Friday 2010-08-27 Dev. update and Discussions

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by tourmaline

It still sounds better then any other videogame sound.

Yes and no... it has a richness to it yes but the sounds are not synchronized to events and they don't have proper characteristics when it comes to distance from the observer. They were added on top for appeal purposes only.

In some ways IL-2's sound is incredible... it does a lot of things right dynamically on the right sound setup. It's just that the limited range of sounds gives everything a more generic feel.

Some of you don't seem to get this, so here it is in a 3 step formula that makes everything clear.

1. Blood/Gore = Loss of Available Markets for the Game

2. Loss of Available Markets for the Game = Less Profit for Oleg and Co.

3. Less Profits for Oleg and Co. = Less or possibly NO Future Development on the SOW series.

That means. . . .

Pilot having his blood and brains splattered all over the inside of the cockpit = BAD!!!
Pilot Slumping over the controls = Probably ok.
Bailed-out Pilot gibbing into a million bloody chunks = BAD!!!
Bailed-out Pilot going limp in his parachute harness = Probably ok.

Oleg is not going to add depictions of blood/gore/swastikas/naked women/animal abuse/drug use/etc... To do any of those would cause his title to be rated "adult/mature" in some countries and be banned in others. This is business suicide, something he can not afford given the markets that buy flight sims and the size and resources of his company.

Are there even mods here? How about throwing around a few bans/probations for people who keep going way off topic on things that have been beaten to death already?

(Back on topic)

Now the rear part of the canopy on the JU-88 being ejected from the aircraft (4th pic), would that be as a result of the damage from the Hurricane behind it, or is that part of the bail-out procedure for the gunner? I'm just wondering if MG fire is really going to cause the canopy to fall off like that. That seems to me to be something more akin to cannon or flak damage.

Also, I have to say that the tracers look perfect from what I have seen in person and on video.

Tracers at dusk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GJzi1PZ26A
Tracers in the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx5aR1Knpb8

I should note that the videos are showing the use of tracers that have a delay before lighting up, so as to not give away the shooter's exact location. I believe tracers used in the air on both sides had no delay.

[Rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by Jumo211

Here it can be also seen at 0:42 , propeller is pretty visible under some angle view with light reflection :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZAONQVF5I

Talk about gore, at 2:02 you can see the pilot of the mistel hanging under his plane by his chute and the P51 is still shooting.

[philip.ed]

Originally Posted by Jumo211

Here it can be also seen at 0:42 , propeller is pretty visible under some angle view with light reflection :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZAONQVF5I

Great footage mate! It'd be awesome to see this in game.

[C_G]

On the whole blood/gore issue, personally I have no problem with it. In IL2 all it took was a conf.ini change to activate it, and I did. War is War.

I don't think the addition of blood/gore and consequential rating change would have much if any impact on sales. Haven't you seen the 12 yr-olds at EBGames buying games where the whole point appears to be to kill your opponent in close combat in the goriest way possible? Have those games' sales suffered? Are the 12 yr-olds a market segment likely to buy SoW:Bob?

That said, creating blood/gore would take resources away from far more important details and for that reason I'll happily do without.
I'm also happy that we'll never have to have 23-page discussions on how the depiction of blood inaccurately protrays the coagulation time of blood on a hot perspex canopy...

Originally Posted by C_G

I don't think the addition of blood/gore and consequential rating change would have much if any impact on sales. Haven't you seen the 12 yr-olds at EBGames buying games where the whole point appears to be to kill your opponent in close combat in the goriest way possible? Have those games' sales suffered? Are the 12 yr-olds a market segment likely to buy SoW:Bob?

The problem is that the US, while great for sales of bloody first-person-shooters (biggest market) is a side market for a lot of flight sims, where as Europe/Russia are real markets you don't want to miss out on. If you wanted to make a version with blood you would miss out on Germany, who required cartoonish shooters to change blood to "green slime". Similar laws exist in other countries as well (Australia for example). Another problem would be adding a swastika. This, like blood, is all fine and dandy in the US/Canada, but Germany, France, and Russia have issues with this.

Strange as it sounds, this game is not being made with the American Market in mind, as it is not the cash cow of flight sims like it is with FPS.

Anyways, this thread is for discussing what has been posted by Oleg and Luthier in the updates.

[philip.ed]

There's a lot of great effects footage in that video that Oleg and co could use as reference's for SoW.

[C_G]

Originally Posted by speculum jockey

The problem is that the US, while great for sales of bloody first-person-shooters (biggest market) is a side market for a lot of flight sims, where as Europe/Russia are real markets you don't want to miss out on. If you wanted to make a version with blood you would miss out on Germany, who required cartoonish shooters to change blood to "green slime". Similar laws exist in other countries as well (Australia for example). Another problem would be adding a swastika. This, like blood, is all fine and dandy in the US/Canada, but Germany, France, and Russia have issues with this.

Strange as it sounds, this game is not being made with the American Market in mind, as it is not the cash cow of flight sims like it is with FPS.

Thanks for that perspective, SJ, I was not aware of the European rules on depiction of blood/gore.
Anyway, as stated, I'm perfectly happy with Oleg's team not working on what I consider very low on the list of priorities.

[Splitter]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

Great footage mate! It'd be awesome to see this in game.

That is some of the most insane strafing footage I have ever seen! Talk about close. A well aimed rock would have brought down some of those planes. Plus, the danger from secondary explosions was very apparent. Wow.

Splitter

[furbs]

Originally Posted by Dano

That's just nuts

Now has Oleg merged his photographic interests to give us a virtual camera for screenshots complete with aperture, shutter and iso settings?

I think i remember a update that said something like this...and even more options like lighting and stuff just for when you take a sceenshot.