Mad Otter has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $250,000 for the game's development. Red Baron will push current technology to the max to provide an immersive experience that will bring the greatest era of dogfighting onto the PC.

Damon Slye was a founder of Dynamix, where he designed and produced classics like Aces of the Pacific, Aces over Europe, A-10 Tank Killer, Arcticfox, and of course Red Baron. Slye said, “When I left Dynamix, I felt like I let go of Red Baron to fly off into the universe, and that I would never see it again, but like some strange crazy boomerang it came back to me in the form of a red Fokker Triplane.”

Red Baron will simulate the flight characteristics of the aircraft of the day, and the ace AI system will recreate the behaviors and personalities of famous historic aces. For example, Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron himself, said “I am a hunter. My brother Lothar is a butcher.” By this he meant he stalked his prey and avoided unnecessary risk, whereas his brother threw all caution to the wind. In our game, you will not see the Red Baron recklessly diving into battle unless he holds an advantage.

As your campaign in the game progresses, your pilot will experience historically authentic events. You will gain access to new and better fighter aircraft just as the aces of the day did. 

Red Baron will feature events generated both randomly and influenced from your personal decisions. For example, you may find that suddenly an enemy ace has dropped a personal note of challenge over your airfield (just as they did in WWI). Why? Because two missions ago you shot down one of his comrades, and now he is out for revenge! We believe this is an engaging aspect of the player experience. Challenges, such as meeting the Red Baron, are more exciting, more intense, and more personal when that meeting is the result of past events—when that meeting is a part of a story.

Jump in anytime, day or night, for a challenging mission with or against your friends. Matches will last 20 to 40 minutes. The maps are designed to maximize gameplay and strategy. The centerpiece is of course dogfighting, but some maps will require taking down the defenses of the other side by destroying its recon balloons or ground turrets and taking out the enemy base, all the while defending your own base.

Red Baron will have a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, featured on the map “Alpine Alley”. It will feature a familiar layout with two team bases and three neutral routes or lanes. The goal of the match is for one team to advance on and destroy the enemy’s base. In order to achieve this goal, each team member must employ a variety of tactics, strategy, teamwork, and dogfighting skill.

During the course of the match, each player will fly their airplane and contribute in a multitude of ways. Players may choose to dogfight, engaging enemy aircraft in epic battles of skill and merit, or they can complete map objectives, such as retrieving a spy from enemy territory or collecting research notes to advance the technology of their team. All the while, AI controlled tanks will continuously spawn and advance on the enemy base via one of three alleys. Players may engage enemy tanks, pushing the battle lines further into enemy territory or defending against enemy advancement. As players destroy enemy planes, tanks, towers, and complete map objectives, their actions will be rewarded with resources that are used to upgrade components, such as ammunition, engines, wings, defensive capabilities and more.

As the match progresses, tanks grow stronger, the risk and reward of objectives escalate, the bounty of taking down enemy aces inflates, and the capability and general power of each individual plane dramatically increases. All of this serves to create intense, action-oriented gameplay where the stakes become higher with every tick of the clock.

The hangar is a virtual representation of players and their Red Baron accounts. Every player has their own hangar from the moment they begin playing, and as they play it only gets better. The hangar is at the core of one of our design goals: every mission is worth it. Whether you win or lose: your pilot, your hangar, and your account will always benefit, and it will always be worth your time.

Your pilot’s advancement will be based on your skill and merit in both single player and multi-player missions. As you progress, you will be able to: 

• Acquire new and better aircraft for your hangar 
• Upgrade your aircraft with better equipment 
• Customize your aircraft with different skins and decals
• Earn medals and achievements

Red Baron will be supporting the Oculus Rift. Mad Otter Games are really excited by the prospect of the Oculus, and feel that this sort of technology is precisely what Red Baron needs. To be able to see the world in three-dimensional eyes, to be able to look over your shoulder to see if the enemy ace has your six... The Oculus Rift was made for Red Baron!