I have been very lucky to
get an exclusive interview with Leon Rosenshein. We discussed the 1.07
patch and the future of Falcon 4. I have kept it fairly short because,
as you can imagine, Leon is very busy trying to get 1.07 ready for you
and me. Leon, for those of you that don't know is the Lead Engineer on
Falcon4 and a pretty cool guy. Clutch and KC23 spent the day with him
at E3 and had nothing but good words for him. The following interview
has been edited for readability but all the questions and answers have
not had their meanings altered in any way. So, as they say, here is the
low down. Straight from the horses mouth :)
Frugal: How are you and the team?
Leon: We're doing OK, Ready to move off the patches
and onto the addons
Frugal: How is work on 1.07 coming along?
Leon: Should go to core testers this week
Frugal: What are the challenges you've had to overcome for 1.07?
Leon: Multiplayer and AI
Frugal: What challenges have you yet to overcome in future patches
Leon: More work on the AI, and allowing more user
control?
Frugal: The areas that are often complained about on the boards and IRC
are Stability, Wingman AI and the lack of terrain masking. I know that
you are working hard to improve stability but are the other 2 being addressed?
Leon: AI is always a big issue, and the terrain
masking was a bug, not a missing feature.
Frugal: Is it a bug that has now been fixed?
Leon: It is fixed, as far as I know :)
Frugal: So does terrain masking now affect both the enemy and the player?
Leon: Yes
Frugal: What other areas are the team focusing on at the moment?
Leon: Wingman AI, ATC, multiplayer, Force on Force
Frugal: Will 1.07 Disable the baby pic and other such easter eggs?
Leon: The baby pics will be gone.
Frugal: Were you suprised at the hostile reaction to the baby pic
Leon: Yes, but I can understand it given peoples
frustration.
Frugal: Will 1.07 unlock the aircraft skins so that they can be edited.
Leon: Probably not :(
No More Baby Pic
Frugal: 1.07 is being touted as a multiplayer patch, is there any Improvement
to stability in 1.07
Leon: Yes. The most obvious change is the change
to multiplayer, but that's not the only thing that got fixed.
Frugal: Is the art patch going to be part of 1.07 or will it be a stand
alone patch
Leon: Some of the art is in 1.07, The rest will
be later.
Frugal: Will we ever be able to create a true force on force Tactical
Engagement. IE set up a full scale war. If so
will this be playable in both single and multiplayer.
Leon: Yes, but it might not make 1.07
Frugal: If it dosen't make 1.07 how soon do you see this being possible
Leon: Once again, no time estimates
Frugal: Rear aspect missiles seem to have an exceptional Pk when fired
from head on. Is this something that is being looked into
Leon: Looked into and should be fixed.
Frugal: F4hq ran a very good article on blackouts, have you read the
article, if so have you any plans to adjust the way blackout ar modeled
in the sim
Leon: The only change to the blackout modeling
was to have it stop considering the player as a rookie, which was a bug
in the code.
Frugal: Now that 1.07 is getting close to release what are your feelings
on the current state of Falcon 4
Leon: It's in pretty good shape now (1.07), but
the addons will make it even better
Frugal: 1.07 sounds like it's going to be a great patch. Is there any
way for people without an internet connection to obtain the patches
Leon: Yes. Any registered owner can contact customer
support and they will make sure that they get the patch, one way or another.
Frugal: Do you have an eta for the high res 2D cockpit art
Leon: Sorry, No.
Frugal: It has been rumoured that a major upgrade to the 3d cockpit is
in the pipeline. Is there any truth to this rumour.
Leon: There are things in the pipe for the 3D cockpit,
but nothing I can really talk about at this time.
Frugal: Will dedicated Falcon 4 servers ever be a reality
Leon: We hope so.
Frugal: Any idea on a timeframe
Leon: Not right now.
Terrain Masking Fixed. WooHoo!
Frugal: At one stage Gilman mentioned the possibility of a cut down campaign.
There are calls for a campaign with realistic force levels. Is this something
you are considering
Leon: It is being considered, but its not a high
priority right now.
Frugal: How close are we now to the way Falcon 4 was envisioned.
Leon: We're getting close. They single and peer
to peer play will be pretty close once 1.07 is released.
Frugal: What kind of time frame do you expect to realise the original
vision of Falcon 4.
Leon: I've learned not to predict things like that.
Frugal: With all this work do you still get time to play Falcon 4
Leon: That's the only way to test it:)
Frugal: Roger that Leon :) So who is the best pilot on the team?
Leon: If you include QA, the best pilot is probably
a guy named Wolf. He used to be a Marine F4 WSO
Frugal: How is the morale of the team holding up?
Leon: Not too bad. Ready to start on the add-ons
Frugal: Talking of addons, just to put a currently running debate to
bed, will addons such as Mig 29 be flyable in campaign
Leon: As currently planned all add-ons will work
in campaign
Frugal: What addons are currently being considered and will they include
their own campaigns.
Leon: Can't give you the list, but I can say that
some will have new theaters, and some won't
Frugal: Any future plans for Falcon 4 that you can share with us
Leon: We're going to keep working on it, but I
can't give you the details
Frugal: How do you think Falcon 4 will stand up to the next crop of sims
such as Mig Ally, Super Hornet and Flanker2
Leon: As far as I'm concerned, Falcon stands on
it's own and I don't compare it to other products. The other products
have the strong points, but I try not to do the comparison.
Frugal: How do see Falcon 4 in 12 months time, will we see it further
evolve
Leon: Falcon will be even better then, and as more
vehicles get added to the universe it will be even more fun.
Frugal: Leon, thanks again for talking to me. And thanks to you and all
the team for the best simming experience I've ever had.
