Friday 2011-02-04 Dev. update and Discussion

[addman]

Originally Posted by luthier

If we didn't listen to criticism, Il-2 would never in a million years get to where it did back in 2001.

So please keep it coming.

However it really is best to form your thoughts into a coherent argument in the shape of "x is bad because of y, it would have been better if z". That's constructive, drives the discussion forward, and is the best way to convince us you're right.

Yes, agree, it's called constructive criticism and not all people know about it.

[furbs]

Originally Posted by luthier

We are redoing everything about clouds from scratch, but not for the release. The puffs are going to be in the release. A completely different cloud system with much better visuals, especially in terms of light scattering, is pretty early in development.

I have to add a disclaimer here because when I don't it bites us in the rear. Everything I'm discussing in terms of future plans is a work in progress and is subject to change. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much a guarantee that the final feature will be different from what I'm describing today.

Please gentlemen, understand that game development is a very long, complex process. Plans we describe are just that, plans. Every single thing we said we were working on, we were indeed working on at the time. Working is the key work here. We're doing something no one, including ourselves, has ever done before. So when we tell you that we're working on something, that means we are walking down an uncertain road and we don't know when we get there, and what shape we're going to be in when we do.

WORK. IN. PROGRESS. Please understand these simple words.

Ok cheers Luthier...the clouds were seeing now arnt that bad to be honest...but hope the new ones are finished quickly.

Now get working on the translation for the videos, because i cant stand another vid of you pulling faces and making silly noises.

[krz9000]

this year will be great for flight sim fans.

xplane has a new cloudsystem too. i guess most of you know this post allready? http://www.x-plane.com/pg_news.html

[Freycinet]

Originally Posted by krz9000

this year will be great for flight sim fans.

xplane has a new cloudsystem too. i guess most of you know this post allready? http://www.x-plane.com/pg_news.html

No use for a combat sim where you fly in and out of clouds in a tail chase though...

[JG27CaptStubing]

Originally Posted by Luftwaffepilot

Really sad.
Now you wasted a lot of time and money for such a "downfall"

Is there any unexpected good news on this sim?

Dude... Grab a hold of yourself, the sky is not falling. Everything in a game is a compromise between game elements and the practicality of getting out and SOLD.

Sheesh they said it would be updated in due time.

[luthier]

Originally Posted by Sutts

Luthier,

Are you able to tell us whether realistic wind modelling will feature in the initial release please?

Wind is a part of weather So whatever I said about the weather included wind.

[The Kraken]

Thanks for the info Luthier, it's appreciated. Far more so than the usual streamlined PR crap we usually get from most developers.

While some of the news may be disappointing, I'm glad the devs seem to have a good concept of priorities and are executing it. Too many previous sims suffered from feature creep, only to be released with bugs and problems throughout. I'd rather enjoy a limited featureset that works than another Falcon4-like disaster...

[jameson]

I recall a BOB pilot saying that clouds were odd, when you're in one you can't see anything, but that if you were above them you could see the shape of an aircraft in them.
It will be something very special to have a complete weather system in the sim. If this comprised time, ie earth rotation, sun position with clouds wind and rain (snow!) and ran independently of, as above or in parallel with the actual game, it could be used in any other title using the SOW engine. I hope you're thinking this way, Luthier....

Regards to the team, I'm looking forward to cranking up the 109!

Awesome!! Now we have a flight sim that will bump the top rated "most popular" game off the top spot at Gamespot. Note the top rated game at 9.2 rating:

http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?t...ims&platform=5

[swiss]

Originally Posted by luthier

So I'm not sure how to react when people latch on to something said 5(!) years ago while ignoring everything that's been said over the past year and a half. I guess we brought this onto ourselves.

Are you familiar with the term selective perception?
Yes? Good, you must know it's that bad at all.
Why don't you try following: Focus one the nice words and the constructive criticism, and just ignore the bs some people give you.
Ready?
Great, you see - blue sky all around, right?