Rise of Fligh late 2008 or early 2009
 

From the producer online name "Loft":
1) Yes, we are preparing full missions’editor for the release. It will be available soon, that’s all I can say by now 2) Free: Newport 28, Albatros D5. Also you will be able to get two new planes at the day of release for additional payment - Spad XIII, Fokker DVII. Further we plan to let out 1-2 new planes in a month (preliminary) 3) We do our best to make game ready by 2008. Under specific circumstances it may be ready by first quarter 2009.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s.../3_grass-2.jpg

The above screenshot shows they have now included grass throughout the sim.
Their reason is simply if you fly down low it makes the experience just that much more "real"
It's nice to see developers taking an extra bit of effort just to add to the immersion factor.
Note on the site they say the game is basically ready and they are just fiddling with lighting and other minor items.
It also looks like you will download a basic game and have to buy new planes types to fly with only the Nieport 28 and Albatros D5 available on release as flyable.
The more I see the more i like but I am really starting to wonder if this is going to be a mostly online game with an adhoc offline experience?

Personally, I like the idea of a Nieuport and Albatros at launch instead of the late war set of Spad and DVII. Also, I hope the addition of paid content (i.e. additional aircraft) will not change the online version for compatibility purposes. Obviously, there will be a slit in the community as soon as additional content becomes available if the versions are not compatible.

New aircraft will be free to add when they come out, so as long as the new a/c are downloaded there is no compatability issue. What you do have to pay for is the cockpit.
So when an ac arrives, it'll be AI only unless you buy the flyable option.
Prices being quoted are 5 euros, which I believe is very good value.

The grass... a SoW:BoB copy!! that´s why Oleg doesn´t want to put screenshots I believe. I´m sure that when this sim and black shark came out we will have more details on SoW:BoB.
Anyway... Rise of Flight looks excellent

The grass a copy of SOW BoB?

I have seen only totally different grass so far in BoB.
Tough I like the grass shown her, very nice done!

Well, the concept of grass. SoW:BoB was the first flight simulator with grass, correct me if I´m wrong, at least, the first that I see. However in SoW:BoB the grass will have effect on tires, and in Rise of... think that´s eye candy.
Sry my english

I'm not sure how much I like the pay per plane Idea, but considering the cost of my other hobbies it's still damn cheap. That spad in the field shot is nice though, It's my walpaper now.

I don't think it is as simple as "copying" SOW. Game development these days means that deveolpers can experiment with a lot of things. I would imagine that if you are a developer and sit around all day working on different ideas you are bound to have similar ideas to other development teams working in a similar genre.

Back to ROF
The grass will move in the breeze just as the trees will or so has been reported. I also suspect that, just as it is in IL2's ancient engine, different surfaces will affect aircraft in different ways.

I am waiting for the detailed fish in the streams with independent swim models.

Hey that will detract from the development of the differential bug splatter algorithym that will be putting midgies above lakes and grasshoppers above the grass!

Hrmm...I may give this one a pass until all of the planes are released and they have a all in one package. I'm really starting to not like the nickle and diming that goes on....I really want to support these guys but between this and the downloadable car packs for Forza 2, downloadable stuff for Halo 3, etc....its all nice but they are small little packs and the price feels high for what I'm getting. I can only afford so much...

Maybe I will change my mind. It really does look good!

In a way I agree, but unfortunately they are a small concern and they do not have the cash to fund an entire project.
It looks as if they have opted for the online route so my guess is they are likely to create something similar to ADW. The stand alone game will be cheap and the online following will drive the price of the planes on release.
It's still better than paying a monthly subscription aka Warbirds, Dawn of Aces and Microsofts Aces High.
I guess they have researched the market and felt confident in their product.
Lets face it a good console game is selling for much more now than PC games.
Remember IL2 1946 is made up of a whole host of paid for addons. The orginal Il2 did not even have a flyable Stuka. It came in the first patch. They then release Forgotten Battles followed by Pacific War. I know they had a paid for expansion for the Pe2 so Rise of Flights plan to sell extra planes later is not exactly new, some now are lucky they found Il2 1946, the end-of-the-line Il2 sim, I have coasters of Pacific war, the orginal IL2, Forgotten Battles. The complete Il2 edition I bought it weeks before IL2 1946 came out, could have shot myself :grin:

Looks awesome!

The extra content will be free to download for the ai to use. It will only cost you extra if you want to make it flyable. There are around a 100 planes in IL2, yet I only use around 20 of those. As the extra content arrives for ROF, you have a choice whether you need to have it as a flyable. I have also read that the flyable option will be priced around €4-5. In the uk that's half the cost of a packet of cigarettes!

I don't mind the concept of paid add-ons (for flyables). It also means the core game can be released earlier and the ongoing development of new content assures the game will be supported for a long time (bug fixes, upgrades etc.).
I think BoB:SoW will use a similar concept but Oleg chose to give us more aircraft to fly with in the initial release, probably one of the reasons it takes a little more time to release.

I hope the concept wil work. I remember a similar appraoch was to be used for a racing game called "Racing Legends" by the West brothers some years ago. They were going to release racing cars as seperate addons to the core game; but each release would (could) be published as a seperate DVD with (paper) manual, original photos etc. They even planned for "collector item" or deluxe versions in leather casing etc :) It was a great idea, but unfortenately they never delivered.

Update: I found that the link is still active! http://www.racing-legends.com/expansion_packs.htm

Depending on exchange rates... I got a shock the other day buying a euro-priced object.

5 Euros is $6.70US, 9.80AUD, 7.90CAD or £3.80 at the moment
To put that into a UK perspective 20 Marlboro is £5.50 and Pint of Stella Artois in my local pub is £3.20 or a new flyable in RoF for £3.80.

What they are proposing is hardly going to break the bank

Oh, I'll be buying regardless.

But I bought something the other day thinking that the euro was around 1.2 AUD, instead of 1.8. Always best to check.

Get ready to be corrected... :-P

About two years ago, the kots Gennadich team merged with another group of developers who were working on the purely Eastern front WW1 flight sim (can't remember their name now , but they had a Sikorsky scout as the main aircraft. Anyone?). It was at the same time that KotS decided not to use the Il-2 engine. Anyways, the Eastern sim people were already releasing screenshots and video back then of grass in their sim, along with proper deep water and high-res terrain. It is not meant as an insult to Maddox Games, but credit for such a development must go to the RoF co-operative team, as they were first by about two years.

So, thanks for the correction! ;)

Pretty sure Oleg mentioned that they had grass in IL2 Alpha/Beta at one point, could just be my mind playing tricks on me though :)

to avoid serverchrashes after gamerelease - put the Fokker D.VII and the Spad XIII in the original game and make therefore the game a little bit more expensive !!

i doubt anyone who is buying this game want "only" the crap planes N.28 and Albatros D.V ( its not early 1917 for the Albatross, its mid or better late 1917 for this version !!).....................................

Wouldn't it be nice to have Zeppelins in this sim?

I think they are, but do you mean as flyable?

The only thing that's bugging me is that if the initial release ships with mid to late war planes we'll miss a lot of the famous WWI actions that made it what it is collectively remembered for...the initial shock when faced with trench warfare, the early pioneering days for the airmen and so on...

I'm not saying to start with Fokker Eindeckers and morane bullets, but a neuport 17, a De Havilland pusher and an albatross D.II would be fine to get the pace going. Why start it off with the late war planes and campaigns and miss out on all the early war legendary actions?

Probably to hook as many non-hardcore simmers as possible. Most of us will probably buy it anyway, but a Spad on the cover will sell it to a much wider audience. That's my guess anyway.

I do think its smart they went this direction on having the game be MP compatible. At least everyone will be flying the same version and will be able to interact with each other.

I don't know allot about the WWI planes but are they keeping the good ones for the paid downloads?

Also I, perhaps quite unlike yourself, fly just about everything that is flyable in IL-2. Mission to mission I swap all around never content to fly just one plane. If I have a limited set to draw from...and I have to pay the $8 CAD...that will infuriate me. I understand what the developers are after and what they need to do...but I have to think about me as well. Pocketbook and all :(

With flight sims having such a smaller target audience than most PC games, Im still amazed at the quality we often get. But with piracy and a limited draw, there is a big reason why we dont have a lot of good flight sims. There is not that much money in it.
Oleg was able to make more by releasing larger packs here and there to keep the cash rolling in.

WIth Rise of Flight, they don't have the aircraft pool or theaters around to generate that kind of addon. THe only thing I could really see as an addon would be the "early years" and perhaps some zeppelin stuff.

So in order to make the project worth while money wise, they have to charge for some extra planes.

I really dont care about that and have NO problem paying a little more for a quality flight sim.
You could say.. well why dont they charge us more for the whole thing then.
that might price out many wood-be buyers. SO the initial game is priced relatively normal, then you just pay for the extra aircraft you want.
Dont want the sopwith pup, dont buy it. Its not like they have 200 aircraft they could add.
Its a good idea.
and I would rather pay a little more for quality sim stuff, than lose developers to the consoles. Already many are making the switch and leaving the PC behind because of rampant pirating.

I have a $3500 computer. (well thats what it cost 5 yrs ago to build.. getting ready to build a new $4000 I7 machine here at the end of the year)
$40 bucks on some extra planes is chump change

It isn't? do you know for sure exactly how many types flew in WW1? I certainly don't, but including prototypes and planes that were only produced in small numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if the number is over 100, and I would be very surprised if it's short of 50 types, counting bombers, reconnaissance planes etc.

Ansaldo and Macchi M series fighters please.

;)

Fe2b, Roland CII and Halberstadt DII for me. :-P

Ultimately, five aircraft per side would allow for the majority of encounters in the WWI airwar.

Eindecker EIII
Pfalz
Albatross DV
Fokker Tri
Fokker DVII

FE2B
Neuiport 17
Spad XIII
Sopwith Camel
SE5

Obviously there are still quite a few that could be included. A couple 2-seat observation aircraft and even a few more of the primary fighters, but these 10 would make for a fantastic WWI sim IMO.

The Fokker Scourge without the DH 2

How could you have Bloody April without the Albatross DI to DIII series versus the Sopwith Pup

WWI always seems to focus on the Western Front but what about other theatres.

Northern Italy/Dolomites?
Eastern Front
Dardanelles
Middle East

I have to admit not knowing much about WWI air ops in these areas, but I guess there was some.

I haven't really been keeping up with this stuff, but if we have Rise of Flight which is almost ready, what is going on with Knights of the Sky?

I do hope you mean SE5a.

Its the same sim...they changed the title from KOTS to Rise Of Flight...and the team is called now Neoqb (Gennadich before)

http://riseofflight.com/blog/

I don't know how to pronounce the new name either.

Is all of the old stuff gone? The screens, and the forums?

Many of the cockpits are already complete or being worked upon.

http://wwiaircombat.com/pics/thumbnails.php?album=5

http://wwiaircombat.com/pics/albums/...001/render.jpg

Aaaah, that's what I was looking for.

Thanks!

"Neo cube" I would guess.

Better than NE-OH-qwab as I was thinking :)

It's a good website you have- are the trains in SoW going to explode if the boilers are hit?

Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea that the sim had changed hands. What happened? It looks so good, why would anyone want to give up on it?

$$$$$$$$$
£££££££££

I'll take that to mean they either ran out of money, or some other company saw a good thing and bought them out...like M$ and Bungie

So will this be a 'one off payment' game or one that will leave people behind that cannot afford 'upgrades'?

Seems an odd way to do it to me....

news from Neoqb (A. Petrovich talking about damage model):

"Greetings!

My dear friends, while Albert is too busy with exhibition preparations, I will accept the honour to inform you about all weekly updates (this time it’s Friday). As you probably know I have some debts and I would like to give it back to the audience.

“Better to see once than to hear twice” – this is our claim I would only correct a bit – better to feel it! So, without any delay, we upload some screenshots you waited for. This is an additional material for the damage model article. (Thanks to Michael, lead artist, who spent his time on dropping planes with different angles).

And if you ask me what I feel looking at the damaged construction of the greatest achievement of Human - Aeroplane, I would tell you: "I can't stand looking at it... I really want to PLAY it!"

damage model screenshots:

http://riseofflight.com/blog/Blogs/O...reenshots.aspx

Trully can't wait for this simulator!
The fact that campaign generator would be available along with 1st release
means that On-line campaign competitions could be set soon after?

Considering that ROF is suposed to be closer to release than Bob, theres not much more information on their site than Oleg has given us here. Only a hand full of screenshots, a couple of schetches and a video.

The Bog content is fairly general and doesn't go into specifics. At least Oleg has tried to answer questions put forward by the community here.

oh yes, ROF team had DEV website with a lot of infos and screenshots...also they were active at former KOTS web, in the forum.....they are answering right now, on our questions, at SimHQ....so wash your brain painted with 1C yellow and listen...

The good news is that new aircraft can still be downloaded free, but those who want them flyable pay to get the additional cockpits. They are doing it this way so that everyone still gets to remain compatable. Sounds quite clever to me. :)

I havent had the opportunity to go to their dev site. My comments were based on their official site. (But then considering SOW doesn't have an official site yet I guess its about 100% more than SOW so far ;) )

My biggest problem with buying Rise of flight will explaining to my wife that "Oh, but the way I dropped passed the shops on the way home and [mummbling starts] bought another flight sim"

I had countless hours of enjoyment from Flying Corps Gold, and have been hanging out for a modern WWI sim. I am disapointed that they have chosen to missout the first three years of the war in the initial release.

Cook me a Kipper! I'll be back for Breakfast! ;)

Yes, unfortunately the loudest complainers on forums always nag for newer faster higher performance rides, which means most new releases in flight sims move forwards in time and its rare to see aircraft that date back before the historical period of the initial release.

Hopefully in this case it will be different and we will see the earlier period covered.

We spoiled brats! In just about every flight sim before the IL2 all it was all about was late war west front hotrods(in ww2 sims)! IL2 was an ambitious project, one of the few that succeeded(imho). The ROF guys wont take the same risk, not now when building a game takes even more time and money(which they, apparently, dont have too much).

"...Could we have kippers for breakfast..." (Supertramp)
I've always wondered what kippers are ??!?!??

Sorry for the OT.

A kipper is a smoked and salted herring. Normally they a poached before eating.

It takes a while to aquire the taste.