Update 6 KickStarter DCS: World WW2 1944

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1891960&postcount=1

 

You've asked for it. We've discussed it. Now we're very happy to announce that we will be releasing the EDGE landscape engine SDK to Kickstarter backers.

 

The SDK can be used to create new landscapes for the DCS WWII project. It's an all-in-one tool that combines a 3D object library, texture manager, and a landscape editor. With a full 24-hour day cycle, options for multiple seasons and time periods on the same map, and industry-best level of detail, EDGE is designed for and tested by real pilots to ensure it meets the highest standards of realism.

 

Please note that the Normandy landscape shown in the video is an early mock-up using temporary stand-in objects,mock-up trees, and low-quality placeholder textures.

 

We're really hoping that the community can organize a concentrated effort to design and create one or more new landscapes for DCS WWII. With the amount of time we have before the initial release, it should be possible to have them completed for the day-one release of Europe 1944!

 

A more detailed look at the tools and the technical details of the design process will be released at a later time. The SDK itself should be available later this year. Please note that the SDK will be released to project backers only and / or will require a signed NDA to use.

 

Yeah right, I should give them a money, and they will "maybe" give me a SDK, if I'm suitable and if I sign NDA... No way!

Q&A DCS: WW2 Terrain SDK Part 1

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892163&postcount=43

 

 

Originally Posted by Cornbread  View Post

OK, so, if the SDK is going to be released in about a month, does this mean the lid finally comes off with regard to the secrecy of EDGE technical features?

 

This is the landscape editor. All its features will indeed be revealed.

 

However the ability to compile the final map and to let tanks drive or planes fly over the new landscape will not be released out. So, many features that relate to the terrain's implementation within the game will not be a part of the SDK.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892188&postcount=48

 

 

Originally Posted by empeck  View Post

Could you elaborate a bit? What else will be needed to make new, fully functional map for DCS World/WW2? If SDK isn't enough, then what's the point of releasing it?

 

The point of releasing the SDK is so that maps can be made faster by the community than RRG can make themselves, without giving all the tools to make it functional. This will let them put more attention to the aircraft. Enough will be provided to make the land, but the final conversion process of it to let it plug into DCS/DCS WWII will be done by ED or RRG. This would act as quality control, which is in my opinion a good thing.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892202&postcount=51

 

Originally Posted by White Owl  View Post

Would it be possible to use this editor to expand the edges of an already existing map? I'm thinking of how much we want just a few airbases in Southern England. I'm thinking that maybe instead of creating a wholly new map, we could make the existing map larger.

 

A map in EDGE actually has real-world coordinated connected to a virtual globe. It has constraints.

 

You could create your own landscape project that borders an existing map.

 

Then you could just join the two projects together, and have them combined.

 

That's how, for example, you could join forces between multiple creators working on the same map. Just split it, then join it.

 

Theoretically you could do silly things like take Normandy, make Scotland, and make Ruhr, then join them together. You'd be able to take off from Scotland, climb, fly over barren nothing below, cross over pretty Normandy, fly over some more nothing, bomb a factory, and then go back home.

Q&A DCS: WW2 Terrain SDK Part 2

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892371&postcount=78

 

 

Originally Posted by SilentEagle  View Post

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this would make it impossible for developers to test their creations in the simulator. That seems pretty counterproductive. As a developer myself, I find this part hard to understand. If the concern is an oversaturation of mediocre or "half-baked" terrains, why release the tools to all backers in the first place. Why not just just to those with serious interest and capability, such as how 3rd party development of aircraft is currently operating?

 

If a user wanted to create a free terrain or even one that was only used by himself, would he really need to have ED/RRG convert it for him. What about every time he wanted to make a change?

 

Guys, we have an SDK for a game that's not out yet. 

 

Even if we were to release the EDGE source code as freeware, you'd be in the exact same boat. Build, create, compile, and then what?

 

Until you have at least the DCS WWII alpha, you have no game in which you can fly over your terrain.

 

We cannot release an even earlier build than our alpha.

 

The SDK comes with its own landviewer, which is the app in which I did all the footage in the latest vid. That's where you'll test your landscape. 

 

I'm sure we'll have the outstanding questions resolved well before DCS WWII hits alpha. Once we have an official stance on commercial use of EDGE by 3rd parties, everything else will follow naturally.

 

With non-commercial use, we're obviously interested in having a large amount of user-made content. We're also a very small team and we can't be the quality control or the publisher for everything our users make. 

 

The only reason to release an SDK is to help your product grow. No one on this side has any desire to be the bottleneck in that process.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892402&postcount=84

 

 

Originally Posted by aaron886  View Post

Luthier, can you shed some more light on the purpose for restricting the SDK? Will this be specifically for DCS:WWII purposes, or will 3rd parties be able to create sceneries unbound by the WWII theme? I like what you're saying, I just want to see an improvement of the simulator as a whole.

 

Originally Posted by empeck  View Post

SDK won't work with DCS: World? Lets say, wouldn't it be possible to make a tiny map for DCS: World? Like Corsica from the video or even smaller.

 

There's pretty much one game engine at this point.

 

What works in DCS WWII works in DCS World, at least on the developers' machines as of this very second.

 

You can theoretically create anything you want, but I really have nothing to do with DCS World as a product line.

 

The reason why we are talking about the SDK now, the reason why we're releasing it when we are, is DCS WWII specifically. 

 

I personally am interested in garnering and supporting a large-scale community effort to create new WWII content. Here, my main goal is to make sure we have as many talented, dedicated people working on this as possible, and that they enjoy doing it and want to keep doing it long enough to finish the process. 

 

If we just put hurdles in their path, prevent them from seeing their own work, or provide poor support, then this entire effort is wasted: me making that video, discussing this now, us making the effort to create the SDK for external consumption, future discussions with backers, writing tech specs, etc etc etc. There's no point in us doing any of that if we'll give you the kind of SDK that people play with for a while, shrug their shoulders, and go find something better to do with their time.

 

This I guess should be a more important point than any technical details. Not what we're doing, but why we're doing it.

PalPay KickStarter on DCS: World WW2 1944

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1892781&postcount=1

 

Good morning!

 

It seems to work. 

 

www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/products/WWII/backer_paypal.php

 

If nothing explodes in a couple of hours, I'll do a wider more official post.

Update 12 DCS: World WW2:

 

 

Perhaps a little sleep deprived, DCS WWII lead developer Ilya Shevchenko answers some of the most important questions of the campaign and talks about why he's confident he can deliver on the promises made.

 

Please watch this video for an in-depth discussion of the project's inception as a leaner, cleaner design the team is confident they can deliver, and why the tasks that make up DCS WWII: Europe 1944 are inherently more stable than many other tasks that often are involved in game design.

 

 

 

This video took a lot longer to make than I anticipated, but I think it was very important to have this out before the campaign ends.  

 

A question that gets asked perhaps more than any other is, are you sure you can pull this off? Can you keep all the promises you're making?  

 

The answer is yes.  

 

First of all, it is a yes because the alternative is unthinkable. Not delivering a product after a kickstarter campaign would not only be fatal to the developer's careers, it would also make them contractually obligated to refund the entire amount raised on Kickstarter to the backers. The team understands the risk, and has chosen Kickstarter as opposed to many other alternatives precisely because we are confident in our ability to deliver. 

 

The project was designed from the ground up to be simple and lean. It's largely made up of three types of tasks: aircraft creation, landscape design, and mission and campaign design. All of these tasks are inherently more predictable than many other tasks often involved in game design. The feature list for DCS WWII was specifically chosen to contain as few risks as possible. 

 

This way, the project plan is a matter of simple math. We can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take us to make the 3D models of aircraft and cockpits because we're not breaking any new ground here. We can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take to create new aircraft because most DCS WWII tasks follow the tracks laid down by DCS P-51. Looking over the blueprints and technical descriptions of all featured aircraft, we see no major tasks that have a serious risk of falling through or taking too much time and jeopardizing the entire project. 

 

The landscape design is also predictable. We know exactly what needs to be done. All tasks can be estimated accurately because they follow preexisting examples. 

 

Content creation, missions, campaigns, is again predictable. We are using the powerful DCS Mission Editor, a stable, established program, that again allows us to accurately gauge the amount of time needed for all tasks. 

 

All in all, we know exactly what needs to be done. We can estimate all tasks with a high degree of accuracy. Kickstarter budget gives us a comfortable cushion to play test everything and correct any unanticipated problems we may encounter.

 

We are really looking forward to working with our backers, providing constant updates on the development progress, and watching this project take shape.

 

Please watch the video for an even more detailed explanation from the project's sleep deprived lead developer Ilya Shevchenko.

edit

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508681281/dcs-wwii-europe-1944/posts/619741

 

We did it! Thank you backers! The Kickstarter Campaign is a success!

What a wonderful Saturday morning! We really pulled through in the last couple of days and we did absolutely awesome!  

 

Current total:  

 

Kickstarter: $158,897

 

PayPal: $5,436.39

 

GRAND TOTAL: $164,333.39

 

We'll be shutting down the paypal page in a few minutes to coincide with the end of the kickstarter campaign.  

 

Please watch my celebratory video that talks about what happens next.

 

 

Quick summary:  

 

1. Your rewards. I have to tally all Kickstarter and PayPal backers into a single database. Then we have to create a web interface for you to access backer-only content. Kickstarter by itself is no good since it leaves all PayPal backers out. There will also need to be an interface for your reward management.

 

It's a bit of a project, so we probably won't have it ready for a little while.

 

In the meantime, the only reward that can go out right away is the DCS World P-51.

 

If you have selected a reward tier that specifically lists the P-51, you'll be receiving your product keys via email next week.

 

Otherwise, the process will be completely manual for now. I'll do a backer-only update in a little while that describes this process in more detail.  

 

2. We'll keep on working on the project as previously scheduled. We are adding the Me.262 cockpit to our task list. It'll be done by the same wonderful duo of German cockpit experts that built the FW.190D-9 and Bf.109K cockpits.  

 

3. We will be posting regular backer-only, and slightly less regular open development updates. We'll keep you updated on our aircraft and landscape.  

 

4. The landscape SDK! We can start a dialogue even before the SDK itself is available. Obviously, the most ideal situation that I see is that the community forms a core group of landscape designers that will, with developer support, create more landscapes for Europe 1944. Again, please stand by for a separate more detailed discussion on this.  

 

5. The main priority for the team however is delivering a good game to backers with the features we've listed. We will work very hard to have our alpha available next year. Once that's out, we will most likely open another campaign either on kickstarter or on our own site for more additions to DCS WWII: Europe 1944. I know that a lot of people really want the flyable B-17. I think it's the most logical next step for this product, but of course we have plenty of time for discussions.

 

We will definitely discuss every single aspect of any future campaign with our backers before launching it.  

DCS: WW2

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508681281/dcs-wwii-europe-1944/posts/619858

 

Update #16 Oct 5, 2013

Landscape Development Update - October 5, 2013

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Hello everyone,

 

Here's where we are with Normandy. We haven't made any drastic changes this week, it's just progressing along the same lines. We're playing a bit with the landscape mesh and adding lots of small details such as brooks, little bridges, and so on. Also playing a bit with colors, as you'll probably notice, and adding some detail to landscape textures.

 

We're also working on something really cool which, to my knowledge, has never been done before in a flight sim.

 

The terrain can have multiple, potentially limitless, number of states that define virtually everything. What does that mean? It means we can have the early 1944 Normandy with Pointe du Hoc still intact. We can have the D-Day Normandy with bomb craters all over the coast, floodgates open, and some of the landing areas flooded. We can have the post-invasion Normandy with flooding receded and lots of new Allied airfields. 

 

That's what we're working on right now. And actually, here comes out first request. We know what was flooded by the Germans for the invasion. However, we can't find any references on how it was dealt with. Can anyone provide some more info? What would you see on June 7, June 8, June 9?

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508681281/dcs-wwii-europe-1944/comments

 

Hey everybody!

Sven: We're kind of on the fence about this. By the way, you guys are really sharp. You pick up on important questions just about as soon as we do, and sometimes even earlier. 

This is the very strange nature of the modular structure of the project. 

What is DCS WWII? Surely it's the sum of all its parts, and taking the parts away destroys the whole? If seen this way, it's natural to sit on the planes that are ready, only make them available to kickstarter backers in alpha-beta, and launch another pledge drive for the B-17 in the interim. 

But on the other hand, why not just release one or more of the new DCS WWII planes into DCS World, and use those funds to make the flyable B-17 instead? 

This is something that requires a much larger backer-wide discussion I guess. We'll have it in a little while. In any case, we're months away from having any planes ready for release.

MP: I see multiplayer as a huge, huge part of any product's success. However it's not just the net code. It's the interface, the game modes, mission design, a gazillion components. Those of you who go back to the beginning of my early series will probably agree that the MP in Oleg's first flight sim was the bomb. It was so because Oleg had just created two absolutely amazing MP modes for his award-winning FPS titles (virtually unknown in the West, idolized alongside the likes of Doom and Duke3D in Russia). He had a whole crew of experienced MP programmers and designers that spent almost two years ironing out all the kinks. 

So, we definitely have a long list of things we want to improve with multiplayer, but if we were to consider doing them for day 1 release of DCS WWII, we'd probably need to double our budget. 

Since we didn't, the only thing I can really promise is that we'll try.

Also, trueSky looks really cool, but we're far too commited to making our own clouds and weather system to switch horses mid-jump. 

Hopefully the stuff you'll see there will compare favorably to that video.

And regarding the Flight Sim show, we really should be doing a lot more stuff like that. There's always something happening somewhere, and a booth and some product boxes is a great thing to have. Unfortunately we just have no resources to attend most of them, no people to arrange and set up and man a booth, literally no one. So for the time being we'll probably just do a few major airshows, especially those connected with TFC and Duxford.

DCS: WW2

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1902994&postcount=1

 

Hello folks,  

I think we're going to do two development updates per week. 

 

Fridays will be our 3D development updates: planes, cockpits, vehicles, and so on.  

 

Tuesdays will be our landscape development updates where we'll be looking at our Normandy as it takes shape.  

 

We have a lot of stuff you haven't seen yet, especially in the 3D category, so hopefully these won't get boring or stale for a while.  

 

Today: first look at our Tiger I tank.  

 

DCS: WW2 Update

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1918848&postcount=151

 

at the risk of my head  . Picture from the flooded area. As usual WIP. We're working.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1920277&postcount=1

 

Hey folks,

 

Sorry for a lapse in updates. I am almost comically plagued by internet issues on my trip; could make for a nice story all by itself. Almost considered doing a write-up, but perhaps in a couple of days when there’s no trace of bitterness. Catching a plane home tomorrow afternoon, where a nice PC with a nice Ethernet cable awaits. The things we take for granted.

 

Anyway, while I was incommunicado, the rest of the team has been hard at work.

 

We’re going to do a combined update on a bunch of fronts.

 

The 109 cockpit, shown earlier, is virtually completed. It’s scheduled to be done by the end of next week. Here’s a teaser shot. 

 

 

We’ll do a full photoshoot once it’s finished and checked.

 

The 109 external is not nearly as far along. We actually ran into a bit of delay with it, and we’re working double time to catch up. The 109 is still scheduled to be the first new RRG plane to be completed, in time for the closed alpha.

 

The first step of making an external model for a DCS plane is to make its engine. Even though it’s not something you really see, this is what’s traditionally done first before the rest of the aircraft is built around it. We had an issue with blueprints and references that had us redo a portion of the model, and the engine is generally extremely detailed and elaborate, so we’re about a week behind schedule. The engine is generally modeled and mapped, so we’re ready to proceed with the rest of the aircraft.

 

 

I am walking a very fine line here between keeping the fans and the artists happy. This is something I’m sure most of you did not think of at all, but the 3D artists making these models feel very connected to them and have a sense of personal pride, so asking them to show clearly unfinished models is always met with some resistance. I’m not the kind of boss who says “just shut up and give me the model to screenshot.” So, in this case, just like with the 109 pit, we have a modeler who really hates the idea of showing unfinished, “crappy” (in his words) WIP. He really asked to delay showing the engine until it’s shiny and perfect, so this is our compromise.

 

Please consider this as a general showcase of our attention to detail.

 

The flight model and the weapons and all the physics stuff for it has been in the works since July, but it's using the P-51 as a stand-in for now. We're rather far along with our physics model of the Bf.109, but obviously that's not something that can be shown with screenshots. We'll probably do some detailed lengthy videos once the 3D model is put in place, in the run-up to the alpha.

 

Next, we have the current state of the P-47 cockpit. Again, slightly behind schedule there, but really working hard to catch up. No deadline jeopardized, just a bit of an extra crunch in the middle of the project. We expected to just reuse P-51 gauges for the Jug, but ended up having to redo most from scratch. We currently have the canopy framework, the dashboard, and the gunsight, all done from scratch for our brand new P-47D-30. All await the delivery of the last set of factory blueprints for a final accuracy check.

 

 

Lastly, here’s where we are with the landscape. Been doing a lot of technical engine-related tasks. Redrew all the roads and crossroads. Redid the canals. Redid the flooded areas once again. Played a whole lot with the trees. Generally the terrain is beginning to look more detailed, but still a long road ahead.

 

 

Now, the most important thing I’ve realized over the past two months is that if I was my own employee, I should fire myself as a community manager. I barely have any time to do it, and it creates a very poor impression. Now that we’ve finally received our kickstarter funds (by the way, yay) I really need to hire a more professional community manager. I’ll get busy once I’m back home this weekend. Of course, ideally it would be a member of this community. It would most likely be a salaried part-time position, and the qualifications would include a passion for flight sims, understanding of aviation, and good communication skills. I don’t know if it’s realistic to hope for someone who’s fluent in both Russian and English, but English fluency would definitely be a must, while Russian would be a huge plus.

 

If you think you might be a good fit based on this preliminary announcement, email me at [email protected]

 

With that, I’m off to pack my suitcase. Hope you like the screenshots!

ww2 Update

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508681281/dcs-wwii-europe-1944/posts

 

Friday Development Update - November 22, 2013

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Hello everyone,

Things are a little slow, or rather, the progress at this stage is not too apparent.

 

On the Normandy front, the landscape is moving along. We’ve increased the amount of details on the landscape and worked a bit more with the woods. The woods are now a separate single object which makes them both easier to place and a lot easier on performance.

 

 

We’re also creating a few more stand-in buildings. The design process has us place a lot of blue box stand-ins, simple shapes that denote where the buildings will be, which will later be replaced with detailed buildings of the same dimensions. Replacing blue boxes with these more detailed stand-ins is an intermediary step that allows us to better fine-tune the look of city blocks. The texture is obviously temporary. Once we place a bunch of these together we can experiment with damage modeling and the general aesthetics.  

 

 

On the airplane front, we decided to hold off on screenshots today. When things are unfinished, they just don’t look that great, and while many of you will perhaps call us too pessimistic, we’re just not comfortable with showing these unfinished intermediary steps. 

 

The P-47 cockpit is beginning to look rather good. We greatly improved the instrument panel. It’s virtually complete now, and it looks a lot more like the real thing. We had to redo a huge chunk of it compared to the previous screenshots, and the gauges now have the proper bezel as they should on the P-47D-30. We’ll be finishing it up next week and polishing it and inserting it into the game engine the week after that, so hopefully there’ll be something cool to show the Friday Dec 6th.

 

We’re also progressing on the biggest success story of this kickstarter, the Me.262 cockpit. Being what it is, we again want to hold off on showing the very early stage. The modeler making it is the most resistant to showing unfinished work out of everyone working on the project. We’ll see what it looks like next week. Definitely very eager to show you guys what we worked so hard to put into the project!

 

The 109K external is also almost ready to be shown. Again, we made a very hard choice to hold off on those screenshots because we’re going to have something a lot more impressive next week.

 

Anyway, this is where we are across the board so this is slightly painful to write. Hopefully this week is the least amount of screenshots we’ll ever show. Everything is moving along, and as things get closer to completion there’ll be a lot more stuff to show. Especially once we have the 109 visuals in the engine. That’ll begin a very exciting stage for the project.

 

Finally, on the web development front, I know a lot of you are very anxious. This is taking a lot longer than anticipated but the end result will also be a lot more comprehensive than we originally intended. We’re moving along with the backer web functionality and making sure it’s both clear and easy to use. The intended end result will allow all project backers, kickstarter or paypal, to log in to the project site and to see their own personalized management screen. It will show you the exact number of rewards you’re eligible for based on your pledge amount. It will show you the rewards you have currently selected along with their status (shipped, in progress, etc). For any unfulfilled rewards, it will allow you to swap them out or enter additional details. We’re working very hard to make sure it’ll be easy to use and to understand, while also being full-featured and problem free, allowing for example such a range of options and easily specifying user accounts for friends you wish to gift additional licenses to, or specify different shipping addresses for several copies of the same aircraft manual, etc.

 

We’re working extremely hard to have it working as soon as humanly possible, and hopefully we’ll have some screenshots as well as the ETA for the site ready very soon.

 

Thank you for your continued interest in the project!

WW2 update russian forum

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1935249&postcount=886

 

Pre-alpha - Winter-Spring 2014 beta - about spring-summer 2014 release in October - 2014