Hello Dear Friends!
Here’s some fresh news from the ROF offices. But first we must announce another huge aircraft sale in the ROF Store! All planes (except R.E.8) are on sale at more than 50% off their regular price from October 14th to October 18th. This is a great time for all the new pilots who have joined our ranks this summer to fill up their hangars. Not to mention fill some gaps in their single player careers. Help us spread the word and help us raise some money for continued development! Your continued support is crucial to us meeting our development goals for 2012.
Speaking of development, the R.E.8 is currently in the hands of our engineers. Its configuration has given us a couple of brainteasers to work out, the angle of the propeller and the rate of fire for the forward firing weapon is what our minds are currently focused on. All work is going according to plan though and the plane will be in your hangar soon to take its rightful place in the career mode, replacing some tired Nieuport machines who have been taking up the slack. We are looking forward to the moment when we can begin test flights with the R.E.8 and get a sense of what it was really like to fly in the First World War.
As always, we see and read the requests that you write in the forum and in your emails to us and most of them, assuming they are possible, are added into the plan. However, sometimes their implementation requires more time than you may think. But here comes one of those happy moments when the time has come to introduce some much-anticipated "small changes" to the game interface.
There are several changes so let’s touch on them briefly. First, the ability to assign "system keys" such as the "M" key for the Map will become possible. Now you can assign them to a joystick or any other key. Second, the placing of most of the game settings into the game interface from the launcher interface is being worked on. They will also remain in the launcher, as we believe it is more convenient, but now the folks who disagree with that approach will be happy. Old habits like changing settings inside the game are new again. One of the most important changes to the interface under development is that you can now assign a custom joystick response curve to each individual aircraft and it will be loaded automatically when you choose to fly the aircraft. This task was not easy, not only technically, but it was also a remarkable complication of the interface. We tried to make it as understandable and simple as possible. This change will only affect the response curves and not the key assignments. The key assignment file will be the same for all aircraft and we think it helps keep this new system as simple as possible. This is not everything, but these are the most important and anticipated changes in the game interface we are working on.
We also began working on the AI. This is a very large and complex part of ROF and it is one in which we must be careful, so changes will be gradual. First and foremost, changes will be directed towards the general behavior of the AI. Soon your squad mates in the career will go home after they are damaged or injured or when they run out of ammunition. This will make them more "human" and your squad mates will generally behave more predictably. This will add atmosphere and realism to what is happening around you. We also have other planned changes to the AI, including the ability for you to hide in a cloud undetected.
The most exciting news is about some new graphical and gameplay elements. Damaged engines will now leak oil and it can get in the face of the pilot. This is an interesting complication that is added to a power loss, temperature rise and of course the terrible sounds of the damaged engine. This is a dynamic graphical effect, which means that it will be different depending on the depth of damage. Also, you can lessen the effect if you move your head out of the way. This will cause the oil to hit your goggles less, but while landing it may cause your field of view to be less. This is a new challenge that is yet another step toward understanding how truly brave the first combat pilots were. The only assumption which we had to make was the gradual disappearance of the spots of oil from pilot goggles. In flight, you could wipe them off with a scarf or clean the oil by other means, so it is a new effect that is an annoyance and temporary danger that makes flying harder, but it does not prevent you from enjoying the flight.
Now some news about a really cool feature that is a game changer for you bomber pilots! Night flights in ROF never felt really complete because we were missing one import feature - searchlights! Imagine its midnight at the aerodrome and all is quiet, then suddenly sleepy troops hear the distant sound of an engine, someone fires a warning rocket and the air raid siren begins to scream. Then suddenly the piercing rays of searchlights flicker to life and aim at the heavens searching frantically for the unseen enemy plane. They look for the enemy and then one of them gets lucky, then the other searchlights also pick up the illuminated enemy plane. Now it's time for anti-aircraft gunners to join in the fun and AAA barks to life.
AI spotlights first focus on the sound because of the dark night. They cannot see you, only hear you. In turn, anti-aircraft gunners do not know where the target is until it gets into the beam. We're adding a whole new logic in ground unit AI in order to enable you to implement different tactics for night attacks. We are actively working on this element, but you can be sure that this cool new feature will land on your computer by the end of this year.
We also have some great news from our friends at PC Pilot Magazine! This month’s issue of PC Pilot which hits stores October 20th includes the Free2Play client Rise of Flight on a DVD. Version 1.21b will be on the disk. This is an important event for us, which we believe will open the fascinating world of ROF to many new virtual pilots. Even if you already own ROF, this is a great way to get the absolute latest version of ROF on a disk or give to a friend! No need for a lengthy download. Check your local book store or newsstand and tell your friends! Getting into ROF has never been easier!
Thank you for your continued support and interest in our work! As always, we wish you much enjoyment in your ROF flights and good luck in upcoming air battles!