With this project so long in development, and progress levels closely guarded by the developer, every tidbit released is a much desired piece of the puzzle. This interview brings us closer than ever to a glimpse of what’s to come as well as some great commentary from the man himself.

Here is part of the interview:

The accomplishment I’m most proud of is the fact that people in the West finally began to properly call the Il-2 a Shturmovik and not a Stormovik»
--Oleg Maddox

We have a special guest at «spread wings» today, Oleg Maddox, the creator of the famous IL-2 Sturmovik flight sim. Il-2 entered the lives of many people around the world a few years ago. It set a new quality standard for products of this kind, and we can be certain that no one will manage to meet it in the near future. Now virtual pilots anxiously await a new simulator from Maddox Games titled «Storm of War: Battle of Britain». Based on what we know, it should impress us even more than Il-2. We talked with Oleg about «Battle of Britain», the impact Il-2 had, his future, and many other things that may be of interest to virtual pilots everywhere.

Q: Oleg, Il-2 had a very long lifespan for a flight simulator, probably the longest ever. What do you expect from BoB? Will it break Il-2’s longevity record?

A: Battle of Britain was specifically designed to have an even bigger growth potential than Il-2. Only time will tell whether it does manage to survive as long as Il-2. I would like that very much.


Q: When developing Il-2 and BoB, how do you balance the two opposites, avoiding the tendency to move towards arcade simplicity on one hand, while also not allowing your work to drift into a complicated study sim with every button and switch having to be operated with the mouse?

A: That’s simple. I always keep in mind my huge experience interacting with users all over the world. The overriding principle is this. We would all like to fly an aircraft that's been modeled as close to reality as possible. However, pressing all the little buttons and switches is something only the select few enjoy. I know plenty of real-world pilots who aren’t interested in the minutia. Even the people who are interested in this will usually just try it once, and then they’ll turn it off in the options. As a pilot friend of mine said, “I’m interested in the pleasure of flight, not the masochism of pre-flight.”


Q: Oleg, you’ve previously said that after Battle of Britain is released, you could be open to passing the IL-2 source code to third parties for future development, with your quality control. Are there any updates on the issue?

A: So far we have received no viable offers.


Q: Il-2 offered nearly 300 flyable WWII-era planes from Allied and Axis countries. We would be very interested to learn of the participation of real veterans of the war, what they fought of the sim, and how close it was in their opinion to the real feel of WWII aerial combat. Do you have any anecdotes on this subject? Were there any cases of former enemies meeting in your virtual skies?

A: We have consulted with numerous combat veterans, including many from WWII. However we’ve received the most valuable feedback from contemporary pilots who fly vintage aircraft today and are also experienced with flight simulators. We work with several of them. The feedback we’ve received from veterans across the board was the same. Il-2 was the best out of everything they’ve tried. They of course understand that all flight sims have limitations, and 100% realism is impossible by definition, despite the fact that some other developers attempt to make claims to that… Generally, the feedback from testers and advisors of this kind is most valuable, since only they can describe their impression of the intimate details of the plane’s behavior.
Regarding WWII veterans, unfortunately we only have feedback from them from the West. One such quote is printed in the Forgotten Battles manual. They mostly thank us for the opportunity to go back to the spirit of those days, and to show their grandsons how they fought. One of our fans from Germany wrote to me about how his grandfather took time to learn the PC specifically to be able to fly Il-2. I also have a greeting card from one of the most famous German aces. All the pilots do agree on one other thing, that a table-mounted joystick feels very different from a floor-mounted control stick. They do agree that our recommended control settings are best at minimizing this difference.


Q: We know that BoB will have player interacting with ground-based radar, which should be very interesting. Is there anything being done about setting up online crews for multi-seat aircraft in BoB, something that was sorely missing from Il-2? This would greatly increase the interest in bombers in the game.

A: You will be able to do that, to set up multi crews both online and offline.


Q: You’ve previously stated in an interview that BoB will have 11 [flyable] aircraft. Did that number change?

A: No, it did not change. But this is not counting all the sub-variants.


Q: You’ve also previously stated that BoB will ship with a single gameplay map for all the combat of the period. What set of maps will be provided for online gameplay?

A: We will have addiotional small maps for online. I don’t know how many yet. As many as we can do.


Q: Another question about online maps. As a server host, I’ve never felt I had enough of them with Il-2. Murmansk, Burma, Leningrad: those maps were great due to their huge span, attention to detail, and the number of objects and points of interest. However for the very same reasons they were useless for online servers. Why did you decide not to make small versions of those maps for online games, released simultaneously with large offline maps? And with extra airfields, of course? It would be great if BoB had the possibility of creating your own grass and concrete fields when editing online maps. Will that be possible? Test runways as they exist in Il-2 are, unfortunately, not enough to create a full-fledged airfield.

A: This is actually hard work. However, with Il-2 technology, we couldn't just cut up an exiting map, we'd have to create whole new maps. Our technology did not permit us to easily cut things out.
With BoB, you will be able to create your own online maps. This means entire maps from start to finish, including airfields. But this will happen after the main release. We’ll release authoring tools later, as soon as we can, including map creation tools, object insertion tools, etc. Generally, things here will be much better than with Il-2.


Q: Will the server part of BoB be released simultaneously with the game?

A: Of course


Q: What will change with the ground object damage model in BoB? Ground vehicles in Il-2 do not always act as their real counterparts can be expected to, based on their characteristics, characteristics of the attacking plane, and the specifics of the ordnance used.

A: Calculations will be more precise.


Q: We are also aware of the statement you’ve made a long time ago about rough estimation of system requirements for BoB. You’ve said it will run well on a machine that can comfortably run Il-2 at max settings. Do you have a better defined set of system requirements for BoB?

A: Not yet. It’s impossible to say at this point. Things are very fluid.


Q: When playing Il-2 offline, many commented on inadequate AI behavior. Completing offline campaigns offered little excitement for that very reason. Will the quality of AI change with BoB?

A: Oh really? Have you seen better AI in any other sim? Generally, it was offline gameplay that drove most of our sales, and not the online modes. Of course, it’s more exciting to fly against a live opponent. AI will be smarter in BoB. We’ll even consider whether the pilot is tired or hurt, whether he’s a good shot or a master of aerobatics, and whether he’s a trooper or a coward. Other things, too… I’ve said too much already


Q: Realistic modeling of small details is impossible without original drawings and archival data. How do you work with archives here in Russia and in other countries? Are they willing to cooperate? How is that aspect set up in your team? How important is it to you to work with third parties in Il-2 and BoB, and how interested are you in such cooperation?

A: We probably have much better contacts with people who have their own private collections of data than with government archives. Third party assistance is crucial in our process. Whether it’s international or here in Russia, all work with archives has the same basis: pay money and you can access anything they’ve got. No money, no help.


Q: After the Il-2 code was cracked, how seriously do you approach security when designing BoB? Will this be an entirely new protection scheme, or an improvement of the Il-2 method?

A: Online protection code will be all new. However, the sim code itself will not be protected as much, in order to allow others to create their own add-ons. This will not affect fairness online. We’re taking special measures for that. [Luthier’s note: standard set of features for online games will be protected and unchangeable; each online server will choose whether to only allow these locked Maddox-approved features, or whether to also allow user mods.]

Click HERE for the full interview.