"Plain Wish"

[earl1937]

  Just out of curiosity, would someone please post here, what is involved in creating an aircraft for game play in AH! I see a lot of wishes for a Korean arena and I could not agree more, but maybe its the cost to Hi Tech that is the problem. We have several aircraft already in this game that could be "carried" over to the KA, but aircraft such as the jets and etc, plus some different tanks, carriers with a catapult for the Navy jet aircraft and the Marines. I just really curious what would go into this construction effort, money wise, and how you would do it! 

[Arlo]

[LCADolby]

I knew it! Of course Arlo would know.

[The Fugitive]

Just out of curiosity, would someone please post here, what is involved in creating an aircraft for game play in AH! I see a lot of wishes for a Korean arena and I could not agree more, but maybe its the cost to Hi Tech that is the problem. We have several aircraft already in this game that could be "carried" over to the KA, but aircraft such as the jets and etc, plus some different tanks, carriers with a catapult for the Navy jet aircraft and the Marines. I just really curious what would go into this construction effort, money wise, and how you would do it! 

From what has been posted/rumored and such it takes about 6 months to do a plane. Research, art work, 3D model and such. GVs are a bit quicker since they removed the drivers seat and went with the command spot and gunners. A lot less art work to draw out. Maps take 6 months to a year depending on whats on it (which is why very few maps are built). Coding for the arena is probably a cut and paste type of thing.

You add it up. Of course this means that the main game ( their bread and butter) gets nothing while they are doing this other stuff. No new planes, GVs, or add-ons they may have in the works none of us know about. With such a small crew it's one of those this or that type of things, they can't do it all.

On top of that they may already know how a Korean arena will go down. Air Warrior had one and there was never more than a handfull of people in there even tho "everyone" thought it was a great idea. So should HTC spend all this time and money on something that may look like WWI arena after the first few weeks, or continue tweaking and adding to a game that is already making them money?

[uptown]

  Arlo

[1WILDCAT]

I have this question, would any of you like to have the ability to 'sneek in' and build a base behind the lines, that would give us the ability to hit them from out of NOWHERE!, I am looking forward to your thoughts on this.
1WILDCAT over/out

[bustr]

Why for prop air combat does the latter part of ww2 hold the imagination of so many players. While not until more modern jets and helo do you begin to hold another group of players imaginations? What is so attractive about the two periods? Or how has the national psyche of so many countries players converged on the two periods?

Is there any passive manner to determine these kinds of phenomenon other than working for and hosting online games for 20 years? In "passive manner", I mean every player will agree to any new toy just to get more toys. The agreement has nothing to do with their intention to ever use the toy. Our WWI, Early, and Mid war arenas show this to a degree. So have our aircraft polls. 

[earl1937]

Why for prop air combat does the latter part of ww2 hold the imagination of so many players. While not until more modern jets and helo do you begin to hold another group of players imaginations? What is so attractive about the two periods? Or how has the national psyche of so many countries players converged on the two periods?

Is there any passive manner to determine these kinds of phenomenon other than working for and hosting online games for 20 years? In "passive manner", I mean every player will agree to any new toy just to get more toys. The agreement has nothing to do with their intention to ever use the toy. Our WWI, Early, and Mid war arenas show this to a degree. So have our aircraft polls. 

You have a point, but, as far as I am concerned, the 40's and 50's were the "golden" air age! I know that doesn't fit some people's ideas that it was in the 20's and 30's, but to see and feel the improvement in aircraft during the 40's and 50's is an experience which cannot be copied! I think that has part of the allure of this great game. I know when I discovered it about 3 years ago, it gave me a chance to relive some things and it certainly steered memories which had been long layed to rest. For that reason alone and for the pleasure which I get from playing this great game, I will be eternally grateful that Hi Tech gave this old man something to look forward besides dieing!

[BaldEagl]

From what has been posted/rumored and such it takes about 6 months to do a plane. Research, art work, 3D model and such. GVs are a bit quicker since they removed the drivers seat and went with the command spot and gunners. A lot less art work to draw out. Maps take 6 months to a year depending on whats on it (which is why very few maps are built). Coding for the arena is probably a cut and paste type of thing.

You add it up. Of course this means that the main game ( their bread and butter) gets nothing while they are doing this other stuff. No new planes, GVs, or add-ons they may have in the works none of us know about. With such a small crew it's one of those this or that type of things, they can't do it all.

Well that's just catagorically false.

Here's the additions from the last two uptades:

Version 2.30 Changes
« on: April 11, 2013, 04:32:33 PM » 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 2.30 Patch 0 Changes
======================
Added new bomber He 111H.
Added new fighter Ki-43-II.
Updated the C.202 and C.205 shapes.
Updated the Lancaster shape and flight model.

 Version 2.31 Released
« on: July 17, 2013, 01:42:16 PM » 
Version 2.31 Patch 0 Changes
======================
Added the Yak-3.
Added the Yak-7B.
Added the Jagpanzer 38(t).
Added the Jagdpanzer IV/70.
Added the Jagdpanther.
Updated the Yak-9T shape.
Updated the Yak-9U shape.

So in three months they added three fighters, a bomber and three tanks plus updated four more fighters and a bomber.  We'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they worked on the first of these for three months.  That's still a hell of a lot more new planes in six months than one.

Besides that the core game didn't suffer.  They managed to do all this work in the meantime and this doesn't include any iterim patches:

Added a display of your plane's gross weight and endurance to the hangar.
Changed the shape dimensions of the 4000 lb "cookie" bomb.
Added a semi armor piercing bomb loadout to the Fw 190F.
Changed the appearance of the wind display on the clipboard map.
Fixed an issue where the film viewer would react to key inputs while minimized or while converting a film to AVI.
Wide screen aspect ratios are now available in the film viewer.
Film viewer now gives an error message if you use an unsupported CODEC when saving as an AVI.
Fixed a sorting issue along beaches that was happening with ATI video cards.
Fixed a crash bug in the film viewer that would happen if you canceled out of the CODEC selection menu.
Added a button to abort the save as AVI process in the film viewer.
Fixed an issue that caused the horizon not to blend correctly at night time.
Fixed an issue that could cause the loss of mouse control when using a horizontal scroll bar.
Saving to AVI in the film viewer is now much faster.
Reduced the max height of the pilot's head position in the Typhoon.
The 2 different cannons on the Panzer 4F had their fire rates reversed.
Slightly slowed the fire rate on the M8.
Fixed a bug that caused pilot wounds in the Hurricanes to block out icons.
Added country symbols to aircraft carriers so you can tell which enemy country it belongs
Adjusted the wingman autopilot mode to make it more smooth in its flight adjustments.
Fixed a sorting error with the Il-2's rear gunner gunsight.
Fixed some LoD issues with tanks not displaying correctly at long range.
Removed the convergence button from the He 111 in the hangar.
Adjusted radiator damage modeling on the Fw 190D-9 and Ta 152 to make it a little less prevalent.
Fixed a sorting issue in the B-17's glass.
Fixed the position of the cookie on the Mosquito XVI so that it does not protude through the bomb bay.
Fixed a sorting issue in the cockpit floor window of the Ju 87D.
Fixed damage bugs in the turrets of the Ostwind and M-18 that kept the damage system from orienting the turret correctly.
Fixed the tape compass in the B-24.
Lancaster and Hurricanes had pitch trim indicators reversed.
Fixed some cockpit poly and sorting errors in the Fw 190D9 and F8.
The top turret in the B-25H was using the external shape in internal mode.

Before you go making up these stats you should be aware that they are very easily checked on.

[HB555]

But how long had they been working on all of that before it was released to the game? When I was in Texas, I saw "some soon to be released projects" that included some of the above, 6 months before the release, and although they looked good to me, there were playability issues to be dealt with, I was told. How long they had been working on them up to then is unknown to me. Just saying 6 months may not be realisyic, either, when working on multiples.

[The Fugitive]

But how long had they been working on all of that before it was released to the game? When I was in Texas, I saw "some soon to be released projects" that included some of the above, 6 months before the release, and although they looked good to me, there were playability issues to be dealt with, I was told. How long they had been working on them up to then is unknown to me. Just saying 6 months may not be realisyic, either, when working on multiples.

Exactly, you have no idea how long they worked on that stuff. As I said in my post I'm just guessing but these things just don't happen over night. From bits and pieces I've read on the boards that was my guess.

So if they dropped all that to work on the Korean Arena they certainly wouldn't be working on anything else to get it out as soon as possible. 

[HB555]

All true, Fugitive, and primarily, this is a WWII Flight Sim.

[BaldEagl]

According to Lushe here's where AH started in 2000:

Beta Tour 1:
B-17G
Bf 109K-4
C-47A
Fw 190A-8
La-5FN    
N1K2    
P-51D    
Spitfire Mk IX

And from this post http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,345669.msg4698944.html#msg4698944 we add the Panzer IIIH.

That's a total of 9 aircraft and vehicles at AH Beta launch in 2000.  Today there are 124 aircraft and vehicles available.  Let's just say it's been 14 years.  (124-9)/14 = an average of over 8 new additions to the game per year.  I don't care how long they work on each one they're still averaging 8 per year over 14 years and I'm being conservative.  Lets not forget that several of these models have transitioned through two or three remakes.

At the same time the game has undergone several major makeovers (graphics, physics models, sound systems, in-game communications, GV controls, strat sytems and others too numerous to remember) along with countless tweaks, bug fixes and lesser additions and modifications.  Numerous maps have been created, modified or left behind; some more than once.  New arenas have been created.

And let's not forget the years lost to combat tour development that never saw the light of day or to the development and implementation of WWI.

I don't care what you want to believe the facts are the facts.  Putting a Korean arena in place won't stop other development.  I'm not saying it's a good or bad idea.  Just saying you're wrong.

[The Fugitive]

I very well could be wrong, but I'm thinking I'm closer to the mark than you think.

Of those additions how many are variations of one model? Variations take much less work than a full model. If you think back to when they were working on CT, how many planes and vehicles and game update did we get? They were much smaller and farther apart due to them spending time on CT. Nobody knows "why".... other than HTC they shelved CT, but maybe, it was because they felt the time put into it was taking away from the main game? Just saying.