Developer Diary 221 - Discussion

[HappyHaddock 703]

The damaged cityscapes look fantastic and  whilst the WWII stuff does little for me this speaks really well for what we might expect from the Arras map. 

 

No-mans-land in ROF was devoid of much interest; however bombed out towns modelled to this quality along with 3D trench systems, 3D craters and much general debris and clutter would be superb. So here's hoping  this is truly a suggestion of what we may see for Flying Circus......

 

HH

[Luger1969 122]

So much to look forward to 😁

[Missionbug 209]

I think the Bodenplatte map is going to be awesome, that damage detail surpasses all we have so far in the series, great work.

 

Like others I hope to one day be able to drive that Jeep around, it would make a nice change from aircraft, the maps we have are very well detailed so it along with tanks and other vehicles would bring further experiences to the game.

 

As always, aircraft and tank detail is superb, really looking forward to those further releases.

 

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[J2_Bidu 151]

I expected it all to come inside a chocolate egg!!! 😭

 

Wow, guys, you're really pumping stuff. Thanks a million!

[smink1701 324]

Great update. Much appreciated!

[1PL-Husar-1Esk 820]

Nice to see increase in quality with good pace in quantity  

[71st_AH_Hooves 597]

This is truly amazing!  Purchased Tanks today!  Cant wait till I get home and play!

[danielprates 394]

Its amazing how awesome the graphics have become. The Albatroz, I mean...it feels like I can reach out and touch it. The rivets.... they appear so lively. 

[=621=Samikatz 273]

16 hours ago, Blitzen said:

I'm sure I'm not alone with this wish, but I hope the Jeep will be drivable eventually even we have to pay for it,,,😋

 

Trucks to resupply airfields when the skies are too full of fighters to fly Ju-52s might be an interesting experience...

[Blitzen 458]

29 minutes ago, danielprates said:

Its amazing how awesome the graphics have become. The Albatroz, I mean...it feels like I can reach out and touch it. The rivets.... they appear so lively. 

With VR you actually can...almost!

[JG1_Hotlead_J10 230]

Excellent work; thank you!  Especially excited to see the Albatros and Se5a. Keep up the good work! 

On 4/19/2019 at 5:14 AM, HappyHaddock said:

The damaged cityscapes look fantastic and  whilst the WWII stuff does little for me this speaks really well for what we might expect from the Arras map. 

 

No-mans-land in ROF was devoid of much interest; however bombed out towns modelled to this quality along with 3D trench systems, 3D craters and much general debris and clutter would be superb. So here's hoping  this is truly a suggestion of what we may see for Flying Circus......

 

HH

+1!

[WheelwrightPL 133]

Can those new Bondenplatte buildings be damaged by bombs and collisions with aircraft/heavy vehicles ?

If so how ?

A) By replacing the building's 3d-model with a damaged version of the same model ? If so how many damaged versions will each building have ? (I hope more than one).

B) By implementing some kind of dynamic damage system for each building so the building's 3d model is re-calculated in realtime to show damage and then re-rendered accordingly ?

 

I wish that developers eventually choose option B) in order to bring this game in line with modern physical damage rendering technologies like in Frostbite or Unreal-4 engines. It doesn't even have to be high-fidelity but any move in that direction would be a meaningful and very noticeable/appreciated improvement.

 

Can the developers shine some light on this, please ?

[Mac_Messer 209]

On 4/18/2019 at 8:29 PM, 15[Span.]/JG51Spartan said:

 

So, will the first T34 and PZIII in the game be modified in the future to the standards of the rest in Tank Crew?  

One of DDs said is planned to update first tanks to TC standards.

[Field-Ops 335]

11 hours ago, Mac_Messer said:

One of DDs said is planned to update first tanks to TC standards.

Where is that? Because Jason has said time and again that is not the case. Perhaps as a footnote of "if they have time" which is not a guarantee. 

[[Pb]Cybermat47 1216]

8 minutes ago, Field-Ops said:

Where is that? Because Jason has said time and again that is not the case. Perhaps as a footnote of "if they have time" which is not a guarantee. 

 

Yeah, it seems unlikely that the devs will take the time to work on free content when they already have so many pre-orders to fulfil.

[Field-Ops 335]

I can understand a copy/paste of the interiors of the two PzIII tanks as a stop gap measure and would be satisfied with it. The T34 would be more work with the hatches. The tracks on the free PzIII are still the old tech too. 

[Jade_Monkey 2800]

7 hours ago, Field-Ops said:

Where is that? Because Jason has said time and again that is not the case. Perhaps as a footnote of "if they have time" which is not a guarantee. 

 

Agreed. I don't recall that being in any DD either.

[Jason_Williams 17426]

We have no concrete plans to re-make the original T-34 and Pz.III at this point. We may have said that we want to, but we are not committed to it at this point. I don't have a way forward on that right now.

 

Jason

[Asgar 1281]

Will you remove them then? Their damage modelling makes them extremely annoying. Atleast the T-34 which is almost indestructible when it turns its engine towards you and just absorbs shots

Edited April 21 by Asgar

[Psyrion 409]

What a nice suggestion to take away content from people that mission designers could easily remove without literally removing things from the game for everyone.

[Asgar 1281]

The content does not meet the developers new standard.

[gn728 124]

Yah - leave mine alone

[PL_Andrev 25]

I was sure that "Battle of Bodenplatte" map is a part of Battle of Bulge where our planes will co-operate with tanks at Ardennes hills.

So it means that we will have the most iconic vehicles for two front lines: P-51 and Konigstiger on ground.

Cologne is not at the center of operation so I'm a little confused now...

 

I hope devs do not want to copy a mistakes of another games about tanks - city maps are hated by WarThunder players...

 

 

[AndyJWest 1397]

1 hour ago, PL_Andrev said:

I was sure that "Battle of Bodenplatte" map is a part of Battle of Bulge where our planes will co-operate with tanks at Ardennes hills.

So it means that we will have the most iconic vehicles for two front lines: P-51 and Konigstiger on ground.

Cologne is not at the center of operation so I'm a little confused now...

 

I hope devs do not want to copy a mistakes of another games about tanks - city maps are hated by WarThunder players...

 

 

 

The Bodenplatte map as currently  planned includes the territory where the Battle of the Bulge took place.

[Thad 1193]

4 hours ago, Asgar said:

Will you remove them then? Their damage modelling makes them extremely annoying. Atleast the T-34 which is almost indestructible when it turns its engine towards you and just absorbs shots

 

Respectfully, I don't think they will or should be removed. The T-34s are actually not invincible and there is no need for them to be removed. In comparison, the PzVI-h is even tougher and it should definitely not be removed.

 

As a mission builder I desire and need all of the unit options available.  

Edited April 21 by Thad
Spelling

[Asgar 1281]

20 minutes ago, Thad said:

 

Respectfully, I don't think they will or should be removed. The T-34s are actually not invincible and there is no need for them to be removed. In comparison, the PzVI-h is even tougher and it should definitely not be removed.

 

As a mission builder I desire and need all of the unit options available.  

"all of the unit options" ...so you need two models of the same T-34, one of them being a years old model based on outdated technology that is inferior (tech wise) to all other tanks and therefore not working correctly with current armor and damage tech?  

[Thad 1193]

It's not a matter of need. Have you ever considered the creation of Historically Based Scenarios where only equipment that was available at a particular time in history is used? Please do so.

 

You come across as not being a mission creator. 😗

There is currently the player T34.... _t34-76stz....AI: t34-76stz....t34-76stz-41.... and the t34-76-43.

[Novice-Flyer 202]

A question I’d ask is when will we see the final release of FC1, TC and Bodenplatte? I mean, unlike BoK, the devs haven’t given us much info on the final release of the 3.

 

The only things they’ve said are

BoBP: “Development will take about 20 months” Jason Nov 2017. Development began in Jan/Feb 2018. Possible release date late summer, autumn 2019.

FC1: Only thing stated is that it may come out before Bodenplatte. I think it will come out this summer.

TC: Stated in June 2018 that release is over a year away, late 2019.

 

For BoK, the devs stated up until Dec 2017 that it would be released in December 2017. However in early December the release date was late January, then before the end of winter, finally mid March. 3 months overdue. I feel because of that the devs have stopped posting final release dates as they would post one, and if there would was a delay then it they would have to announce a new one, and so on.

 

I mean, Team Fusion doesn’t post final release dates for instalments, so are the devs of IL-2 GB doing that as well.

 

Thanks

[Thad 1193]

Salutations,

 

Please try to be patient. I know we all want  it all and we want it all now, but that just isn't going to happen with all the new projects the developers are working on. I don't think they can give reliable firm release dates. They probably would if they could. We will get things as they are ready and even then there will be the expected adjustments and patches that follow.

 

Purchasing a pre-release module is just that, a pre-release module. We will get things as they are developed. If I remember correctly, we are supposed to get a substantial patch in May. 

 

In the end there is nothing we can do to actually speed module production up. Trust the developers. They want things done right to the best of their ability.

 

Be of good cheer. Much cyber death and destruction with new equipment and on new maps are in our future. 

Edited April 22 by Thad

[[Pb]Cybermat47 1216]

1 hour ago, Novice-Flyer said:

A question I’d ask is when will we see the final release of FC1, TC and Bodenplatte?

 

When they’re ready for final release. Many games have failed due to unforeseen complications delaying development, but having to be released anyway due to a release date being announced. Better to just release it when it’s ready.

[56RAF_Roblex 923]

8 hours ago, Pb_Cybermat47 said:

Many games have failed due to unforeseen complications delaying development, but having to be released anyway due to a release date being announced

 

Cliffs Of Dover being a prime example.  It was so buggy when released that despite being improved 500% and becoming a very good sim you will still see people posting negative comments saying that they never tried it again after trying the first release  or never tried it at all because a friend hated that first release.  

[Jason_Williams 17426]

14 hours ago, Novice-Flyer said:

A question I’d ask is when will we see the final release of FC1, TC and Bodenplatte? I mean, unlike BoK, the devs haven’t given us much info on the final release of the 3.

 

The only things they’ve said are

BoBP: “Development will take about 20 months” Jason Nov 2017. Development began in Jan/Feb 2018. Possible release date late summer, autumn 2019.

FC1: Only thing stated is that it may come out before Bodenplatte. I think it will come out this summer.

TC: Stated in June 2018 that release is over a year away, late 2019.

 

For BoK, the devs stated up until Dec 2017 that it would be released in December 2017. However in early December the release date was late January, then before the end of winter, finally mid March. 3 months overdue. I feel because of that the devs have stopped posting final release dates as they would post one, and if there would was a delay then it they would have to announce a new one, and so on.

 

I mean, Team Fusion doesn’t post final release dates for instalments, so are the devs of IL-2 GB doing that as well.

 

Thanks

 

We never stop developing and working so nothing is ever really done. The day we stop working on our client is the day we are "done". And the day we stop, you'll scream it isn't finished. But for argument sake the three projects we are currently working on will likely be finished by the end of the year. Yes, we always have small delays, but our delays are not very big. The model team always finishes ahead of the other teams. These three projects have taxed us beyond measure, but we have not suffered huge delays from what we originally planned.

 

Jason 

[216th_Peterla 696]

To be honest Jason, you and your team are one of the best developer teams I saw in the game industry, with not so many more. I can't talk for the other folks but I really appreciate the passion, effort and dedication you all throw everything day on it.

[No.322_LuseKofte 1934]

Yes. I for one would have liked a more expensive solution with less content and more complexity. This would probably set the price to DCS level and fewer customers. 

Yet the team have done major upgrades on content already payed for. All the time you find improvement. Despite a very rude and demanding customer base. I personally hoped for another path, but clearly majority agree with developers, making their choices the right one. 

I really hope people can be more grown up when it comes to request and demands. 

Personally I can only see demand for new stuff 2 second after new stuff arrive. 

Complexity cost money and goes on expense of quantity. 

[SCG_motoadve 1059]

2 hours ago, LuseKofte said:

Yes. I for one would have liked a more expensive solution with less content and more complexity. This would probably set the price to DCS level and fewer customers. 

Yet the team have done major upgrades on content already payed for. All the time you find improvement. Despite a very rude and demanding customer base. I personally hoped for another path, but clearly majority agree with developers, making their choices the right one. 

I really hope people can be more grown up when it comes to request and demands. 

Personally I can only see demand for new stuff 2 second after new stuff arrive. 

Complexity cost money and goes on expense of quantity. 

I agree with what you say here, I am one who gets more excited if they announce more complexity (ballistics, more detailed damage, fuel management or engine model etc) than new planes.

Seems the community is leaning more towards arcade gaming than a sim , which is a real shame.(Too many War Thunder converts that hate to be challenged)

 

This developers are really the best, hope they not lean towards arcade, and  gives us more detail, which at the end is what gives longevity to the series.

 

[=621=Samikatz 273]

I do think both things add to the sim. New aircraft with good FMs are interesting challenges to master and can make for more interesting and unique missions. I think most people will agree the U-2VS was a great addition. Equally, adding depth to what's already there is always nice. The reality of "this is a company that has to make money" is that they need to release things for people to buy so they can continue to pay their staff and keep the servers running, and you can't really sell drop tanks as a $20 expansion

[I./JG1_Baron 611]

IMO im sure that Devs will finish all three sims to the end of year. They are working very hard on them and IL2 serie is better and better. When i see how small is this team, it is admirable that quality is already high in the early access phase and is higher with every patch. This does not only apply to aircraft and tanks, but also to overall physics and the formation of flight atmospheres. I do not know any other simulator where I would have so enjoyed it during the fighting, and in no other simulator did I fly alone on the maps just for pleasure. For this reason the team has a deep compliment. I personally wish Jason and the team to fulfill their dream and cover the whole of WW2 as before the BoS release, Jason said in an interview. Meanwhile, they've got a great deal to do. I also think they managed to create a great community. In fact, I look forward to the next aircraft and tanks, and I am more and more impatiently awaiting the announcement of the next series scenario.

[skline00 31]

On 4/18/2019 at 1:38 PM, TP_Sparky said:

There IS news on the BoBp planes, "Of course, the development of the remaining [BoBp] aircraft is progressing at full speed."  That's great news.  Read the text as well as look at the pictures.

 

I could have had my own SE5a, in real life.  After the commuter airline I flew for went out of business I took my kids to the Arkansas Air Museum at Drake Fielf in Fayetteville, Arkansas and in the hanger an old friend of my fathers I knew was completing his replica SE5a.  It looked full-size but possibly was slightly smaller, I don't know what kits are available but it looked authentic, not at all like some kits I've seen.  I'm very familiar with the a/c and this looked like the original.  

 

The old gentleman was in the finishing-up stages of his build.  He knew I flew ragwing taildraggers for years before I flew military and airlines and he said, "Do you want to be the pilot?  Do you want to come fly it?"

 

After a few more words I realized he was offering me the chance to fly it whenever I wanted, basically as my personal aircraft.  He was quite old then and probably wanted a younger, current pilot to fly his baby.  

 

One part of me loved having my own fighter to fly at will.  But I had two little kids and my mind instantly thought that modern wings stall at the wing root first so the ailerons stay effective well into the stall.  I didn't know if the SE5a wing had that aerodynamic characteristic and margin of safety.  I've flown high-performance a/c but my flying instincts are grounded in modern aircraft beginning with a 1947 Champ and a WWII veteran [New Guinea Campaign] L-4 Cub.    I have no idea and I'm sure it varies as to year and design but some The Great War aircraft might even stall at the wingtip first depending on wing design, washout, etc.  

 

I sadly declined.  I was entering law school soon and had two little kids and decided to forgo the chance to have my own SE5a.

 

Can you guess the ending?  I've regretted it ever since.  

TP_Sparky, you made the correct decision at the time.

 

Are your children grown?

 

If so, go find that SE5a!

Edited April 23 by skline00

[TP_Sparky 104]

4 hours ago, skline00 said:

TP_Sparky, you made the correct decision at the time.

 

Are your children grown?

 

If so, go find that SE5a!

 

Yes, my kids are grown now but I'm sure the friend who built the SE5a has passed away and the a/c isn't at the museum.  I'm sure it's passed to new owners who'd look harshly at a stranger wanting to fly off in their plane.

[Docjonel 115]

I'm amazed at the quality and breadth  of work this small team has produced for what is now unfortunately a niche corner of the gaming market. Every single time I put my Rift on and find myself sitting in a photo realistic WWII fighter cockpit I get the same sense of awe and glee. I would never have believed I would experience something like this during my lifetime even ten years ago. This sim is a labor of love and dedication that keeps a vital era of history alive. May it continue on as long as this community supports it.

My deep thanks to everyone involved.