Author Topic: "Dawn of Aces High?" (Read 662 times)

Wanker · « **on:** April 23, 2002, 01:56:59 PM »

I was a huge fan of "Dawn of Aces", as it had some really neat innovations, like Zeppelins and artillery spotting. The fighting in WWI aircraft was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the DOA acronym turned out to be all too prophetic, as "Dawn of Aces" development was left to stagnate over at IMOL. The potential of DOA was huge, methinks, but it became a victim of "Personnel movement"(Hitech and co leaving en masse) at IMOL. I was hugely disappointed at the time, and I still am. By the time I moved over to Aces High, I was flying DOA more than I was Warbirds.

So, seeing as how DOA development has been pretty much dormant ever since....

I was wondering if HiTech and Pyro have considered opening up a WWI arena, complete with that same artillery spotting, the Zeps, the great canvass birds of the "Great War"?

I know that with the small development staff at HTC, only so much can be done, but if they ever consider expanding, I just want to cast one vote for the revival of WWI air combat that got off to such a good start in DOA.

Wilbus · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:11:25 PM »

Oh yeah! LOVED DOA! Loved my Camel and ABSOLUTELY loved the need to actually shoot and aim good instead of just making snapshots/recieving snapshots.

The Zeps were great fun too, arty spotting over a field was amongst the funniest things ya could do!

GIVE US Dawn of Aces High!

Shadowmyst · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:27:22 PM »

This is a fantastic idea! Although I never had the chance to play DOA, I have really enjoyed many WW1 sims in years past. I would very much welcome an arena with a WW1 theme. HT, Pyro, any chance of this coming to life?

Obear1971 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:30:34 PM »

Ok far to much positiveness in here

I played DOA it was not bad and ok for a bit of fun, didnt like it as much as Warbirds wwii, the aircraft seemed real slow and it didnt have that seat of your pants flying you get with wwii aircraft. but thats just my opinion.

It was nice to dive in there for a bit of a change now and then, the main problem was the compleat lack of numbers, i went in there many times and at its peak had about 70 players, during less prime times you was lucky to find someone to shoot at.

Would be nice for chnage now and then, to play just for a good crack, but i cant see it taking off the way wwii dogfightig dose

but you never know

Don · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:38:09 PM »

Hehe, I can imagine a gang bang at 7 thousand feet with top speed at 120 kias

Oh the Humanity!!!

Mighty1 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:40:02 PM »

DOA was fun!

The only thing I didn't like was the camel jockies that would scrape their wings on the ground to turn faster.

Loved the Zeps.

Sabre · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2002, 02:42:07 PM »

It was the zeppelins I loved the most. I was facinated with them as a kid, building models and reading everything ever written on the history of lighter-than-air aviation. DOA was the first sim to feature them as a player-controlled craft. Interestingly enough, zeppelin driving was very much like submarine driving. Hmm...submarines are coming to AH eventually. Coincidence?

Kieran · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2002, 03:05:55 PM »

I loved DoA far more than I ever did WB. I would be ecstatic for Dawn of Aces High....

...as you might imagine, I am also watching for Target: Flanders.

P.S. Wilbus, it is obvious you never flew the DVa. It most certainly did have a tendency to die to snapshots. Flying that plane in a sea of Camels would make people who cry about Spitfires, Nikkis, and La7s shut up for good...

AKcurly · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2002, 03:31:49 PM »

I tried DOA about the same time I was introduced to Aces High. I evaluated both sims about 3 months.

It was an easy call. While I REALLY prefer WW1 birds, I am 100% addicted to the frequent changes that occur in AH: New aircraft, new ground targets, new water bound targets, new strategies, new maps and etc.

But, innovation of this type requires a few skillful and dedicated individuals. If HiTech/Pyro started splitting their time between two sims (ww1 & ww2), neither would get the time it deserved.

I think our best hope is for HTC to find and hire several guys like HiTech & Pyro to do WW1.

SeaWulfe pointed the following link out to me. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
http://www.wingswithwires.com

Better yet, let's subsidize HTC to buy BOP (above link.)

curly

AKSWulfe · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2002, 03:34:26 PM »

A MMP WWI air combat game/sim is what I've been waiting for. RB3D was it.... but Sierra flushed it down the toilet, plus the FM got all fugged up and... well anyway, when I play Il-2 I find myself looking for games that you can only fly the PZL P11c in because it's so slow and is like WWI speeds basically.

Someday... maybe... but I think there's more WWII wannabes than WWI wannabes.
-SW

funkedup · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2002, 03:49:30 PM »

I'm not business expert but IMHO DOA was a tragic waste of resources. They were devoting time and money to develop that thing while WB2 rotted away. I hope HTC remains focused on AH.

Kieran · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2002, 03:59:07 PM »

Uh... you obviously didn't play DoA. It is in the same incarnation it was 3-4 years ago, and still has a loyal (if small) following. I wouldn't be here right now if more attention had been paid to it.

What hurt WB wasn't only resources pointed into DoA, it was the fact PC and Mac were supported. It's the same flight engine for WB and DoA, just different numbers plugged in (as I understand). The time is split between the artwork, I suppose, but making a new game it wasn't.

Fish · « **Reply #12 on:** April 23, 2002, 04:02:53 PM »

It was fun for the first few weeks....

funkedup · « **Reply #13 on:** April 23, 2002, 04:04:17 PM »

Kieren, All I know is that they were rolling out new versions of DoA while there will still major bugs and broken/missing features in WB2. I'm guessing this was before your time over there. If they had spent those resources on completing the WB2 project they probably wouldn't have lost my business. I know quite a few WBers who had similar feelings at the time. It's better to do one thing well than to do a bunch of things mediocre.

Superfly · « **Reply #14 on:** April 23, 2002, 05:05:31 PM »

Did they ever incorporate the cockpit graphics for the Zeppelin? That was my final project at IMOL, and I finished on my last day. Last time I checked, it was just a lame wire frame. 'Tis a shame, because I worked very hard on it, and it looked great. C'est la vie......

Good thing I still have all my originals.