LOFT → 16. July 2010 05:37
LOFT → 6. July 2010 13:28
LOFT → 28. June 2010 23:50
Dear ROF Fans,
Summer is upon us and we have been busy preparing for the future of Rise of Flight. We’d like to share some of the latest happenings and news with you.
Change in Ownership
As many of you have already read on the forums, 777 Studios, previously the North American publisher of Rise of Flight has acquired all rights to Rise of Flight and the neoqb brand. The neoqb brand will be gradually phased out over time and replaced by 777 Studios. This was a friendly merger and was done with an eye towards future development. We want to make it clear that there are no plans to change the core team that has created such a great product. The corporate headquarters will be located in the USA and development will continue to be located in Russia. Current development plans for ROF are still in place and the team is working hard to give you such items as multi-seat aircraft and a new Career mode. Further development plans will be announced when appropriate.
Rise of Flight: Iron Cross Edition Launches in North America
Also, Rise of Flight: Iron Cross Edition will release this week in North America and will be available at many fine PC game retailers such as Amazon.com, GoGamer.com, Newegg.com, Gamestop.com and select Gamestop stores. Other retailers will be announced shortly as they receive product. ROF:ICE will also be released in Europe and in Digital form in the near future. We will announce when that will happen soon.
Gamestop will have the Albatros D.II as the bonus plane and all others will have the Nieuport 17 as the bonus plane. The bonus plane is for a limited time only. We will announce when the Bonus plane program ends in the near future.
Order ROF:ICE at:
ROF:ICE is the culmination of twelve months of hard work by the team and the package is a much stronger offering then our original disk version with all patches and updates included as part of the install. That includes new Multiplayer modes, Terrain Maps, scripted Campaigns and Quick Mission Builder and other cool features and enhancements. We’ve also included four of our best selling add-on planes which doubles the amount of flyable planes included. That brings the total to eight flyable planes out of the box (nine if you include the bonus plane). Not to mention, the overall plane count has grown tremendously since our original launch which adds much more variety to your missions. The disk also includes the first three official Skin Packs which contains hundreds of new skins for you to use. In addition, the package includes some original artwork in the form of an interesting Awards Poster and an updated Theatre Map Poster. It is also important to note that ROF:ICE is fully compatible with the original ROF so current users have nothing to worry about. If you have friends who have not yet picked up ROF, now may be a great time to welcome them to the ROF community. The virtual sky of WWI eagerly awaits their arrival!
Something for Current Users
We understand the desire of some current users of ROF to want to “upgrade” their copy of ROF to ICE standards. Although ROF:ICE was never designed to be an upgrade product, we understand your point of view. So, for current users, we have decided to offer several of our add-on aircraft at a substantial discount, including the planes contained in ICE. This will allow current users to “upgrade” their current install to something similar to what is included in the ICE package for a similar price. We hope this is welcome news to our current users. However, this sale will be for a very limited time.
The following planes will be on sale June 29th to July 2nd for $2.99.
- SE.5a
- Sopwith Camel
- Pfalz. D,IIIa
- Fokker Dr.1
- Sopwith Dolphin
- Fokker DV.III
- Fokker D.VIIF
- Albatros D.III
- Pfalz D.XII
- Albatros D.II
- Nieuport 17
- Nieuport 28.C1
- Albatros D.Va
All other planes will remain at their original price and again this sale is a limited time offer and intended for our steadfast and supportive early-adopters who bought into ROF during its infancy. We always appreciate your continued support!
Change to the Store Currency
As part of the change in ownership and resulting change in credit card processors, we lost the ability to offer aircraft in Euros and Rubles. We apologize if this causes a slight change in the amount of money you are charged in your native currency. We cannot control international exchange rates, but we will now only offer aircraft in U.S. dollars. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. All credit / debit card orders are now processed by safe and secure Authorize.net in the USA and we will continue to offer our PayPal option for those that method.
Rise of Flight First Year Anniversary
Rise of Flight recently celebrated its First Anniversary of being on the international market. The first year has been full of interesting developments and thousands of hours of hard work. We hope that you take pride, as we do, in the work that has been accomplished thus far by the development team and the bright future of Rise of Flight and the Digital Nature engine. We think we have done pretty well for a rookie team. However, we could not have come this far without your support, ideas, information and faith in the team. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The best is yet to come.
See you in the virtual sky!
LOFT → 3. June 2010 15:59
Hello, fellow pilots!
Together with you we've carried through a great job for the last year. Through intensive disputes you tried to share with us your point of view on project's evolution and we tried to hear everyone and used your valuable opinion in our work. Along with the definite pluses of such intensive and productive work we’ve also found some minuses. One issue is the size of the initial update you need to download in order to start flying. In our last survey you highlighted this as one of the major problems. We understand this problem and decided to solve it by releasing all later updates on the DVD so new users will not have such difficulty. So we are working with our partners and releasing an improved and expanded version of ROF and it is called Rise Of Flight: Iron Cross Edition (ROF:ICE)
Please see the Press Release from our North American Partner 777 Studios. Download here.
ROF:ICE DVD will contain all innovations, improvements and new game modes since the moment of first release. Moreover there will be some of the best airplanes of WWI included in the package. Four German aircraft: Fokker D.VII, Albatros D.Va, Pfalz D.IIIa, Fokker Dr.1. And four allied aircraft: Spad XIII, Nieuport 28, SE.5a, Sopwith Camel. We wanted to increase the number of flyable planes available to new users and hope more and more virtual flyers will enjoy ROF. We will have more to say about ROF:ICE in the very near future.
Also there will be two campaigns included: recently released “Hat in the Ring” which takes us through the most important combat events of the 94th squadron, mainly formed from American volunteers, and the new campaign “Du Doch Nicht”, telling us about combat experience of Ernst Udet, German Ace, second before Manfred von Richthofen by combat performance. Both campaigns are based on real facts and made with maximal historical accuracy. The official Skin-Pack featuring hundreds of historically accurate paintjobs will be also included, so you won’t have to download them.
ROF:ICE will be released in North America at June 29th. We will have information about release in other countries at a later date and will inform you ASAP.
We hope to release the 1.013 update on 11th of June. The list of changes and improvements will be posted on our forum at the day of initial release.
A lot of users, participated in our survey, noted that the current release of demo-version is incapable to reveal all game’s potential and options.
So, along with 1.013 update the new demo-version will be released.
The Rise Of Flight Demo will include:
- Two aircraft - Spad XIII and Albatros D.Va
- Two single missions, one per aircraft
- The full access to 2 multiplayer modes during all demo validity period
- The demo validity period will be extended up to 14 days
Also we have one important announcement.
From 23:59, 6th of June all transactions involving credit cards, Yandex.Money and WebMoney in our online shop will be temporarily put on a hold due to the beginning of maintenance procedures with ChronoPay provider. The maintenance may take a week or two. For this period the only way to pay will be PayPal. Actually, it is not so bad, because it is the most stable and secure transaction system available today. For example PayPal is the only system approved by eBay for transactions. There's no charge to open a PayPal account and to transfer money from your bank account to your PayPal account. There is also no charge to purchase items using PayPal. It is very easy to create an account; you can use Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. More information about PayPal you can find here. We apologize for this inconvenience, but we hope to have our regular CC processing system up shortly.
Thank you for attention, we are getting back to work.
LOFT → 27. May 2010 01:02
Hello fellow Pilots.
Today I would like to make an important announcement and to present you the next aircraft in Rise Of Flight.
Let me begin with the announcement:
2010 ROF Video Trailer Contest
The time has come to update the Official Video Trailer for ROF and we are so busy with development that our small team asks for your help! Help us promote Rise of Flight as it passes its 1 Year Anniversary! We have seen many cool videos created by ROF customers on YouTube that we would like to tap some of that creative energy. So without further delay, we would like to announce the 2010 ROF Video Trailer Contest! Both professional and amateur movie makers are invited to enter, the only thing we require is that you be a fan of ROF!
Here’s how it works.
- Deadline - Submit an original ROF Video Trailer by 11:59 PM PST on June 27, 2010. Please provide a link for download or a private YouTube link or other private viewing venue on the web. Send it to rof@neoqb.com with the theme 2010 ROF Video Trailer Contest!
- Length - It must be between 1 and 3 minutes long.
- Format - Entry format must be .WMV and be less than 300mb in size.
- Resolution - The final cut should be in 720P resolution and 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio.
- Music – The trailer must include music and can be any of the following.
-
- Our officially licensed music from our first trailer. Download here.
- Your own original score.
- Music in the public domain.
- Music that you have licensed expressly for this purpose and must show proof of approval from its creator.
- Any music that includes lyrics must not be offensive.
- Sound effects – Voice-overs are allowed, but must be appropriate, non-offensive language.
- Special Effects – All game-play action should be original in-game graphics with no post processing of your own applied unless applied as a scene transition or fade-in or fade-out effect.
- Skins – Please only use stock skins found in the Official Skin Pack.
- Subtitles – Subtitles may be used to highlight certain features such as Multiplayer or Quick Mission action or quotes from reviewers. No personal comments will be allowed.
- ESRB Warning – All videos must include the standard E 10+ ESRB visual and audio warning at the beginning of the video. Download here
- Credits – You may credit yourself as the creator of the video and any music you use at the end of the video. No more than 3 seconds long.
- Cockpits – If you want to show a cockpit it must be from these 8 planes. Spad 13, Nieuport 28, Albatros D.Va, Fokker DVII, Sopwith Camel, Fokker Dr.1, SE.5a or Pfalz D.IIIa. External shots of all planes and vehicles included in the game are allowed.
Prizes!
- 1st Place - $1,000 USD + Free Add-On Aircraft for Life (one account only).
- 2nd Place - $250 USD + Free Add-On Aircraft for Life (one account only).
- 3rd Place - $250 USD + All Current Aircraft. (one account only)
- 4th -10th Place - Your video will be shown on the ROF Website + 1 Free Aircraft.
- All Participants will receive a special ROF Medal in their Player Account.
Judges
The judges will be the ROF Development Team members and Senior Management. The winners will be announced on July 4, 2010 on the Rise of Flight website.
Agreement
By submitting your trailer you grant the Owners of Rise of Flight an irrevocable license to use your work in its entirety or in part for marketing purposes on www.riseofflight.com or any affiliated website or retail websites that sell ROF.
We can’t wait to see your videos!
The ROF Team wishes you Good Luck!
And now let me open the doors of the assembly hangar.
I am glad to present you one of the symbols of aviation. Along with its German opponent this machine is the patriarch of the type of airplanes ruling sky for almost 100 years. It is the pioneer among those machines about which almost everyone felt excited in their boyhood. Please welcome one of the ancestors of modern fighter airplanes – Airco DH2.
 
Today it can be perceived as an old steam train, but for its own time it was a personification of the air combat concept. Without synchronizers it could hit the target on the course. Thanks to unusual design with a pusher propeller. This machine and Fokker EIII (you will know about it in due time) help us to recreate the history of the first air duels, happened 90 years ago. By these examples we can see that there was the big technical jump in the use of combat aviation in the first four years of war.
LOFT → 29. April 2010 15:58
Hello fellow Pilots.
Beginning April 30th you will be able to update your copy of ROF to version 1.012. The result of which is a culmination of many hundreds of hours of work by our dedicated Development team and Beta test team. The most notable additions - two brand new modes of Dogfight Multiplayer!
We always planned on having a Dogfight MP mode and wanted to give it to you as fast as we could, but the road to get here has not been easy, matter of fact, it’s been 12 months of hard work and countless delicate business decisions during this trying economic time that has delayed this accomplishment for so long. However, now it is here and we are happy to share it with you.
On a side note, many of you have written me asking about Rise of Flight’s high level of difficulty and above average System Requirements for such a “Game”. I often think to myself how should I answer these questions correctly? Well, please let me try to give you my answer. No answer I give can be perfect, but this is the situation.
First, ROF is not merely a PC Game, but a Flight Simulation and the processing power to simulate every single nuance of flight and aerial combat does not yet exist, but we must push the performance envelope to remain competitive. There are many compromises that our code has to make to simulate such a flight environment and we are doing our best to give you what you want. There are many requests from users that ask for things that we may have not have thought of in the beginning or for changes to code that are very complex (whether it seems simple or not) that eat up a lot of time, energy and money that we cannot currently afford. Such changes and improvements may have to wait until we have the resources to address them. An example of this would be the request to draw a tiny dot for an aircraft many kilometers away. Such a request introduces many challenges for us so solve. Some items like the dot issue, may have seemed very obvious to you the community, but as mentioned already, some compromises had to be made and some features did not turn out to be as perfect as some of you had hoped or wanted. We are sorry for that, however, even with the benefit of hind-sight and knowing all that we know now about our fans and the difficulties of development, plus knowing the limits of our resources and money, it is hard to imagine ROF turning out any different.
Our main goal for ROF and the Digital Nature Engine was to create a world in which we could simulate air combat in as realistic a fashion as possible using today’s technology. And we feel we have reached that primary goal and provided a modern flight-sim that helped, at least a tiny bit, to revive a beleaguered and difficult gaming genre. We are very proud that our first product has interested so many people and gained so many fans. For those that do not like our product or the decisions we have made we are sorry, but we have tried and are trying our best to make something fun and interesting. We also recognize that no matter how hard we try, we can never satisfy everyone. The bottom line is that we appreciate everyone who has purchased our products and we will continue developing so long as our good fortune holds out.
But let me continue now with news of version 1.012 As mentioned, we are offering two new Multiplayer game modes. They differ from one another in some key ways, but they both work in a similar manner and feature re-spawning. And both of these Multiplayer modes can be launched and managed using the DServer utility. To start flying all you need to do is log in, choose a server, choose a team, choose an airfield and an airplane and scramble for a flight. After your courageous death in combat, you can choose the same or a different airfield and just press “Fly Now”. But it isn’t enough to just get the aircraft airborne again, there is a larger goal you should pursue. So we have used our experience of previous projects to make one the new modes team-tactical in nature.
CTF (Capture The Flags)
To assist your computer in its struggle for good performance, we have created two new smaller maps for the new MP modes. These maps are smaller and require less computer resources than the accurate, historical map of WWI. For training and location familiarization these maps are also available in the Quick Mission Builder.
Each map for CTF mode is divided by areas of influence or provinces. Each team fights for control over each zone. Control is established by capturing the Key Points. Each province has one key point. In game it is a huge flag pole. The flag carries the logo of the team. The player should fly within a 1 km radius in order to capture the zone. The Flag will go up or down indicating the current influence of the team. The speed of the flag’s movement depends on the proportion of different team members currently located in the active area (1 km). Also the total number of pilots flying for each team is taken into consideration. Members of the team fighting in the minority will have an advantage in flag influence. This allows for more balanced gameplay and ensures that just because your team has more pilots doesn’t ensure an easy victory. After the opponent’s flag is lowered completely, the flag of your team will start to rise, and the province will become yours.
By capturing the area your team will gain all local resources: ground combat units, airfields, aircraft and balloons. So you will be able to press your offensive further. Different types of aircraft are allowed for each airfield on the map. There are more important airfields providing advanced aircraft and less important with weaker aircraft. The quantity of each type of aircraft is limited too. Aircraft will be re-supplied automatically after specific time periods. Advanced aircraft will be re-supplied less often. These rules will affect the gameplay and encourage you to join together in teams to perform wise and coordinated battle tactics.
There will be several scenarios available for CTF mode. They differ by the quantity of provinces and therefore by the time needed to complete one round. During the beta-test it took more than 4 hours with 20 players to complete one of the scenarios. Our servers will remember when you logging in, so if you left the game server and then returned while the current scenario is still going on, the server will keep your unfinished statistics and automatically add you to your previous team. There is also a quorum option that ensures that there are enough pilots for the scenario. If the number of players isn’t enough to capture the territories, you can fly and attack opponent’s targets, but you can’t capture the area and all flags will freeze at their current positions until enough pilots join the game.
Each flag is guarded buy AA guns, combat vessels, and balloons. That’s why the capture of the flag is not a simple task even without enemy fighters. From the scenario’s lobby you can use information from recon balloons. In the game they are used as simple radars and display the visible information on the map. Unfortunately the historical restriction for WWI aircraft communications does not allow you to get information from balloons in real time. The design of the CTF interface is similar in appearance to the Quick Mission Builder and we hope that you will find it familiar and easy to manage so you can jump into the combat quickly.
  
TDM (Team Death Match)
TDM is the more classic style of Dogfight Server and it is based on similar maps as CTF and designed for more dynamic and rapid gameplay which doesn’t require strict team work. Each round consists of matches. To win the match, teams should score a certain amount of points. Points are scored for air victories or ground targets destruction. Team airfields are fixed and the frontline is invariable. To survive the dynamic action of this mode you should be always ready to attack and should always watch your six.
There are a lot of server settings for these new MP game modes. You can customize the environment in any way, whether to create entertaining and easy gameplay, or a complex and sophisticated battles with penalties for pilots or aircraft losses. And of course there will be even more customization options in the Mission Editor that will allow you to create even newer game modes. Some beta testers have already begun doing this. We realize that neither of our new MP modes are currently rooted in strict historical scenarios, but with a little imagination such scenarios can be built and integrated into the new MP modes using the Mission Editor.
I can’t list all innovations, improvements and fixes contained in version 1.012 here in this Blog, but you will find them on the forum at the day of release, as usual.
Also we are rolling out two new fighters. The Albatros D.II and Nieuport 11 will be available in our online shop when the update is released. These two machines turn back the clock to an earlier period of WWI.
The Nieuport 11 was “drafted into the army” in 1915 to put an end to the so called “Fokker Scourge”. Its design was so successful that this aircraft was produced not only in France, but in other countries as well. Pilots who flew her nicknamed her the “Bebe”. The Albatros D.II was a historical opponent of Nieuport 11 and it helped swing the momentum of the air war back towards the German side. The first Albatros D.II’s were rolled out during the second part of 1916. A bit later the design was improved. The main visual difference between early and late Albatros D.II is the radiator design. The early model was manufactured with radiators placed on sides of the fuselage, in the later version the radiator was mounted in upper wing decreasing drag. To give you a better picture of the developmental history of the Albatros line we have included both variants for the price of a single aircraft. We hope you will enjoy both aircraft should you choose to purchase them.
 
One other development that deserves a mention is that we have moved the Product Activation and Registration to inside the GUI itself. This has been implemented to ease the process of setting up ROF and will help future flyers who purchase ROF in later production runs and digital purchases. We hope that the new registration system through the game’s GUI will be more convenient for new pilots.
We sincerely hope that with version 1.012 the ROF community will grow even larger and that the new MP game modes and other improvements will give existing and future ROF fans even more enjoyment than ever before. We encourage all ROF fans to try the new multiplayer modes and give it a go. Dogfighting humans is a challenge, but don’t doubt your skills. Practice, practice, practice is the operative phrase! The Multiplayer DF modes will be a whole new experience for ROF fans that have patiently waited for its arrival. We think it was worth the wait. We also encourage you to unite under your respective squadron banners and exercise teamwork. We feel that to get maximum enjoyment out of the new dogfight MP modes, a good team atmosphere works best. Who doesn’t like a wingman keeping their six o’ clock clear of bandits?
We also would like to thank everyone who responded and participated in our latest survey. Thank you for your concern and thoughtful critiques. With our first project we’ve gained priceless experience and will definitely use it in our future work. Thanks to everybody who invested in our product during these tough economic times and helped us develop a better Rise of Flight experience All this time we have tried not only to fix errors in existing elements, but to constantly move forward and finish features long planned. Special thanks to our beta testing team who helped us to debug these complex game modes under strict deadlines and rules. You helped us so much! We hope that you will use your beta experiences to help newcomers understand ROF better and help them learn how to fly online so that you will not only be experienced rivals, but also respected mentors. And please don’t forget, that it is only a game, the fight will be finished in the air, but our international friendships and our mutual respect for each other should remain intact at all times.
In the end, Rise of Flight is a simulator and our ultimate advice to you is to be patient, confident, educated and skillful as if you were flying in real aerial combat. Master those traits and you will become an Ace!
We wish you gallant victories and many safe landings!
LOFT → 26. February 2010 10:21
Hello, fellow pilots!
In a couple of days you'll be able to update to version 1.011. We've been developing this version for the last two months. Let me briefly take you through the new feature highlights.
The LOGIN OFFLINE feature will now be available. The mode of login can be chosen in the user authorization screen. I remind you that you need to download the latest update (1.011) for offline gaming and the first logon must be in LOGIN ONLINE. After that, you'll be free to choose the login mode you prefer. Also, I'd like to stress that after any new content purchase, you must LOGIN ONLINE for new content activation. After activation, purchased content will, likewise, be available either in offline or online mode. If you decide to LOGIN ONLINE after active offline flying, the game will prompt you to synchronize your achievements with the master-server automatically. That process can take some time, however you will have an option to abort it. Of course, the main gaming mode is still ONLINE, as it was initially designed, so not all game features will be available in offline mode. But this should address the main problems you asked us to handle, which is really our main priority. You can now spend (most of) your time within Rise Of Flight without connection to the internet.
Quick Mission - New game option for single player. We tried to develop it with maximum opportunities for modeling different environments. I hope that Quick Mission will be the new way in which pilots explore the beautiful RoF environment and sharpen their hunting techniques.
CAMPAIGN - Another new option for single player. It's a sequence of single player scenario missions, grouped by common conditions. To get through these campaigns, you need to survive the day-to-day missions being thrown at you! We hope that pilots keen on history and familiar with the mission editor will be happy to create their own campaigns. Rules for campaign development will be posted shortly. We are offering you a campaign, developed by our community members, as an example. It takes us through the most important combat events of the 94th squadron, aka 'Hat In The Ring'. This campaign consists of 16 missions. We think it will be a good present and offer you hours of exciting flying and experience.
IMPORTANT!!! You can get through campaign missions in any mode, ONLINE or OFFLINE. But the next mission will be available only after you complete the previous and your achievements data is sent to master-server. In this case, it might be easier to simply be logged in ONLINE while you play. But the choice is yours.
FOKKER DVII F - a new airplane in Rise Of Flight. This outstanding machine is equipped with a BMW engine and customized carburetor specially designed for high altitude fighting. It gives the FOKKER DVII F a sensible advantage. The carburetor is controlled by two levers: by the main throttle (like the other planes in the game) and by the altitude throttle. The altitude throttle gives the aircraft increased power at altitudes higher than 2000 meters, which makes it a real predator, fast and very deadly. You should observe operational regulations for the high-altitude engine while flying this aircraft. Aloft under 2000 meters, altitude throttle should be completely shut down. While climbing higher than 2000 meters you should open the altitude throttle for 1/3. The next mark is 3000 meters, altitude throttle should be opened to 2/3. After climbing higher than 4000 meters altitude throttle should be completely open, allowing the engine to realize all of its potential. Be careful, as opening the altitude throttle at lower altitudes leads to engine failure. Even though you don't hear any strange or unusual sounds, the engine is wearing out and can fail any time. This damage is permanent (unlike overcold or overheat for example). For altitude throttle management, we implemented new key combinations : "Right Alt +" and "Right Alt -".
This is truly outstanding machine which allow German pilots to gain an advantage at high altitudes. Allied pilots should be cautious and watch the sky around them.
AIRCRAFT SKINS - We've discovered a number of high-quality skins made by talented artists on the internet. We would like the work of customizers and skin artists to be appreciated in our community while maintaining fair play. That's why we are adding the «Approved Skin Pack» concept. Special sections for custom skins discussion will be opened on our forum. The community will vote for the best skins to be added in the Approved Skin Packs. We'll be happy to make best skins available in "Mods OFF" mode. As we don't have any means to host these skins, we will allow the game to use them. The files themselves could be shared through torrents or file shares. You'll be able to download and save them in the standard game folder. If you play a mission that requires customized skins while you don't have any - it's ok, you will see the default skins.
This version features new visual effects that will help RoF stay competitive with the graphics of games in other genres. I ask owners of less powerful computers to be attentive. All modern graphical effects consume resources and the wrong settings can cause low performance.
You will find the full list of changes, as usual, on our site on the day of release. I would like to thank you for your attention to the project, as well as your patience and devotion to the history of aviation. We are continuing our work on the brand new multiplayer mode. Some real game-changers will be here soon. Good bye!
LOFT → 12. February 2010 09:57
Hello, fellow pilots!
Throughout these many months after the release of Rise of Flight, we have all worked hard to make the experience a memorable one: we, the neoqb developers worked to improve gameplay and create content to fill the game world, and you, the gamers have enthusiastically revived this world, enriching it with exuberant atmosphere and helped to create one of the best aviation simulator communities of all time!
Recreating the grandeur of this very important moment in history by way of online dog fighting was and is an exhilarating experience for us. This has brought the talented and quick-thinking ace pilot out in all of us, and allowed people from all over the world to test their mettle in the virtual skies.
Up until now, we have lacked a comprehensive tool to hold tournaments and championships. Ladders and duel missions, using third party applications, were helpful, but still very make-shift. Therefore, we decided to improve the situation by working on something special in parallel with the main update.
We are happy to announce the first official Rise of Flight Championship! We polished and repainted tournament planes, prepared fully equipped duel arenas with seats for spectators, and got judges together for unbiased winner selection. The tournament site will open soon, and along with it, a new section of the RoF website, with all the necessary tools for signup, duel results, reviews and track downloads. All of this will finally help to organize a proper championship.
More detailed information about schedules and rules will be published later on the forum, where it will be possible to discuss ideas and suggestions; anything and everything to make the tournament more interesting and breath-taking. A great amount of work has been already done, and we hope it will blow your socks off! Wind, wings, machine-guns and sky knight courage – pilots, get ready!—
LOFT → 5. February 2010 09:12
Hello, fellow pilots!
Today I’m going to fill you in on some of the new elements of the upcoming 11th version of Rise of Flight, which is expected to be finished before the end of February.
I told you previously about a new single player mode for ROF. We are preparing 3 different mission types in 10 different locations. Currently, testing is in progress and there is still much debugging ahead of us. Even so, the plan is still to get it into version 11. Simultaneously, we are working on the new multiplayer mode. We tried hard to get a lot of new features in that create a unique gaming experience that requires not only good piloting, but team strategy and tactics. I'll be sure to tell you more in future posts.
It's commonly understood that the Allies currently have the advantage in multiplayer battles. That's about to change. The next aircraft, we're rolling out will be another German fighter. There are a lot of disputes on the forums concerning the Fokker DVII's characteristics. In memoirs and other historical documents, it's described as an aircraft with huge potential. Though, as we can see in game, it doesn’t always live up to that potential. The devil is in the details; in this case, that means modifications. In Rise of Flight, we currently have our airplane installed with the Mercedes D.IIIa engine. But there was also an 'F' modification with a BMW IIIa engine. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that we are adding this modification. Despite the exterior similarity, it's a completely new aircraft; there will be plenty of differences (bullet counters in the cockpit, for example). We are still developing this bird, and I'm looking forward to flying it myself!
Despite all of the hard work going into new game modes, we are trying to spare some time for objects you've been asking for: features that make our virtual world feel more real. Today I proudly present the dynamic wind strength and direction indicator. They call it a "windsock" in aviation. For you modders out there, this object is placeable anywhere. Now, circling the airfield once before landing will not only serve as an homage to tradition, it will also have the functional use that made it a tradition in the first place. With wind speeds of over 3 meters per second, it's essential to know the direction for a successful landing. Here is the video.
Lastly, I'd like to divulge probably the most important news about the 11th version.
We've been tracking all of our users' wishes and desires. You helped us out immensely by answering questions in our dispatches, voting in forum polls and generally expressing your opinions. We've also been checking out network stats and market trends. As a result, we came to the conclusion that you all needed the ability to fly without a permanent internet connection (in some game modes). A network connection will still be necessary for new user account and profile creation. And, of course, multiplayer and a few other game modes still rely on internet access. But now, if your provider is down, you have insufficient funds, or you just plain hate to log into games all the time, you will be able to fly internet-free in single player mode or in the new 'Quick Mission' mode. We hope that this modification will ease your minds about personal intrusion and internet provider costs. After all, we developed Rise Of Flight to help you escape those every-day, mundane worries and just let you fly carefree!
To make 'login offline' mode available, all you'll need to do is download the upcoming update. After that, you will be able to fly offline, but only with the last activated online pilot profile. The system will gather statistics of your progress and keep it till your next connection to the server. At that time, all gathered data will be transferred to affect your rating and overall statistics. And of course, connection will be needed for additional content purchase and game updating.
But everything else is in your hands!
We are completely aware that this change will simplify further creation of illegal copies, thus jeopardizing our potential income. But the creation of highly-realistic aviation simulators in our commercial world is impossible without an optimistic point of view. And right now, we are feeling pretty optimistic. I'm sure that the number of legit pilots, happy with this decision, will outnumber the illegal copies. So spread the word to all of your friends that balked at the login requirement and didn't purchase RoF. Now, there is no excuse not to give it a try!
Thanks for reading. And now it's back to work.
LOFT → 15. January 2010 12:15
Hello.
The Christmas holidays come to a close as we jump right back into work. We have great plans for 2010, mostly concerning the gameplay. We intend to develop new interesting game modes and objects in order to make flying the RoF skies more friendly, for veteran and newcomer alike. Moreover, we hope to offer something brand new to the whole aviation simulation genre.
Today I would like to tell you about one of the new game modes.
It will be a new single player mode available from the main game menu. You'll be given an opportunity to create different and varied custom combat situations for training purposes or just for a quick, no-hassle flight. This will allow rapid mission creation for everyone but leave a wide array of options for experienced pilots. You start by selecting the location of combat which forms the main superstructure of every mission. Three types of locations will be available for three mission modes: "Air Combat", "Duel" and "Act Of Bravery". Locations will be arranged in different places on the historical map. Different locations will have different options, most for "Air Combat".
You'll have to create your own flight, two ally flights and three opponent flights. The types of aircraft can be set for each flight. The fuel levels, armament and aircraft skins are manageable for each aircraft, as well. Experienced pilots can choose type of formation and their position in formation. Then you can set yours, and your opponents', altitude, direction, orientation and relative distance. You can pursue your opponent or, on the flip side, escape from pursuit. You can take off from the airport or start combat in the air.
Different ground units (e.g. AA guns, vehicles, trains, ships, etc.) can be added also. You can then set the weather conditions and the time of the day and, finally, take off. Every created preset can be saved and shared with your friends. It's our hope that this game mode will be available for beta-testing in the very near future.
 
 
The most veteran and active RoF community members might recognize this type of quick mission generator. Laser, a very talented and dedicated community member, created something similar in 3rd-party app form. I enjoy using it myself and suggest you try it also. We would like to kindly thank Laser for such an outstanding job!
In conclusion, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the various polls and such, traditional for Christmas holidays. We got some very important awards, as a result. Of course, the most valued among them are the awards from gamer feedback. We are very grateful for your recognition and promise that we'll do our best to justify your appreciation and acclaim for the same awards this year.
 
We are working hard to create even more features to tell you about in future Blog updates. So with that, bye for now and thanks again for reading!
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