What do you think it is that Luthier thinks will have Competitors squirming?

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Bonkin

Working in software development I have some idea of the complexities of managing software projects and the issues involved - and I've got to say I think Blackdog may have something here. I feel something big is coming. I say this because some of the fixes the community has been pressing for (i.e. SLI, better AI, gunsight bugs etc) seem to me to be the trivia jobs... but when we do get an update what do we get? A new German minelayer and some trains, i.e. stuff to the community that is not that important right now. Thing is... maybe this stuff is all going to be important? Clearly the team are working on things other than just the fixes that are required.

Just my thoughts... but longer term I'm seeing a much larger online battlefield with not just aircraft being player controllable. Maybe the MG strategy has been all along to get more involvement from 3rd party developers to make this all happen... hence the release of the SDKs? Not sure what the business model is though.

Finally, someone who understands. It's not that AA or sounds or flickering shadows are not important, they very much are. I just have a feeling they are trivial compared to the general scope of the sim and the reason i feel that way is because of the hints that have already been dropped in terms of existing features.

Why would a server want to limit the player's ability to spawn aircraft of his choice or switch teams? Why would they go to all the trouble of pretty much letting the user interface with the sim with computer language code, to the point of controlling not only gameplay aspects but the interface as well?

If people have no imagination all they see is a jaggy aerial mast that's bugging them for months. If they do, they see an online war where you choose your affiliation and unit at the start and are limited to flying that for its duration, within a dynamic strategic and tactical environment.

There's way too many stuff like that to enumerate one by one. What about the in-game map tools preview? I can plot down waypoints mid-flight for crying out loud or while warming up, how long until i can have them apply to the rest of my AI spawned squad (we can spawn more than one aircraft already), then my buddies spawn into those aircraft and are presented with a nice flight plan ready to fly a mission?

I think performance fixes are pretty much in their final stages, graphics and sounds are about to also be finalized, so i'm expecting the following two steps to occur next:

1) Rework any FMs that need tweaking and debug all the existing aircraft (Ju88 gyrocompass, radial engines CEM, streamlined control logic for all aircraft controls). At this point the sim is pretty much considered a complete product.

2) Release of the SDK and moving towards that goal of an expansive, dynamic battlefield, where the player's action have a more lasting impact on the environment than simply winning a single DF map or coop mission.

I think that 6 months down the road, some people are going to be frantically trying to split the remaining 250 gallons of fuel in the airfield's reserve among them because a bunch of Heinkels blew up their fuel dump and now their Spitfires are sitting on the tarmac waiting for the AI truck convoy to arrive, while simultaneously begging for the Hurricane squadron stationed on the nearest field to throw up a bit of CAP for those fuel trucks.

And when we get to such a stage, i'll be all the more glad that they decided to put their focus on these things and bite off more than they could initially chew, even if it meant putting the most commonplace features on the back burner for a while and having to endure the ire of the community.

I didn't want CoD to be an old girlfriend with a new lipstick, i wanted it to be a new one and i didn't mind at all that her clothes were shabby and she wore no make up when i first met her. All the complaints about how could they miss what is considered a given for a modern day game are just that, having a drop dead gorgeous girl winking at you across the bar and not making a move because if she's wearing snickers and baggy jeans instead of high heels and lipstick then she's not good enough for mister snappy well-dressed

[Bonkin]

Just found some of Luthier's earlier work... maybe this sort of personnel animation will be added?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePl_a9nAwLc&NR=1

[SNAFU]

Guys, better keep your imagination and dreams at bay.

No, something really big would`ve been used for marketing purpose - that would not have be decided by the developers, but by the puplisher.

I would rather hope for some nice features like propwash, light reflections of canopies or the like (u can usually spot for many miles before you actually see the plane), meteors at night or something like that.

Even a functioning oxygen device would have been great, but that is already done by DCS...

[Mysticpuma]

Updated my original post at the topic start...I think I've cracked it

Cheers, MP

PS. Blimey some great ideas here, wonder who will be right?!!

[CharveL]

omg look what I found!!1

Moscow - AP, TASS

1C Maddox Games announces never before seen flight sim feature

Be prepared for an announcement of truly epic proportions. The man behind the scenes at 1C Maddox Games, Ilya Shevchenko a.k.a. Luthier, has revealed to sources an intriguing new feature addition to the popular flight simulation series sequel IL2 Sturmovik:Cliffs of Dover franchise that will leave other simulator developer's heads spinning for perhaps years to come.

Amongst other life-like features of the flight simulator including moving grass blades, texture mapped railroad tracks, and finely detailed clouds of grouped cotton balls comes a detail never before seen in a flight simulator, and anticipated with growing excitement amongst flight-sim fans the world over.

The elegantly detailed hands of Big Ben's clock located in central London are expected to move precisely each second during game time such that a carefully coordinated, slow fly-by will show up to 3 movements of the second hand and actual in-game time. Yes, as incredible as this sounds, many months of secretive hours have been poured into this next-generation feature at the necessary expense of other - now less important - features such as graphics rendering, working AI commands, and non-sterile campaigns and missions.

We can hardly contain ourselves either. If all goes as currently planned, the patch should be released this Friday, September 2nd give or take a month or two, to the delight of clock fans everywhere. As unlikely as it sounds, rumour has it that even some train station clocks will also be synchronized for real-time action as well, but critics are skeptical that this can be implemented within the coming months let alone for this patch.

Only time will tell if this is some elaborate hoax or whether clock-sim fans the world over will soon be flying past the one of the newest wonders of the simulator world in IL2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover.

[SNAFU]

An integrated railway station clock sim? Huh, that`s old, even the Caucasian trains in DCS go after real time table schedule....

[Raggz]

I am guessing Co-op

[Feathered_IV]

Originally Posted by Mysticpuma

Aditional comment after looking at replies;

Thinking more about the wording of competitors I have to assume that Luthier is talking about WW2? If that is the case it must refer to World of Planes and World of Warplanes, two 'competitors' in the WW2 flight market.

Now, if that is the case, these two pieces of software hinge on the fact that they will have an online experience that is a dynamic free-flowing war arena, where events change the way missions are loaded and the results of those change the ebb and flow the Mission/Campaign/Map that is loaded.

If they released something like that, I can imagine that making the competitors 'squirm' as it would pre-empt their release by months and dilute the enthusiasm for their products?

Cheers, MP

I suspect not. Maddox Games have no real experience in creating that sort of stuff. Even the original Dgen, DCG and online wars are all third party efforts. The closest MG have come to creating narrative gameplay is some very rough static campaigns. I would not expect them to break any ground in those areas any time soon.

[Tavingon]

So we get working clocks? Great what about fixing the game? Its like a man buying new flowers for his garden when his roofs fallen in

[Feathered_IV]

jk