Announcement of the game "IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad"

[Vulcanel]

Some sad news, and some good also... but bye bye COD, and prepare your pockets...

Interview to Jason Williams, CEO 777 Studios:

Posted Yesterday, 08:27


Q. Why did 1C choose to partner with 777 Studios?

A. 1C has seen the remarkable quality of ROF and its associated technologies1C also liked 777’s ability to be flexible in the marketplace and innovative ideas. 777 Studios has also shown the ability to please its customers and provide excellent communication to the community on development matters.



Q. Why did 777 Studios choose to partner with 1C?

A. 777 Studios decided to work with 1C because they have seen 1C’s dedication to the flight-simulation genre over the years and their willingness to continue to invest in such products when other large publishers do not share the same passion. 1C is known for its dedication to PC hardcore gaming and products like Rig'n'Roll, Space Rangers, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, Faces of War, Men of War series, Perimeter, Fantasy Wars, Death to Spies, King’s Bounty: The Legend, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess and King’s Bounty: Crossworlds, Off-Road Drive, Real Warfare 2: Northern Crusades, King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North and of course IL-2 Sturmovik series.



Q. What happened to the CLOD development team and the ROF development team?

A. Both teams have been merged into one team (1C Game Studios) that will share one roof and be responsible for both BOS and future ROF development.



Q. Who is managing this new combined development and business team?

A. The former 777 Studios development management team is overseeing the development of both BOS and ROF. Business matters are handled by a joint management team with executives from both companies.



Q. Will ROF development continue and will airplanes and content continue to be made?

A. Yes, ROF development will continue. We are still finishing development of features and content we promised the community earlier in 2012. The Channel Map, two seaplanes and two early-war scouts are still in development and scheduled for release end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013.



Q. Will BOS be based on the Digital Nature engine (777 Studios Technology)?

A. Yes, the Digital Nature engine and associated technologies will be the basis for BOS, but of course work will be done to make it ready for WWII aircraft and other changes to the code will no doubt occur over time. The engine is an ever evolving piece of software.



Q. Why was the Digital Nature engine chosen instead of the CLOD engine?

A. The Digital Nature engine is an advanced game engine that has been developed over several years and powers ROF with great results. Besides being relatively bug free and well-functioning, it has advanced physics, realistic flight-modeling, progressive damage modeling, complex ballistics, detailed environmental modeling, detailed terrain modeling and superb graphics rendering. Above all else it is more modular and flexible than the CLOD engine. It can even support different types of player vehicles from main battle tanks to giant robots. Using the Digital Nature engine will provide users with a well-functioning product at launch that can be brought to market fairly quickly. It can still be further enhanced in the future as needed.



Q. What is the business model for BOS?

A. BOS will have a few different options for new users that will put them in the cockpit and new content added over time after initial launch.The BOS business model will have some similar aspects with ROF, but it will not be identical.



Q. Will you have to pay for new content like airplanes?

A. Of course, additional content once developed will be offered for sale.


Q. Will BOS be classified as an MMO?

A. No, BOS will include both SP and MP game-play options but giving some new unique experiences. We know flight-simmers enjoy both types of game-play.



Q. Will BOS include every imaginable feature and detail the community will want?

A. Unfortunately, no simulation title can have everything the community will want. There is a relatively short window to create and launch BOS. As 777 Studios learned from developing ROF, it is better to start with digestible chunks of features and content that works and add more over time. We also do not want to keep the community waiting for years while we make a large product that may not work as advertised. We prefer to take it one step at a time.



Q. Will content from CLOD be imported and be used in BOS?

A. If any is used, than all previously createdcontent by 1C Company will be used in the future projects with maximum possibilities.


Q. Will BOS install over CLOD as promised by previous management?

A. Sorry it will not, BOS will be based on a completely different engine and be a completely different product line.

Q. Will BOS be published by Ubisoft?
A. No, international rights for selling new IL-2 Sturmovik titles has returned to 1C and the new joint venture will use this opportunity to publish and operate new titles on its own.

[ParaB]

Good news. The release date of early 2014 means that hopefully it won't be another rushed release like CloD.

And I do actually like the business model of RoF. I get high-quality aircraft for reasonable prices, the devs get a constant cash flow to stay in business.

Good enough for me.

[Skoshi Tiger]

Will it contain similar scripting possibilites as COD in regards to mission creation? There was some very good work done by the community. It would be a pitty if this facility was lost.

[banned]

R.I.P Clod.

A new forum for you AoA to begin another epic post count with new people to abuse.

Condolences to all those who said this wouldn't happen.

[Ploughman]

Er. You telling me CLoD and it's engine died today? That the franchise is over, that Luthier and Maddox Games and Oleg and all that is over and the name's been sold or given over to 777 and their engine to exploit?

Put a shine on it if you like, but this is a kick in the nuts.

[Volksieg]

Originally Posted by Ploughman

Er. You telling me CLoD and it's engine died today? That the franchise is over, that Luthier and Maddox Games and Oleg and all that is over and the name's been sold or given over to 777 and their engine to exploit?

Put a shine on it if you like, but this is a kick in the nuts.

I have to say that I welcome this news! I don't understand your attitude at all, Ploughman. Do you know the 1C Maddox Games team personally? Did you spend sleepness nights sat up late discussing concepts with Oleg all those years ago? I know this may sound incredibly mercenary to some but this merger means one thing to me:

A working WW2 flight simulator to be released relatively soon which will attract more players and, though it may need a bit of patching (As all software tends to), will be playable out of the box for a vast number of people..... cue: Good reviews! More pilots! Filled servers! Less complaining!

This is fantastic news! Perhaps not for Maddox Games... perhaps not for the old development team... perhaps not for Oleg.....

... But great news for us!

Anyway... I now have CloD working pretty well! I'm sure others will still play it online and, if not, there is a wealth of single player missions out there now so..... COOL! I will now have TWO WW2 flight simulators on my hard drive!

[Ploughman]

Originally Posted by Volksieg

I have to say that I welcome this news! I don't understand your attitude at all, Ploughman. Do you know the 1C Maddox Games team personally? Did you spend sleepness nights sat up late discussing concepts with Oleg all those years ago? I know this may sound incredibly mercenary to some but this merger means one thing to me:

A working WW2 flight simulator to be released relatively soon which will attract more players and, though it may need a bit of patching (As all software tends to), will be playable out of the box for a vast number of people..... cue: Good reviews! More pilots! Filled servers! Less complaining!

This is fantastic news! Perhaps not for Maddox Games... perhaps not for the old development team... perhaps not for Oleg.....

... But great news for us!

Anyway... I now have CloD working pretty well! I'm sure others will still play it online and, if not, there is a wealth of single player missions out there now so..... COOL! I will now have TWO WW2 flight simulators on my hard drive!

No, I don't know them personally but what was stopping the RoF team from getting into WWII aviation with or without Maddox games? Something died today. Something that I've been into for ten years. The CloD engine showed lots of promise, it wasn't perfect but it was getting there and I'm not convinced that the engine that powers RoF is going to offer us the future that the CloD engine might have. I will, of course, buy the Battle of Stalingrad iteration of RoF. But Maddox games and Il-2 Sturmovik and Cliffs of Dover, that seems to be over and I'm not rejoicing.

[Osprey]

It's custom scripting that concerns me. Most of the good custom stuff for MP was done by 3rd parties, and definitely is with COD (check the Storm of War RDF feature for instance). I don't remember seeing that in ROF but best ask SYN what they think and, of course, Jason himself

[vranac]

Originally Posted by robtek

If the number of objects in IL2:BoS is as absurd low as in RoF it really doesn't matter how wonderful the planes will be, Eastern Front was a ground war with air support not the other way around, no way to simulate that with the actual RoF engine limitations.

Exactly!

Very sad news.

I realy doubt that 777 can improve their engine or write a new one for one year.

No ground war,simple dogfigt...

Nice move from 1C, how to squeeze quickly some more money from Il2 Sturmovik brand.

[Volksieg]

Sure... I can see that. No point crying over spilt milk...

We are a niche market and, sadly, this means we have to take whatever crumbs they throw at us and, let's face it, it is better to have a few crumbs thrown at you than nothing at all. There was a horrible possibility that the WW2 Flight Simulator as a concept was going to die not that long ago and, no matter how much potential the CloD engine showed (It did show a lot!)... we all knew in our hearts that it was over.

We have, at the very least, a chance of the hobby surviving now instead of having to choke back tears, numbly playing the latest arcade pseudo-simulator, boring our grandkids about the good old days of complex engine management and realistic flight models. lol

Smile! We have a future! May not be the one we wanted but it is a future!