Friday 2011-02-04 Dev. update and Discussion

[Dano]

Luthier, the AI, it sounds awesome, thank you and Oleg both for the discussion

For those concerned with the cover, this post on the IL2 Sturmovik facebook page may give you hope:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/il2sturmovik

While we haven't revealed the final box art for IL2: COD yet, our community has started brainstorming on it already. How creative can it get? Well, check it out! http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...9/m/2081010709

[Sutts]

So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.


I'm so happy about this. Thanks Luthier.

Would love to see that article too.

[Sven]

Originally Posted by luthier

We did a huge technical interview for a print magazine, where our FM programmer wrote like two pages of stuff on it. I'll see if we can publish it here, because that would be a much, much better answer than anything I can type up.



Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.

Wow, that's some highly interesting stuff we are about to get in our hands! Also looking forward to the article written by your FM programmers

Originally Posted by luthier

We have some kind of a working wind that doesn't offer a lot of fidelity. It works perfectly fine and we use it in every stock mission. You assign compass direction and strength to it, and it blows across the entire map.

It affects wind socks, smoke plumes, etc.

Thx for answer. Does the direction and strenght change or is it the same for the whole mission?

[T}{OR]

I would like to know as well weather does the wind change direction or does it stay fixed during the whole mission. Since dynamic weather is out for the release - do clouds move at all or are they static as in IL2?

Originally Posted by luthier

Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.

Music to my ears.

[kirq]

I know how You react on this subject Luthier, but please close Your eyes, count to 10 and tell us something more about tracers (it's my fetish ). We've already seen one type, yellow smokeless ones. What other types do we have in the game, how they look, do they ricochete? Which one generate smoke trails and are there any conditions (weather, altitude) which makes smoke to appear?

I would be extremely happy to see before a release a short video presentation (2-3mins) covering only tracers.

[alexei1789]

Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.[/QUOTE]

Oooooooh, that sounds so good to my ears.

Thank you again !!!!
A.

[furbs]

Originally Posted by luthier

Like the others have said, we don't decide on the box art, the publisher does.

We could certainly benefit from some top-notch 2D art both in the game and in our marketing - promotional materials, but it's way too late at this point to do anything.



Yes. Moreover, it reacts to damage and especially losses to other planes, and may decide to run for home even if his plane is intact. Whole formations of newbies may scatter and run if you shoot down their leader etc.



Not staying to fight till death was one of the most important requirements for me for the AI. They do use real-world tactics more than in Il-2. You'll see them working in group a lot more for instance.



AI engine model is greatly simplified compared to that of the player plane, but we do try to make sure it doesn't give them an advantage.
You can study this in detail when flying the real sim. Autopilot is very verbose, you can see exactly what levers they move etc.



Well they try to extend away and take it from there, but generally even most humans would be doomed if caught in a situation like that.



Yes. It's not looking very hopeful for the next immediate sequel either.



We did a huge technical interview for a print magazine, where our FM programmer wrote like two pages of stuff on it. I'll see if we can publish it here, because that would be a much, much better answer than anything I can type up.



Our engine model is insanely compelx. I dare say it's the most complex engine model in any game of any genre by far. There's multiple points of interest for every piston, every cylinder, every hose, every exhaust, etc. The guy who wrote it can build an internal combustion engine from scratch in his garage. Working on engines is a huge hobby of his.
So rest assured that cooling, overheating, combat damage, or normal operation of our engines is as precise and as detailed as you'll ever see in any game in the next several years.

Luthier, the AI sounds better than i could of hoped for! i know AI is one of the hardest things to do well and it can never be perfect.

Thanks.

[furbs]

Just thought of one more question about the AI

The AI in IL2 had a major problem...deflection shooting!!

i think you know what i mean ...have the team managed to address this tricky problem?

Cheers.

[philip.ed]

With smoke, Luthier, will we see it change form when a plane flys through it?
I've posted examples of this before, but I can't for the life of me remember the correct term for this. I think it might be called a smoke vortex.