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Hello Pilots!
I'd like to answer some your questions today. Next week we plan to have a new live stream, this time with Andrey Solomykin aka Petrovich, the author of physics and aerodynamics in our project. These elements of development are his specialty so he can tell more interesting and deeper things about them.
Also a new important milestone has been achieved by the team recently. Rise of Flight is now available on Steam. This also means the compatibility of technologies: you can play ROF purchased on the official site together with players who purchased it on Steam - the sky is one for all. At the same we return IL-2 Sturmovik - 1946 to Steam. This version contains all up-to-date additional content and updates. And buying ROF before September 12th will give you free copy of IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946.
1) Will the alpha-version which is going to be provided to players during the early access period in Autumn have SLI/CrossFire support? I know that release version was announced to have full compatibility.
Yes.
2) Premium pre-order gives a) premium planes, b) free unlocks, c) upcoming free unlocks. Will this all be bound to one activation key or, like in most DD stores, sent to us as separate keys for each bonus?
There's 1 key per account. You activate it on your profile and all other content packs and bonuses get bound to it automatically. There's only one exception for gifts which, as keys, can be transferred freely before they are activated.
3) A question to LOFT. Albert, what are you planning to show on GamesCom? What has been added to the version shown in the US?
I'm answering after the convention obviously. In Germany we worked with certain press representatives personally. Every meeting was scheduled in advance, and we had visitors without a single break. A guest was coming in to learn about all 1C-SoftClub most recent projects: RPGs, RTSs and the new IL-2, of course. Such personal approach allowed them to ask more deep and specific questions and get more detailed answers. Also, unlike during the US presentation, this time we had full Oculus Rift compatibility, and there were new planes in the game.
We have significantly updated versions every week internally.
4) A swastika question. Devs made and declared their final decision. What's your attitude to user-made skins that may have Hakenkreuz on them?
We have no intention to control players. Draw and use anything you want. There'll be only one exception for those cases when you demonstrate gameplay on some public event in a country that acknowledged the usage of such symbols illegal.
5) I'm wondering about the way you make your decision about adding new planes? Do the polls on the forums influence that decision? What do you prioritize: plane's potential to be interesting to players, or volumes of available technical information that make them simple for you to model?
Well, I won't give out all inside info on that matter. The polls surely do influence on the choices we make. It has never been declared that players decide for us, however if the results of these polls contradict our plans, we have to reconsider those plans. And when a poll confirms our positions, we're just glad that we're doing the right thing. But the global logic of choosing separate planes or theatres of war is a dense blend of our own interests, aspirations and of course technical potential and deadlines.
6) Are you hiring? If yes, what kind of specialists are you interested in most of all?
Yes. After the pre-order program had started we received this opportunity. This year we are gathering new colleagues. We want to improve visual FX in the game, so we need a professional in that field. Also we're started to search for one more engineer. And we'll need another level designer because our technical opportunities are huge and growing, and there are not enough hands to make good use of them. And of course we're looking for talented programmers specializing in graphics and networks. If you are one of these professionals, please PM me or Jason on the forum. If you can demonstrate your skill with real samples or a portfolio in addition to a resume, that could improve your chances for sure.
7) Dear developers, what would you consider as a success of your project? Reimburse the investments? 1 million players? How do we - ordinary users - know that you're doing okay? Only when you announce development of new theatres of war?
All right, I'll pick a more optimistic forum avatar
And seriously, if and when something really big happens: be it good or bad news - we'll share such news with you. We've never secluded any info about us (to compensate the investment is obviously the minimal goal, and 1 million players is maximum).
8) Do you plan to allow adding additional user made maps for dogfight like it's done in ROF?
Technically it is possible. We only need to have creators who can provide us (and you) with such maps. We can't pay much attention to them being really busy with the development, but we hope that won't stop map-makers. Will such map become a free gift or a content pack for sale - the authors and the quality of their products are going to determine that.
9) Multicore support. Jason mentions it is there. Does it work well on both brands of CPUs: AMD and Intel? Multi-GPU support. Jason mentions this as well and again implementation question: works on both AMD and nVidia?
Speaking of IL2BOS there's no difference between the two brands at this moment.
10) About the first stream with LaGG. The plane taxiing on the snow-covered plain didn't look realistic. There were no wheel tracks behind it, no trace of interacting with the snow at all. Is it because it's only alpha? Because the trucks and tanks do leave the tracks judging by the earlier video blog. Will planes leave tracks?
Yes, and we will show such effects pretty soon. Not because we think it's essential to a flight sim, but we've already developed the technology and it will be implemented to the aircraft as well. Also, the system of surface recognition will be applied so the planes will not taxi so easily on the snow, only on clean field or on tarmac. And landing with the landing gear on the snow-covered surface will make a chance for nose over critically high.
