by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson

Q: Can you comment on the evolution of flight modeling in PC helo simulations and how your own design goals relate in terms of realism?

Tim: The first part of the question is answered above. In Gunship, we have three flight models. The major difference is in the types of forces the player has to deal with. In the action mode, the collective is decoupled from the other controls, allowing the player to fly in more of an "air hockey" mode, and not have to spend all of their time just staying airborne.

The intermediate model uses the controls in a realistic fashion, but limits other effects such as translational lift, ground effect, and retreating blade stall to name a few. The sim model incorporates these features. The main goal is to let the player decide how much time they want to spend just flying, and how much fighting the battle. Remember, there are really two people in an attack helo for a reason.

Q: Same question for weapons modeling and avionics. And how do you balance "realism" and gameplay in your design?

Tim: This is handled slightly differently. The weapons always act in a realistic manner, we vary how much of the details the computer can take care of for the player. The depth is always there, it is a matter of player choice how much of it they want to handle.

Q: Will you make use of environmental bump mapping in the new sims, and if so how does it help you?

Tim: No, we are not using it.

Q: Does the rapid evolution of hardware create special challenges for designers when game development cycles are often 24 months and longer?

Tim: Yes, see the previous question. In many cases, new technology appears while a game is still being built. This happened in M1TP2 with hardware cards. Every time a call has to be made if the new technology will enhance the game enough to justify the time needed to implement it.

Q: By the time these games are released we will be running DX 7 or later. How does this change the game over DX6?

Tim: Not a great deal that the player will see. It does speed things up a bit.

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Gunship Apache: City

Q: How much detail will go into object animation? Will we see turrets moving, guns elevating, rocket flares, tracer fire, men popping out of hatches?

Tim: Yes and more. The team has completely revised all of our effects and animations. For example, the crewmen's heads move as they search for targets, and the weapons move with them. Turrets sweep back and forth as they search for targets. We have a particle system for explosions and fire. Tracers actually ricochet off armored vehicles. The list goes on.

Q: This past year weather effects have evolved in a big way. How will Gunship follow on these advances and how will weather affect tactics?

Tim: We will have a lot of weather effects. The biggest effects on tactics are visibility and weapons interactions. Both visible light and thermal are effected by times of day and weather. Some weapons systems do not work as well in bad weather. We try to incorporate a number of effects.

Q: Sound modeling is another area of great advance. What sound APIs will be supported and how will this impact game play?

Tim: We are still finalizing this part of the game. I don't have an answer yet.

Q: Low level flight means that terrain is critical. What is the terrain resolution and what kinds of terrain will we see?

Tim: All of our campaigns are set in Eastern Europe. This gives us a range of terrain from relatively flat forest and lake areas to deep river valleys and mountain passes. We include tactically useful trees, buildings and hills. There are very few large open spaces. Even farmland has scattered trees and buildings.

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