Compiled by Guest Writer Ian Boys

Oleg Maddox is head of Maddox Games, the company that brought us IL-2 Sturmovik and Forgotten Battles (FB). He is also Head of Games Development at 1C, Russia’s largest software company.

I have asked many of the longest-serving pilots from the IL-2/FB community for their questions about the forthcoming “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” simulation, shortened to BoB in the interview.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.

General

Q: Is December 2007 a realistic release date?

A: I hope and I need.

Q: What hardware are you assuming will be necessary to play BoB smoothly?

A: Don’t know yet. This will be known in Summer 2007. So before that time I will be not able to answer right.

Q: You originally wanted to do BoB in the FB engine. Why did that change?

A: Would be right answer that I said in the past it was possible, but never planned.

Q: Will pilots in BoB speak in other languages than English, Italian and German? For example, will we hear Polish or Czech radio messages?

A: Can’t say you right now. I would be good, however right thing that they were need to speak English, even if bad, but speaking English in flight, from historical point of view.

Q: Will there be changes to make the GUI screens such as the pre-flight briefing screens more immersive?

A: Yes.

Q: How else will you generate “atmosphere” in the game (immersiveness, feelings)?

A: Too early to say it.

Q: Why did you decide to include the Su-26 aerobatic plane in BoB?

A: Because it is a request of many users. The other one purpose – still secret.

Q: Have you considered a civil add-on like the Schneider Trophy race?

A: No if to speak about our team. Third party I think can do it.

Q: Will you include a training aircraft of the 1940’s so new pilots can practice landings, maneuvers etc at lower speeds?

A: I can’t answer this question now. But first of all for training aircraft we have too small amount of info that to model it right. There are also some other important reasons, but about them I will tell in summer 2007 when we will have all things cleared.

Q: Have you played Shockwave’s BoB II? What do you think of it?

A: It is the same as Rowan’s BoB with changes of textures and models. Nothing really new. However it looks way better than original Empire/Rowan’s BoB.

Q: Have your read “Piece of Cake”, the story about BoB? It contains a lot about tactics.

A: Yes, but the tactics there is known and possible to find with more precise details from many other sources.

Q: Will there be sufficient documentation to cover the new complexities in engine management?

A: Yes, a bit.

Q: Can countries be assigned to Red or Blue? This will be useful later in the series for countries like Italy and France.

A: Can’t tell you this. I would say that it is a big problem for online coding.

Q: What are your plans for add-ons? Where would you like to do next?

A: I know what will be next. Probably know.  But I will not tell it now. Right now I can tell that we plan the system like with PF – one can run stand alone or possible to install in previous and to get merged install.  What will be in add-ons we will know after the release.

Q: What was your experience with the “free upgrades” in FB and how will it affect the future of the SoW series?

A: This big question. I only can say that the politics with add-ons we will change and will let to do more for third party due to partially open architecture. Don’t worry, cheating online due to this fact will be excluded.

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Related posts:

Oleg’s Battle of Britain at Igromir 2010 – Day 1 Oleg’s Battle of Britain at Igromir 2010 – Day 3 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 2 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 3 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 4 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 5 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 6 Q&A with Oleg Maddox on “Storm of War: Battle of Britain” Page 7