Hello Simmers!

 

 

I was just wondering about previews and how they relate to the actual release date. For example, FlyTampa showed pictures of their new Montreal scenery, and it looked complete. They showed the full scenery in flight sim looking impeccable. I realize beta testing takes time, however those were released a very long time ago, and the release is planned for September. Surely beta testing can't take that long. As well, FSDreamTeam released shots of their scenery with no terminal, no asphalt ground textures implemented and no word on AFCAD, etc... however they as well are planning for a September release. Those shots were taken around the same time. I guess my real message is why does it take so long in between completion and release, and what else needs to occur other than beta testing once the scenery appears to be fully complete? Thank you!

 

 

 

-DMac10121

 

 

http://www.flytampa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5469

The vast majority of devs are working in their spare time. Life happens. Sometimes you have 10 hours a day sometimes you're lucky to find one hour in a month.

The vast majority of devs are working in their spare time. Life happens. Sometimes you have 10 hours a day sometimes you're lucky to find one hour in a month.

This. FS addon business is very different compared to normal larger game studio, where publisher is giving strict requirements for deadline and product itself and studio employs dozens of full and part time graphic artists, coders, musicians, marketing people etc. Addon making is definitely a side job for most and probably only handful of developer groups is making addon work fulltime and thus big bucks out of it. PC indie game developers work mostly the same way, mostly for the love of the game.

 

We are still a very niche market, a really small bunch but at the same time we are very picky and usually require extremely high quality from our addons and it is IMO remarkable what these small dev teams can achieve. I mean, look at all the best aircraft, utility and scenery addons and what they have brought to the good ol' FSX.

For me it's simply not a problem. There seems to be a constant supply of new, quality products to distract and entice me these days.

 

I've no idea how long anything I'm particularly interested in has been in gestation. In fact, I find it best not to follow a product's development too closely. For example, I'm not really bothered how long there is to go before the FSL Airbus comes out, but I know I'll buy it when it does, and when that day happens it'll be a very pleasant surprise..

 

There's too much going on elsewhere for me to worry about how long a flightsim product takes to see the light of day.

I'm sorry for the long development time on Montreal but unfortunately there's a long way still to go. The screenshots released in February may look complete but if you turned the camera around 180 degrees you would see a vast empty void revealing months worth of Research, Modelling, UV mapping, Ambient Occlusion Baking & Texturing. Montreal is a very cluttered airport & i'm modelling most of it, to a higher standard than I've done before, plus the surroundings/photoscenery/autogen all within performance & time restraints. The scenery isn't in beta testing even now. Its all pure development & hard work.

Beta testing for scenery takes about 3.5 minutes btw :P

 

I will be posting new screenshots of the completed main terminal soon however. It's probably the most complex (realtime) model I've ever had to make. Phew, I'm knackered too.

Welcome to Avsim forums George! Thanks for the update!

It's not a problem at all, and I understand development takes time, and even that is on top of what can be a very busy life! And George I get what you mean, and the anticipation is kind of fun as well! All of the shots look great, and if this half is what the other half is like, it will be definitely TOP of the line!

 

Thank you for the quick responses!