Doug: In the single player campaigns, how closely will history be followed? For example, if I fly for the RAF as part of a Polish squadron, will I be restricted to which airfield I fly from? Will it be by squadron as well? Will the weather match history?
Oleg: A static campaign is needed for things like that. Dynamic campaigns are poorly suited for thorough historical accuracy. We will ship with a dynamic campaign, and leave static campaigns to third party developers. However with our dynamic campaign we’ll try to maintain historical accuracy as much as possible, without locking out too many possibilities.
Doug: A few more questions (for now) on Storm of War: Battle of Britain before we move to the next topic area.
You said recently you want it released for the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. That would be in September 2010. Are you confident flight simmers around the world will be flying Storm of War: Battle of Britain in October 2010?
Oleg: Yes, it is our general plan. Maybe it will arrive earlier. I can’t say right now the exactdate. But by October 2010 (if not before) Storm of War: Battle of Britain should have many thousands of users.
Doug: At one point you commented that Storm of War: Battle of Britain was “60% completed”. Considering the original scope has been expanded, would you be able to give us a percentage based on the new expanded project scope?
Oleg: The main content is ready now. 10% of the content — such as the ships and some of the ground objects on the airfields — are all that is left to be done. At the same time we are currently adding new 3D graphic effects and other features to the Storm of Warseries engine, and make the campaign, animate people, test and retest, etc. During the year we will spend time completing the Storm of War series engine and the first project, Storm of War: Battle of Britain. So to say that it is now 80% complete would be accurate.
Doug: Some people in the flight sim community are concerned about the future and well-being of Storm of War: Battle of Britain claiming it has been in development much longer than they expected, so there must be something wrong. Can you put their mind at ease and say that Storm of War: Battle of Britain’s future is bright, and there is not a reason to be concerned for the project?
Oleg: First, a reminder that IL-2 Sturmovik was in development for over 4 years before it was released. Then many years of modifications and adding new features in add-ons followed. Without the right engine design to allow modifications in the beginning of the IL-2 project, we would never have seen the IL-2 series come to life. But keep in mind IL-2 Sturmovik was only one title.
The Storm of War series engine and the first product, Storm of War: Battle of Britain is many times more complex than the engine in theIL-2 series. Also, the content itself is in some cases a hundred times more complex than in the IL-2 series. And that is not all. We have added new features into the Storm of War series engine that will give Storm of War a long, long life. Maybe even longer than the IL-2series engine. We are building for the “next level” of quality and features. This takes much more time in development than it takes for one product title. Another benefit of having the Storm of War series engine — we will have 1-1.5 years production time for each follow-up title. Future titles from the Storm of War series will see the market with much less time in development compared to the initial release of theStorm of War series engine and the first series title, Storm of War: Battle of Britain.
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