B17 II Interview by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
	Hardware and Force Feedback Q: The B17 has four engines, and I believe that you are intending to support SUNCOMs split throttle. The new USB version may allow use in parallel, which means that a player could purchase two of these throttles, a Masterpilot or two and a flight yoke and build a dedicated B17 cockpit, with individual throttle control for each engine. Will this be supported in the software? A. We're looking into how best to use the various peripherals on the market at the moment - we've already got hardware from all of the big peripheral companies (thanks folks!) for configuration and compatibility tests. The idea of split throttles is pretty interesting, though and we're giving it some serious thought. Q: Tell us about force feedback support for the player in the B17 or in a fighter. What forces will be modelled? A: We will model control resistance as it varies with airspeed, buffeting near a stall, slackness during a stall, compressibility resistance and judder. The feedback will be tuned for each aircraft to closely match the reports from WWII test pilots. View System Q: Padlock Views. Have you decided what you are doing in this area yet? A: Still debating. Padlock views will be supported for the fighters, all of which have full virtual cockpits. We are looking carefully at all the current sims, and have been listening to discussion on websites such as COMBATSIM.COM™ for some direction here, as different people seem to like different mechanisms. I hope we can produce something that works well for the majority of people. Some of the guys here prefer to use a simple look-around facility hooked up to a Point of View Hat, which is already supported. System and Scalability Q. Will you provide an option for high spec machines (PIII 500 and up) who want to create larger battles to do so, in spite of possible performance penalties? A. We're looking at making B-17 2 as scalable as possible, although some areas are easier to scale than others. Changes in force makeup really affect the gameplay, and so we will want to look very carefully at how scalable this is and where we cap it at either end. Our main area of developmental thrust, however, has not been to get as many Low-Poly, Low Detail aircraft with fake flight models as possible into the air, but to get as many detailed, accurate aircraft with flight model fidelity in the game whilst still maintaining the unique experience of World War 2 air combat. As for the terrain, because of the way we are doing it we fully expect the game to go on getting better and better looking as the hardware improves well into the future, all by itself, spooky that isn't it :). Click to continue		Multiplayer Detail Q. Tell us about multiplayer. Are all the crew positions available in multiplayer? A. All the crew roles in the B17's and all the fighter pilots can be flown multi-player. We are aiming for 32+ players, with up to 10 players in any one B17. Eg - You can watch your friends gunnery from the waist compartment, shell cases flying in full motion captured glory! And I mean actually see the crew member gunning, walking, getting shot, receiving first aid, not just the gun-site view. Q. For those who missed it in earlier articles, are campaign missions available in multiplayer? A. The multi-player game is identical to the single player game in every respect. You can play any of the quick start, single mission, campaign and squadron leader games multi-player. Q. Tell us about detailing in the cockpit. A. We have modelled every switch, knob and control in the B17 in 3D and you can click/move every one. The engine start sequence is straight from the original flight instruction manual. Every switch does the right thing. The engines are modelled down to the level of turbo and supercharger performance, inlet/exhaust manifold pressures etc. Q. Minimum spec machine? A. The minimum spec. machine is a P200 and a voodoo 1 graphics card and will run at a playable frame rate on any machine of that spec or higher. However, the more processor power and 3D graphics ability you give it, the faster/better the game experience will be. In particular, a good AGP 3D graphics card such as the TNT will greatly enhance the visuals. Q. What will we see for a manual? We don't know the length yet since it's unfinished. The most exiting news about the manual is that it is being written by Alkis, the guy who wrote the original B17 Manual, considered a classic by many. And that's not all, Martin Bowman, author of many key books on B17's and 'The USAAF Handbook 1939-1945' is helping him. Go to Summary and Links Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking   HERE.
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