stunts and films or to follow the direction provided by the Stunt Coordinator. The Stunt Coordinator takes the player through 32 stunts of increasing difficulty, including flying through a barn, navigating a canyon, and eventually even landing on a moving train. The player can also participate in the Stunt Pilot of the Year competition, with improved performance in these stunts resulting in a higher ranking.
From the opening screen, the player, arriving at Stunt Island, can choose to visit five different destinations:
Welcome to Stunt Island!Cabin 273. This is where the player “lives” during their stay at Stunt Island. This includes checking the ledger (showing the player the money received so far for stunts completed), listening to answering machine messages from various NPCs, and looking at daily score standings for the Stunt Competition.
Airfield. Visiting the Airfield allows the player to pick any airplane in the game and fly it freely around the map. The Airfield is also home to the Hall of Fame, a listing of high scores for each stunt.
Production Building. The Production Building is where all stunts are assigned by the Stunt Coordinator or created by the player.
Post-Production Building. All viewing and editing of films happen here in the Theater and Editing Room, respectively.
Ferry Harbor. To leave the game, the player had to visit the Ferry Harbor and choose to leave on the ferry. Quitting the program without leaving by ferry will not save the game’s progress.
To win the Stunt Pilot of the Year contest, 26 of the 32 stunts had to be completed, without going over the limit for takes on each stunt. The player’s reward for winning the contest was to have the airfield named after them.
If a player is not part of the Stunt Pilot of the Year contest, all stunts are open to choose from immediately. However, being a part of the contest limits the number available, and new, more difficult stunts are unlocked upon completion of easier stunts. At any point, though, the player can choose the “Risk” option, which gives the player a difficult stunt that they must complete.
Extra takes or crashes cost the player points and money in the competition standings. Crashes, when not a scripted part of the stunt, will land the player in the hospital, though the hospital visit could be turned off in the game’s preferences. The player can also be fired from a stunt if they’re doing poorly enough.
Gameplay
Inside the cockpit. Stunt Island houses a relatively deep flight simulator. Each cockpit includes an engine power indicator, horizon gauge, speed indicator, vertical climb indicator, altimeter, clock, and compass, and each plane has its own unique flight envelope. An autopilot feature is included, but only maintains altitude and heading, rather than completing stunts for the player. A player can also eject and open a parachute, which they can then also control in its decent (crucial for some stunts). Some aircraft have weapons, including guns, missiles, and bombs.
At any point in free flight, the player can press “R” to record their current gameplay, making it easy to shoot footage without having to set up stunts and cameras ahead of time.
Players can choose not to edit their own films, in which case the game would auto-edit any stunts completed.
Movie Editing, Viewing, and Sharing
They love it! Stunt Island gives the player an unprecedented (at the time) amount of control over the filmmaking process, from set design and multi-camera placement to editing and sound design, introducing many to the idea of Machinima long before it became popular, common, or even technically possible in many other games. Finished films could be viewed in the Movie Theater, full screen.
Stunt Island was released with the MAKEONE tool which allowed the game to generate a self-contained file of any given movie that could be viewed by anyone with the game or even without the game (using the PLAYONE utility). Many films were created and shared this way over Compuserve and between friends.
There is still an active Stunt Island group on Yahoo!
Aircraft
| Aircraft | Manufacturer | Take-off speed | Stall speed | Maximum speed | Maximum altitude | Flaps | Retractable landing gear |
| A-10 Thunderbolt | Grumman Corporation | 138 mph | 115 mph | 439 mph | 45,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| A-E Intruder | Grumman Corporation | 136 mph | 113 mph | 644 mph | 42,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| B-2 Stealth Bomber | Northrop | 143 mph | 117 mph | 627 mph | 50,290 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Beechcraft Bonanza V-35 | Beech Aircraft Corp. | 90 mph | 72 mph | 209 mph | 17,858 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Boeing 727 | Boeing Commercial Airplane Group | 150 mph | 125 mph | 599 mph | 45,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Boeing 737 | Boeing Commercial Airplane Group | 145 mph | 125 mph | 532 mph | 45,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Boeing 747 | Boeing Commercial Airplane Group | 160 mph | 145 mph | 602 mph | 50,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Bristol Bulldog (MK 11A) | Bristol Aeroplane Co. | 65 mph | 55 mph | 135 mph | 25,000 feet | No | No |
| Cessna Model 172 (Skyhawk) | Cessna Aircraft Co. | 55 mph | 45 mph | 138 mph | 12,000 feet | Yes | No |
| Curtiss JN “Jenny” | Curtiss Aeroplane and Motors Corp. | 54 mph | 30 mph | 75 mph | 14,000 feet | No | No |
| Curtiss June Bug | Curtiss Aeroplane and Motors Corp. | 48 mph | 25 mph | 65 mph | 14,000 feet | No | No |
| Douglas DC-10 | Douglas Aircraft Co. | 155 mph | 130 mph | 564 mph | 50,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Duck | N/A | Low | Low | Low | Low | No | Yes |
| E3 AWACS | Boeing Aerospace and Electronics | 168 mph | 140 mph | 530 mph | 30,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F-4E Phantom | McDonnell Douglas Corp. | 168 mph | 140 mph | 1,484 mph | 62,250 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F-I 5C Eagle | McDonnell Douglas Corp. | 168 mph | 130 mph | 1,868 mph | 60,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F-I 6C Falcon | General Dynamos Corp. | 168 mph | 130 mph | 1,5000 mph | 60,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F/A-18A Hornet | McDonnell Douglas Corp. | 168 mph | 130 mph | 1,345 mph | 50,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F-88 Sabre | North American Aviation, Inc. | 122 mph | 110 mph | 617 mph | 50,800 feet | Yes | Yes |
| F-I 17A Stealth (Fighter) | Lockheed Corp. | 190 mph | 158 mph | 673 mph | 60,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Fokker Dr. 1 (Triplane) | Fokker Fugzeugwerke | 60 mph | 50 mph | 103 mph | 20,000 feet | No | No |
| Hang Glider | N/A | Low | Low | Medium | Low | No | No |
| Hawk | British Aerospace Ltd. Military Aircraft Division | 145 mph | 122 mph | 621 mph | 50,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Junkers Ju 76D Stuka | Junkers Flugzeug Und Motorenwerke | 90 mph | 75 mph | 255 mph | 24,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Junkers Ju 88A | Junkers Flugzeug Und Motorenwerke | 114 mph | 95 mph | 295 mph | 25,000 | Yes | No |
| Learjet 60 | Learjet, Inc. | 146 mph | 122 mph | 548 mph | 51,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Lockheed TR-1 | Lockheed Corp. | 168 mph | 140 mph | 428 mph | 80,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane | Lockheed Corp. | 168 mph | 140 mph | 428 mph | 80,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Messerschmitt BF 109 G | Messerschmitt Flugzegbau G.M.B.H. | 96 mph | 80 mph | 428 mph | 35,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Messerschmitt BF 110 | Messerschmitt Flugzegbau G.M.B.H. | 105 mph | 88 mph | 340 mph | 35,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| MiG-15(UT) Midget | Mikoyan Guryevitch | 123 mph | 112 mph | 668 mph | 51,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| MiG-25 Foxbat | Mikoyan Guryevitch | 162 mph | 135 mph | 668 mph | 75,450 feet | Yes | Yes |
| MiG-29 Fulcrum | Mikoyan Guryevitch | 168 mph | 140 mph | 1,530 mph | 60,700 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Mirage 2000 | Dassault Aviation | 138 mph | 114 mph | 1,645 mph | 59,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen | Mitsubishi Jukogyuo Kabushiki Kaisha | 90 mph | 75 mph | 340 mph | 24,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| P-51 D Mustang | North American Aviation, Inc. | 90 mph | 75 mph | 445 mph | 40,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| P-38 Lightning | Lockheed Corp. | 90 mph | 75 mph | 350 mph | 40,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Paraglider | N/A | Low | Low | Low | Medium | No | No |
| Piper Cherokee | Piper Aircraft Corp. | 60 mph | 47 mph | 144 mph | 12,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Pitts Special | Christen Industries | 65 mph | 55 mph | 160 mph | 14,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Pterodactyl | N/A | Low | Low | Low, but more than the duck | Low | No | No |
| SR-71A Blackbird | Lockheed Corp. | 190 mph | 160 mph | 2,000 mph | 85,000 feet | Yes | Yes |
| Sopwith Camel | Sopwith Aviation Company | 60 mph | 50 mph | 115 mph | 19,000 feet | No | No |
| Sopwith Triplane | Sopwith Aviation Company | 60 mph | 50 mph | 113 mph | 20,500 feet | No | No |
| Spitfire | Supermarine Viokers-Armstrongs, Ltd. | 96 mph | 80 mph | 416 mph | 44,000 feet | No | No |
| Space Shuttle | *See below | *See below | *See below | *See below | *See below | Yes | Yes |
| Tupolev Tu-142 Bear | Tupolev Design Bureau | 150 mph | 125 mph | 575 mph | 45,900 feet | Yes | Yes |
*According to the manual, “Because the Space Shuttle has been specifically tailored for stunt flying, the speed and altitude capabilities have been modified from those of an authentic space shuttle. The Stunt Island space shuttle flight specifications are comparable to those of a very fast aircraft.
Stunts
| Stunt Assignment | Description | First take bonus | Crash penalty | Take Penalty | Maximum takes allowed |
| Scene 1.
Take off and shoot a Zero. | This is the final scene in the World War II epic. Taking off from the runway in your P-38 Lightning, you need to pull up before you hit the burning Zero on the runway. Then, without going over 200 feet, you need to shoot down another Zero that’s bombing the Allies’ hangars. You have a shot limit of 40. | 220 | 180 | 90 | 10 |
| Scene 2.
Land on the Golden Gate. | This stunt’s for a drama that takes place in the “City by the Bay.” In a tense moment, you’re forced to land your Cessna 172 on the Golden Gate Bridge without hitting any cars. You should be heading north when you perform this stunt. | 150 | 270 | 150 | 4 |
| Scene 3. Barnstorm. | This is a classic barnstormer. You have to guide your Fokker Triplane through the open doors of a barn. The added challenge is dodging the three combines passing in front of the barn as you make your entrance. Touching the ground is out, so don’t think about landing and then driving through. | 600 | 390 | 240 | 8 |
| Scene 4.
Pick up a convict on Alcatraz. | This assignment takes you to The Rock. You need to pluck a convict who’s trying to escape off a tower. The convict is holding a hook that will latch onto the wheels of your Sopwith Camel. Fly too high and you’ll miss him; fly too low and he’ll be forced to duck, Your “package” is about 180 feet off the ground. You must execute the pickup at a minimum of 110 m.p.h. | 150 | 360 | 210 | 6 |
| Scene 5.
Catch a balloon. | There’s political trouble afloat in the hot air balloon festival. The red and white balloon is carrying an explosive cargo that is slated to be dropped when it drifts over the governor’s mansion. A group of hot air balloons loosely dot the sky. Your job is to snag the red and white balloon with your P-38 Lightning while avoiding all other balloons. Have any part of your aircraft touch the hot air balloon by the basket only; if you hit the balloon, it will cause an explosion and end the stunt. | 150 | 210 | 150 | 6 |
| Scene 6.
Castlestorm. | In this medieval farce, you’ll start the scene positioned at the backside of a castle in your hang glider. You need to glide around to the front of the castle and go in through the castle’s entrance. Once inside, land with your feet on the catapult. You’re catapulted back out so be sure to hang on tight. | 150 | 300 | 90 | 6 |
| Scene 7.
Park at the hamburger stand. | In an incredible lapse of vegetarianism, the lead character gets a pathological desire for a grilled cheeseburger. As the vexed pilot, you’re going to land your Piper Cherokee on a quiet country road, taxiing it on the road until you hit a roadblock of two police cars. Just before you hit the roadblock, you’re going to make a hard left turn down another road, where you’ll soon see a parking lot to your left. Pull into the first series of parking spaces and put the nose of your aircraft in the second row, stall 3 (it doesn’t matter how the aircraft is positioned as long as the nose is in the right stall). When you park, be sure to put on your brakes or cut your engine so you’re stopped. Bon appetit. | 150 | 420 | 270 | 6 |
| Scene 8.
Shoot planes in formation. | This director loves a tense chase scene. Your allies are being pursued by the enemy. You need to hit the five enemy planes without striking your two allies who are in the lead. You’ll be positioned behind all the planes in your P-51D Mustang when the action starts. There’s a time limit of 3 minutes or a shot limit of 100, whichever occurs first. | 600 | 390 | 180 | 7 |
| Scene 9.
Crash into a 747’s engine. | In this mid-air collision footage, your troubled F4U Corsair is making an emergency landing at the airport. As you’re coming in, a Boeing 747 is just taking off. You need to strike the right outermost engine of the 747, avoiding the rest of the 747. The right wing and engine are specially reinforced for this stunt, so it’s imperative you hit the 747 in that spot. | 450 | 480 | 150 | 9 |
| Scene 10.
Crash into a hotel. | Here’s your first science fiction assignment. You’re going to crash this specially-made meteor into the hotel that sits at the confluence (or “Y”) of the river. Because these meteors were expensive and time-consuming to make, only a few were created. The director and stunt coordinator are counting on first-take success. If you don’t succeed, you might consider finding a real meteor to crawl under. | 600 | 1,260 | 600 | 3 |
| Scene 11.
Blast a jeep. | This is the scene where the lead character finally tracks down -and finishes off - his nemesis. In this one-pass stunt, you’ll chase down and shoot the escaping jeep in your Zero. | 600 | 330 | 240 | 6 |
| Scene 12.
Bomber duck. | In this documentary based on the shocking 1992 research revealing the criminal proclivity of birds, you reenact the events of the famous “Egg Blotter” incident. As a duck, you’ll fly over the town in search of the police car containing the officers who supposedly chased off your flock from the town square’s water fountain. You’ll bomb the police car with your Grade A Jumbos. The eggs must hit right in front of or directly on the police car for success. | 300 | 270 | 330 | 6 |
| Scene 13.
Land on the blue building. | You’ll wish you had a helicopter for this one. Land your Pitt Special on the roof of the blue building. You must come to a complete stop without any part of the plane hanging over the edge of the building. | 300 | 390 | 180 | 8 |
| Scene 14.
Save the U.N. | The international establishment known for its attempts to make world peace is about to have its own shattered unless you succeed in your role. From your F4U Corsair, you must shoot at and hit the two leading Humvees in the convoy headed toward the United Nations building. After you’ve struck your targets, you need to shake off the Zeros by cutting a hard right around the United Nations building. | 450 | 300 | 210 | 10 |
| Scene 15.
Hit the renegade caterer. | The catering truck, having just stripped the gas station of all its lottery tickets, is racing to get out of town. The hero, who looks forward to his weekly stab at being a millionaire, grows incensed when he picks up the crime on his shortwave radio. He heads for the catering truck in his Sopwith Camel and intends to clip the fleeing truck with his plane (you must hit the right side of the catering truck). You’ve got to pull off this stunt before the catering truck passes the Stop ‘N’ Rob and goes out of view. | 300 | 390 | 180 | 6 |
| Scene 16.
Fly over a train tunnel. | Here’s one that’ll test your nerves. You need to fly your Sopwith Camel through a tunnel as a train passes through in the opposite direction. You’ve got a very narrow flight corridor, but you wouldn’t be assigned this stunt if it couldn’t be done. Don’t drop below 4 feet, and watch your speed or you may find yourself exiting the tunnel before the train even gets there - that’s a “no go”! | 410 | 360 | 180 | 6 |
| Scene 17.
Land before the armored truck. | This stunt opens the upcoming film on the autobiography of Tex S. Cooper, the World War II veteran pilot and volunteer sheriff who would chase down criminals in his plane. In this re-creation, you’re going to stop the hijacked armored truck by landing your Pitts Special in front of it without hitting any other vehicles. You must intercept the armored truck between the two freeway overpasses. | 270 | 360 | 270 | 10 |
| Scene 18.
Fly down an aqueduct. | An aqueduct that runs between the ocean and a dam is flanked intermittently by towers. The towers will be to the left, to the right, or on both sides of the aqueduct near overcrossings. Your goal is to fly your Pitts Special beneath any overcrossings that are flanked by a tower. Here’s the catch: The crossroads that traverse the aqueduct are each held up by two supports, dividing the flight space beneath the overcrossing into three parts. You must fly through the section that the tower is next to. If two towers flank an overcrossing, you must fly between both supports (basically, through the center of the aqueduct). | 750 | 450 | 270 | 6 |
| Scene 19.
Crash through a billboard. | Zig zag your way through six big rigs and then crash through a billboard that’s beyond the line of big rigs. You must keep your Piper Cherokee within 20 feet of each truck and fly no higher than 50 feet. Start the stunt by flying to the right of the trailing truck in the convoy. | 370 | 240 | 90 | 7 |
| Scene 20.
Fly inverted past a Jenny. | This movie involves two old fighter pilots with something to prove. In this particular scene, two Jennys will fly inverted to one another. You’ll approach the other Jenny from the opposite direction and as you pass each other, you must be inverted and above the other Jenny at no greater than the distance of 10 feet. | 750 | 480 | 360 | 7 |
| Scene 21.
Land on the goalpost. | The San Jose Silverbacks have just won the Superbowl and in the most flamboyant exhibition of football fanaticism, the lead character - a diehard fan with a flair for the outrageous - lands his paraglider right on the goalpost. Your job is to land right in the center of the goalpost nearest to you at less than 8 miles per hour. Don’t hit those uprights! | 750 | 180 | 120 | 8 |
| Scene 22.
Hit the bullseye with your wing. | In this small town scene, you’re going to approach a tower with a bullseye at the top. Fly your Jenny inverted and then hit the bullseye with your reinforced right wing. Your target is about 350 feet off the ground. | 750 | 420 | 300 | 5 |
| Scene 23.
Land on a moving train. | The spy, casually dipping into caviar and enjoying the company of a lovely frauline, thinks he’s safely on his way out of the country. You’re the only thing that stands between him and even more caviar. In your last chance to capture him, you must land the Sopwith Triplane on the moving train - particularly, on the train car that immediately precedes the caboose. The train will be traveling at 64 m.p.h. and you can’t be traveling at more than 70 m.p.h. when you land on the train car. | 900 | 450 | 270 | 8 |
| Scene 24.
Escape from the U.N. | In this role, you’re a terrorist positioned on the roof of the United Nations building. You need to make a bold escape in a parachute. Jump from the top of the building and drift down to a boat that awaits you on the river. Don’t land around the edge of the boat - nail it dead center - and don’t hit it at more than 16 m.p.h. unless you have a lot of free time to rehabilitate two broken legs. | 750 | 150 | 270 | 6 |
| Scene 25.
Bomb the SAM site. | In this war scene, you’re going to fly over a large “X” on the ground which will signal the ground-to-air missiles to be launched. You need to dodge these missiles and head for the SAM radar station. When you’re in position, you must drop a bomb and take out the radar station. This is a one-pass stunt. | 750 | 210 | 70 | 10 |
| Scene 26.
Land on top of a balloon. | A wedding is taking place in a hot air balloon that the bride’s father is paying your character to stop. You must land a paraglider on the top of a hot air balloon, touching down at a maximum of 13 m.p.h. If you touch the hot air balloon at any point other than at the top, it will cost you a take. | 600 | 150 | 300 | 6 |
| Scene 27.
Recover from a stall. | The pilot starts out the day eating drug-laced pancakes made by a vengeful roommate. After breakfast, the pilot is out enjoying a leisurely flight when suddenly the drug takes effect and the pilot becomes severely disoriented. In this particular scene, the Spitfire will be flying straight up - you’ll have to recover from the inevitable stall. Hitting the ground is obviously out, but so is any type of contact with the trees in the forest. | 1,050 | 450 | 300 | 4 |
| Scene 28.
Slalom through the towers. | Here’s a chance to show your touch in a Bristol Bulldog. You’re going to slalom between six towers, staying as close as possible to each. Enter the slalom to the right of the first tower. | 900 | 1,050 | 1,200 | 10 |
| Scene 29.
Fly under two bridges. | No twists or turns to this one. Fly your F16-C Falcon beneath the two bridges at a speed of no less than 1,000 miles per hour. Hint: Don’t blink. | 1,500 | 2,400 | 1,500 | 4 |
| Scene30.
Bomb the three radar sites. | This assignment takes place in the recreation of a busy Middle Eastern city. Your job is to bomb three rotating enemy radars without hitting any surrounding civilian structures. You get one pass in your A-6E Intruder. | 900 | 1,050 | 1,200 | 6 |
| Scene 31.
Pull out of a dive. | You start this stunt in a Pitts Special that’s pointed straight towards the earth. You must begin to pull out of the dive at no greater than 400 feet, yet you cannot rise above the altitude of 50 feet once you begin to pull out. When you’ve pulled out of the dive, head straight and then make a hard right bank around the United Nations building. Remember, stay below that 50-foot ceiling at all times. | 1,130 | 450 | 360 | 8 |
| Scene 32.
Fly between sky scrapers. | This one-plane Russian parade is about to take downtown Duluth by surprise. Race the MiG-29 Fulcrum down the street that splits the highrises at a minimum of 1,000 miles per hour. The trick is that you’ll be starting perpendicular to the “urban canyon” so you’ll have to cut hard to get into position. | 1,500 | 2,400 | 1,500 | 8 |
Technical Specs
Stunt Island ran on MS-DOS, came on six floppy disks, and required installation. The game was also playable in Windows 3.x and Windows 95. The game's graphics ran at 320x200 resolution with 256 colors.
The game's engine, developed by Disney and The Assembly Line, was very advanced for the time, rendering sometimes hundreds of 3D objects on only a few megabyes of RAM and a 486 processor.
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