Combat-Helo

[Eight Ball]

did you guys saw this on his blog ?

 

We looked at how much work is required in DCS World add-ons. Extensive LUA work is required but we don't have the resources (man-power) to commit. If the opportunity arises we'll do it but the current priority is seeing through our current project.

It's in his last comment from november, which is a bit worrying but still a potential good news !

 

Not only for an hypothetical AH-64 module but that also means DCS World is more and more considered at as the ideal platform by 3rd parties.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Eight Ball

[Blaze]

Old news.

[mmaruda]

I think we'll see this at some point in DCS, but ED needs to sort the core engine out first - EDGE and Nevada needs to arrive and 3rd party stuff needs to start getting released. We'll see what 2013 brings.

[Suchacz]

With my heart aching, I must say, that this project seems to me like to be dead, at least on the hold for now. :(

[Suchacz]

New C-H blog update: http://combathelo.blogspot.cz/

[KaspeR32]

Another update ;)

 

http://combathelo.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-sprint-cycle-data-extraction.html#comment-form

[Phantom88]

WOW,I notice he mentioned DCS as a possible platform,Nice:thumbup:

[EagleEye]

Another update from 20th:

http://combathelo.blogspot.de/2013/04/data-export-debug-and-multiplayer-ops.html#comment-form

Joining MP through the browser sounds like BF3 to me. LOL

 

We're getting close to a game but I can't guesstimate. Pushing it for a small private demo next month (May 2013) then we'll have another look.

We'll be doing a staged released, so early alpha gunner range will be the first release. After that we'll roll everything out as we go through coding and test cycles on a semi-regular basis.

:thumbup:

[EagleEye]

To have this thread up-to-date some info`s from Flexman via SIMHQ:

 

So, here's what Richard shared with me today.

These are exactly his words so there's no need to look for hidden meaning or in between lines...

 

Have a good read.

 

Turning it into an arcade game?

Arcade game, kind of, in the sense that there’s simple stufyf common to all kinds of games. Making it easy to pick-up is what I’m aiming for with Combat-Helo “Gunnery”. We’ll keep all the avionics but you won’t need it as we have single key-presses for setting weapon modes etc. However you can still operate everything manually.

 

I realised that given the little amount of time I now have available due to keeping the wolf from the door, we’re going to have to incrementally progress towards the game we wanted to make. Unless a lot of $$$ magically appears that’s the way it’s got to be.

 

Crowdfunding?

 

Crowd-funding eventually. When we get the game/demo shipped, it’s what I want to do for a DCS mod. Depends if Dave still likes me. I haven’t sent him a birthday card in ages. I’m a bad friend. When it comes to a follow-up game (which will happen as I’ve got some new tools lined up just for it) I think this will have to be crowd-funded. It’s not a given thing, it tests the water, if there happens to be appetite for a bigger game it will tell me. And it gives me time to see what happens with the new terrain technology that’s coming out for Leadwerks 3. My work with the GROME editor showed me that we can go back and put a much bigger and more detailed terrain system together and keep all that low level detail. It’s always the same at the end of the project, you see everything you could have done better but don’t have the balls to go back and fix.

 

 

Passing it on to ED/3rd pt as a DCS module?

 

ED/DCS is a hi-fidelity sandbox. While the Apache would be an awesome module which I would love to work on, again it’s priorities and time. I keep thinking/planning a crowd funded project and keeping an eye open for someone to do the LUA work. Combat-Helo is not about one helicopter, it’s the 90s style combat simulation and the meta-game behind the campaign. That’s not something DCS does. Different strokes.

 

 

What will then happen to the level of detail/realism of systems, sensors, weapons, procedures, etc. in the context of classified material and the relation between ED and the defence industry?

 

Pass. I can’t answer questions about the relationships of ED and their partners.

 

As for classified material we don’t use classified information, so that’s easy to answer. Everything we did was the result of painstaking research of public materials, sales brochures, previous games we’ve worked on, videos and chats with crewmen. Our research material represents about 2 man-years of work. And it’s not always accurate, no two aircraft are alike and the blocks are always evolving. But as it turns out where it’s not accurate it’s good enough and nobody except those who really know (and can’t say) will know....if that makes sense

 

Although my latest guest work on the Hellfire system was not without error; I added a laser code page based on a frame-grab from a Discovery show, turned out it was a missile shot list. So I need to refactor that one.

 

Funny story; I was contacted by a defence contractor (who will remain nameless) and asked what asset I used for something they saw on my blog (I assume they were building something similar). They were somewhat amused when I told them that I made it by hand using graph paper from my sons school maths book and a pencil. At least I was able to point them at something commercial they could use. Sometimes simple works (and often cheaper).

 

Basically with the AH-64D anything related to capability is classified. We were told when planning the gunnery range even the practice range flight profiles were sensitive. We were given some rough guidelines that didn’t break any rules. But it was left to David to build the ranges that approximated the ones on Google Earth (with a little artistic license).

 

What you discover when adding some avionics page to a helicopter is that having a picture is a good first step however it’s next to useless unless you can see it moving (or being used). If you can reference it against video (I have a lot of Discovery/History Channel/YouTube footage) you can bring it to life. As more countries purchase the AH-64 (such as Japan) they like to show them off to TV crews, so I keep tabs of all this stuff wherever possible.

 

Passing it on to an entire new player?

 

Passing it to a new player? Is this a DRM question? We have no plans for DRM, we will have a convenient updater/launcher that will require some registration details. But the game won’t ‘dial home’ or anything like that. If a later version of the series/game ends up on Steam then that will obviously come with the territory. I’m doing this because I want to make the game I want to play, nobody else seems interested in making one. I’m just doing it VERY SLOOOOOWLY (which pisses me off no end I promise you).

Original thread: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3815474/Re_Combat_Helo#Post3815474

[EagleEye]

New blog update:thumbup::

http://combathelo.blogspot.de/2013/09/bi-annual-update-im-almost-joking-title.html

[KaspeR32]

9/26 - http://combathelo.blogspot.de/2013/09/flights-of-fantasy.html

 

10/30 - "We're back. And now entering another development sprint (and hopefully the last) after delays. "Combat-Helo Gunnery" will be our first release target which will include the Hellfire missle system (how could we not?)". -Combat-Helo Facebook page

[EagleEye]

10/30 - "We're back. And now entering another development sprint (and hopefully the last) after delays. "Combat-Helo Gunnery" will be our first release target which will include the Hellfire missle system (how could we not?)". -Combat-Helo Facebook page

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.:thumbup:

[Suchacz]

Richard Hawley 12 October 2013 14:37

I'm recruiting some help for this. Its worth doing well.

...Combat Helo developer about a possible KickStarter campaign

[WildBillKelsoe]

...Combat Helo developer about a possible KickStarter campaign

 

Looks good, I will participate if there is one. Are they nearly there? I think its an awesome implementation if it will reach DCS standards.

[idenwen]

Looks good, I will participate if there is one. Are they nearly there? I think its an awesome implementation if it will reach DCS standards.

 

Yup! Me too! Combat Helo has a lot lot lot of potential.

[WildBillKelsoe]

Oh I sorely miss Gunship2000 and C4 gold... Looks like parting days are over and we're back in business... So long USAF does not replace us as well :(

[EagleEye]

There have been a few updates in the last time. And now a new little vid with

Idling Crew Comms Test

:thumbup::thumbup:

[Phantom88]

KICKSTART THIS BABY!!!!!

[Abburo]

What can we, as community, do so that we can set a "date" for Combat-Helo with Eagle Dynamics. At least Combat Helo stated several times that his doors are opened and ready to discuss about this with ED... His work is immpresive also...

[Stevos758]

Do it!!!!!!!!

[cichlidfan]

What can we, as community, do so that we can set a "date" for Combat-Helo with Eagle Dynamics. At least Combat Helo stated several times that his doors are opened and ready to discuss about this with ED... His work is immpresive also...

 

We as a community can do nothing. It is up to the developer to approach ED with a plan, from what I understand.

[Flagrum]

We as a community can do nothing. It is up to the developer to approach ED with a plan, from what I understand.

We can encourage Richard and his devs.

 

Once I read on his blog that he is a bit reluctant considering a DCS version because of the heavy use of LUA - for which he lacks experience. My understanding about DCS and LUA is, that it is used for easy tweaking and configuring, but that the main effords for coding a DCS module is still "just" C++. I.e. one could develop a fully featured DCS module with just a few hand full of LUA code. If this is correct, then maybe someone with more insight could encourage them to consider a DCS port of his work?

[Devrim]

Sources indicate that a special AH-64 version will be released next week. The Rudolf, armed with all the bells and maybe some whistles :)

What does it mean? :)

[KaspeR32]

What does it mean? :)

 

Hopefully it means we get a demo of some sort? But that just seems too good to be true, at least at this stage.

[Abburo]

That was just a joke. Nothing will come out.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Abburo