The IL-2: Serious Games Documentary Series

[LukeFF]

Hey everyone!

1С Game Studios announces the premiere of the first episode of their documentary series: IL-2: Serious Games. This documentary was filmed back in 2015 by director Andrei Samoteikin, but did not reach wide audiences for many different reasons. We have restored the video image and can now proudly present it for your viewing pleasure.

 

Serious Games is a five-episode documentary drama, and a unique opportunity to witness the state of the game 8 years ago, meet the development team, and hear their tales.

 

“IL-2 is a game that always had some true romantics as its developers,” says Albert Zhiltsov, CEO of 1C Game Studios. “It’s not just a game, but a fully-fledged flight training simulator. Only those who are truly dedicated to their craft could create something like this. I hope that seeing myself and the rest of our team as we were 8 years ago will be interesting, not just for myself, but to all the fans of our series.”

 

New episodes will be uploaded weekly to the project's official channel.

 

Episode release schedule:

 

• Episode 1 — September 22, 2023 
• Episode 2 — September 29, 2023
• Episode 3 — October 6, 2023
• Episode 4 — October 13, 2023
• Episode 5 — October 20, 2023
   

Episode 1:
 

 

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Watched it today, nice trip down memory lane and good to see Oleg again.

[GOA_AveFenix506*VR*]

It was great to see Oleg Maddox again.

 

I'm waiting the next episodes

 

S

Edited September 23, 2023 by GOA_Karaya_VR*Red5*

[Zooropa_Fly]

I couldn't help but notice a nasty symbol on a 109 near the start..

Looking forward to the rest of the episodes.

[BOO]

I was left with one question

 

Who brings a scoped  rifle to an interview? 

 

Great to watch - thanks!!

Edited September 23, 2023 by BOO

[Trooper117]

Anything with Oleg in it gets my vote... he will always be a flight sim hero for me!

[BOO]

" and then I made that post"

 

we've all been there Oleg.....

[ACG_Bussard]

After watching the first part of the documentary, which has been withheld for several years, I got the impression that 1CGS might think now the time has come to build up and install Oleg Maddox as Counsel for the IL-2 series and as Media front man mainly for image reasons because of his reputation from 20 years ago. Hints for a return are made in the first part. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong with this assumption and this is just a release to keep us busy for lack of other news and to show closeness to the community. IL-2 in stretch mode until the announcement of some beefy news instead of fishing in the mud.

 

We´ll see, what the future brings for the good or ....

[Missionbug]

Certainly, a trip down memory lane, what has become of the main man I wonder? It was said he did something with photography later but I lost the trail, as with him, we all move on in some way and go on to other things, however, I stayed with the sim in all its forms even though I also played other types of games on different media and would leave it for long periods before returning to old faithful.   Somehow I always proffered the earlier entity up to 1946 and what followed while being more modern and photogenic shall we say never quite captured the feel of that early first iteration, maybe I got older and time away made me see more through those 'rose coloured glasses' as they say, sadly now I rarely play but still have them all on the PC.

 

I have seen that particular video once before but it is always good to take another look, thanks guys, really appreciated.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Picchio]

I've already watched this years ago (I even made a post about it)... I think this initiative is a bit ridiculous.

Also, no offense, but it sounds incompetent to declare this software to be something (well defined) which clearly is not.

I still hope that you're preparing a serious surprise.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Picchio said:

I've already watched this years ago (I even made a post about it)... I think this initiative is a bit ridiculous.

 

There's more to this documentary than just one episode with Oleg. ?

[IckyATLAS]

Excellent. Had no idea it existed. I loved the first episode, and I am eager to watch the next ones. Thanks for making them available to us in English.

[Picchio]

2 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

There's more to this documentary than just one episode with Oleg. ?

 

The whole five episodes are already there.

 

And they're complete with AI-generated subtitles, which are obviously part of the charm... ?

[LukeFF]

36 minutes ago, Picchio said:

The whole five episodes are already there.

 

And they're complete with AI-generated subtitles, which are obviously part of the charm... ?

 

Yes, well, not everyone has seen them (including myself), so just be glad for those who didn't know about this before and are seeing it for the first time. ?

[RNAF_RiderOfTheStorm]

Nice doc , think i did see parts before somewhere but never complete , looking forward to it.

Trip down memory lane , 
I have seen the il2 series always as performance over looks, between the lines this documentary explains the philosophy and pure need behind this.  
 

[Mysticpuma]

18 hours ago, Bussard* said:

After watching the first part of the documentary, which has been withheld for several years, I got the impression that 1CGS might think now the time has come to build up and install Oleg Maddox as Counsel for the IL-2 series and as Media front man mainly for image reasons because of his reputation from 20 years ago. Hints for a return are made in the first part. 

 

Maybe I'm wrong with this assumption and this is just a release to keep us busy for lack of other news and to show closeness to the community. IL-2 in stretch mode until the announcement of some beefy news instead of fishing in the mud.

 

We´ll see, what the future brings for the good or ....

That would be interesting as the last time I talked with Oleg, he was very much interested in creating a Korean War sim ?

[Dauntless]

 

[LukeFF]

Beat me to it. ? Thanks!

[LukeFF]

Episode 3 is up!

[LukeFF]

Episode 4 is now up!

[-TBC-AeroAce]

Episode 2, 9 mins 11 seconds. How dare you.

[LukeFF]

Episode 5 is now up!

[Trooper117]

Episode 1 with the 'old man'... it's still the best episode!

[Skycat1969]

Episode 5 is a good introduction to understanding the current series.

[Nars]

I have really enjoyed watching these weekly episodes. I had only seen snippets of it.

I loved the insights the test pilot offered about the different planes he could fly during his involvement with the project. It's interesting to see how his real life impressions translate to the sim, especially regading the Mig-3 landing described in the last episode. 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

[IckyATLAS]

I watched them entirely and it is very interesting to have the opinions from the various members of the development team.

It is a pity that the last episode seems cut abruptly without a proper end. I checked the Russian version but it is similar. Probably editing side effect.

There is already a good analysis about the future evolution of this genre which is becoming more and more niche.

 

I discussed a few days ago with a senior manager of a flight simulator app (not combat but civilian flight) that is designed for mobiles IOS and Android. The product is on the market since many years and has been a success financially speaking, with regular add-ons etc. to keep the community alive. The dev team is about 25 people.

 

The people playing  these apps they do so here and there when they have to spend a few minutes.  No joysticks, pedals, throttles, no VR, no wide panoramic 4K screens for immersion. I have not tested it yet. I may give you a small impression later on.

Just tapping on the screen. But these are the majority of the people, and young to very young people today, that use to play on apps, that live with a cellphone grafted on the palm of their hand. I hate looking at these simulators on a phone screen which is like looking to the world through a small keyhole. I do not say that it cannot be fun sometimes but that's all. 

 

We with our very powerful desktops, to have an immersive display, building a simulation environment, up to building a copy of a cockpit, and flying "realistic" combat missions, I mean from start on parking to finishing back at the parking (with all what there is in between) and so flying for an hour or more, we are a very very small niche of players. I am not say a dying breed, because there will always be hard core fans of this genre, but the question really is:

Will there be someone on the other side to develop and offer what we dream to have?

The answer is far from sure. 

 

So whatever the criticism we may have, because we would like this and that, we should still be happy that there is a dev team that continues working and delivering added value to the sim. And we should also be very happy that Jason started Combat Sim. I think in todays world starting from scratch more or less is an extraordinary bet and challenge but if it works it can only bring in new players and this is good for everybody.