I´m Darkness, webmaster of the 69th Spanish Squadron at www.escuadron69.net, maybe some of you know us or have flown with us with Falcon 4, IL-2, LOMAC, or other simulators. I lost my old user and password but here I am again.
The reason of this post is: first, to let you know we at the squadron are working in a new tactical simulator, the AWACS Tactical Simulator. This is not a flight simulator, but a tactical simulator about the AWACS operations in an air combat zone. This simulator is being developed to run on iPad, iPhone, and Mac computers. Yes, no PC version still sorry, and not Android version at the moment, we plan to develop those versions if we can and have time and money.
We have an early beta in progress with some people of our squadron working hard to have the simulator ready for may.
The second reason is we need some help. We need people who want to record some english voices. We have a list and a method to record them, so we can include them in the simulator. We need people who speak fluently english and we need those voices for the simulator. We´re recording voices too, but we need any person that can record the voices so they´re clear and with good english. We´ll process then the voices to include some radio effects, chat, etc.
Important:
We´re going to open a new post in this forum very soon to start including people for the voices. American, english, but also german, french, russian, from everywhere. We´d like to include different voice sounds from different countries because that way it seems international exercises like Red Flag. We in Spain and Colombia have people working now already from the Spanish 69 squadron and the colombian 701 squadron. We are writing instructions for recording the voices and what to record. We´ll put all this stuff in a new post soon so don´t worry if you want to cooperate, any doubts we´ll have their answer.
We´ll start to give information about the tactical simulator soon. Videos, photos, and that stuff. We have a blog with some info already at http://awacstacsim.com.
You must understand this is not Electronic Arts or Microsoft or Eagle Dynamics. We are a group of friends working together. We don´t have a dollar in our pockets. But we think we can create a good and funny simulator about the AWACS operations. And this is not an arcade. It´s a simulator. Real data about aircraft, planes, radar, etc, are compiled into the simulator. Flight level, aircraft, missiles and their power, etc, are important. We cannot create a very very hard simulation of course, but we´re trying to. And we´re creating the simulator from scratch, this is not an addon for any simulator.
Also, if someone wants to collaborate writing articles, being a betatester, etc, just let me know here or in a private message.
Finally, this is a start. We have many ideas, but we know we must give the first step. The simulator in version 1.0 will be ready for download in may with the iPad and September in Mac, and we´ll continue working to have the best experience. This is a long term project we expect.
Thank you very much, and thanks to the SimHQ Staff for letting us open this post.
I'd be willing to do voice acting for you. I'm also a former aviator, so I know the terminology.
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-Home Fries XBL: The Mad Gonzo
The average Naval Aviator, despite the sometimes swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy, and caring. These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
Thanks Ice. And thanks HomeFries, we count on you, we´re writing some instructions to record the voices. We´ll also explain something about how the voices work in the simulator. I will open a new post with the info. And here I will post new data about the beta as soon as we have it running with videos and images.
Why no PC? PC is where most flight simmers live! I don't have the money for one of those Ipad thingies. The only tech I can afford and keep relatively upto date (i.e two or three years)is a PC.
Thank you for your question. I´d like to answer you with some ideas to ley you know our point of view.
We thought of developing the simulator for PC at first, yes, and there are many people interested in simulators, or in this case, tactical simulators, with a PC and Windows. But we also saw there are no tactical simulators for iOS, in this case for iPad and Mac. Some strategic games, some simulators (X-Plane), but, in the end, they´re no very deep. Here you´ll have to manage with 26 different aircraft and their weapons and use them the right way. If you send an A-10 to intercept a Su-27 you´ll be dissapointed. If you send a Tomcat with just a pair of Sidewinders against a Su-27 with R-77 you´ll lose your planes (almost 100% of times of course). If you want to destroy an entire air base with two MK-82 you´ll see that´s impossible. And so on.
That´s the point, we use real data to be as accurated as the real world is (of course with the logical limitations of a game developed by some friends). I say all this because you can´t find a game so deep in a iPad and not many in a Mac. We want to feed the iPad with a good strategic/tactical simulator of an AWACS, because there are no good simulators for the iPad. PC is full of very good games with millions dollars of work done to recreate the best simulations. We plan to do the same with the iPad. But, of course, we are just some friends, and we need to start at the beginning: no money, no good tools, but lot of work. If all goes well we plan to develop new versions with 3D graphics, amazing sounds, etc. But that´s the future for now.
Anyway, if all goes well, and if we see there´s enough money, we think of porting the game to Android and also PC. But we need to start somewhere, and that was, IMHO, the iPad.
Fair enough. However what your doing isn't on the PC either and is something I think many would jump at the chance of playing. Not just flight simmers but Wargamers aswell.
I never saw consoles as the threat to PC gaming, however I do see tablets and phones a real threat. Eventually it could take gaming back many years, as the hardware coys will stop making the latest graphic cards etc and compete for making the graphic tech in tablets instead. I see many new developers making games for this media and not the PC.
Evil Flower, iOS is not oversaturated, many people are earning money with the iPhone and the iPad. We also see there are no tactical simulators for the iPad / Mac, so we think there is plenty room for a development of this type.
Jenrick, we´re programming the simulator in a way that can be ported to classical mouse input in a easy way. You control the simulator with one finger or with a mouse, no problem for that, we know we don´t want to concentrate only on iPad, and the Mac version will be the same as the PC version for controlling the simulator
But of course as we see you´re interested, we can think of a development for the PC right after the iPad version is in the App store. I can tell you we have the tools for that, we need to migrate from Objective C to C++, but it can be done. It´s hard but not so hard as writing the program for the first time.
So, I can´t guarantee anything at this moment, but if we see there are enought people interested we´ll be pleased to port it to PC after iPad/Mac (both versions are quite ready, videos and images very very soon, we have the beta quite ready).
Thank you very much for your suggestions, we keep working hard
I'd be interested, but I don't own any Apple products. I'd have to hold out for a PC or Android version.
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I blame pilot error. A console is just a PC with most of the non-gaming bits stripped out. i7 3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4 GHZ 8 GB DDR3 RAM NVIDIA 680 2GB HAF X Full ATX Tower Win 7 64 Home Premium
We´re almost ready for the first internal beta. We plan to release a 1.0 version in late may with enhanced versions coming soon with feedback from fans. And the most important: the iPad will be the base for other versions as long as we can support this development. As I said, Mac version will come after the summer, and meanwhile we´ll be working with the tools to port the simulator from iPad/Mac to PC. I can assure you that it´s in our minds to release a PC version, we just need some good news with the iPad and Mac versions, and that´s not only how it is selling, but what people think about the software. We are a very small team but if all goes well we hope to have new people working with the software soon.
There will be a PDF manual too for download, completely free to see what´s inside the simulator, with some tutorials, links to videos , and info for people who don´t know quite anything about airplanes and their weapons, tactics, etc. More info and stuff coming very soon.
Hello, I'm Cano, and I'm from the AWACS Tactical Simulator art department. Hmm, well, thats not entirely true, I'm afraid I'm the whole art department, videos excluded.
Anyway, here is a little comic strip for you all to enjoy. We at AWTSIM are constantly playfully teasing our 69th Squadron mates about how good it will be for them to buy an iPad (and later the AWTSIM, of course), so this joke came out at the Blackshark wing, where I fly.
We have a wallpaper for you to download. It features one of the most popular multirole aircraft in the world: the F-16 Fihgting Falcon. Go to the AWTSIM web page and download your desired resolution in the Goodies section.
We´re finishing the AWACS Tactical Simulator now. We hope to send it to Apple on june 30th if all goes well, I we think there won´t be problems with that date, we´re working hard with our betatesters and we think the simulator is stable. There will be a lot of features not included in version 1.0 because we don´t want to go too far away with the first version, but we plan to update the simulator after the initial release with new ideas and, of course, your input if you wish to give us new ideas.
Next June 9 we´re going to present the AWACS Tactical Simulator in Cuatro Vientos Airport, near Madrid. Exactly at the library that we can find there (Bucker Book, an aeronautical library). We´re starting to publish the event and we know you´re far away from Madrid, but if any one can go he/she will be welcome. We want to present the simulator in other countries if we can, right now no resources are available for us to do it. Maybe after summer.
We also bring two files: the image of the event, and a pdf with the content of the event. This pdf contains the first part of the event and show basic features of the AWACS Simulator, being the second one running the simulator itself with an iPad. After the summer will arrive Mac vesion and yes, we plan to release a PC version if all goes well.
There will be a free 200 pages manual and some video tutorials of the AWACS Simulator, in iBook and PDF formats. We´re finishing it in time for the release version.
We hope you enjoy the pdf. And remember: we are just a very little team of people, we´re not a company, we don´t have resources, but we think we can give to the community an interesting piece of software.
The pdf to dowload (from our server (english version)):
Have you guys considered doing an AWACS module for the DCS series?
Well, that would be great. Porting this project as a module to DCS series would be fantastic. But they´re now working with Combined Arms, a product that can give you the control of the battlefield. So I think that project will evolve to something similar to our project. And one thing is for sure, our project is just an stand alone product that can´t compete and doesn´t want to compete with a beast like DCS series, with many expert and professional people.
Anyway we think we can have our opportunity too with our project, with the minimal resources we have of course.
But yes, we´d be happy to work with DCS. I think many people here would be happy to collaborate with them, they´re doing an impressive job. Maybe in the future if all goes well, with enough resources and money, we could think of doing a great simulator like DCS series, but for now this is just a sweet dream.
We're submiting the AWACS Tactical Simulator to the App Store now. This is version 1.0 so we plan to upgrade constantly the software as we know there are a lot of things to do and we plan to add a lot of new features. We think simulator will be available in ten days (that's what they're saying).
We´re now working on version 1.1, and starting with iMac version. We know there are many things to work, but as you know we are a small team of the 69Th Spanish Squadron with limited resources. We´re studying to work on a PC version with many new features, and talking with some people to get some cash for the work (we need to port the code to C++ or C#).
This is the last (for now) of the videotutorials we´re working on.
I'm a former (reformed?) "scope dope", a USAF GCI operator for ten years, from 1973-1983. I actually had the privilege of participating in the E-3A AWACS acceptance test in the Nevada Test Range. I was on the "bad guy" side. We were the first in a long line of competitors to be humiliated, I'm happy to say.
I hope your sim project .is still moving forward. If so, I would be glad to help you with English, terminology, or historical context, if you like
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