Desert Fighters Interview by Jim "Twitch" Tittle
	Q. Will there be over-water missions and if so, will the Mediterranean look unique such as warm and aqua blue compared to the universal ocean blue of every other sim? I haven't seen the final terrain tiles yet, so I cannot say what color the Med will be. As for missions over water, it depends on whether we can get ships into the game or not. Regardless, you will have missions that take you over water and missions against harbors, which serve as the source of supply. Q. Will we see realistic weather? Rain would be interesting over the Med. I haven't seen the weather effects yet, so I would rather not comment on exactly what gets into the game. Q. We understand we will finally be able to "paint" our aircraft and change or create squadron markings to pilot preference. Tell us more. The concept is very similar to that contained in Red Baron 3D except that instead of having a bunch of parts that need to be put together, you have a single texture "sheet", which contains all the parts necessary for the aircraft. The interface has been completely redesigned and should prove to be much more usable than the one found in RB3D. In campaigns, you will be able to assign any texture to any squadron. In the other portions of the game, you can assign a texture set to any pilot, which can contain texture definitions for every aircraft type in the game. Q. Will the graphics involve detailed damage effects, such as pieces flying off, incendiary round's hits and such? Will we see holes or tears in wing fabric? Our aircraft models include a number of break points, allowing pieces to be shot off. Additionally, as you hit the aircraft, you should see "chunks" coming off, giving a nice, rewarding visual feedback. We've also got a system that will show bullet holes on the aircraft model, which are dynamically placed wherever the plane is hit (as opposed to a fixed set of bullet holes as was in AOTP/AOE). Q. Speaking of damage, how specific is the damage modeling for various aircraft? I'm not sure what you are asking here. Aircraft with multiple engines have multiple damageable engines; those with twin rudders have two rudders that can be damaged. There is no single generic damage table, each aircraft type has it's own. Click to continue		B24 Liberator Q. Let's talk about physics modeling. Fighter Squadron has pushed the envelope in this area, what are the goals in Desert Fighters? My primary goal is to produce a fun game. For some people that means a flight model that is so squirrelly you can't take your hand off the stick, for others it means a flight model they don't have to fight, leaving them free to fight the enemy. I think the lack of success of most of the WWII sims on the market is because the developers forgot they were making games. They fell in love with their "physics" and listened solely to the hardcore market, forgetting that the hardcore is only a portion of the entire market. I'm not saying that I intend to ignore the hardcore market, but that I am not going to ignore the "mass" market. There are a lot of people that have been turned off of flight sims by the extreme difficulty of the latest round of games, both in the flying portion and in the user interface. How many people really have the time to study a two-inch thick game manual? I know I don't, nor do I want to anymore. I want a game that I can jump in and play in a minimum amount of time. Q. Everyone wants exact control of their wingmen, such as directing them to attack a certain enemy or to cover them better. What can we expect from Desert Fighters in the area of command A.I.? The AI pilots will be able to warn you of incoming aircraft or ground objects they spot. They will be able to warn you when you have an enemy on your tail and will be able to accept commands directing them to perform certain actions, such as attacking, retreating, forming up, etc. You will not be able to single out a specific aircraft and tell a specific pilot to go after that one, but the real pilots couldn't necessarily do that either. However, you will be able to direct individual sections to attack individual types of objects (bombers, fighters, ground vehicles, etc.). Go to Part VI
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