In what will probably be the final developer diary for the IL-2 series in 2022, we have a wrap up post from IL-2 Producer “Han” on the IL-2 forums with both a look back and a look forward. There are some priorities outlined for the new year that continue to hint at new directions for the developers in 2023 so lets have a look at this all.
The last year
The first part of the post touts the last year of development with some pretty impressive accomplishments and numbers. Some of those include 9 updates with 365 listed changes and improvements. There were 6 visual improvements including clouds, skydome, tactical codes, and damage effects. We also got two maps, 10 new released aircraft (9 player controllable), two new vehicles, 9 new AI vehicles, and 7 new ships.
All of this highlights the immense amount of content that has come from the team over the course of the year. It also saw the official release of IL-2: Battle of Normandy and the near completion of Flying Circus Vol 2.
The team have also released a slideshow with screenshots of all of the new content and features summarized in about 4-minutes. Have a look!
Goals ahead
The next part of the update is focused on talking about 2023 and here we get some interesting information. There’s no big reveal here but we do get some tidbits of information that might help give us a sense of where they are going in the next year.
The report reminds us and gives us some specifics on what is happening with the team. They have hired two new programmers, two flight model engineers, two 3D artists and two community managers. This is apparently not all that is planned and they intend to expand the team further – this is presumably the result of the corporate changes that we’ve been learning about recently.
The goals ahead that they have listed include a six point plan that includes bringing their new project up to speed, developing new base technologies, developing new user experiences and adding new employees. They also list Great Battles in their priorities with the intent to continue releasing new content for Great Battles and establishing partnerships with third parties to continue development for Great Battles as well as the new project.
Read the complete developer diary for more details of their look back and look forward.
Reaction
Although we’re still dealing with some vague language here, this message is more complete than the one that we got with the live stream back in November. It confirms that the team are working on something new that is likely separate and distinct from the Great Battles Series.
But it also seems to indicate that additional content for Great Battles is likely to come out over the next year or longer as the team builds up a new project.
New sims, with dramatically different technologies, can take a few years to develop. 1CGS aren’t starting from zero as they already have a bespoke engine and decades of experience (even if they have hired new staff) so this isn’t an entirely new from the ground up effort. It also sounds like its a significant departure needing new technologies so the next project will probably be a few years from completion.
Great Battles will probably continue to be the key piece of 1CGS puzzle for the near future. I don’t think we’ll see another battle release, but it may see some smaller individual pieces (i.e. the already announced Collector Planes) or smaller packages. Meanwhile, the new sim will likely occupy much of the development.
We’ll see how this begins to play out in 2023!
Stormbirds 
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