3Division Interview

[Skyviper 1,101]

CombatACE Interview with Peter Adamcik

 
Since 1972 the Soviet Air Force, it's successors, and many other nations have operated a unique attack helicopter. The Mi-24 Hind, or the Flying Tank. Other nations have employed the Mi-25 and Mi-35 variants of the attack helicopter, capable of delivering eight fully armed troops into battle. This 55ft 9in (17.0m) long helicopter has seen action in numerous conflicts and thanks to efforts of Peter Adamcik, it could soon see action in digital fields of battle that will take place on PC or XBox One.
 
Peter Adamcik is the founder of the indie game developer 3Division Entertainment. He's a programmer and game designer, who sometimes enjoys creating some graphics. He hails from Slovakia and today he's agreed to do an interview with CombatACE about their game Air Missions: Hind.
 
Please note that our quest answered our questions in his language and had Google translate to put them in English. Because of this some answers may not flow very well. I did my best to interpret what Mr. Adamcik was saying while keeping his answers original as possible.
 
Thank you for taking the time to do an interview with us. To get started, could you tell us what motivated you to enter the gaming industry?
The passion from creating the games. I have been programming games since high school. Plane Arcade was one of the games [i made] from that period. Then after high school I was able to jump into game development as a professional with my own project (Air Conflicts back in 2006)
 
A lot of games these days focus on RPG or FPS elements. What inspired you to develop Air Missions: Hind?
The main reason was simply that it should be the first project out of my studio without any publisher or partner company (almost all previous projects had some publishing or dev partner), so I need something that I know, I can handle. Since I have a lot of skills with creating action airplane games, I decided on helicopters because it is different, while technically, and in terms of gameplay still similar to airplanes. Also I see the flight sim genre as a good way of using my own/custom 3D engine - I think it is still easier to make FPS on 3rd party engines like Unity or Unreal than the flight sim.
 
Of all the combat helicopters in various Armed Forces around the world. Why did you and your team settle on the Hind?
Simply because I like it and it's a beautiful multi-functional aircraft, also I played alot Hind 1996 as a child. Nice thing about being an independent developer, you can develop because you just like :-). Also I believe there are still a lot of people with the passion for this helicopter too.
 
 

 
 
 
What were some the challenges you and your team encountered during development, and how were those challenges overcome?
I must say there was no big issues luckily, but I see the missing realistic control mode (something based on real physics) as a failure. This is something really missing from the game, I just could not find a programmer who could add it into the game, or it would've be too expensive to do with no guarantees of the results. But there are more control modes; for casual players, then for those who want a slightly more realistic mode, and then another that is a bit more realistic. Some players are saying the modes are realistic enough, even they are not based on physics.
 
What are some of the features that will make Air Missions: Hind be unique when compared to similar games?
I think because it is a helicopter simulator, there aren't a lot of helicopter games that were released in last couple of years. Also I think unique because the focus is on eastern helicopters and finally, I think not a lot of games have a side of classic MP modes and the online co-op mode. Also there is a mission editor (100% without scripting) you can create then publish your mission to be available for other players. Missions from made in the editor can also be played in co-op mode! Also your readers may be interested to know that there is support for three input devices (flightstick, throttle, pedals), there is also custom mapping and TrackIR support. Yes all I mentioned is supported!
 
Speaking of features, which was the most difficult feature to create for the game and why?
The editor was the most difficult, it took a lot of effort to get it done. The same can be said for the Co-op feature because it wasn't easy to do either! :-)
 
What can players, who enjoy flight simulators, expect from Air Missions: Hind?
The game is a mix between arcade and simulator, I saw that some hardcore simulator players are really enjoying it, while some of them do not; not sure about ratio, so just try it and you will see! :-)
 

 
Depending on the success of your game, what other projects are you planning to release in the future?
Right now if I count my first flying game - Plane Arcade, it's been about 12-13 years since I started making flying games. So I decided that the next project will not be a flying game, sorry guys!.The next game will be a tycoon-like strategy - you can check out the video here of it's alpha stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIkRXZv7tYU ,

More videos will come over time, it's still an unannounced project. It should be officially announced this year. But speaking of next flying project, I considered a project with MIGs, but right now I decided to do the tycoon project. I think maybe one day I will come back and make [the MIG] project!
 
When do you plan to release Air Missions: Hind and on what platforms will it be available on? If it's on PC can the game be modded?
The game is available now on PC and Xbox One - I think this will be the first aircraft simulator on Xbox One? Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not counting the games where you can fly in them, because they are not primarily about flying)
 
Thank you Mr. Adamcik for taking the time to tell us about your game! For those interested in learning more about Air Missions: Hind or 3 Division Entertainment, we invite you to visit the links below. Thank you for checking out this interview!