Quote from TK on future TW games

[+MigBuster]

"Anything big (Korea and Desert Storm) will have to be broken up into several pieces - for Korea, we might do three parts, USAF, USN, and UN forces, for example. For DS, we probably need to break it down further depending on level of avionics we want, each one might end up having single airplane type only. Or, we can try to buildup some more planes up in other theaters and reuse them, so if we do, say Suez now, and Korea next, then we can have bigger initial Korea game, or if we do F-14A sim now and do DS next, etc etc.

 

Either way, we're looking at 2009/2010 for our next new title. We're working on couple of smaller things for this year (still experimenting on how the online sales go for different types of titles), and later this year/earlier next year, we'll have Vista version of current titles (which also gives us opportunity to go back and update some of the really old contents thats showing their age), and then the new game next

 

TK"

[Viper6]

It is GREAT to know that there will be more titles comming from TW! I for one don't care what comes first because I plan to buy them ALL!

[Piloto]

Not in a near future for an TW helo sim...

[SkyStrike]

It's good to hear that new sims are gonna come out from ThirdWire..

 

I just hope that at least some of them are based on MODERN aerial warfare...

 

Even more important I hope that they're all going to be available in boxed versions available from any software store...

[+DWCAce]

He said F-14A... Someone needs to catch me as I faint! :)

[jtin]

Well, it looks like he is abandoning the "lite" concept to a level- at least by breaking it down and focusing on specific aspects of the conflict... will definetly be better for online sales (base game with expansion packs = more people just trying it out and more sales).

 

Good to see TW is still alive and well! And hopefully, he'll pick the F-14

[+streakeagle]

But if you read exactly what he said, the future of this sim series rides on how well the online sales are doing.

I have bought every game on CD that was released in the US on CD and even got SF Gold from Britain.

I did not do so for First Eagles and to my knowledge there is no WOI cd yet...

I bought all of those games from stores and online despite being one of TK's beta testers with free access to the game during development/release cycles.

I have turned around and re-purchased all of the CD games from the online store.

In some ways, that is very wasteful of my own money since I already had ever game.

However, having all the download versions of the games allowed me to create a single DVD with every install on it.

Presently, only the FE and WOI installs need patches, and those fit on the DVD with tons of space to spare for future patches and game releases.

More importantly, I gave TK a direct vote of support with my $ rather than having some publisher and retail chain get most of the profits.

While my purchases may not make a huge difference in the big picture... if everyone who could afford to do it did the same as me, TK would be in a much better position to fulfill his vision for this game: at least another 20 years of development covering as many historical and hypothetical subjects as possible while continuously refining the core engine to keep up with the state of the art in technology.

Who can't fault a guy who provides free updates to the latest game release to everything else he has already released despite having quite a few releases at this point?

 

The main flaw I see in TK's vision is that his one-man show business model means I may actually have to wait another 20 years to see this game engine reach its full potential.

I would love it if he could find a way to do more in less time without going out of business or giving up his life outside of work (does he have a life outside of work? ... another limitation of his one-man show: little to no personal free time).

[Viper6]

That DS reference has me raring to go! I'm lovin it! Very well said StreakEagle! I agree 100%

Edited May 24, 2008 by Viper6

[+streakeagle]

He didn't say what he is going to do after the Vista releases... rather he explained how he might approach doing some of the requested material.

I think he is leaning toward doing a series of smaller projects to build up the planesets needed to do the bigger projects like Desert Storm and Korea.

Othewise, bigger projects will be broken up into much smaller parts.

Alternatively, he may do some hypotheticals to fill certain gaps in the timeframe and planesets that he thinks would be popular.

[+Gr.Viper]

He might be doing Suez from what I see...

[Murphy'S]

The main flaw I see in TK's vision is that his one-man show business model means I may actually have to wait another 20 years to see this game engine reach its full potential.

I would love it if he could find a way to do more in less time without going out of business or giving up his life outside of work (does he have a life outside of work? ... another limitation of his one-man show: little to no personal free time).

 

i hope that some times TK will be able to get a team of 5-6 persons to help him develop the game engine faster and deeper.

Edited May 24, 2008 by Murphy'S

[Stwa]

The main flaw I see in TK's vision is that his one-man show business model means I may actually have to wait another 20 years to see this game engine reach its full potential.

 

Perhaps, but from my perspective, if nothing else changed beyond WOE (forget FE and WOI), I would be happy for a long time.

 

All I am mostly interested in at this point is additional theatres, that are done consistently and requireing basically the same objects sets contained in the stock SFP1, WOV, WOE games.

[Gunrunner]

The trouble is not that TK followers are unsatisfied with the current state of things, but that to gain new followers, and increased revenues to continue working on new projects and continue supporting and expanding the game, TK needs to throw bones to those addicted to eye-candy and gameplay gimmicks that we don't require ourselves.

 

Most of us will, at one point or another, for various reasons, stop playing, having the time to play, and as such, we will gradually stop buying new games and thus being a source of revenue, to survive and keep the games (and his company) alive, TK needs to appeal to new players/customers.

[Stwa]

The trouble is not that TK followers are unsatisfied with the current state of things, but that to gain new followers, and increased revenues to continue working on new projects and continue supporting and expanding the game, TK needs to throw bones to those addicted to eye-candy and gameplay gimmicks that we don't require ourselves.

 

Most of us will, at one point or another, for various reasons, stop playing, having the time to play, and as such, we will gradually stop buying new games and thus being a source of revenue, to survive and keep the games (and his company) alive, TK needs to appeal to new players/customers.

 

Well, thats a very good point. In my own case, I know my computer will not drive WOI. But I have been thinking that I might buy it for the terrain only, if I could figure out in advance if I could "import" it somehow to WOE. I'll bet the targets file specifies some objects that WOE doesn't have, but I might be able to work around that. At this point I am not sure if there would be other issues, and up to now, I haven't been trying to do any research.

 

Also, I haven't seen a lot of screenshots of the WOI terrain for some reason. Anyone have any links?

 

I would like to add, that in my case, I found WOV/WOE to be artistically excellent. I was lucky and I was able to modify the WOV menus to work on my 1360 x 768 wide screen, plus make some really cool (screenshot based) hangar screens and stuff that I really like. In the end, with all my mods and a few "Stwa" addon terrains, this game became, in my opinion, the best ever. I have been doing combat sims since 1992 or so.

Edited May 25, 2008 by Stwa

[+ST0RM]

Well, thats a very good point. In my own case, I know my computer will not drive WOI. But I have been thinking that I might buy it for the terrain only, if I could figure out in advance if I could "import" it somehow to WOE.

 

While I would like to see more people purchase WoI to help out the cause for future releases, save yourself the money and grab the Israeli2 terrain and import it into WoE. I did it and it worked fine. Follow the instructions and with all of the new aircraft, you'll have your own WoI. I did it last December before the true WoI was out and was happy.

 

Storm

[Jug]

It is GREAT to know that there will be more titles comming from TW! I for one don't care what comes first because I plan to buy them ALL!

 

Ditto. Cannot add up the hours of enjoyment I have had in the sims and with the mod community focused here.

[Guderian]

Well, it looks like he is abandoning the "lite" concept to a level - at least by breaking it down and focusing on specific aspects of the conflict...

I think he's said that modern aircraft are so much more work because of the avionics (one modern aircraft equals maybe three 1960s aircraft) that any modern conflict will have to be broken down simply because of that.

 

As for Korea, it's a big conflict with a very large number of potential American flyables.

 

He might be doing Suez from what I see...

I think that's a pretty good guess. Notice the interesting overlap between Suez and Korea, by the way.

 

The TK quote is from this thread where there are a few more hints/explanations from him as well. Please note that it is not an official Third Wire poll in any way.

[Guderian]

Here's the quote about modern vs older aircraft:

 

Just remember that our budget is limited to about 3 new player planes (or 1 modern plane) and similar number of new AI planes per game. And that number is even less if we also have to do a lot of new ground objects. And also remember that add-ons generally sell less, so we can include even less new content in them.

 

So for example, if we were to do Korean War next (which we we're not doing) we'd have to do a limited scope version first and probably only do F-51, F-86, and MiG-15. Or, since P-51 and F-86 and MiG-15 are also used elsewhere, we can wait until they're done, then do a slightly bigger Korea later that also includes Skyraider and F9F, etc etc.

Edited May 26, 2008 by Guderian

[Stwa]

While I would like to see more people purchase WoI to help out the cause for future releases, save yourself the money and grab the Israeli2 terrain and import it into WoE. I did it and it worked fine. Follow the instructions and with all of the new aircraft, you'll have your own WoI. I did it last December before the true WoI was out and was happy.

 

Storm

 

Thanks for the advise. Actually last summer I began work on a modified Israel 1.4 terrain that I use often. I developed a small Yom Kippur campaign to go with it.

 

This year I have been slowly modifying the Israel 2 terrain to my liking, but I haven't had a lot of time with it yet.

 

 

[+JediMaster]

I don't think I'd mind if he did fewer planes at higher fidelity. That said, it is a departure from his previous model. I don't see anything wrong with using old models to fill in the gaps, though. Just look at Falcon 4. That was a huge project with a massive budget and yet even there we had junky low-res/low-poly F-4Es flying around compared to how nice the F-16 looked.

I don't care that much about ground targets because that's all they are--targets! The tanks and SAM/AAA as in WOI are plenty detailed enough for me, he doesn't need to spend more time on those. I think the 2 top priorities are the planes (and their cockpits, of course) and the terrain. THAT'S what you spend all your time looking at.

[Murphy'S]

I don't think I'd mind if he did fewer planes at higher fidelity. That said, it is a departure from his previous model. I don't see anything wrong with using old models to fill in the gaps, though. Just look at Falcon 4. That was a huge project with a massive budget and yet even there we had junky low-res/low-poly F-4Es flying around compared to how nice the F-16 looked.

I don't care that much about ground targets because that's all they are--targets! The tanks and SAM/AAA as in WOI are plenty detailed enough for me, he doesn't need to spend more time on those. I think the 2 top priorities are the planes (and their cockpits, of course) and the terrain. THAT'S what you spend all your time looking at.

 

yes they really need to be more functionnals

 

i really can't understand the fact that the f-4 cockpits (which are 5 years olds) are more functionnal than the kfirs ones or than the eagle pits which are far more recent.