Interview on new WWI simulation: Wings Of Honour

[ArgonV 2]

This is from: Wings Of Honour Interview

 

"Polish based developer City Interactive is currently working on Wings of Honour, an upcoming action flying game that is set in the little used era of WW I. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with the company's PR represenative Pawel Jagora to find out more about Wings of Honour.

 

HomeLAN - How did the idea come about to create a WW 1 flight action game?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - Mainly because many members of our team are really keen on flying simulations and are aviation enthusiasts. In addition to that, part of our team has gained some experience in creating flying simulators. Putting all the pieces together, we realized that it can be a really interesting job and we’ve got a chance to create a game that will combine full action with the realism of flying a real WW I plane.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the game's single player campaigns?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - Although the storyline will be linear like other titles in the same genre, we tried to avoid being boring and we provided a sophisticated pilot’s career path. Thanks to this, players can be sure that they won’t be able to move forward through the campaign unless they learn certain pilotage skills. And we can promise – there will be many things worth their learning time – the game will offer 20 different missions in different locations (seashore, plains, and high mountains with deep ravines), the further the player will get in the campaign, the better plane he can fly and fight. There will be many different tasks to do and they will differ in difficulty. The player will have several occasion to take command of his squad (in simplified terms– giving orders like: patrol, attack, help me, follow me etc.)

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What kinds of planes will be available for piloting in Wings Of Honour?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - We will do our best in creating our planes to look and fly exactly like their real protoplasts. Our artists are working really hard on creating realistic terrains, models, perspectives and reconstructing historical cockpits. We also would like our planes to have the same flight characteristics like the real planes had in the distant past.

 

 

There is a list of planes we would like to put into the game: Fokker D.VII, Albatros D.V, Fokker Dr.1, Pfalz DIII, Siemens-Schuckert D.III, Sopwith Camel F1, Spad S.XIII, Nieuport 27, R.A.F. S.E. 5a, Sopwith Pup

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What kinds of missions will be featured in the single player campaign?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - The variety of missions we would like to construct is very wide. Counting them will be too boring and describing them will take ages, but I can think of few of my favorites. Let me think...

 

 

Of course, the types of missions I like best are great air battles. Many aircrafts joined for few minutes for a kind of a deadly dance, bursts of bullets coming nearly out of nowhere. And anywhere you take a look you can see a “boogie” you can splash.

 

 

What else? Of course I can’t forget about Zeppelin hunting. There is nothing like seeing this huge deadly machine start burning and turning into dust, but hunting them is not as easy as you think. They are often guarded by enemy planes and of course, they have their own guns to protect themselves. And there is also balloon hunting– they are much easier to destroy than Zeppelins.

 

 

Other kinds of missions I like very much are different bombing missions. In the game there will be occasions to prove your accuracy while targeting such objects like bridges or warships – they are always heavily defended but it only adds a bit of adrenaline to the action.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - How accurate will the game's flight physics model be?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - We put the main emphasis on making the flight nice for the player, to let him play and have a lot of fun and action during the flight. That was also one of the reasons we decided to produce WW I plane simulation – controlling a WW I plane is much easier than modern jet combat airplanes, but of course there will be an option to add full realism to the flight model – and automatically the game will be much more realistic but also more difficult.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What multiplayer features, if any, will Wings Of Honour have?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - Of course, we would like our game to last much longer thanks to the multiplayer feature. To prepare a likeable multiplayer we’re planning to offer up to 16 players’ multiplayer mode over LAN or Internet. We will provide several maps and terrains for multiplayer battles and of course, the players will have to choose whether they would like to play death match or team play.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What other game-play features will the game have?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - All the good action adventure sim (as we’re calling the game) should have. First of all I have to mention full ForceFeedback feature with Vibration Force.

 

 

Our primary task though, is to provide the crisp realism that is the hallmark of all good simulations. The graphically rich environments will include so much detail that you can even pick out the blades of grass. With intricate reconstruction of models and the ground, the game guarantees to immerse you into the action as you fight it out in the war torn skies.

 

 

The realistic and at the same time very impressive way of modeling the surroundings will offer the player a thrilling experience. Three-dimensional clouds you can hide in, and the fact that the sun can really blind you, can create totally new tactical possibilities. While deciding upon your victorious strategy, the player will also be able to make use of different landscapes.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the game's graphics engine?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - While making the game we’re using our own engine we’re designing in our company. It has no special name (we never thought of one) but it is still developed and being improved and regarding to our programmers and graphic artist’s opinion, it is a really handy and useful working tool. Of course, it takes maximum advantage of DirectX 9 and latest ATI graphic cards generation.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - Right now more than 75% of the game development is done. We are testing first playable alpha versions. We don’t expect any problems and we’re sure the game will be released by the end of the summer vacation.

 

 

 

HomeLAN - Finally, is there anything else you wish to say about Wings Of Honour at this time?

 

 

 

Pawel Jagora - We strongly believe that Wings of Honour will be real fine and very well liked by the players of the game. From air battles and breath taking 30 aircraft dogfights to bombing and spy missions, the game will provide the kind of action packed game play that is guaranteed to satisfy both flight sim specialists and the wider gaming fraternity.

 

 

Even now – in the early stage of production – we’ve got a very strong and positive feedback from many flying simulation enthusiasts from all over the world. Especially for the players who love to have just flight and fight we prepared a more arcade model of flying. If, however, anyone see himself as a Red Baron successor he will be able to face the challenge and try his abilities in a realistic flight model."

 

 

 

This looks to be a "light" WW1 simulation, so if you're a hardcorist this may not be for you. However, the chance to fly around WWI bi-planes in a nice enviroment despite the lack of hard core realism is always a pleasing thought. :D Here is City Interactives website: City Interactive