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Friday September 22nd, 2006
Eastern Front Expansion ReleasedIt's time again to go to war, and this time its over the Eastern Front!
The Eastern Front Expansion for Down in Flames has just been released and is now available for sale.
You can order the Eastern Front Expansion as a Download, on CD or both Download and CD.
In addition we are also now offering a Down in Flames & Eastern Front Expansion Bundle that includes both the original game and expansion together. That bundle comes on DVD, Download or both DVD and Download formats.
[ Get more details on the Eastern Front Expansion here ]
Tuesday August 15th, 2006
Eastern Front Expansion for Down in Flames announcedTake to the skies over the Eastern Front with this new expansion for the critically acclaimed Down in Flames computer game. Eastern Front adds new planes, pilots, skills, campaigns, AI enhancements and more to expand the war in the skies of World War II.
For the first time, you can fly as either Polish or Russian pilots and command new exciting planes like the LA-7 and IL-2M or take to the skies in Polish P.11C's and P.37's. But it's not just Russia and Poland that get updated planes, 29 new planes have been added, including the awesome German ME-262 jet fighter and the British Tempest V.
Eastern Front also offers over a dozen new online campaigns featuring battles over Russia, North Afrika, Europe, Japan and the Pacific and all of the new campaigns have been designed to feature the new planes.
[ Read more details on Eastern Front here ]
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
Campaign Data page updated with new campaignsWe have updated the Campaign Data page with info on the two newest campaigns released. The ahistorical Bomber Command 1941 campaign and the exciting early Pacific war Flying Tiger campaign.
Thursday, February 9th, 2006
Host of new game enhancements and additions recently addedOver the last few weeks, there has been a slew of changes and additions to the world of Down in Flames. Below is a recap of some of the most important and many more are still on their way!
Updated Spitfire
All of the Spitfire I animations have been updated to include propeller and fire/smoke effects as well as updating the skin/texture.
Pilot Start Year
When creating a new pilot, you will now have the ability to choose a “Start Year” for the pilot. The choice of Start Year has two effects:
Determines the number Experience Points (XP) that the pilots begins with. For example, choosing a 1941 Start Year results in the pilot starting with 200 Cumulative XP (but will have 0 Available XP).
Determines the “XP Factor“, which is the value multiplied by any XP gained during a mission. To continue the example, choosing a 1941 Start Year results in an XP Factor of 0.90. If this pilot flew a mission and scored 10 XP, he would only be awarded 9 XP.
Burst and Damage Bonus System
In the original system, an aircraft's armament was translated into a Burst rating. Since the Burst rating only varied between 0 and 2, it tended to make all aircraft look more or less the same in this area. For example, the Spitfire I and the Bf-109E both had Burst rating of 1, even though the Spitfire was armed with .30 caliber machine guns while the Bf-109E had 20 mm cannons.
The new system adds a new rating called the “Damage Bonus”, which modifies the damage value of a card (In My Sights or Out of the Sun). The Damage Bonus will vary between -1 and +2, depending on the destructive power of the aircraft's armaments. For example, the Spitfire now has a Burst rating of 2, but has a Damage Bonus of -1, while the Bf-109E has a Burst rating of 0 and a Damage Bonus of +1. In general, you can equate more machine guns with higher Burst ratings, and more cannons with higher Damage Bonus ratings.
Heavy Cannons
Some aircraft were armed with particularly destructive cannons (30 mm and up) which frequently resulted in devastating structural damage when they hit. In order to account for this, some aircraft will have a “Heavy Cannon” rating. Each point of Heavy Cannon will translate into a 10% chance of any “In My Sights” card being converted into the dreaded “In My Sights 2-Burst: Fuel Tank Hit” card. This conversion takes place at the time the card is drawn from the deck. For example, if a leader with a Heavy Cannon rating of 1 draws 3 cards from the deck, and one of the cards is an “In My Sights 1-Burst: 1-Damage”, there is a 10% chance that the cards will be converted into an “In My Sights 2-Burst: Fuel Tank Hit” card.
For you guys into probabilities, assume that you are drawing the first card from a newly shuffled deck. The chance of drawing an “In My Sights 2-Burst: Fuel Tank Hit” is 1 out of 76, or about a 1.3% chance. If your aircraft has a Heavy Cannon rating of 1, your chances increase to about 4.5 %. That's still not a huge number, but it is a significant improvement. And if you were flying an Me-262 jet, you would have a Heavy Cannon rating of 4, which would translate into nearly a 13% chance.
One other thing to note on Heavy Cannons. In a couple of cases, we gave a Heavy Cannon rating of 1 to aircraft that didn't actually have 30 mm cannons, but they did have a large number of smaller cannons and/or machine guns. For example, the Fw-190 and the Mosquito both have enough cannons and machine guns that a 1 Burst and +1 Damage Bonus doesn't quite cover their destructive power. But giving them a 1 Burst and +2 Damage Bonus was way too powerful. So, we gave them a 1 Burst, +1 Damage Bonus and 1 Heavy Cannon rating as a compromise.
The Wingman DeckA number of players have noted that when pilots get to high XP levels and are flying the best aircraft available to their nationality, the wingman can be particularly deadly because they are drawing quite a few cards, and they have no burst limit. Either they will shoot you down outright, or they will drain your leader's hand of so many cards that he becomes easy prey to the enemy leader. Consequently, many players believe that they must go after the enemy wingman first and try to knock him out of the picture before going after the leader.
We decided that it would improve the game if the wingman were made a little less offensive and a little more defensive, particularly with the Damage Bonus enhancement mentioned above. The solution that we came up with was to have wingmen draw from a separate deck from leaders and bombers. This deck has about 25% fewer “In My Sights” cards in it than the standard deck. Consequently, wingmen should have fewer opportunities for attacking, and therefore should be drawing more Maneuvering and defensive cards.
One side effect of this change is that the wingmen have one “In My Sights 2-Burst: Fuel Tank Hit” in their deck, and the leaders and bombers have one in their deck as well. When combined with the Heavy Cannon enhancement, it means that you could see more of this nasty card in your games.
Monday, January 16th, 2006
New German Downloadable Plane (Me-410) Now Available
Another new plane has been made available for download today and this time it is the formidable heavy German fighter the Me-410. Packing an awesome array of weaponry and tough enough to take some serious damage, this plane should be fun to fight with and against! The Me-410, along with all the other downloadable planes, features and campaigns, are available only for the full game version and will be automatically installed from the internet with the built in game updater. Review all the downloadable planes here.
Friday, December 23rd, 2005
Christmas comes early! New Plane, Campaigns, Animations and features available!
As mentioned on the forum, we are releasing an early holiday surprise for players of Down in Flames in the form of a massive (in content, not size) downloadable update. The new pack of goodies includes an all new playable plane for the UK (the Brewster Buffalo), 4 new playable campaigns (Leyte Gulf, Crete, Malta, Greece), some new plane animations for the Wildcat as well as an improved and enhanced pilot fatigue system. All of these new features are available for free (full version of game required) and will automatically download with the in-game updater.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ki-102 Randy released for download!
The Japanese aircraft Ki-102 Randy is now available for download. This aircraft never really saw production, but was designed to be a high altitude night fighter. Now you can see how it would have fared. Download available only for full game. Review all the downloadable planes here.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
New 109B animations available!New and improved 109B animations are up for download. Simply run the auto-updater to grab them. Animations include wing damage, propeller and fire/smoke animations as well as improved model and textures! Download available only for full game.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
F4F Wildcat available as a Download!The Wildcat F4F has been released today as free additional plane for Down in Flames! Simply use the auto-update feature of the full game to grab all the files! The Wildcat comes with brand new animations: damaged wings, propeller and fire/smoke graphics! Download available only for full game. Review all the downloadable planes here.
September 28th, 2005
Down in Flames final demo now postedThe final (non beta) version of the Down in Flames Demo is now available for download. If you have the earlier beta demo you should uninstall it before installing this version. This playable demo offers the following:
- Ability to play local and online dogfights. Local games are against
the
AI, online games are against the AI and/or human opponents.
- Dogfights can be up to 4 players.
- Four nationalities (Britain, USA, Germany, Japan). You can have
up to 4
pilots per nationality.
- The aircraft available for pilots to fly in the demo are the
Spitfire I
(British), Bf-109E (German), P-40N (USA), and Ki-61 (Japan).
- One campaign available to play (Dunkirk).
- Pilots gain experience from flying missions and can purchase
skills with
the XP, which will enhance their abilities in combat.
- Pilots can earn medals and be promoted to higher rank with successful
missions.
- Online game statistics are tracked and displayed on the web site,
so
players can compare their pilots with each other.
September 28th, 2005
Down in Flames is now shippingWe are pleased to announce that Down in Flames is now shipping from our warehouses in Europe and in the USA. If you had already pre-ordered the game, it should already be on its way to you!
August 31st, 2005
First of the free downloadable planes postedOne of the exciting features of Down in Flames will be the frequent free updates made available that will add new planes, rules and features to the game. The first such update is now available and is a new playable plane, the F4F Wildcat.
More exciting planes, new rules and game features will be updated monthly and will always be accessible, for free, with the games helpful "Updater" utility.
The new planes, rules and features can only be used with the full game, which should begin shipping in just a couple of weeks.
View the Plane Database page here
August 17th, 2005
Now Accepting Pre-OrdersIn preparation of the release of Down in Flames we are now accepting Pre-Orders. The game is expected to ship within 4-6 weeks, the cost is 35 dollars and also offers online play with continual free updates, new planes, campaigns and feature enhancements as well as online statistics tracking.
July 30th, 2005
Beta Demo releasedWe have just released a Beta Demo for the upcoming Aerial Combat game Down in Flames. Based on the card combat game of the same name, Down in Flames offers innovative gameplay and exciting multiplayer online action.
The 122 meg demo features solo and multiplayer action (with up to 4 players), the Dunkirk campaign and online player statistics tracking and more!
Download the Down in Flames Beta Demo right here!
June 30th, 2005
Summer Screenshot Bonanza EventIn honor of the Summer Screenshot Bonanza we have released some new screenshots from Down in Flames including some pics from the online campaign pages as well as the pilot management functions.
Down in Flames Screenshot Gallery...
June 21st , 2005
GameSpy Down in Flames PreviewThe webbased gaming mecca site GameSpy today posted a full game Preview of Down in Flames. Check out what they had to say below.
"If the beta we played (and played and played) is any indication, the final version of Down in Flames should be addictive fun. It's being built around a proven design, and it puts the emphasis squarely on challenging yet accessible gameplay. We can't wait to see how Down in Flames shapes up, and we'll keep you posted on all the latest."
GameSpy's Down in Flames Preview
June 20th , 2005
Bruce Geryk "Pre-Views" Down in FlamesThe online website 'Quarter to Three' has recently posted a full game preview by noted wargame industry stalwart Bruce Geryk. Read Bruce's comments, thoughts and opinions of this exciting, soon to be released, game here:
"What it all boils down to is a turn-based game that plays quickly, is tense and involving, and makes you want to play again and again. At a time when wargames seem to be competing on the ability to model details, it’s great to see one that’s actually competing as a game."
Bruce Geryk's Down in Flames "Pre" View
December 3rd, 2004
New Down In Flames Campaign section and Solomon Islands AAR PostedWe have added a new Campaign section which covers the details of the playable Campaigns that Down in Flames will ship with. We have also posted the exciting After Action Report between game designer Dan Verssen and notable play tester 'Harv' as they wage war over the skies in the Solomon Islands Campaign.
Review the Campaign Overviews Here
September 27th, 2004
First Down in Flames Preview now up at SimHQ.comThomas Cofield from SimHQ.com has just posted a very informative Preview for Down in Flames, based on his experience with a recent beta version.
Read the full game Preview here...
September 20th, 2004
Down in Flames After Action Report posted at Wargamer.comWargamer.com posted the second installment of a two part After Action Report for Down in Flames today. The report includes exclusive in-game screenshots and details a dogfight between the games designer (Dan Verssen) and one of our own CM forum regulars, Harv...
Read part 1 of the AAR here...
Read part 2 of the AAR here...
July 15th, 2004
New Dan Verssen interview posted at Wargamer.comA new interview with Down in Flames and Modern Naval Battles designer Dan Verssen was recently posted over at the Wargamer.com website. Check it out for more details on the work involved in converting these popular card games into exciting new computer games to be published by Battlefront.com.
Dan Verssen Wargamer.com interview
July 2nd, 2004
Down in Flames website launched!The official Down in Flames website is now open for business. Stop in to see screenshots, plane database, gameplay examples, designer notes and more!
June 1st, 2004
Down in Flames Developer Diary Posted at XperienceGaming.comThe website Xperience Gaming has posted a Developer Diary and interview with Dan Verssen, co-owner of Dan Verssen games and designer of the upcoming Down in Flames computer game... Read the full Developer Diary
April 16th, 2004
Down in Flames Announced!Battlefront.com (BFC) and Dan Verssen Games (DVG) are combining their talents to bring two classic tabletop game series' into the world of computer gaming.
The award winning Down In Flames system will be their first joint venture and is scheduled for release later this year. The computer game will stay true to its origins in both feel and flavor, while adding new features only possible with computer technology, like 3D animated planes and maneuvers!
Down In Flames focuses on tactical fighter to fighter dogfight combat in World War II. The game is turn based, and the action is resolved through a unique 'action - reaction' game mechanic that allows players to experience the feel of real life aerial dogfighting with a fast paced, easy to learn system.
The computer game will add several exciting features that fans of the tabletop game have requested since the game's release in 1993... Read the full Press Release