Csim: Lets start with some history. Who are "Innerloop?" Where have you
come from and what do you do?
Henning: Innerloop was started by six people who had previously worked with Funcom
and DMA Design. With about 2.5 years of industry experience we set up the
company and started to work on the terrain-technology you see in JSF. After
touring various publishers, we struck a deal with Eidos - a deal we are
very happy with. It allows us to focus on creating solid titles with
original contents while Eidos takes cares of the distribution-side of things.
Csim: What is your personal role in the project?
Henning: I am Managing Director of the company, and try to keep the company and the
teams focused on their project goals. With JSF I have been involved in the
design-work, tuning of the game, bug-testing, PR and marketing-activities,
and getting everybody around the world working with JSF to communicate
together.
Csim: When was JSF first conceived as a serious project?
Henning: In september 97. Before that, we only had the terrain-system going.
Csim: What are the design goals for JSF?
Henning: First of all, no one in our company has been particularly amazed by the
efforts of other developers in creating realistic scenarios in
simulations before. Even though several developers have impressive realism
in flight-models, cockpit functions etc, there are still no flight-sims which
combine fast graphics, realistic landscape, high level of details in the
scenario objects with everything you expect from state-of-the-art
jetfighter-simulations: A detailed fully working virtual cockpit, a good
communications menu and PLENTY of camera-views.
Also, with the campaigns we wanted to give control of missions back to the
player. Instead of just offering pre-planned missions, we wanted the player
to choose his own target, set his own waypoints and decide all aspects of
every mission by himself. With four campaigns, there are many more than 150
mission-targets available in JSF! Not counting all the secret targets scattered
around the campaigns, undocumented by intelligence!
You should also keep in mind, that when we started on the project JSF was
intended to be a software-only game, with no support for 3D-cards. Thus, we
wanted to make a simulation which would look good for even people with P90s
and no cards (which is a huge market). We decided to add 3Dfx as well, as
many simulation-freaks own that, and it was an easy thing to do. Still,
many people within Eidos prefer to play the software-version over the 3Dfx
version as it has more detailed textures and is less smoothed.
Csim: That puts JSF in context for us...can you comparing it to particular
sims in its class?
Henning: When it comes to avionics, cockpit instrument control and realism I think
EF2000 is probably the closest thing. We have spent thousands of hours on
research and dedicated work to get the physics system right with particles,
wind, gravity, air-thickness (don't know the proper english word) and
getting this right. The pilots beta-testing for us say this is the closest
thing to flying they've ever seen. As for terrains, there's nothing really
like JSF. It is much more realistic and has much more features in general
compared to most other sims on the market (except for the likes of TFX-F22
and Back to Baghdad) so it really is quite close to EF2000. You can also
choose whether to play it sim-style (starting out by the hangars, taxing
out, turbulence, black-outs) or just to start on the runway, with unlimited
weapons, no turbulence, just to have fun.
Csim: In what areas will JSF break new ground?
Henning: The quality of the terrain, the freedom of mission-planning, the realism in
the cockpit and the control of the wingmen. Also, this is the only sim
which features the X-32 and X-35, which have very interesting flight-models.
Csim: Some aircraft designers like Janes Combat Sims have close ties with the
military and base their avionics on data supplied through these
connections. How does Innerloop gather info for systems and flight
modelling?
Henning: We have worked closely with the aviation expert Bill Sweetman who has been
used as a consultant by many other flight-sim companies as well. He has
researched the project, talking to anonomyous sources within Boeing and
Lockheed-Martin, checking out weapons on military trade-shows and
researching everything for us. We have also talked directly to the
manufacturers of the new high-tech weapons to get them right in every
detail. Regarding systems and flight-models, all I can say is that these
are accurate.
Csim: What other military resources will Innerloop draw on? Are there
actual pilots involved in the project?
Henning: We have been involved with pilots from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands as
well as Americans. Both in terms of beta-testing the plane and the game at
various stages, but also to bug-test in the final stages. We are currently
in discussion with military organisations regarding contract work on other
simualations.
Csim: What can we expect to see in terms of realism in avionics and
flight modelling? Will we see a similar level of detail similar to EF2000?
Henning: Yes, like EF2000.
Csim: What about weapons modelling in terms of physics and realism.
Henning: We have worked closely with the manufacturers to get the weapons right.
Csim: In the past year there have been some real advances in physics and
ballistics modelling, in sims like A10 Cuba and Janes Longbow and
others. What will we see in JSF?
Henning: We have played these titles excessively, are very impressed, and have had a
lot of fun with these. We have probably bought around 500 books on subjects
like these, and people working on JSF have PhDs in these things. I am sure
that when you fly JSF, you will find the modelling very good.
Csim: What can we expect in terms of resolution options and detail
options?
Henning: In software the sim supports all the resolutions available through Windows
which has 16bit color.
Csim: Will we see light source shading?
Henning: The sim has three light-sources, but explosions, bullets etc. are not
light-sources.
Csim: Frame rate is often a snag for the newest simulations. What can we
expect to see with all detail options on, and what will be the
recommended system?
Henning: The highest-detail option for the terrain is not recommended as this is for
people playing a couple of years into the future. However, with about 30%
of detail on (which is fine, believe me) in 640x480 it does about 22 fps on
a P200 with a Trio64 graphics card. A P90 would be sufficient if the
graphics-card supports lo-res. This is by far the fastest flight-sim
around, and the dogfight option is lightning-fast as there is not so much
AI going on.
Csim: Running under 3d hardware is a big step forward. What kind of
hardware will JSF support? Will there be both proprietary support as
well as D3d support?
Henning: JSF wil only support 3Dfx, and not Direct 3D. For using 3Dfx we are using
Glide2.
Csim: Will the AI pilots use the same flight model as the virtual pilot?
Henning: The AI pilots use the flight model of the PLANE they are flying. This means
that AI pilots flying a Mig-29 use a different flight-model than
the SU-27 pilots.
Csim: Tell us more about the AI for the computer driven aircraft. What can we
expect to see? Will pilots improve over time?
Henning: Basically, the AI pilots have five different skill-levels. During the progress
of campaigns, and from one campaign to another, they increase in
skill-level. You can also adjust this in an in-game menu.
Csim: How much control will a flight leader have over his wingmen?
Henning: Total control. You have about 8 formations (including decoys etc), 3 steps
in separation, change formation leader, can tell them to engage at will,
when tracked by enemy radar, when targeted etc. You can control their fire,
tell them which target to go after, get various status info, radio silence,
use ecm, check six at various intervals... There is more...
Csim: How does a pilot progress to command, or can we simply step into
the role?
Henning: You are always the wing leader - this does not change.
Csim: Will we be able to use simulated radio to command? How will comms in
net play be handled?
Henning: All comms control features samples spoken on the radio - with different
voices for different wingmen, tower and awacs. I cannot go into detail
about net play.
Csim: Other than suspension of disbelief the area that keeps virtual
pilots coming back for more is identifying with the pilots they fly.
How will JSF seek to involve the player personally?
Henning: You will attach to your pilot after you have ejected a couple of times and
walked your pilot quake-like on the ground back to the base to save your
progress (!). Other than this, you can only change callsign and pilotname.
Csim: Will we see a "real time" dynamic campaign or will the structure
be more comparable to DiDs first WARGEN engine?
Henning: The campaigns are set in Afghanistan, Colombia, Korea and the Kola Peninsula.
It is real-time, meaning that all enemy objects move about as time passes.
However, time does not pass on the mission planner screen except for when
you choose time skip. The enemy objects go about with their own things, so
you have to get updates from the AWACS.
Csim: Will resource management be a consideration in the campaign?
Henning: Not really.
Csim: Integration of the ground war with the air war adds a lot of depth
to the newer simulations. What approach have you taken in this area?
Henning: There are plenty of ground-targets to take out, and convoys must be stopped
in order to avoid enemy forces increasing in strength. However, this is not
as advanced as what DID are working on.
Csim: Will we see a wind model in the sim?
Henning: Yes. There is a wind-model, turbulence close to ground, winsocks on
airports etc.
Csim: Can you tell us how padlock and views will be handled? Will we see
a virtual cockput as well as fixed views?
Henning: The views are as following:
Straight - with HMD info
Padlock - Straight with target padlock
Virtual cockpit (can move head around, all MFDs updated) - you can also padlock targets in Virtual cockpit.
External view - (zoom in/out, pan around)
Air flyby
Gnd flyby
Chase view (A10-style)
Check six
Left wing fixed view
Right wing fixed view
Missile view (same controls as External view)
Missile IR camera
Missile flyby (you can toggle all missile views between all friendly and
incoming missiles, and also bombs)
Satellite view - top-view w/zoom in/out
Winsock view (only on airport)
Tower - plane padlock on airport
As well you can cycle enemy planes, generic objects, and enemy vehicles and
installations. Much like Hind.
Csim: How will new technologies impact JSF? Will we see surround
sound, force feedback, support for vr headsets?
Henning: Force-feedback will be supported, if not from the box then atleast as a
patch. Patches for VR headsets and surround might happen (we only have
stereo right now).
Csim: What can we expect for later add on scenarios?
Henning: No comment. If Joint Strike Fighter is well received, the product will be
extremely well supported. Otherwise we will retire and mourn!
Csim: What do you feel is the coolest feature of JSF?
Henning: Two things: "virtual man" - moving hands and feet inside the virtual
cockpit, and the IR missile cameras! Well, the WCMD weapon is also pretty
cool!
Csim: How soon can we expect to see JSF?
Henning: The game is almost finished here in Oslo! Release will be decided by Eidos.
Csim: Thanks Henning, and best wishes for success!
