An interview with Jason Williams and Daniel Tuseev, IL-2: Great Battles Series

[56RAF_Roblex]

I am a youngster in my late 50s.  I started my career in IT in 1978 and have been flying online combat flight sims since the early 90s when Air Warrior had wireframe graphics and was hosted on a bulletin board because the WWW had not been invented yet ? 

Edited February 15, 2019 by 56RAF_Roblex

[PatrickAWlson]

5 hours ago, Feathered_IV said:

Jason: "We also need to decide what our airfields will look like for this theater. If anyone has any info, drawings, pictures of the layout of the airfields in this theater let us know, we could probably use more.”

 

Is there a list of Bodenplatte airfields that are to be included.  I tend to collect aerial photos of airfields so I'd be interested to see if I can come up with something that might help.

 

These are the German and Allied airfields for units involved in Bodenplatte.  It is probably a subset of what will be included in the game but it's a pretty good start.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_and_Allied_order_of_battle_for_Unternehmen_Bodenplatte

 

[=RS=Stix_09]

again to quote

 

" misunderstanding is  the biggest communication problem "

and selective listening...

[Ribbon]

Shamrock.......we are waiting part 3

[GSP_Hund]

Just inserting a link for Jason, don't know if you've seen this page (B-25 stuff):

 

https://aircorpslibrary.com/aircraft/b-25-north-american-mitchell

 

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by GSP_Hund

[6FG_Big_Al]

Good evening,

 

one small question, when can we expect the next part of the interview? I don't want to be pushy or impatient, but a little time has passed.

I'm a big fan of your Stormbirds blogs and, like many others for sure, waiting eagerly for an update.

 

Have a nice day

Rico

[ShamrockOneFive]

11 hours ago, Big_Al_the_Allo said:

Good evening,

 

one small question, when can we expect the next part of the interview? I don't want to be pushy or impatient, but a little time has passed.

I'm a big fan of your Stormbirds blogs and, like many others for sure, waiting eagerly for an update.

 

Have a nice day

Rico

 

Well, I made a few additions/changes to the questions for part 3 and 4. It also has a lot to do with when Jason and Daniel have time to answer. When they do and I have responses to the next part I will definitely be sharing that with everyone. Stay tuned!

[ShamrockOneFive]

Hey folks! I'm very pleased to be able to present part three of my interview series with Jason and Daniel. Daniel was busy bringing us two patches in two weeks but Jason was able to answer my next set of questions. This time, the focus is on Tank Crew and Flying Circus. I hope you enjoy!

 

https://stormbirds.blog/2019/03/21/part-3-an-interview-with-jason-williams-on-tank-crew-and-flying-circus/

[Danziger]

22 minutes ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

Hey folks! I'm very pleased to be able to present part three of my interview series with Jason and Daniel. Daniel was busy bringing us two patches in two weeks but Jason was able to answer my next set of questions. This time, the focus is on Tank Crew and Flying Circus. I hope you enjoy!

 

https://stormbirds.blog/2019/03/21/part-3-an-interview-with-jason-williams-on-tank-crew-and-flying-circus/

That was a great read!

 

What are you planning to focus on with part IV?

[Herne]

Just now, Danziger said:

That was a great read!

 

What are you planning to focus on with part IV?

 

I was about to ask the same question

[BlitzPig_EL]

Interesting thoughts on tank controls and the hardware that most of us already have.  

My tank driving setup is to use my rudder pedals to steer, and my throttle is set up so that if you push it to what would be full in an aeroplane is full speed forward, and it slows to the mid point in it's travel, then fully rearward is reverse.  That frees up my right hand to use the mouse for turret and gun control.  Seems to work OK so far with the two original tanks.

[Feathered_IV]

Thanks Shamrock.  I'm always grateful for any new information, although there were a lot of soft easy questions there. 

[CanadaOne]

1 hour ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

Hey folks! I'm very pleased to be able to present part three of my interview series with Jason and Daniel. Daniel was busy bringing us two patches in two weeks but Jason was able to answer my next set of questions. This time, the focus is on Tank Crew and Flying Circus. I hope you enjoy!

 

https://stormbirds.blog/2019/03/21/part-3-an-interview-with-jason-williams-on-tank-crew-and-flying-circus/

 

Excellent!

 

As always, you're doing a fantastic job with your site.

[Gambit21]

Yes he is.

Cheers Shammy!

[Tapi]

Thanks Shamrock for your posts. Great Blog!

[PatrickAWlson]

My one burning FC question is will there be some more emphasis on two seaters in upcoming releases.

[Jason_Williams]

9 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

My one burning FC question is will there be some more emphasis on two seaters in upcoming releases.

 

If there are upcoming releases.

 

Jason

[BlitzPig_EL]

Woah... 

 

If?

 

Jason, is it that dire?

[CCG_Pips]

???? ?

[Ribbon]

Looking forward to part IV, i hope to hear PTO being next expansion

[blitze]

2 hours ago, Jason_Williams said:

 

If there are upcoming releases.

 

Jason

Not April the first yet Jason.  Don't pull our legs like so.

 

p.s. hope you are not serious.  I know geopolitics are FUBAR but it is stuff like this series and other endeavors that cross bounds / b.s. and bring us together as one aka humanity.

[=621=Samikatz]

Projects like this live and die on interest and support. If you wanna see more WW1 content, spread interest in it, tell people why it's good and convince them to buy in

 

I suspect once the map is out with appropriate assets, and people are making servers for it, videos of biplane furballs will draw more people to FC

[Voidhunger]

Damned I wanted sp career, without it its empty. I hope there will be more expansions.

[blitze]

Oh, I see, FC future in doubt.  I purchased.  Was a bit os a shock to slow down in those old crates but in VR they are quite fun.  Different though to BoX series though.  More Graceful and fragile whilst requiring much better gunnery skills unless you go up with a Balloon Buster.

[Izel]

6 minutes ago, blitze said:

More Graceful and fragile whilst requiring much better gunnery skills unless you go up with a Balloon Buster.

 

How curious, in my case I am a better shooter on WWI crates than on WW2 ones, I find it easier to calculate lead or setup a firing position where the opposing plane flies into my bullet stream. 

[ShamrockOneFive]

7 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Woah... 

 

If?

 

Jason, is it that dire?

 

I'm really hoping that it's not any more dire than it typically is. It has been a similar message over the years at how challenging a business proposition it is to do what they do. *fingers crossed*

[Feathered_IV]

A Video game needs good gameplay to be successful.  I suspect this will be lesson that gets learned the hard way.  

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, Voidhunger said:

Damned I wanted sp career, without it its empty. I hope there will be more expansions.

 

Don't know if you are interested in PWCG but there will be a PWCG career for FC.  Need to wait a bit for the map and the two seaters.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Feathered_IV said:

A Video game needs good gameplay to be successful.  I suspect this will be lesson that gets learned the hard way.  

 

And what exactly is that supposed to mean? The game does have good gameplay.

[Jason_Williams]

Not trying to be negative here, but you must remember Flying Circus is something new for us. Working with a 3rd Party, re-vamping older content, smaller map than in ROF and limited mission content first go around. It remains to be seen if it is a big enough draw to fund Volume II. That's my goal, but it's not a forgone conclusion. Just a reminder that we still do risky things and this is still a business proposition. But it is the only way it was possible to bring WWI to our current engine with the resources I have. The results are pretty darn good, so I am optimistic, but time will tell. Please anyone on the fence about FC should jump in so their will be more volumes added and maybe some new WWI planes built as a result.  

 

 

Jason

[jeanba]

I understand it is very difficult Jason.

For clients, it is also very difficult to buy something which is "90% existing" already in RoF.

Moreover if my favorite planes / maps are not available 

[dburne]

10 hours ago, Voidhunger said:

Damned I wanted sp career, without it its empty. I hope there will be more expansions.

 

I gladly purchased FC to support the Devs mostly,  and do look forward to it hopefully eventually getting the Career Mode. That is when I will start to get into it.

[J2_Bidu]

51 minutes ago, jeanba said:

I understand it is very difficult Jason.

For clients, it is also very difficult to buy something which is "90% existing" already in RoF.

Moreover if my favorite planes / maps are not available 

 

Oh no! It's time for "The Ant and the Grasshopper" story again!

[blitze]

Well, to be honest one could say that the content of the Great Battles Series was already covered in the original Il2 but time and tech has moved on and so have our expectations.  Already within the series there is starting to be large differences in how aircraft are done.  The Dora being the example compared to previous Il2 BoX aircraft.  It makes me wonder if there is a way down the track, earlier content will get a refresh and how we as customers would be able to pay for such.

 

Now wondering what resources and time it would take to refresh an plane from the Il2 BoX series, for example the Lagg 3.  Is it a means of working on the existing asset or would it have to be recreated from scratch?  Things to consider as part of the rolling release structure of the Sim.

 

For my estimates and method of play, VR has a year or so to get to the point where such fidelity as shown with the recent Dora release, can be truly appreciated.  I was marveling though last night being able to fly a Career Escort Mission over Stalingrad on VR with a render target of 4905 x 4320 but still the 8K upscaling doesn't help with clarity of image.  FC in full glory with muddy trenches below and many crates overhead dualing it out would be a blast.

 

As for gunnery skills - lead might be easier but you have a much smaller kill target area and crappier sights ?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Thanks for the response Jason.

I do enjoy flying the old kites and look forward to the Arras map and the remaining aircraft content.  I hope that somehow those now playing RoF can be convinced to make the swap over to Flying Circus.

 

Will be picking up TC soon as well.

[chris455]

I've already got the Kiboodle, but give me more to buy and I'll gladly buy it. ?

[Haza]

3 hours ago, chris455 said:

I've already got the Kiboodle, but give me more to buy and I'll gladly buy it. ?

 

Tank crew?

Perhaps you are missing the odle!

Edited March 23, 2019 by Haza

[J2_Bidu]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:28 AM, BlitzPig_EL said:

Thanks for the response Jason.

I do enjoy flying the old kites and look forward to the Arras map and the remaining aircraft content.  I hope that somehow those now playing RoF can be convinced to make the swap over to Flying Circus.

 

I would say eventually every ROF client will switch to FC. But many people won't do it unless there are two-seaters, for instance.

 

Anyway, I'd like to point out that if I own ANY of the games of the IL2 series (I'm still missing Tank Crew and Bodnplatte) is STRICTLY because I am a WW1 sim client. ROF brought me here, FC keeps me here, and eventually a developing interest on combat sims in general will keep me around for years to come, as long as my life and health allows.

 

But it all started with WW1, and ROF.

[chris455]

16 hours ago, Haza said:

 

Tank crew?

Perhaps you are missing the odle!

Oops, you got me on that one.....................................

[Barkhorn1x]

On 3/21/2019 at 2:12 PM, BlitzPig_EL said:

Woah... 

 

If?

 

Jason, is it that dire?

Umm...he meant FC only.  Not the Battles series.