Cloud shadows...

[poplar 39]

I updated my mac tonight which updated the Safari web browser, I then visited the Microsoft Flight website as I do everyday to check for updates and the page didn't render properly as the big background image of breaking through the clouds was the only thing showing on the page for some reason. Seeing this image staring back at me made me wonder - I know the background image of the website has been talked about already, but it struck me that the cloud shadows in that image are very clear with a pocket of sunlight further in the distance.Do you think from the outset that the development team chose this on the basis that cloud shadows add so much realism and they wanted to make this a primary objective of design? Effectively making this image the background for the site so the cloud shadow addition will have been staring us in the face all along?I do hope so

[davethewave2 20]

I see what you mean,Here's the image on its own.http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/img/CloudBgnd.jpg

[daru1 0]

I updated my mac tonight which updated the Safari web browser, I then visited the Microsoft Flight website as I do everyday to check for updates and the page didn't render properly as the big background image of breaking through the clouds was the only thing showing on the page for some reason. Seeing this image staring back at me made me wonder - I know the background image of the website has been talked about already, but it struck me that the cloud shadows in that image are very clear with a pocket of sunlight further in the distance.Do you think from the outset that the development team chose this on the basis that cloud shadows add so much realism and they wanted to make this a primary objective of design? Effectively making this image the background for the site so the cloud shadow addition will have been staring us in the face all along?I do hope so

Let's be clear. There is no way that they could make Flight look like this. Even that last "magic screenie" didn't look that good. I don't think you'll be able to catch Microsoft even saying that this is "an artist's conception" of what Flight is supposed to look like.

[HughesMDflyer4 470]

Let's be clear. There is no way that they could make Flight look like this. Even that last "magic screenie" didn't look that good. I don't think you'll be able to catch Microsoft even saying that this is "an artist's conception" of what Flight is supposed to look like.

What magic screenie? There has never been a magic screenie. The FSX DX10 shot was an artist rendition made as a goal for the team, not what the product was going to look like. And the battleship shot of Flight was leaked. It was in game for sure, as in PC Pilot, there's a screenshot where you can see that battleship, and it looks identical.

[PhilTaylor 45]

What magic screenie? There has never been a magic screenie. The FSX DX10 shot was an artist rendition made as a goal for the team, not what the product was going to look like. And the battleship shot of Flight was leaked. It was in game for sure, as in PC Pilot, there's a screenshot where you can see that battleship, and it looks identical.

Not only was the magic screenie aspirational, we openly admitted it should not have been distributed and apologized for not reaching that level of rendering when we posted details on what the DX10 features in SP2 were. The community seems to conveniently forget that detail, that the studio was up-front about this exact specific detail when DX10 was finally released. The discussion feels like what transpired was for E3 2006, we released this picture and then when the product came out we said nothing. Here is a link to exactly what I said. And I posted on this to every site I participated in at the time, and engaged in detailed discussions. I do stand behind the fact that on my watch the studio acted 100% responsibly here. And any discussion of the magic screenies without acknowledging that we did discuss this and were not silent is not 100% accurate.

[Attila 2]

The problem is one of perception. The image was released and when it was released, I believe it was not clearly explained that the image is not a real screenshot.People who have seen the image may not have seen the later posts. Even if they did see the posts later, some will assume that the admission happened only because of the discussion generated by the image.You know this very thing will happen with the battleship if that ship does not appear in the game exactly as it looked in the pictures we have already seen.

[stonelance 136]

You know this very thing will happen with the battleship if that ship does not appear in the game exactly as it looked in the pictures we have already seen.

The difference being, that screenshot was never officially released. It has never appeared on the Flight website, but only on a Facebook page that appears to have been started by a fan.

[xXArch_AngelXx 0]

The problem is one of perception. The image was released and when it was released, I believe it was not clearly explained that the image is not a real screenshot.People who have seen the image may not have seen the later posts. Even if they did see the posts later, some will assume that the admission happened only because of the discussion generated by the image.You know this very thing will happen with the battleship if that ship does not appear in the game exactly as it looked in the pictures we have already seen.

Now I'm going to quote myself. (from the MS FLIGHT FAIL topic)

No words are needed, just eyeballs and a brain. :)^ Scanned first page of PCPilot Issue 73 MS Flight Article (Page 34).BTW, I really recommend buying PCPilot Magazine, Its really worth it! :)

Questions? Or is this still an elaborate act by Microsoft, that's another 'magic screenie'? ... Yeah, I believed I just proved that it isn't. Jamie ♥

[Attila 2]

Yes, we know the image appeared in print. It appears to be small and hard to tell what details are on it. When we see the ship in the game, as it was in the close-up image, then we'll know if the image was real or not.@stonelanceThe image did appear on an official page as that page may have been started by a fan, but it has been taken over by MS a good while before the image appeared.

[dmaher 0]

The problem is one of perception. The image was released and when it was released, I believe it was not clearly explained that the image is not a real screenshot.

:( Not at all... People were commenting on one element of a presentation, without reading the entire message. I think most people, who bothered, understood the DX10 presentations included concept art. It's just a tool game developers use....to direct the art team and talk about features. On occasion they choose to share it...should be no big deal...:biggrin:Talking about the background image on the website is difficult…no matter how it was made; the web artist would have reworked it a lot to suit the website. Even an FS9 screenshot could have formed the base for this image. The clouds follow some basic rules of artistic composition so they are certainly hand drawn. And the same with the cloud shadows…hand drawn. Both are quickly and easily done by a reasonably good matte painter with photoshop.

[c152flyboy 0]

Hey Phil, nice to see you around but too bad you still have to defend a decision MS made 5 years ago. No wonder developers dont like talking about stuff sometimes.

[mgh 89]

The image did appear on an official page as that page may have been started by a fan, but it has been taken over by MS a good while before the image appeared.

Is there proof of that?

[Attila 2]

Proof of what?As far as I know the fan who created the page posted that MS was taking it over. This post was made well before the ship image showed up. The image was posted and then taken down. Clearly, the image is from Flight and therefore from MS.

[mgh 89]

Proof of what?As far as I know the fan who created the page posted that MS was taking it over. This post was made well before the ship image showed up. The image was posted and then taken down. Clearly, the image is from Flight and therefore from MS.

So there's no proof that Microsoft has taken it over?

[Attila 2]

Not if you expect MS to say that they took the site over and posted and image which they then removed. No.Also, no proof if you think that the image was a fake or that the fan somehow hacked MS and posted this one image and then took it down himself. ;)