2020 Year in Review

[Jason_Williams 25756]

2020 Sturmovik Year in Review

 

Dear Friends,

 

The year 2020 is drawing to a close and what a year it has been for the Sturmovik franchise. However, any retrospective on this year cannot be complete without acknowledging the horrible scourge of COVID-19 that fundamentally changed how we live and work. Several members of the Sturmovik Team came face to face with the virus and a couple even required hospitalization, but luckily no one on the team has succumb to it. Everyone on the team has had a family member or friend that has been touched by the pandemic. And the virus not only affected us, but it also touched all of you and your families in very profound ways and we are truly glad the community is still standing and still helping one another as you always do. 

 

Luckily, our profession allows us to adapt and we became a truly virtual office for the majority of the year and with international borders closed, Jason could not visit the team in Moscow as he usually does to plan future projects and new features. Even so, the team has continued to be creative, work hard and get results that improved the series. We are also very fortunate that with so many people being forced into their homes for weeks on end, sales of Sturmovik continued to be strong allowing us to hire a few more people and allow our partners such as Ugra and DigitalForms to make some more money for their efforts. We also tried, as often as possible, to run specials and discounts so we could lower the overall cost of the series while many of you lost jobs or were temporarily laid-off from work. We truly hope that 2021 will see a return to normalcy across the globe.

 

Beyond the plague though, what did 2020 bring to the Sturmovik franchise? Well, simply put, it brought an avalanche of new and interesting features and content as well as countless tweaks and improvements. Let’s take a somewhat light-hearted look at what we accomplished in IL-2 during this otherwise dark year. 

 

Q1

 

The year started off like any other, but news of a virus ravaging Wuhan, China began to worry the world. The team continued working in Moscow and Las Vegas like normal and government ordered quarantines were not something we were worried about. However, by the end of March the world had changed, but as the world changed one constant remained - improvements to Sturmovik! January of 2020 brought us update 4.004 which included items such as:

 

- More airfields and improvements to the Rhineland map.
- PzKpfw V Ausf.D ‘Panther’ tank for TC
- SimShaker support
- AI improvements
- Reduced Stutters in MP
- 4K Skins for the Yak-1 Series 69 by Martin ‘ICDP’ Catney
…. and much more

 

  

 

Q2

 

April was the first full month of the new dystopian world of travel bans and government ordered lockdowns. The team was now working 100% virtually and Moscow apartments all over the city now became flight-sim development studios. As ‘Quarantine Spring’ continued, we were able to release a few more updates (4.005, 4.006, 4.007) that included all kinds of cool stuff like:  

 

- Yak-9 and Yak-9T Collector Planes
- Su-152 for TC
- Massive changes to the physical and systems damage model for airplanes
- Improved control systems damage model
- Re-factoring of ammunition performance
- 4K skins for the Mig-3, Pe-2, La-5, He-111 and Stuka by Martin ‘ICDP’ Catney
- 4K Skins for the Bf-109 G-4 by Francisco ‘Blackhellhound’ Bindraban
- Kaiserschlacht and Spring Offensive campaigns (free) for FC1 by The Syndicate
- Lightning Strikes campaign (free) for P-38J-25 by Jay ‘Jaegermeister’ Yarbrough
- Deferred Shading Graphics technology
- Canopy and Instrument Glass Reflections
- FXAA or MSAA anti-aliasing options
- Improved external reflections on aircraft
- New Fuel truck and Ambulance vehicle objects
- Binoculars for TC
- Simplified Chinese localization
- AI improvements
- Missing hit sounds on MP fix
- New Soviet pilot models with oxygen masks
- Server-Side Option to restrict graphics Injectors like 3DMigoto and Re-Shade
- Additional Zoom options and proper VR Zoom support
… and much more

 

   

   

  

 

Q3

 

The Summer brought a glimmer of hope that the warmer weather plus the lockdowns had curbed the virus and cities and borders could start to open back up and we could go outside again. But not us, we just kept working which brought even more updates to Sturmovik in the form of 4.008, 4.009 and 4.501 which was a very important milestone.

 

- P-47D-22 for BON
- P-47 FM improvements
- Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand" for TC
- Free new Summer texture map of Velikiye Luki
- Ice Ring Campaign for BOS (payware)
- Hell Hawks Over the Bulge Campaign for BOBP (payware) by Jim ‘Gambit21’ McDavid
- Visibility of aircraft greatly improved
- Full lighting added to all LODs
- Atmospheric haze slider added
- Dawn and Dusk fog option added
- SRS Radio support by Ciaran ‘Ciribob’ Fisher 
- 4K skins for IL-2 Mod. 41, P-40, P-39, Bf-109 G-6 by Martin ‘ICDP’ Catney
- New scenario missions added for BOBP planes
- New scenario missions added for TC tanks
- New German early war winter pilot model
- Invisible planes fix in MP
- Gas poising of tanks crews if no hatches opened
- AI Improvements
- Female Soviet pilot models
- Rhineland Career cut-scenes added
- Wind of Fury Campaign added to BOBP
- Joystick control for tank turrets added
- Improved visors for Tank Crew
- 8x MSAA option added
- AI Improvements
- Difficulty settings added to MP server browser
… and much more

 

   

   

   

 

 

 

Desert Wings - Tobruk by Team Fusion Released

 

On top of our improvements to Great Battles, our friends at Team Fusion Simulations were able to release their North African themed title - Desert Wings – Tobruk in August! The team at TFS continues to release updates after launch to support Desert Wings. Don’t forget to check out their section of the IL-2 Official Forum and follow them on Facebook for all the up-to-date info about Desert Wings and Team Fusion. The official launch announcement can be read HERE.  

 

   

   

 

Q4

 

Autumn saw the virus surge again and America held an election, but the real winners were the Sturmovik community because we were able to release some great content during the latter part of the year in updates 4.502, 4.503 and 4.504!

 

- Hurricane Mk.II Collector Plane
- C-47A for BON
- Bf-109 G-6 ‘Late’ for BON released
- Bf-109 G-6 ‘Late’ added to BOBP career mode
- Hurricane Added to BOS and BOM career mode
- 4K skins for Bf-110 E-2 and Bf-110 G-2 by Martin ‘ICDP’ Catney
- New more detailed and complex Pilot Physiology
- Female pilot voices added
- New MP missions for TC added
- AI Improvements
- VR Zoom fix with canted screens
- New more detailed terrain detailed bumps
- More realistic aircraft handling on rough ground
- Improved sounds in cockpit
- Improved city fires on Stalingrad map
.. and much more

 

   

   

   

 

In total, we released 9 Major Updates along with multiple smaller Hotfixes. In total we released 6 Aircraft and 3 Tanks along with 600+ notable additions, changes, tweaks and improvements all while working from home with laughing kids, barking dogs, chirping birds, jackhammering neighbors (no seriously jackhammers), and in Jason’s case unemployed Vegas strippers making noise in the background. Even with all this hardship and distraction we have managed to turn 2020 into a win for Sturmovik development.

 

What’s to come in 2021 and beyond?

 

We hope that 2021 will be a return to long metro rides to the Moscow office, Jason emerging from his desert cave… err penthouse mansion on the Las Vegas Strip and the arrival of an effective vaccine. No matter what, we will continue to work on the Great Battles series and completing the development of Battle of Normandy. And we will begin work on new titles such as the just announced Flying Circus: Volume II and continue to produce mission content, new features like our long overdue Air Marshal and many other improvements like better special effects and maybe, maybe improved clouds and sky-dome. And we are still working on battlefield infantry for Tank Crew and we hope more AI improvements which work never ends. 

 

And yes, we know you would very much like to see a flyable B-25, C-47 and Li-2. As would do we! We would love to build them for you, but we must first find a pathway for that within the team or qualified partner of which there are few, but you never know what will happen!?!? We also have a couple Collector Planes we want to build for Flying Circus, but we need to make progress on FC2 first which as you know from the announcement is more ambitious than FC1.

 

Early next year we will see the release of the Soviet GAZ-MM 72-K AAA truck and the German Sd. Kfz. 10 + Flak38 half-track. These Collector Vehicles will also come with a set of custom missions designed to familiarize you with the vehicles and practice shooting down enemy aircraft and of course can be added to MP servers.

 

As 2021 progresses you will see Normandy and Flying Circus content released in roughly this order. Hopefully, all fits within the twelve months of 2021, if not then first half of 2022.

 

Fokker D.VIII
Spad 7 150hp
Spitfire Mk.XIV
Fw-190 A-6
Nieuport 28.C1
Spad 7 180hp
GAZ-MM 72-K
Sd. Kfz. 10 + Flak38
Typhoon Mk.Ib
P-51B/C
Pfalz D.XII
Sopwith Triplane
Breguet 14.B2
DFW C.V.
Airco DH.4
Ju 88 C-6
Handley Page 0-400
Gotha G.V
B-26 (AI)
V-1 Cruise Missile
Ar-234
Mosquito FB Mk.VI
Me-410

 

Due to the nature of development, providing dates for these are not possible and this order may change just by happenstance and speed of the modelers. 

 

Special Thank You

 

2020 was not just a triumph for the Sturmovik Team, it was also banner year for collaboration with talented individuals from the community. They helped provide much content, videos, campaigns, localizations, servers, apps and tools for all of you. Our community is a generous one and we would not be here today if it was not for your help. We APPRECIATE all our community partners have done for us and we hope to continue this partnership as we move forward. 

 

Special thanks to:

 

Martin ‘ICDP’ Catney, Francisco ‘Blackhellhound’ Bindraban, Andrei Ogleznev, Ciaran ‘Ciribob’ Fisher, Jim ‘Gambit21’ McDavid, Isaac ‘Solidkreate’ Chavira, SYN_Vander, SYN_Haash, Patrick Wilson, Luke ‘LukeFf’ Wallace, Adam Beeby, Luke ‘Requiem’ Campbell, Jay ‘Jaegermeister’ Yarbrough, Nahmee2, Leon.Portier, =HH= Pauk, Colin ‘ShamrockFive’ Czernada, Pavel ‘Spiker’ Shelpyakov. If I have forgotten someone I apologize. Just let me know and I will add you.

 

And of course, a big THANK YOU to our hard-working Beta Testers and to anyone who has contributed a mission, hosted a server, built a campaign, filmed a video, painted a skin, organized a template, wrote a guide, coded an app, created a mod or given away copies of Sturmovik to new or fellow simmers. YOU ARE A CHAMPION! The IL-2 community is the best in simming and we appreciate all your help spreading the Sturmovik love in this crazy year called 2020. 

 

Here's to a great 2021!

 

 

The Sturmovik Team