Developer Diary, Part XXII

[Felix58]

Very impressive, the movement of the aircraft looks so right.  The sound is very good.  Looks like you guys are building a winner!

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

I did suggest a option for the cam movement, it could be linked to the weather and wind at the time of the mission, or turned off. I like it, but different options would be great.

[150GCT_Veltro]

Very impressive, the movement of the aircraft looks so right.  The sound is very good.  Looks like you guys are building a winner!

 

They love their work, a master peace is coming.

[kestrel79]

Nice update. I really like the pilot wiping his goggles off. Gives this sim a much more "alive" feeling than some robot stiff doll we get from older sims that does not move. Well done.

[HippyDruid]

Nice update. The scoring system sounds fair and the video was nice too.

 

 

Long - Fast, Hard - Easy.

That's what she said!    

 

Sorry I couldn't resist.

[Bearcat]

Wow.. those pilot animations are great! Is the forward and sideways leaning of the pilot animation is tied to TIR?

[VonSensburg]

I did suggest a option for the cam movement, it could be linked to the weather and wind at the time of the mission, or turned off. I like it, but different options would be great.

As I remeber correctly in ROF cam movement is optional.

[4S_Nero]

Fantastico.

[BlackSix]

Wallpapers:

 

[JtD]

Thanks for the update. Looks nice, again.

 

Can you be a bit more specific about the normal and hard difficulty settings in terms of views? Say, padlock yes/no, externals yes/no, toggle view to check six yes/no?

Edited June 28, 2013 by JtD

[Pollux]

Still a very nice video that demonstrates the great potential of BOS.

 

Thank you also for wallpapers

[ISIDA]

ah ok... keeping my fingers crossed even though it might "Only" be a immersive detail. For filmmakers details such as that can really lift a scene.

Signal flares? hehe cool, also like in RoF.... means we won't have any wingtip smoke

We'll implement the navigation lights and wingtip smoke in the game.

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

With detail this good im really looking forward to seeing what you guys have come up with regarding details like fire, smoke and hit affects.

[smink1701]

Looking amazining as usual.  Will pilot head movement be tied to TrackIR?  Me thinks so.

[Juri_JS]

User missions are scenario missions created by you personally, by your friends or anyone who made and shared them for public use. Such missions are created using full mission editor which goes along with the game for free, or can be downloaded from our site. Free your imagination and recreate any battle or raid, any scenario or training sequence - in this world you're the creator. The editor is powerful and once mastered it opens up a world of possibilities for you and your friends. Once you've got a scenario saved as a file, just put it into the corresponding folder on your local storage and the mission will appear in the game's menu. Make new missions, share them and play alone or together with friends. Your stats won't be influenced by your wins and losses in this mode, which gives you complete freedom for all sorts of experiments.

 

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I guess this means we will have the same limitation as in ROF and users can only create single missions and not whole campaigns like in the old Il-2.

[Blitzen]

I've owned & played Il-2 since day one & I'll bet in all that time I've "flown" a Russian plane about 10 times & that was only in the beginning of the franchise,but I will tell you that Mig3 looks pretty cool & I can't wait to get my hands on it.Sign me up!

[smink1701]

Love, love, love the last few updates and vids.  Just curious about something that will probably not get an official response.  In the infamous leaked / stolen video the footage is VERY bright, clear, with vivid color and sharp details.  The official vids in the last few updates have been very informative and look wonderful.  But, I think the team is showing us low res stuff or choosing weather, times or other settings that don't fully demonstrate the incredible graphics BOS will deliver.  In other words, we haven't seen anything yet        

[Caudron431]

What you could see here is the pilot wiping his goggles. As for signals - I can confirm signal flares, no comments about gestures yet

Maybe he's wiping his googles because he doesn't believe how nice the airplane look in the game?

 

Thanks for another great update and for the screenshots, 1CGS girls and guys: you rock!

Edited June 28, 2013 by RegRag1977

[150GCT_Veltro]

I would like to know if we'll have the shame "shakes" in the cockpit we have now in RoF when the engine is starting. It's a great feature for the immersion before to take off.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Veltro

[senseispcc]

Once again thanks for this update and once again it is a step in the right direction, I like this way of giving choices to the gamers so the players can make the game that they like from a common base.

You are giving so much hope!

[AX2]

 

I remember 2004 when I was playing IL-2 a lot with my friends. We used to be a really cool gaming team called =FB=. Now, as the producer of this new title in legendary franchise I can't help thinking about my squad mates trying to understand our future players.

 

My friends changed a lot in the past 9 years - each of them went their own way and now has specific gaming demands and habits. Some still can spend the whole night playing online, some prefer to spend more time with their families and don't give games more than an hour.

 

 

Just the same for me !!!

 

 

I fly some coops with friends, 4 days at week, ( IL2 and RoF )

Long  time ago many of us can enjoy all night flying

But now all we have family and our ages are around 40 +

Last night we talked about the necessity, shorter flight times to the mission point , although we use full settings of realism.

 

Great video!!

You can sell the movie to hollywood

Edited June 28, 2013 by Mustang

[ISIDA]

 

You can sell the movie to hollywood

We'll think about it.

[Talisman]

We'll implement the navigation lights and wingtip smoke in the game.

Please no navigation lights and smoke as they are immersion killers for historic combat flight simulation.  Navigation lights were bad in IL2-1946; you would be in a dogfight on-line and people would flash their lights to each other to show their wingman their location; it was very frustrating to be in a dogfight with people flashing their lights.  Navigation lights unrealistically bright and seen in combat would be a step backwards IMHO.  Leave all that light flashing for star wars games, not a historical flight sim.  Perhaps I am overreacting, but I felt it was such a bad thing in IL2-1946 as the lights were overdone and misused I felt.  As for smoke, well no thanks as again we used to get people acting like children in combat on-line with it.

 

Thank you very much for the regular updates on a Friday.  I am very much looking forward to BoS.

 

Happy landings,

 

Talisman

Edited June 28, 2013 by Talisman

[migmadmarine]

Tallisman, I recommend you look at the nav lights on the Handley Page in ROF to give yourself an idea of how they will likely look. 

[ISIDA]

Dear Talisman. 
Navigation lights and smoke still use the virtual aerobatic teams. We think about them too.

[=IRFC=Jorri]

I love the sound when he throttles back :D 

[71st_AH_Hooves]

I love the sound when he throttles back :D 

Not only when he throttles back is the sound amazing, but look how the aircraft responds to the sudden change of torque.  Very cool

[ACG_Suardi]

When you said: "Such mission starts on the airfield where taxi to the lane, then takeoff, proceed to certain points, reach you mission target, accomplish it, return to base and land."

Will we start the mission in front of a hangar or something and will necessary to taxi to the runway?? I'll love this!!!!

PS: The airplane behaviour looks fantastic. I would love if you share with us a video exploring this, with some stalls, spins and so on.

 

Edited June 28, 2013 by rcsuardi

[Jason_Williams]

Guys,

 

Glad you dig the video and wallpapers.

 

A quick note about the release date mentioned by B6 above before anyone calls us on it. The original release date was late Q1' 2014, now  we are shooting for early Q2' 2014. There will be some more announcements coming a little later this summer that many will enjoy. So, a little push back on public release, but nothing huge. Took us a little while to get moving full speed in the beginning.

 

Jason

[buster_dee]

This probably conflicts too much with typical attitudes, but I know enough old timers like me that feel the same way so I'll air it out. It doesn't mean I won't support this product; I will do that just to reward those with enough courage to stay in this business. I'm not only uninterested in keeping track of achievments, I feel it intrudes on my privacy, and is an immersion killer--kind of like taking pictures after shooting up a village. The terms simulation, realism, and immersion are not only open to interpretation but can be diametricly apposed. One says, I want to be a gunner on a finely-honed bomber crew. Another says, don't kill seats with something that isn't combat flying. To some of us, fighter combat is not all there is to an air war. This is, after all, a series based on a ground-pounder aircraft. Lets not trim away too much on the alter of fighter pilot nervana. Also, "unlocking" by personal achievment is not a universal good (though I understand that some folks thrive on it). It's like buying a car and getting 1) a lug nut, and 2) a promise for the rest. The current trend of this game appears to be shades of the same color: competition--one-on-one, or by score sheet.

 

As I said, I will buy/support this game even if it leaves my expectations behind. It will make someone happy and keep the genre open.

Edited June 28, 2013 by buster2

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Jason, apart from the actual content of the updates, whats most impressive to me is the way the development is being handled, professional, inventive and enthusiastic.

 

Very well done, you have my full attention.

[Freycinet]

=FB=Loft wrote:

 

First criteria - time spent playing. Prior to starting a mission in historical campaign you'll be offered to choose between:

1) go the full route

2) go to battle now

 

A full route mission will take one hour or even more of your time (of course, you could speed up time, but if you do so some significant details can be lost). Such mission starts on the airfield where taxi to the lane, then takeoff, proceed to certain points, reach you mission target, accomplish it, return to base and land.

 

If you decide to go to battle without hesitation your mission will take about 30 minutes. Your plane will spawn in the air already on the route to the target and in a few minutes you'll get to it. Landing is not required at all too - just get back to your spawn point and consider the mission complete.

 

Thus, 1 fulltime mission equals 2 quick start missions. The same equation expands to pilot's score. Successful takeoff and landing would give a player additional points that equal to 1 quick start mission bonus. So, my friends will be able to compare each other's results even spending different amount of time playing the game.

 

 

I am one of those with very little time for simming, so I would definitely have to go for the short missions. However, I would be very sorry to miss out on taking off and landing. Those parts are a very big part of flying, especially for those who fly "full real". I think a lot of simmers are short of time but still like the full realism of flying all the important parts of the missions (But don't mind skipping the "boring parts").  

 

What I consider perfect would be short-duration missions with take off and landing included. They would go a bit like this:

 

- Engine start, taxi and Take-off. Short time in the air.

- Cutscene with text going something like "Later, nearing the target"

- *Action part* of the mission

- After mission is accomplished a new cutscene a short while after: "Back over home base".

- Landing, engine shutdown.

 

My guess is that such an option would be chosen by very many simmers. Anyway, just my 5 roubles...

 

(BTW, I realise this would not work for all missions. Some missions involve surprise intercepts by the enemy along the route, other missions are about escorting bombers and take place all along the mission. Some missions are just very short out of the box. But in many cases it should be possible to implement a cutscene of sorts.)   

Edited June 28, 2013 by Freycinet

[royraiden]

Guys,

 

Glad you dig the video and wallpapers.

 

A quick note about the release date mentioned by B6 above before anyone calls us on it. The original release date was late Q1' 2014, now  we are shooting for early Q2' 2014. There will be some more announcements coming a little later this summer that many will enjoy. So, a little push back on public release, but nothing huge. Took us a little while to get moving full speed in the beginning.

 

Jason

Details?Just kidding, as for the later estimated release date, Im pretty sure most of us wont care at all as long is helps improve the final state of the sim or to add/tweak certain aspects of it.Good update and good video, so far pilot animations seem to be one strong aspect of the sim and I definitely love how they are looking as it really looks like there is a human controlling the plane instead of a plane with a human-like figure strapped and motionless in the cockpit.

[Jason_Williams]

This probably conflicts too much with typical attitudes, but I know enough old timers like me that feel the same way so I'll air it out. It doesn't mean I won't support this product; I will do that just to reward those with enough courage to stay in this bussiness. I'm not only uninterested in keeping track of achievments, I feel it intrudes on my privacy, and is an immersion killer--kind of like taking pictures after shooting up a village. The terms simulation, realism, and immersion are not only open to interpretation but can be diametricly apposed. One says, I want to be a gunner on a finely-honed bomber crew. Another says, don't kill seats with something that isn't combat flying. To some of us, fighter combat is not all there is to an air war. This is, after all, a series based on a ground-pounder eaicraft. Lets not trim away too much on the alter of fighter pilot nervana. Also, "unlocking" by personal achievment is not a universal good (though I understand that some folks thrive on it). It's like buying a car and getting 1) a lug nut, and 2) a promise for the rest. The current trend of this game appears to be shades of the same color: competition--one-on-one, or by score sheet.

 

As I said, I will buy/support this game even if it leaves my expectations behind. It will make someone happy and keep the genre open.

 

Buster,

 

I can only say that we have to try and offer something interesting, challenging and appealing to as many people as possible. Unlike what some people may think I am personally more like you and don't always care for achievements etc.but I know that there will be other efforts by 3rd Parties and in some cases with our help and encouragement that should give you that super detailed, super deep and immersive experience you "old timers" want even if our Campaign is not exactly your cup of tea. For this genre to survive we need to find new ways to keep the genre fresh for new blood and somehow satisfy the older prop heads. It's not easy to do even with an unlimited budget, but then throw in tight development schedules and a limited budget and it gets real difficult to all things to all people. BOS will have so many cool things that even if you see something you don't like, it will be worth the investment to keep us going. I think with ROF we have shown that we don't quit easily when we get a groundswell of support from the community. We'd rather have our customers pleasantly surprised with our product instead of terribly disappointed due to over promising. This is why LOFT is pumping out so much info to you all.

 

Jason

[SvAF/F19_Klunk]

This probably conflicts too much with typical attitudes, but I know enough old timers like me that feel the same way so I'll air it out. It doesn't mean I won't support this product; I will do that just to reward those with enough courage to stay in this bussiness. I'm not only uninterested in keeping track of achievments, I feel it intrudes on my privacy, and is an immersion killer--kind of like taking pictures after shooting up a village. The terms simulation, realism, and immersion are not only open to interpretation but can be diametricly apposed. One says, I want to be a gunner on a finely-honed bomber crew. Another says, don't kill seats with something that isn't combat flying. To some of us, fighter combat is not all there is to an air war. This is, after all, a series based on a ground-pounder eaicraft. Lets not trim away too much on the alter of fighter pilot nervana. Also, "unlocking" by personal achievment is not a universal good (though I understand that some folks thrive on it). It's like buying a car and getting 1) a lug nut, and 2) a promise for the rest. The current trend of this game appears to be shades of the same color: competition--one-on-one, or by score sheet.

 

As I said, I will buy/support this game even if it leaves my expectations behind. It will make someone happy and keep the genre open.

I kind of understand what you are saying mate. I bet they have considered ground pounding stats as well... ( I am one of those "pilots" who always goes for target - often meaning ground pounding).

 

However.. there is another aspect in keeping tabs of stats - which we have to live with even in these days in IL2 1946. Stats have the unfortunate negative consequence of making a LOT of people what we call stats-wh***s, with the effect that very few don't want to fly the more riskier planes/tasks where one's stats don't look as great as when your flying the top fighters... and also this rediculous chase of getting a kill with less cooperative fights and a lot of shoulder shootings and "kill steal".. not to mention all the whining in chat about it.

 

As the core of the team are old IL2 1946 gamers, I am quite sure they are aware of this "risk"... and have it in mind.(?)

Edited June 28, 2013 by F19_Klunk

[Bearcat]

I've owned & played Il-2 since day one & I'll bet in all that time I've "flown" a Russian plane about 10 times & that was only in the beginning of the franchise,but I will tell you that Mig3 looks pretty cool & I can't wait to get my hands on it.Sign me up!

 

That is one of the things I will forever be indebted to I2 for.. It introduced me to the then Soviet airforce in a way that I had previously been totally unschooled in..  When I first got into IL2 I went ona research binge that bordered on obsession.. and at this point .. for me it is less about the plane set than it is about the fidelity of the sim.. If the fidelity is good and the sim is supported all those other planes that I am more familiar with and that I played with and made models of in my youth will follow.. but at this point I have a much greater deal of respect and appreciation for what was coming out of Russia in the 40s and that will fuel my jonesin for this sim even more..

[LukeFF]

Thanks for LaGG-3-37 (series 34?). Would be really nice!

 

The video says that first pair are Series 29s.

 

Great video, and especially the audio! 

Edited June 28, 2013 by LukeFF

[buster_dee]

I guess I want to feel history rather than poker. I suppose there's room for some of both. Thanks for your honesty.

 

And, yes, I already see much to like.

[FokkerH]

When release???

 

Regards

[Uufflakke]

When release???

 

Regards

 

Let post #69 be your answer.

 

 

Did I really say 69?!? 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2013 by Uufflakke