本文章及图片转自：https://www.gamepressure.com/editorials/tom-cruise-in-top-gun-cinematic-adventures-with-the-fa-18-hornet/z258e?fbclid=IwAR0HDtk6j_oAq_nZ9h-ZCUZh2FJL3ktuBsD3gSUVkQ1mXBQP7ZTzFXBwRNY

作者：Darius Matusiak

本文章仅代表作者个人观点

Tom Cruise in Top Gun - Cinematic Adventures with the F/A-18 Hornet in DCS World

Although games about airplanes aren't hugely popular, there are ways to feel like Tom Cruise from Top Gun. We asked Baltic Dragon – the creators of the DCS World campaign – about the secrets of creating cinematic stories set in the world of air forces.

虽然关于飞行的游戏并不是很热门，但是仍有些途径让我们感受壮志凌云中的Tom Cruise。我们向Baltic Dragon (DCS战役创作者) 询问了一些关于创作空战题材电影故事的秘密。

The original hit movie Top Gun was released in 1986 – a time when computer games were just beginning to make their mark in pop culture and entertainment. Everything was easier back then – both when it came to delighting the viewers with stunning air combat footage, and dazzling the players with a few vector lines pretending to be a F-14 Tomcat fighter. Nevertheless, a dozen or so games referring to the Top Gun that were released over a period of 26 years did not turn out to be as great hits as the film, and none of them became a timeless classic.

热门原创电影Top Gun于1986年上映 - 那个年代电脑游戏刚开始在流行文化和娱乐领域崭露头角。那时候一切都很简单 - 无论是用令人惊叹的空战镜头取悦观众，还是用几条矢量线伪装成F-14雄猫战斗机令玩家眼花缭乱。尽管如此，在过去的26年里，一些参考Top Gun电影创作的游戏并没有像电影一样大受欢迎，也没有一款成为永恒的经典。

In fact, all of them were simple, arcade shooters that got lost in the maze of similar games. No studio took advantage of the greatest wave of popularity of flight simulators that was occurring in the early 90s. Made with arguably the greatest flair, Top Gun: Fire at Will (1996) could boast cutscenes featuring, among others, James Tolkan known from the film, but the game itself deterred fans of flying with some great gameplay simplifications and an extremely underwhelming story with poor performances of the remainder of the cast.

事实上，这些都是简单的街机射击游戏，创作者在类似游戏的迷宫中迷失了方向。没有一家工作室利用了90年代初那股飞行模拟流行浪潮。Top Gun: Fire at Will (1996)做的好的方面是，它可以吹嘘自己使用了电影中著名演员人物的过场画面，例如James Tolkan(Top Gun中"Stinger"、航母指挥官扮演者)，但是游戏本身通过大量的简化和极其平庸的内容以及其他演员糟糕的表现让飞行爱好者失望止步。

The sequel, Hornet's Nest, described as too difficult for casuals and too silly for veterans, also brought a bag of mixed feelings, and the sole significant improvement over its predecessor was the terrain graphics. The creators wanted to reconcile realism with universal accessibility, but such attempts usually ended in failure. It's worth noting, however, that in Hornet's Nest, the main character – Maverick – switched to the F/A-18 Hornet, which is a slightly older version of the one he flies in the sequel to Top Gun.

它的续作Hornet's Nest，有反馈称，对普通玩家来说太难，对老玩家来说又太蠢，同时也带来了一系列复杂感受，与上作相比，唯一显著的提升就是地形画质。游戏制作者希望将拟真和低上手难度相协调，但这种尝试通常以失败告终。然而值得注意的是，在续作Hornet's Nest中，主角Maverick改用F/A-18大黄蜂战斗机，这是在他Top Gun电影续作中驾驶的那架老版本的机型。

Maybe there’s no games, but there are DCS World campaigns

Today, the reality is completely different. New generations are more excited about superheroes than fighter jets, and flight simulators have become ultra-realistic and inevitably attract a much narrower group of enthusiasts compared to other genres. In such an environment, is there still room for a game based on the movie Top Gun: Maverick? Perhaps so – a sandbox based on the great Strike Commander, with a fighter jet in the lead role and a captivating story, could be a welcome breath of fresh air among the hackneyed entries in the said series. Unfortunately, we will likely never find out about it, because large publishers won't decide to take such risks, and only they could afford to buy the appropriate licenses and realize such a game with the right momentum.

如今，情况完全不一样。新一代人对超级英雄比战斗机更感兴趣，现在的飞行模拟器变的更加逼真。与其他类型游戏相比，不可避免地吸引了一部分小众玩家爱好者。在这样的环境下，根据Top Gun: Maverick电影改编的游戏还有一席之地吗？也许是这样的 — 以Strike Commander(陆空战将)为原型的沙盒游戏，用一架战斗机作为主角配合引人入胜的故事情节，可能是上述老套游戏中一股受欢迎清流。不幸的是，我们可能永远不会知道的一点，因为大型游戏出版商不愿意承担这样的风险，他们能做的就是买一些合适的许可证并尽力完成游戏开发。

This doesn't mean, however, that fans of flying have no way what so ever to feel like Maverick performed by Tom Cruise, or "Rooster" (Miles Teller), the son of the unforgettable "Goose." There are ways to take part in truly cinematic stories as a pilot of the F/A-18C Hornet fighter, taking off and landing on aircraft carriers, just like the heroes of Top Gun: Maverick. Look no further than the story campaigns for DCS World simulator, especially those designed strictly for two modules, F/A-18 and Supercarrier, which introduces US Navy aircraft carriers.

然而，这并不意味着飞行爱好者没有机会体验到"Maverick"(扮演者Tom Cruise)或者"Rooster"("Goose"的儿子，扮演者Miles Teller)的感觉。有很多种方式可以作为一名F/A-18C大黄蜂飞行员，真实地体验电影中的故事情节，就像Top Gun: Maverick电影中的英雄们一样。只要看看那些DCS World中的战役就明白了，尤其是那两个被严格设计的模组，F/A-18C和超级航母，超级航母内容是美国海军航空母舰。

Realism and cinematic action can go hand-in-hand

At the beginning, it's worth noting that these titles are certainly not intended for everyone. The main obstacle here is the degree of realism of the DCS World simulator and the accuracy with which F/A-18C Hornet was recreated. While the flight model itself is generally very accessible, the operation of individual weapons, navigation and radio communication systems requires some specific knowledge and familiarity with the subject of combat aviation. On the other hand, it's still largely a game meant for entertainment. The missions of the campaign are about reaching a destination, completing tasks, shooting, making decisions, talking to NPCs – just like in any other action game. For some people, the desire to experience such an adventure can be a good incentive to get into the world of aviation and learn about the operation of the F/A-18C Hornet.

首先，值得注意的是，这些标题显然不适合所有人。这里主要的障碍是DCS World的拟真度和F/A-18C大黄蜂的还原准确度。虽然飞行很容易上手掌握，但是单类武器，导航和无线电通信系统的使用需要相关知识和熟悉空战相关内容。另一方面，它很大程度上仍然是一款娱乐游戏。战役中的任务是关于到达目的地、完成任务、射击、决策、与NPC交谈 — 就像其他动作类游戏一样。对于某些人来说，渴望感受这种刺激体验可以更好地进入航空世界，学习关于F/A-18C大黄蜂的操作。

In addition, there's also a selection of story campaigns, which differs in terms of atmosphere and complexity. On the one hand, you can experience an almost arcade game inspired by the Ace Combat series, full of cringeworthy dialog lines, and constantly leading the player by the hand. On the other hand, there are campaigns developed under the strict supervision of real Hornet pilots. There, each line of text of the radio chatter was consulted to ensure maximal realism. It may take some effort even for veterans of flight simulators to understand this cryptic jargon at first.

另外，还有一些列的战役，在气氛和复杂程度方面有所不同。一方面是，你可以体验到以 Ace Combat(皇牌空战)系列为灵感的街机游戏，充满了令人尴尬的对话，并不断地手把手引导玩家。另一方面有些战役的开发在一些真实的大黄蜂飞行员审核下完成。里面的每一行无线电对话都被审查，以确保最大程度地拟真。即便是玩飞行模拟的老玩家，刚开始时也需要花费力气来弄懂这些令人费解的术语。

Virtually most of these story expansions are made with small, 3rd-party studios, and sometimes even individual enthusiasts who can count on huge support of the community. Thanks to this, many people from all over the world are always involved in the projects. There's no problem with the selection of voice actors with natural accents, you can also count on the above-mentioned support of people professionally involved with military aviation. We were able to talk to the creator of one of the most recognized campaigns in the DCS community – Baltic Dragon – and asked them about details of their creation. So, what experiences in the Top Gun atmosphere can we get in DCS World?

实际上，这些战役大多数由小型第三方工作室制作，甚至有些是依靠社区大力支持的个人爱好者制作。感谢这些来自世界各地的玩家，加入到这些项目创作中。所以挑选一些配音演员不成问题，创作者还可以得到军事航空领域的专业人士支持。我们能够和最受DCS玩家认可的战役之一的创作者 — Baltic Dragon进行交流并询问了他们在创作时的细节。那么，我们在DCS World中又能感受到哪些来自Top Gun电影的氛围呢？

From Ace-Combat style Visual Novel...

The Rising Squall campaign by Inverted is by far the most similar to a regular computer game. It's practically a combination of the style and atmosphere of the Ace Combat series with the realism of DCS World – but taking neither too far. Unlike other games, the most demanding or complicated activities here are performed for the player by the AI, putting pure action and story to the forefront. And as befits Ace Combat, the action is full of pathos and cringy dialogues. Someone is saying something all the time, dynamic soundtrack is pumping the action all the time (composed by Keiki Kobayashi himself – the author of the music for Ace Combat).

Rising Squall(风起翼下)是迄今最类似常规电脑游戏的战役。这实际上把Ace Combat(皇牌空战)的氛围和DCS World的拟真相结合 — but taking neither too far。与其他游戏不同，这里将最复杂的环节交由AI为玩家执行，将纯粹的动作情节和故事放在首位。与Ace Combat(皇牌空战)一样，充满了感人和尴尬的对话。一直有人说，起伏的背景音乐推动着剧情变化。(Keiki Kobayashi作曲，Ace Combat音乐创作者)

The creators gave us some hand-drawn manga-style briefing documents, illustrating the mission objectives, and on the web you can find a comic book introducing the lore and the characters of Rising Squall. Inverted has proven that it's possible to combine the rigid and serious realism of DCS World with the visual novel genre and purely console action. It's certainly not a digestible mixture for everyone, but beginners aren't likely to find a more accessible and spectacular introduction to story-based air combat.

此战役创作者给我们带来一些手绘漫画风格的简报文件，说明了任务目标，你还可以在其网站上找到介绍相关知识和战役角色的漫画书。Inverted工作室的做法已经证明可以将DCS World的僵硬拟真风格与视觉小说题材及纯粹的单机动作风格相结合。这种结合当然不是每个人可以理解的，但是初学者不太容易找到更易懂、更好的空战题材教学内容。

In addition to Rising Squall, there are a couple of other campaigns that offer different experiences. Aggressors BFM from Maple Flag Missions will take us to the famous training ground in the Nevada desert to play the role of an "aggressor" plane pretending to be a hostile MiG. Operation Pontus by 373vFS Greg, 373vFS_Petritis and Baltic Dragon is a substitute for a dynamic campaign in which subsequent missions depend on our actions. A lot of quests and dialogue lines can also be found in Operation Cerberus North, Rise of the Persian Lion and The Serpent's Head 2.

除了Rising Squall战役(风起翼下)之外，还有一些其他战役可以带来不同的体验。Maple Flag Missions制作的 Aggressors BFM战役(入侵者BFM)，将带我们前往Nevada沙漠中著名的训练场，扮演米格飞机作为“入侵者”角色。373vFS Greg、373vFS_Petritis和Baltic Dragon制作的Operation Pontus战役(蓬托斯行动)是一个动态战役，后续的任务取决于我们的决策。在Operation Cerberus North战役(北方地狱犬行动)、Rise of the Persian Lion战役(波斯狮的崛起)和The Serpent's Head 2战役(蛇头2)中也可以找到很多任务和对话。

...to realistic missions from real Hornet pilots

If you want something opposite to the manga-inspired Rising Squall, check out the brutal crash with authenticity and realism found in Raven One campaign, prepared by the Baltic Dragon. If the title rings a bell – it's an adaptation of a well-received book by Kevin Miller. It tells the fictional story of a group of Hornet pilots stationed on the USS Valley Forge aircraft carrier. Sent to the Persian Gulf, they have to face another military crisis in that region. The main character, Jim "Flip" Wilson, is even a graduate of the Top Gun school, and he is a slightly more authentic equivalent of "Maverick" from the movie.

如果你想尝试与漫画风格Rising Squall(风起翼下)相反的战役，看看由Baltic Dragon制作的Raven One战役(乌鸦一号)，真实与现实的残酷碰撞。如果你觉得标题很熟悉 — 战役改编自Kevin Miller的畅销书。这本书讲述了一组大黄蜂飞行员部署在USS Valley Forge号航空母舰上的虚构故事。这些飞行员被派往波斯湾，他们不得不面对该地区的另一场军事危机。书中的主角Jim "Flip" Wilson，一名TOP GUN毕业生，他与电影中的"Maverick"有些相似。

The author of the book is also a former F/A-18C Hornet pilot and has participated in combat operations. So the text is full of professional notions and jargon of pilots, which some reviewers even considered a flaw. Others believe that it adds credibility and authenticity to it, throwing the reader literally on board the aircraft carrier and into the Hornet's cockpit. As you might guess, the feeling of being right in the middle of the action is even greater in front of the monitor when going through the book's mission in DCS World.

这本说的作者是前F/A-18C大黄蜂飞行员，曾参加过作战行动。因此书中充满了专业的概念和飞行员术语，有些读者甚至认为这是该书的缺点。其他读者认为这样增加了可信度和真实性，字里行间将读者带到航空母舰上和大黄蜂座舱内。正如你猜测的那样，在DCS World中执行原著中的任务，让玩家在屏幕前的感觉更加强烈。

Baltic Dragon was not limited to the same heroes and events as described in the novel. When portraying the missions described by Miller in DCS, he not only added new ones, complementing the whole story, but most of all he consulted everything with the author and another pilot – Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello – the creator of the famous The Fighter Pilot Podcast.

Baltic Dragon没有局限于小说中相同的英雄角色和事件。当用DCS创作Miller在书中描述的任务时，他不仅添加新的任务，还完善了整个故事，更重要的是，他咨询了作者和另外一名飞行员 — Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello — 著名播客The Fighter Pilot Podcast作者。

How did the book even become the basis of the fictional campaign of a flight simulator?

这本书如何成为此战役的脚本？

The idea came up during a conversation with Vincent Aiello. It's author is actually Rob Grady, the producer of the Fighter Pilot Podcast who also plays DCS World, who was pretty familiar with my previous campaigns. So we chatted with Vincent (Jell-O) first, and then we arranged to meet Kevin Miller – and it was downhill from there. In the meantime, I joined the Fighter Pilot Podcast team (now part of BVR Productions), and everything gained a lot of momentum. In the near future, we want to complete a story campaign for the F-16C Viper, created together with the F-16C pilot John "Rain" Waters from the Afterburn Podcast, and a campaign for the F-14B in cooperation with the former F-14 Tomcat radar operator – Ward "Mooch" Carroll. – Baltic Dragon

灵感来自和Vincent Aiello的一次谈话中。其实这是Rob Grady想到的，他是Fighter Pilot Podcast 的制作人同时也在玩DCS World，Rob Grady对我之前创作的战役非常熟悉。所以起初我和Vincent (Jell-O)聊了聊，之后我们安排和Kevin Miller见面 — 从那时就揭开了战役制作序幕。与此同时，我加入了 Fighter Pilot Podcast (现在是BVR Productions一部分)团队，我获得了极大的动力。在不久的将来，我会完成关于F-16C蝰蛇战斗机的一部战役，该战役是与F-16C飞行员，播客Afterburn Podcast创始人John "Rain" Waters合作的。另外还有一部关于F-14B的战役，该战役是与退役F-14雄猫战斗机雷达官Ward "Mooch" Carroll合作的。– Baltic Dragon

"Pilots don't talk nonsense"

There are several thousand lines of dialogues in the digital version of Raven One – and Miller and Aiello made sure that each of them sounded exactly right. In addition, there's also the documentation of missions full of tables and concepts that, at first glance, seem meaningless. Only when you completely immerse yourself in the world of pilots, familiarizing yourself with the procedures of a mission, everything will start to make sense. The "player" finds out how extremely important it is during a combat situation to operate the radio, change frequencies and carefully read the information in the pilot's handy notebook – the kneeboard.

数字版的Raven One(乌鸦一号)有几千行对话 —Miller和Aiello确保每一句话听起来正确。另外，任务文档里充满了表格和概念，乍一看毫无意义。只有你完全沉浸在飞行员的世界中，熟悉任务流程，这一切才开始变得有意义。玩家会发现在战斗中操作无线电，切换频率和仔细阅读飞行员笔记 — 膝板，是多么的重要。

Could the DCS campaign be "too hard" then, or is that what the community expects?

DCS战役会不会太难了，还是玩家所期望的？

DCS World is referred to as a "study sim," and most players expect the highest possible realism from the mission. Within reason, of course, because completely realistic missions could be boring even for the greatest enthusiasts. The response from the community was amazing, overwhelmingly positive.

DCS World被称为“学习模拟”，大多数玩家期望执行任务中尽可能地逼真。当然这是合理的，即使对于发烧玩家来说，完全拟真的任务也可能会有些无聊。从玩家群体得到的反馈很惊人，绝大多数是积极的反馈。

Even people who usually only play multiplayer praised the campaign for how it reflects the atmosphere and allows you to feel like a real F/A-18 pilot. On the other hand, there was, of course, the discontent lot: too little action, too much refueling in the air, too little pilots' chatter, etc. However, I take these allegations as proof that we've achieved our goals, and therefore delivered a campaign that will raise the bar when it comes to content available to players in DCS World. – Baltic Dragon

即使那些通常只玩多人游戏的玩家也赞扬的这部战役，因为它反映了战场气氛，让你感觉自己是一名真正的F/A-18飞行员。另一方面，当然也有很多不满：太少的情节，太多的空中加油，太少的飞行员交谈等等。但是，我认为这些指责恰好证明了我们达成了目标，因此在DCS World中向玩家提供的内容标准得到了提高。– Baltic Dragon

Interpreting the story from a book in a PC simulator, which doesn't let you add an intro or any cutscenes, is an additional challenge that the authors had to face. Especially since the several thousand lines of dialogue we mentioned mainly concern jargon messages that the crews exchange to effectively execute combat missions. Pointless chatter typical of movies is rare here. It turns out, however, that it all depends on the military formation or the type of aircraft, and in future campaigns, the storyline will look a bit different – more cinematic and rich.

在PC模拟器中演绎一本书中的故事，是作者不得不面对的另一个挑战，因为它不允许添加介绍和任何过程动画。特别是我们提到的几千行对话主要涉及机组人员为了有效执行作战任务而使用的行话。电影中典型的没有意义的闲聊在这里很少见。然而，事实证明，这一切都却决于军队编制和飞机类型，未来推出的战役，内容会有些不同 — 更具电影感。

It all depends on the campaign. There's hardly any chit-chat in Raven One because Kevin and Jell-O were very adamant about US Navy pilots "just not talking nonsense" on missions. On the other hand, when working with John Waters on the story for the F-16C, it turned out that things are a bit different in the USAF air force and casual conversations and jokes are quite common. Once I start making the campaign for the F-14 (in cooperation with Ward "Mooch" Carroll), I will surely cut some more slack like that, because it's a natural thing in a two-seat airplane. – Baltic Dragon

这全部取决于战役本身。在Raven One(乌鸦一号)中几乎没有闲聊，因为Kevin and Jell-O都非常坚持美国海军飞行员在执行任务“不说废话”的原则。另一方面，在与John Waters一起合作F-16C的战役时，发现美国空军的情况有点不同，随意的交谈和玩笑话很常见。当我开始制作F-14的战役时(与Ward "Mooch" Carroll合作)，谈话会像空军那样很轻松，因为在双座飞机上这是件很自然的事。– Baltic Dragon

From Success to Prequel – Dominant Fury

The success of the book Raven One made it a trilogy. The next two volumes: Declared Hostile and Fight Fight present the further fate of Jim "Flip" Wilson in other war hot spots around the world. But there's also a fourth part – strictly designed for the DCS World. Keeping up the momentum, Baltic Dragon created a prequel to the story of Raven One called Dominant Fury, which should be released in the near future.

Raven One(乌鸦一号)一书的成功使其成为三部曲。其余的两部Declared Hostile和Fight Fight讲述了Jim "Flip" Wilson在其他地区军事冲突中的后续命运。但还有第四部分 — 严格为DCS World设计。为了继续保持势头，Baltic Dragon为Raven One(乌鸦一号)创作了一部前传战役Dominant Fury，应该会在不久的将来发布。

The story takes us three years back, to 2005, when "Flip" is already a Top Gun graduate. An incident with the hijacking of the plane over the Mediterranean Sea causes the hero and the rest of his squadron to become involved in the mission of destroying a terrorist hideout somewhere in Lebanon, which in turn sparks the attack of some militias on Israel. And then the situation becomes even more complicated...

这个故事将我们带回到三年前，2005年，那时"Flip"已经是一名TOP GUN毕业生。一起发生在地中海上空的劫机事件导致这位英雄和他的中队其他成员参加了摧毁黎巴嫩某处恐怖分子藏身处的任务，这反过来又引起一些民兵对以色列发动袭击。然而情况变得更加复杂……

But don't worry! Despite such serious subjects dripping with international politics, it's still just a story and there's room for completely surprising ideas. I will only reveal that in one mission, during a standard flight, "Flip" suddenly receives a signal on the rescue channel from a concerned woman... It is thanks to such moments, in an ultra-realistic simulator such as DCS World , you can show some human characteristics and emotions, even if they're delivered just with the voices of heroes.

但是不要担心，尽管如此严肃的主题涉及国际政治，但这只是一个故事，并且还有让人意想不到的情节。我只透露，在一次任务中，"Flip"突然在求救频道中收到一名女性的呼救信号……这要归功于DCS World的极度拟真，你可以展示一些人物特征和情感，即使他们通过声音传递。

Where did the idea for a prequel to Flip's adventures come from? Who's behind the storyline?

关于制作Flip前传战役的灵感从何而来？谁是这个故事幕后的人？

This certainly is the result of the success of the first part, which, frankly speaking, surprised us a bit, because we did not expect such a positive reception of Raven One. So, striking the iron while it was hot was a natural reaction, especially as we all had fun making the first part. This time, however, we adopted a slightly different course of action. Previously, I tried to reflect some of the missions in Kevin's book as reliably as possible, and only then wrote the script to the others, so that everything would make sense (of course, after lengthy discussions with the writer and Jell-O).

这肯定是第一部获得成功的结果，说实话，有点出乎我们意料，因为我们没想到Raven One(乌鸦一号)会如此受欢迎。所以，自然而然趁热打铁，尤其是我们制作第一部的时候都很开心。然而，这一次，我们采取了略有不同的方针。以前，我尽可能地真实展现Kevin书中的一些任务，之后才会完成其他部分的脚本，这一切看起来都很有意义。(当然，是与作者和Jell-O进行长时间的讨论后。)

With Dominant Fury, they wrote almost all of the missions, and then we adapted them together to the capabilities of DCS World. As such, it's an even more ambitious project than the previous campaign, with longer missions (up to 3 hours – but they're split into shorter parts), more machines involved in them, more varied goals, etc.

在Dominant Fury中，他们几乎编写了所有任务，之后我们让这些任务在DCS World中变为可能。因此，这是比前作更耗时耗力的项目，更长的任务时间(长达3个小时 — 但是它们被分成几个部分)，更多的机型参与，更多的任务目标等等。

We also have an idea for the third part, but this time it will be a training campaign, something like my other production: Iron Flag for the A-10C Warthog. It will be created with assist of two F/A-18 pilots, one of whom even finished the Top Gun School, and who have more than 3,000 hours of flight time each. I am sure that they will be an invaluable source of information and tips for virtual pilots. – Baltic Dragon

我们也有关于第三部分的想法，但这将会是一个训练战役，就像我其他的作品：为A10-C疣猪制作的Iron Flag战役(铁旗)。训练战役由两位F/A-18飞行员协助开发，一位是TOP GUN毕业生，另一位的飞行时超过3000小时。我肯定他们会给虚拟飞行员们带来宝贵的信息和技巧。– Baltic Dragon

A hair's width away from Top Gun: Maverick in DCS World...

All these plans and the milestones achieved to date seem like a lot of work. This is an amazing feat for a single, passionate creator – a similar level of content quality could easily be expected from a team of a dozen developers. So what does it really look like behind the scenes? Is this still a hobby created in spare time, or is it slowly becoming a job similar to running a dev studio?

所有这些计划和迄今为止到达的成就都需要付出大量的工作。对于一个充满激情的创作者来说，这是一个惊人的壮举 — 一个由几十人组成的开发团队创作的内容质量很容易达到类似水平。那么创作幕后的真实情况是怎么样的呢？仍是一种业余爱好还是正在慢慢成为类似运营工作室的工作？

For now, it's still a hobby that I devote my spare time to – of which I don't have too much – but ultimately, I will want to devote 100% of my time to creating content to DCS World, make it my main occupation. It looks like I will be able to do it in about 2 years. It's true, however, that more and more people are involved in these projects. They are mostly contributors and experts on the subject matter, especially former pilots like Kevin Miller, Jell-O, John Waters and others, but also voice actors. A single campaign can involve up to 80 people! In addition, there are beta-testers, people helping with finding information, creators of trailers, dedicated skins for planes, campaign artwork, etc. So the proper management of these projects really takes a lot of time. – Baltic Dragon

目前，这仍然是我业余的爱好 — 我没有太多的业余时间 — 但最终我会把100%的时间用于DCS World内容创作，让它逐渐成为我的主要职业。看起来我大约还需要两年的时间才能做到这点。然而，确实有越来越多的人参与到这些项目中。他们大多是这方面的贡献者和专家，尤其像退役飞行员Kevin Miller，Jell-O，John Waters以及其他人，还有配音演员。一个单人战役最多可以涉及80个人！此外还有beta测试人员，资料信息查找人员，预告片制作人员，专有飞机涂装制作人员，战役美工人员等等。所以正确管理这些项目确实需要很多时间。– Baltic Dragon

And what about the real Top Gun? Is it possible to make a campaign based on film in DCS World – with the same characters and music? Did Baltic Dragon ever had the idea of obtaining the rights from Paramount Pictures to use the universe and heroes of Top Gun: Maverick in creating a licensed DCS World campaign? Maybe a prequel, since the Hornet model in DCS is an older version of the machine?

真正的Top Gun是怎么样的？有没有制作一部基于电影的DCS World战役 — 使用相同的角色和音乐？Baltic Drago有没有想过从Paramount影业获得Top Gun: Maverick的授权，制作一部获得许可DCS战役？也可能是前传，因为在DCS里有大黄蜂老版本的机型？

That's a actually the case, but ...

这是真实的情况，但是…

Some time ago, a friend of mine who worked with Paramount contacted me and offered to create a series of short mini-missions that would be used during events promoting the film. However, since then, the release has been postponed several times, and the proposition itself has blurred out somewhere along the way. But overall the idea to make a campaign based on "Top Gun" is very interesting and worth considering! Perhaps we can discuss it with the rest of Fighter Pilot Podcast team and see how to approach it. – Baltic Dragon

之前，我的一位与Paramount合作的朋友联系了我，提出要创作一系列简短的迷你任务，这些任务用于宣传电影。然而，从那以后，电影发布推迟了几次，而且这个提议也有模糊不清的地方。但总体而言，基于"Top Gun"创作战役的想法非常有趣，值得考虑。也许我们可以与Fighter Pilot Podcast团队成员讨论这个问题，看看如何解决。– Baltic Dragon

Top Gun forever

If the idea of a Top Gun game from Baltic Dragon, or any other 3rd-party creator, set within DCS World doesn't work out, the DCS World community will surely deliver it with mods and additional content at some point. We have already witnessed it already with the release of the F-14 Tomcat (somewhat coincidentally, the iconic fighter from the first part of the film series) module from Heatblur studio. Skins based on the livelry of the squadron known from the movie, along with the paintings of Maverick, Goose, IceMan and others' helmets appeared almost immediately. Someone also created a mission in which we escorted a confused Cougar to the aircraft carrier; practice combat scenarios with A-4 Skyhawk aircraft were also created and, of course, those with the F-5 Tiger, role-playing as MiG-28. Not to mention the sheer number of screenshots showing the inverted Tomcat flying over the black MiG that soon appeared.

如果在DCS World中，Baltic Dragon或者其他第三方创作者实现Top Gun的想法行不通，DCS World社区玩家肯定会在某个时候提供相关模组和一些额外内容。我们在Heatblur工作室发布的F-14雄猫(有些巧合，第一部电影中标志性战斗机)模组上见证了这一点。基于电影中的中队涂装，以及"Maverick"，"Goose"，"IceMan"，和其他人的头盔。有玩家还创作了一个任务，护送受到惊吓的"Cougar"返回航母；有的还创作了A-4天鹰训练场景，当然还有F-5虎式扮演MiG-28的场景。更不用说那些在黑色MiG头顶倒飞的雄猫的大量截图。

The creators of the F-14 module from Heatblur studio themselves also smuggled in some easter-eggs referring to the Top Gun movie. For this purpose, they used the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) sitting in the back seat, who's replaced in the game by the artificial intelligence called "Jester." It helps the pilot in an extremely immersive way, thanks to many dialogue lines recorded. In this way, the player quickly learns about the detection of hostile targets or a rocket speeding towards them. Some of the messages, however, are much less official and serve to relax the atmosphere, and two of them refer to the movie Top Gun. Sometimes after landing, we can hear that Meg Ryan (the wife of "Goose" in the movie) would be proud of us, and whenever the F-5 Tiger in a black skin is detected on the radar, "Jester" will report that it as "MiG- 28” – a fictional machine from the movie.

Heatblur工作室的F-14模组制作者也悄悄地搞了一些关于Top Gun电影的彩蛋。为此他们使用后座的RIO(雷达拦截官)，在游戏中被一名叫做"Jester"的AI取代。由于记录了很多对话台词，RIO让飞行员身临其境。通过这种方式，玩家可以快速地了解到敌机目标方位和飞向他们的导弹。然而有些对话不是那么正式，用于缓解气氛，其中两条参考了Top Gun电影。当我们着陆时，可以听到Meg Ryan(电影中"Goose"的妻子)会为我们感到骄傲，每次在雷达上探测到黑色皮肤的F-5虎式战斗机时，"Jester"会报告是MiG- 28 — 电影中虚构的飞机。

Just fly!

As you can see, in the world of complex flight simulators dripping with realism, abbreviations and terminology, there is still room for some entertainment and human emotions. Despite the possibility of using only text and voice acting, usually from amateurs, many of the DCS World story campaigns provide an unforgettable experience. And we can confidently say that each of these missions completely outclasses the scenarios of war from both parts of Top Gun in terms of professionalism, authenticity and credibility. Looking at the announcements coming up, the choice ought to become richer, both in terms of campaigns, new planes and environments. Will the appearance of Top Gun: Maverick in cinemas help in the creation of some completely new productions, new flight simulators? We'll see in some time, and for now – there's plenty to choose from anyway!

正如你所看到的，在充斥着拟真、缩写词、专业术语的复杂飞行模拟世界中，仍然保留一些娱乐和人类情感的余地。尽管通常可能只有来自玩家爱好者的文字和配音，但这些DCS World故事和战役为玩家提供了难忘的体验。我们可以自信地说，每一个任务在专业性、真实性和可信度都完全超越了两部Top Gun电影中的战斗场景。从即将发布地公告来看，无论是在新战役、新飞机模组和地景方面，玩家的选择会变得更丰富。Top Gun: Maverick的上映有助于创作一些全新的作品，新的飞行模拟器？我们过段时间再看，现在无论怎样，玩家有很多选择。

Darius Matusiak | Gamepressure.com