GameStorm Online Chat Record

  Dose : What kind of background does Mr. Hendrick have?

arnold.hendrick : Well... I worked in paper wargames (boardgames), miniatures and RPGs during the 1970s, before PCs. In 1982 I began designing and producing computer games. My best known work was during 1985-1995, when I worked as a designer and project leader (producer) at MicroProse. There I was responsible for Gunship, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Pirates (with Sid), Red Storm Rising (with Sid), M1 Tank Platoon, Silent Service II, and Darklands.

Lots of sims, as you can see. I worked at iMagic, now iEN, for a couple years... so I know about Warbirds. I joined Kesmai last summer. Personally, my academic background is military history, and that's my great all-time intellectual love. Followed closely by game design. :) That about sums it up... industry insiders regard me as "old guard."

seeker : Will the Autoscenarios use AI planes if there are not enough people?

blue_baron : No, alas. One thing that held us back in this regard - something Arnold's team is addressing in their work - was our inability to port the AI code to the host. We've been dealing with a code base that goes back to 1987. However, I think we'll have little problem filling the autos upon their return. All will be full campaigns with each mission predicated on the one preceding it. I think folks will enjoy it and we'll fill them up.

mbielawa : will AW:Vietnam work with anything other than Voodoo or RIVA cards?

arnold.hendrick : We are building AW:Vietnam to be DirectX compliant, including Direct3D...however, we will have certain hardware requirements for the 3D accelerator...which we haven't announced yet. Sorry 'bout that. But reasonably modern equipment, as of the time of release, should be able to run it. I'd like to say more, but it's not wise to do so just yet.

mage : Which missile systems are being planned for modeling, both AAM and SAM?

arnold.hendrick : The game will include North Vietnamese SAMs, as well as the air to air missiles of the time...The SAM was the SA-2 Guideline, known to the Russians as the S-75 Dvina system. Air-to-air was the Atoll (K-13 to the Russians) on the MiG-21, and various early models of Sidewinder and Sparrow for the Americans, mainly on F-4 Phantoms. The Sparrow had serious problems at this time, and the ROE required visual ID of the target before any firing.

That eliminated any BVR (beyond visual range) missile use. Oh...We also include the early anti-radar missiles for the wild weasels. :)

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foos : Can you go over how RedCrown (AWACs) will work?

arnold.hendrick : Historically, it didn't work at all that well.. In the game, all the players get a map that gives them a pretty good picture of what their side knows about...but you'll need to zoom in some to see what's happening right around you...exactly how much you see and know may be configurable, based on realism settings. We're trying to balance realism and playability here.

dead_man_flying : Will there be eventual plans for later Vietnam War air campaigns, such as systematic bombing of Hanoi and expansion of the targets into Cambodia?

arnold.hendrick : We would like to expand the game, but that's something we'll address after release of the product...I originally hoped to cover all the way to 1972, but we discovered...that in 1971-72 the technology changed dramatically, along with the planes. It was just too hard to include all that as well without breaking the back of my team.

mage : How will squadrons be handled? arnold.hendrick : I presume that's squadrons in AW:Vietnam... Historical squadrons will be there, but since most only flew one kind of plane in real life...for player-organizations we're using the 'Cadre' instead. A cadre is a player-created and run association. We'll support it with all sorts of features you normally have to leave the game to find...and a Cadre is limited to just one service: USAF, USN, or VPAF. USMC counts as part of USN.

It's the AW:V equivalent of the AW3 squadron. We think you'll like it. Better, it separates campaign historical organization and staff from the player-run groupings that may span many campaigns over many years.

b17gunner : Will the F4 Phantom be included and will it have the RIO slot?

arnold.hendrick : How could we not include the Phantom? We've got four or five flavors of the plane...and two-seat planes include the ability to have two players in them, one for each seat, with appropriate cockpit panels. If you fly it solo, an AI takes the other seat.

mbielawa : will SAM site operator be a role in AW:Vietnam

arnold.hendrick : We considered this, and originally wanted to include it...until we realized that a whole new set of screens and gameplay would be needed to support it.... especially since you needed to bounce around between sites. ..otherwise you'd spend a lot of time watching empty sky and radar sets. So in the end, we had to cut it... reluctantly. :(

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