Non Friday 2010-04-15 Development Update :)

[ECV56_Lancelot]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

We don't plan to make such sequence. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene To allow pilot to walk home..... probably not the best choice for future additions of the sim. And to swim in the direction of home beach and then walk home also probably not the best solution

Just let the pilot walk/run controlled by the player i think would be nice, and helpfull for movie making.

My wish would be that in multiplayer to allow the player to climb on another plane that is landed by other player having this way the the oportunity to get back home. Of course this would mean that you must have some place that can allow you to land the plane, like a road ro very shallow field, if there is any, well if you land most likely you will brake the aircraft. Them the downed pilot walk to the plane and climb on it.

What happen´s with landed aircraft when the downed player is on the cockpit?. Well, several results:

1) Increase on aircraft weight.
2) Downed pilot can see like seatd on the cockpit but don´t have any control over the aircraft
3) Pilot of the aircraft have´s limited control of the plane (decreased stick movement), as a penalty for having another "person" inside the cockpit. Also limited point of view movement.

I wouldn´t make that you will see a pilot side seated on the cockpit because it wouldn´t be very pleasent, and would be too gay .

[philip.ed]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

We don't plan to make such sequence. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene To allow pilot to walk home..... probably not the best choice for future additions of the sim. And to swim in the direction of home beach and then walk home also probably not the best solution

It would be nice to have some function over the pilot; e.g if landing in the sea to speed up time and see if any ships came near to rescue the poor chap.

Oleg, will the parachute be able to get tangled? e.g on the plane as you exit if it is a messy bail-out? Also, if the plane is on fire, could the parachute get affected and so you'd become a 'roman candle' whereby the chute sets alite (not a nice business).

[constant]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

We don't plan to make such sequence. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene To allow pilot to walk home..... probably not the best choice for future additions of the sim. And to swim in the direction of home beach and then walk home also probably not the best solution

May I propose an optional dialogue message on a chute landing that states MIA / KIA / CAPTURED / RTB with the option to continue mission or exit?

Then in the case of continuing the mission, the pilot then heads home (if alive) .. ? Of course this would be purely for the users pleasure to see their man walking home, interaction would be nil.

(Of course I have no idea if you have a GUI interface tied in with the flying part of the game that can do this)

[BadAim]

Very nice, I get more stoked every time I see an update. There are so many little things that will enhance the "feel" of SOW, I have little doubt that it will be fantastic.

[nearmiss]

Maybe if the out of plane people stuff is important---you should leave a way open in code for 3rd party to include all the out of aircraft people stuff. How can you ever think what everyone might want?

Climb in tanks, climb in planes, climb in boats, climb out of planes, climb out of tanks, run from crashed airplane, walk to home base, etc.

I think most of us are pretty happy with what we had in IL2. I know you have already fixed some of those things.

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

Hi,

probably tomorrow I'll need to be absent, so small update would be beter to post today.

Remind you, this is WIP, shown in tools.
Maybe tomorrow here will be some video as well.

Some or the animation various. Unfinished, non polished.

oleg,

thanks for the update, the pilot landing sequence looks very good and realistic (he even keeps his feet together during the landing as instructed in training )

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

We don't plan to make such sequence. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene To allow pilot to walk home..... probably not the best choice for future additions of the sim. And to swim in the direction of home beach and then walk home also probably not the best solution

oleg, please consider these suggestions on how to finish the pilot landing scene:

1) once pilot has landed in friendly territory the game player can hit "refly", but..
a) same ejected pilot name/character should not be available on "new fly" roster board at friendly airfields for several hrs/days (depending on approximate distance he landed from home base, this can be 3 choices like close, far, very far)
b) if no "refly" key hit by player, then downed pilot might get 10 or 20 min to "walk around" and be able to be "rescued" by other friendly player landing close to him (in field or on road). parachuted pilot should be able to walk/run to friendly plane that landed to help him
c) if no friendly planes comes to rescue (only really for landing in enemy territory) then pilot should be able to walk to nearest road (and from then pilot's can only walk in open fields, and on roads and railway lines maybe ?, to keep game coding more simple)
d) any friendly AI vehicle on a road (can be factor programmed with random delay) that passes the location of the pilot will trigger scenario "pilot picked up by friendly civilian in vehicle" (or friendly military convoy etc). this triggers cut scene animation sequence of pilot climbing in vehicle, fade scene, and final scene with pilot arriving back at home base (with game clock moved forward 1 hr or 1 day etc), pilot name can then be seen on flight board register at home base again and used by player.

2) above sequence should take minimal coding time to add and has advantages off:
- parachuted pilot can for now only walk/run in open fields and on roads and railway lines (which are already programmed to allow movement of AI vehicles etc, and have no "obstacles" for movement). this means you dont need to allow pilot walking in a complete "ground world". if even this is to difficult because to much time is need, allow "pilot walking" only as hidden easter egg future, so people dont "expect" it to be perfect.
- in real life BoB downed allied pilots could sit/stand and watch the air battle continuing for a little while, adds realism
- allowing parachuted pilot to walk to nearby road (or towards friendly plane landing in same field) and wait for AI friendly vehicle adds continuity in scenario and increases game world immersion for players
- if player crashes his plane on landing or takeoff (and survives it), the pilot is so close to home base he should be able to walk back to the control tower or briefing are, or walk to a fresh plane available. the immediate ground area near the home base airfield can then also be used as a "test zone" to work on pilot interaction with "ground world" (open/close doors, climb over fence, get in/out of vehicles or AA guns etc)

3) current AI ground activity (buses, cars, truck convoys moving on roads) is already coded in the game in significant detail (going by your previous posts on this topic), it should be fairly easy to add some simple categories for landed pilot to trigger "encounter" with AI road traffic for ex,
- landed in relatively empty area wait civilian AI traffic scene 1 hrs,
- landed in more busy area is 10 min,
- landed in very busy or built up area = 3 min

we dont need a pilot walking home for 2 hrs like in lockon2 right now, but some control over the pilot and some interaction with ground AI activity like vehicles/objects would be great. we also need the right time delays added to the campaign engine for the shot down pilot who bailed out, so he doesnt instantly can relocate t a friendly airbase 100's of km away and instantly have a fresh new plane, it must have a time delay added before he gets back to base, and adding in some video cut scenes can be used there

later when ground vehicle control is more developed, the control and interaction with the pilot behavior and movement can be improved/increased

edit: for german pilots landing in england, and pilots landing in sea

4) german pilots landing in england (note: german pilots landing in enemy territory probably should not initially have freedom to walk around, because more complex to create interaction with "local" AI activity ?)
- landed in relatively empty area, after a delay add video clip of off pilot capture/surrender to home guard, or farmer with pitch fork etc..
- landed in more busy area: is 10 min,
- landed in very busy or built up area = 3 min

5) for all pilots landing in the sea
- if very close to friendly coast line, 90% chance of "rescue by local fishermen" , add short video clip
- if in sea farther from land/coast, and friendly enemy ship nearby (1 km ?), ship changes course or launches small rescue craft, add cut scene pilot recue'd/captured after 30 min. when later on we get control over some small ships (as you before have mentioned wanting to add at some point, some players will enjoy doing pilot risque missions at sea when controlling sea craft)
- if no ships nearby, allow for some possibility for rescue by rescue planes for next 6/12/24 hrs (while pilot sits in small inflatable dingy, maybe even give later pilots a flare gun ?), and pilot can be restored to flying roster after several days
- add random % chance of pilot killed (lost at sea) or MIA and never appears on pilot roster again

[philip.ed]

One thing about the animation; I am not sure the pilot would be getting up so quickly: he'd be trying to get his chute sorted out to so he could get it back to the AM

[Codex]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

We don't plan to make such sequence. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene To allow pilot to walk home..... probably not the best choice for future additions of the sim. And to swim in the direction of home beach and then walk home also probably not the best solution

Could we have downed pilots picked up by Catalina's as a mission?

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

. However I don't knopw yet how to finish the scene

That's easy...the pilot kisses the ground

[JG27CaptStubing]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

That looks great, just fantastic clarity, thanks
Oleg, the pilot has no control of the chute, correct?

Are you actually suggesting the guy pull on his risers to Slip is chute like in real life?