2007-10-18 13:36:11

Hello Gamers,
BPCPrograms has begun work on a flight simulator. This game will have several types of modes in which the player will be able to test their skills against other crafts. The player will be required to outsmart and outmaneuver the enemy to get a lock. Each craft will be equipped with the common standard weapons: a forward firing nose-mounted cannon, and two sidewinder missiles. The player will be required to take off and land; in addition, both the speedometer and altimeter will need to be monitored to make sure speed is not dangerously low or the altitude is not below the harddeck. We are hoping to have a public beta released by December. Note that this is only an estimated release date, and it may change. The beta will not be feature complete, but we are working hard to ensure that it is as playable as possible. We have entered the fifth month of actual development, excluding the two or three months prior to development for research and analysis; therefore, the estimated release date of the game is mid 2008. Once again, please note that this is only an estimated release date, so we do not warrant that what has been said here will hold.

Feel free to post any questions here that you may have. Although much information cannot be released at this time, I will do my best to answer the questions to your satisfaction.
Munawar

2007-10-18 13:41:22

This is great! Will it be for notetakers, and windows, like most of your games have been?

Regards,
Tristan
Trek Games, inc.

2007-10-18 15:55:51

Hmm sounds fun. Will it be keyboard only, or will there be support for alternate input devices either at beta release or later?

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2007-10-18 16:31:51

audiogamer360 wrote:

This is great! Will it be for notetakers, and windows, like most of your games have been?

No, this game will be for Windows only. However, if there is enough demand for it, I will talk to some people about porting the game over to PACMate. Supporting the Braille Lites will not be possible since this will be a real time simulation.

2007-10-18 16:35:03

cx2 wrote:

Hmm sounds fun. Will it be keyboard only, or will there be support for alternate input devices either at beta release or later?

There are plans to support other devices as well as a keyboard, but the beta will most likely not implement this support. I have heard of a Top Gun game pad, and will be looking in to it at some point.
Munawar

2007-10-18 16:41:49

will this game be shareware like treasure hunt, or free? i'm guessing shareware as this sounds like it took and is taking a while to develop.

2007-10-18 21:41:55 (edited by cx2 2007-10-18 21:42:20)

Certainly good news. I didn't really expect support for other devices at beta, but if you don't ask you don't find out.

Thanks for offering the chance to ask questions like this.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2007-10-18 21:50:29

Yes! Is this kind of like flight simulator 2002?

I never tried flight sim but...

Yeh! BPCPrograms rocks! Rhrrhrhrhhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrrhrocks!

2007-10-18 23:18:02

andy smith wrote:

Yes! Is this kind of like flight simulator 2002?

I don't know. I've never played flight sim 2002. You will be able to do real time maneuvers though, and "dog fighting" will be a big part of you winning. In that regard, I think I am well off to say that this game will resemble much of the traditional Top Gun games.
Munawar

2007-10-18 23:19:54

aaron wrote:

will this game be shareware like treasure hunt, or free? i'm guessing shareware as this sounds like it took and is taking a while to develop.

Yes the game will be shareware. The price has not been determined yet, but I will let you know when it is.
Munawar

2007-10-19 00:05:53

No it will not be like Microsoft Flight Sim, I played one or two versions once. MS Flight Sim had overly complex flight controls to the point you nearly needed to be a pilot to take off or land, and had no combat. It was purely simulating flight in as realistic a manner as possible, including the aircraft controls, for aeroplane nuts.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2007-10-19 02:29:16

yes, a real shooter!
i might consider buying, like 95 percent sure, just got to hear the specific price later,
also, i am happy that pbc will get this game as good as tressure hunt
that had some rhrhrhrhrhrhrheal good rrhrhrhrheplay value

Connor

2007-10-19 17:11:11

That would take a long long time to make a microsoft flight sim kinda thing in audio! Microsoft fs 2002 is aimed more to the simulation.

CJ, please try to reframe from doing that. It doesn't... well sound as good with some screenreaders.

Regards,
Tristan
Trek Games, inc.

2007-10-19 17:20:56 (edited by cx2 2007-10-19 17:22:00)

Well I'm not sure there would be much of a market for FS style games. There may well be people who would enjoy it, but given the total market for audio games I don't feel it would be worthwhile.

A combat based flight sim though is very welcome. Perhaps even a little overdue, as one of the genres that hasn't been touched upon previously.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2007-10-19 20:26:40 (edited by assault_freak 2007-10-20 21:15:01)

Agreeing with CX2 here about it being overdue. I've been looking forward to one for a long time. Thank you Munawar! You haven't been online in a while, lol. Where have you disappeared to?

And just as a curious question, whatever happened to cloning malice two?

Looking forward to this though, can't wait to play.

Oh yeah, and a suggestion for after this... you ever thought of making tournament an actual realtime fighter? That would kick some major rear, and the intro could be done with assistance from people. I can provide the sounds, for instance. If you want a sample of the stuff I have, I can send them to you.  Just let me know. haha.

Discord: clemchowder633

2007-10-19 21:15:32

ok, sorry i will try not to do that
already said, can't wait for this game, that's for sure

Connor

2007-10-20 02:42:27

Yeah, me neither.

2007-10-20 11:25:11

assault_freak wrote:

Agreeing with CX2 here about it being overdue. I've been looking forward to one for a long time. Thank you Munawar! You haven't been online in a while, lol. Where have you disappeared to?

And just as a curious question, whatever happened to cloning malice two?

Looking forward to this though, can't wait to play.

I've been on and off, but haven't seen you online at all. Perhaps we keep missing each other.

I also agree that this style of game has so far been either avoided or not thought of. We have submarine simulations, tank simulations, chopper simulations but not a real dogfighting flight simulation. What with the Audiogame Maker and tools along those lines, developers are, more often than not, resorting to small scale games. As for CM II, well, the project has been scratched for now; it really didn't grab my interest after a while (viz. I wasn't waking up at 2:00 AM to implement something that clicked in my head like I am with TDV.) I have found that once a developer loses interest in their own project, to get it released is more of a groaning and kicking and screaming struggle rather than an other worldly experience. For the audiogames market, I find that this is especially true, since the market is not very large, and we are not expecting to make a life's fortune off of one game. The developers who are offering their games for free are an excellent example. Whether I will pick CM II back up or not depends on how I feel after the release of TDV, and definitely where I decide to go after the release. I do believe that we already have quite a bit of first-person shooters around, however, and though the next one created for the upcoming generation can most definitely be better than the ones that exist, I find them repetitive after a while (viz. Terraformers and The Shades of Doom are drastically different shooters, yet your overall goal, neglecting the plot, is the same: stop something.) These types of situations are those that really seem to give a developer his reputation in the audiogames market--being able to take two similar situations and twist them just the right amount so that both of them rock the market upon release; right now I have no ideas like this.

Also thank you all for your enthusiastic comments, and thanks to Cx2 for thanking me to allow for questions. Not many people go out of their ways to note the small things.
Munawar

2007-10-20 14:06:58

It's the small things that make all the difference, whether we consciously notice them or not smile

I'm just glad people are innovating rather than making the same genres so much now.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2007-10-20 14:17:26

Lol! I agree with you cx2...
And of course with the fact we need more types of games!

2007-10-20 21:12:23

I was actually about to thank you as well. Seldom have we seen devs letting people ask questions. You know, if you're going for an air combat simulation, you should make it multiplayer...

And if you need testers or voice actors, I'm up for it. And if your msn has not changed I haven't seen you on in a long time. But I'll be glad to voice act or test.

Discord: clemchowder633

2007-10-21 12:14:35

Multiplayer would be fun, but if you aren't ready for that then don't overstretch yourself. I've sometimes considered various interface options for either realistic or non-realistic flight combat style games, and I think this could be quite a challenge in itself.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.