Suggestion for the Developers

[smoki]

Hi guys, I'm new to this community, even though I'm an avid flight sim enthusiast (and a huge Sturmovik fan).

I've been playing IL-2 Sturmovik for quite some time now, but until now I have never delved in to the online waters, or should I better say "airspace", and due to that minor fact (never playing online), I've never involved myself with this community. Anyway, now back to the idea.

I am a huge flight sim fan, and also a combat flight sim fan at that, and especially a WWII combat flight sim fan.
Now, considering IL-2 is the best WWII flight sim (all sucking up is accidental ), I figured this "idea" (or better said suggestion) I have, should best be introduced to the Sturmovik developers.

I've noticed that one thing truly missing from WWII flight sims that would truly make them spectacular is essentially a more defined, personal, pilot's story and angle and point of view told through a better "story vehicle" (unlike just plain text in between missions).

Here, I also must point out I've only played 1946 and not CoD or BoP.

First of all, this fan vid on this very board (the beginning, actually, will suffice on its own) will suit the purpose of illustrating some points I want to make just fine.

What I'm actually aiming for is Call of Duty 2 in air (I'll assume almost everyone has played that game). So, some of the things I'll recommend don't have to be taken as the exact way I imagine them to be done necessarily, but more like my take on the idea.

The main point is to take a personal story of a pilot, and tell it, to use a bit more of story telling, movie elements, spielberg-esque feel, more atmosphere, to make it more believable as if you were really a WWII pilot.

Of course the suggestion is for the campaign, there are already static and dynamic campaigns, but I am looking at something more like a single player campaign in a FPS. It could be put in the main menu as "Pilot's Tale", for example.

What it would involve would include, such as in that vid, voice acting (not just of the in-battle voice work such as "I'm being hit!" or "Bandits, 12 o'clock!"), dialog, and some build of the characters. It would include such short snippets of dialog before missions (done in engine, or maybe even prerecorded), either only through your eyes or from a TPS view. It could also include some before missions stuff like a short briefing of mission by your CO in a meeting room, in engine, when the airport is suddenly attacked, and you have to run to your plane and take of to battle whilst the sirens go off. Scripted sequences, voice acting, dialog... etc. Like Cal of Duty.

Now, mentioning Call of Duty, the campaign could be made the same way, as in the British, the American, and the Russian campaign. Each following the story of a single pilot in respective armies, probably being transfered to a bomber after first being a fighter pilot, or something like that. It would follow historical missions, such as Market Garden, D day, Midway, Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, or whatever. Like CoD2.
Now, the slightly wacky but interesting thing I want to recommend as well, is scripted sequences in dogfighting in the "background". By this I mean, around 30% of the airplanes and dogfights in the air could be scripted to make some cool moments like a spinning burning plane crashing in an airport tower or a church tower, and other 70% would be normal. Of course air is much bigger than a linear FPS and would be difficult to do these things, but there are some moments when these scripted sequences could be activated. The reason I'm suggesting this is because cool moments like this happen when I play (for example I was once flying fast to two dots going towards each other which than suddenly stopped for no reason, and than suddenly, as I was going really fast to them, a spinning burning, with only one wing plane zoomed over the top of my cockpit whilst the pilot screamed "Aaaaaaaargggghh!" in my earphones through the radio) but they don't happen often enough! But if they turn up to be too hard to make, they can be limited to just the mission beginnings (or endings). And when you attack the scripted planes (both friendly or enemy) they break out of their "scriptedness".

Now, the important thing I want to point out, is that this scripted stuff wouldn't make the game any bit "arcady", it would still be a full simulator, just as I like it, but "with a stronger flavor".

Now, on to the practical side. Considering BoP wasn't truly favored by critics due to its "arcady" nature, and CoD due to its many bugs, this idea could be implemented to 1946. Of course it can also wait for CoD to reach its full shine after a couple of years of polishing just like the original did. The point being, it could bring back the praise the Sturmovik franchise deserves, non dependent on by which way it's implemented. Of course, it would require the team to hire some folks experienced with story telling, historical research other than airplane looks, proper music etc... but IMHO it would be worth it.

It all depends on what the community thinks. So, here's a quick poll whether you think its a good idea, first just on its own (we'll see later on the actual stuff), without the how would it be implemented, and in which game, a Sturmovik or some game from the distant future of 2015, lets say, but just the idea of Call of Duty like, more story like flight sim.