Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox
There in the past was idea in Ubisoft to name the new series as Oleg Maddox Combat Simulations.
I was againt this name, but for today maybe isn't bad.
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Hello Oleg,
as I said (using different words) in the other post yesterday evening, you are one of the very few developers in the world who has a strong and loyal fan base that directly associates you as a person with the product. Only a handful come to my mind in the gaming industry who have such a status: Warren Spector (Deus Ex), Robyn and Rand Miller (Myst series), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid series) and you, Oleg Maddox. Very, very few people have achieved to build up a customer base that is so loyal that they would follow them almost anywhere. In the movie world the equivalent would be people like Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and so forth. Independently from what they do, people will say "it's a Kubrick movie". The name of the person has become a brand of itself. Your name is almost universally known in the flight simming world, even by most who only play civil flight sim, and who have never played IL2. Most have at least heard your name.
I think it's time you claim from the distributor what is actually already rightfully yours since years: that your name is on the box. The occasion for it is now, at the beginning of a new series, and it won't come again so quickly. Building up a new brand that puts emphasis on your name, instead of a "IL2", which is associated with a flight sim only, and a plane few people in the West know about, is easier for your old and new customer base in the long run. It's also much easier to associate with different theaters, like BoB, Mediterranean, and so forth, and it doesn't create odd associations nobody understands and who are bare of logic like "IL2 Sturmovik: The Battle of Britain". ("uhh, Russians were in the BoB??"). Furthermore, creating a gaming series with your name on it will make it easier to make other products, like the more fun oriented "crimson sky" inspired shooter you mentioned earlier. (btw, in my opinion you should do a steampunk flying sim: big floating fortresses and flying gunships "19th century style" shooting cannons and stuff...nobody has ever done that ...I could bring you a lot of Hollywood film designers who would LOVE to work on such a thing....and me, hehe) But back on topic: Your name would also make it possible very easily to extent to land simulation and other things. "IL2 Sturmovik: Tank Battle of the Ardennes" would sound even more strange to western ears than "IL2 Sturmovik: The Battle of Britain"!
I think you should try right now to establish a head line on all new products going something like this: "A Oleg Maddox Combat Simulation" or "Oleg Maddox Flight Simulation series", followed by "Storm of War: The Battle of Britain", or just "The Battle of Britain". On the first release of the product a sticker could be on the box saying "from the creator of award winning IL2 Sturmovik". Later, when the new product is established such a sticker is not necessary anymore and can be dumped. I think that's better for your own future as a developer and person, and much better for the future of your product, instead of creating strange names like "IL2 Sturmovik: The Battle of Britain" which Brits, Americans and other westerners will not understand and only get confused about.
Well, just my personal two cents.