I also think that FSX while aging, will still be the primary Flight Sim in 2017 simply because of developers like ORBX who make airports and sceneries at 2cm resolution which from what have heard is the maximum, and if any of you have seen the 2cm ORBX video it is impressive. FSGlobal is still working on getting terrain meshes to FSX's maximum. Carenado, PMDG, A2A, Milviz, and a few others are really pushing virtual cockpit & external textures to a whole new level. I think FSX has the capability to last until about 2020 and that would be pushing the absolute maximum, and if Microsoft does not get back into flight sims by then, well then they are completely out and someone will take over.

I did a bit of reading last night. Was excited to see that DCS has a brand new engine (EDGE) coming out this year.

 

The new EDGE scenery engine does indeed look very promising. I may be mistaken but I believe at the moment all we have are some screenshots of the Nevada area and not much else. Will EDGE be able to render the entire world in a contiguous manner? If so does Eagle Dynamics have the resources (or indeed the desire) to do so? If not then I don't think DCS will be the platform of choice for civilian simmers and will remain very much a combat oriented sim.

 

Having said that I do think that DCS is the single most exciting thing happening in the flight simulation world at the moment and I am eagerly awaiting the first third party modules.

 

Is x-planes's user base increasing much? I see developers wanting to give it a go in the wake of the management disaster that was 'Flight', and in the absence of other living platforms. But the payware output for it is still a fraction of that of FSX. Personally, having sat on the sidelines of this one i'm finally at the point of giving XP10 a try.

 

I think it's fair to say more people have purchased and tried X-Plane 10 than any version before. Unfortunately a lot of people are making the very flawed comparison of XP10 out of the box to their pimped out FSX with dozens of high quality addons installed. XP10 is a very promising platform and the potential is there. If you take a look at some of the high quality aircraft that have been released over the last few months such as the Rollon CRJ, Ramses 777, LES DC-3 and Flyjsim 727 you can see XP developers are snapping at the heels of the best MSFS developers. I also think there's much to be said for XP's development community which still seems to be very much that - a community. It hasn't been afflicted yet with the egoes, politics and £/$/€ chasing that is so prevalent in the MSFS ecosystem. As an example take a look at the recent freeware scenery release for New Zealand. Had that been released for FSX it would almost certainly have been sold for $29.99 at your favourite addon vendor.

 

X-Plane has the potential, but it needs to be given a chance and not continually compared to an FSX which has had the benefit of six years of addon development from a multitude of developers.

 

Aerofly did model a whole country - and say v2 changes to a different coordinate system which sounds like they want to make whole-world possible.

 

I already own Aerofly FS and very much enjoy it. I'm very much looking forward to what they can bring to V2 but I remain sceptical they have the resources to bring us a truly viable alternative to FSX. I hope Aerofly FS turns into the spiritual successor to Flight Unlimited which I think is a much more achievable and realistic proposition.

 

 

On the whole I think the future is very encouraging. With the final nail being hammered into the coffin of IlL-2: Cliffs of Dover the last big publisher - Ubisoft - has left the flight sim genre. All the current projects are either independent, small specialist publisher or community backed.

 

The civilian flight simmer has FSX, P3D, XP10 as heavyweight sims, and Aerofly FS and Take On Helicopters as lighter sims to fly. Eagle Dynamics' move to integrate all their titles into DCS World and open up development of modules to third parties is hugely exciting. It appears that 777 Studios have found a way to fund the development of a niche, hardcore flight sim (ROF) by asking customers to pay for additional aircraft, maps and mods. The news that all is not lost for WW2 flight sims and that the core Cliffs of Dover team at 1C will be teaming up with 777 to make a new WW2 flight sim is very exciting. Thirdwire have just moved into the mobile games market and this will hopefully fund future development of the Strike Fighters series on PC. The Strike Fighters modding community is as active as ever and right now a community based project to create a Korean War mod is in full swing. The IL-2 modding community rumbles on churning out lots of new content - for free. Old Brown Dog are working away at Over Flanders Fields Phase 4 and are working absolute wonders with the old CFS3 engine.

 

Let's not also forget the potential effect crowd sourcing might have on the flight sim genre. Take a look at the stunning success some titles have had in raising money - Star Citizen hit something like $7 million and vastly exceeded its target. I've already read of one flight simulation title - a new multiplayer oriented F-35 sim - that is trying to use crowd sourcing as a means to secure funding. I wonder if the flight simulation community would put its money where its mouth is and crowd source a new sim?

 

2012 has been a very good year for flight simmers. Don't believe the doom and gloom merchants - the future is bright.

For civilian sims, unless Microsoft comes out with another Flight Sim - unlikley- I'm putting my money on FSX for 2015.

I'd put in for crowd-funding a new civilian sim, for sure.

 

The thing I want to see most is the vibrant, worldwide freeware and payware community that MSFS created. The incredible number of different things I can do with FSX is what gives the platform its edge despite the years.

 

2cm photoscenery sounds great - but it'll still be using an old, old engine.

Hopefully something new will pop up and whack us all over the head!

 

As for crowdfunding I would need to know the people behind the effort pretty well before donating...

I have no clue what the next big sim will be.......

 

But I hope whatever it is finally begins to leave FSX successfully in the rear view mirror. Clinging to that same old much repainted lifeboat is getting increasingly untenable if this hobby intends to grow.

As for crowdfunding I would need to know the people behind the effort pretty well before donating...

 

True, and, for the sake of reference, it would be interesting to know what FSX cost to make once you factor in all expenses (salaries, licensing, legal, etc, etc..)

 

Sure you can raise some money via crowd funding... but to make something worthy of an FSX successor will probably take a lot more than just a few dedicated enthusiasts throwing some pocket change into the hat.

Yes , i was briefly excited by the crowdfunding idea...but it's probably not the way to go.

 

At the moment you have at least 5 contenders for the crown. What we need is one to pull out in front and become the next great sim, rather than another half-complete platform added to the mix.

Aerofly worries me in that they are a photo scenery only sim at this point, and that approach is limited in many ways. Second open question is; do they really have the resources to expand? The new iOS app is a good sign, as it seems that a lot of Xplanes money for expansion came from the same source. (Being on steam also speaks of ambition to grow)

 

I would like to see many more structures on the ground though, and some night lighting, but other than that, good luck to them! I wonder how they would react to crowd-funding?

but to make something worthy of an FSX successor will probably take a lot more than just a few dedicated enthusiasts throwing some pocket change into the hat.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss crowd funded games. They're gaining momentum and 2012 saw Star Citizen - a space sim headed by professional programmers/developers but no publisher - raise an astonishing 6.23 million Dollars. Hardly pocket change.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss crowd funded games. They're gaining momentum and 2012 saw Star Citizen - a space sim headed by professional programmers/developers but no publisher - raise an astonishing 6.23 million Dollars. Hardly pocket change.

 

6.23 million IS pocket change to BYork and the FS2Crew empire!

 

 

 

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss crowd funded games. They're gaining momentum and 2012 saw Star Citizen - a space sim headed by professional programmers/developers but no publisher - raise an astonishing 6.23 million Dollars. Hardly pocket change.

 

Yup, but not nearly enough to completely fund a AAA title these days either. According to the wiki on the Star Citizen site the total cost is estimated at $12-14 million. The crowdfunding is being used as a proof of interest to be able to attract the remaining amount from larger investors.

There are also some interesting figures on the Star Citizen main site (http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/) under the "Why so much money?" tab. The average cost per team member is $127,571 / year. Given that Flight had 50 team members and took 2 years to develop, that means it must have cost in the order of roughly $12-14 million. So even one of the most phenomenally successful crowdfunding efforts ever only brought in half the amount of money that would be needed for a new flight sim.

I think the picture may be a slightly better than that, though. They are using an established graphics engine that the developers will hopefully have lots of experience with and whose tools are very very mature. Its not as if they will be forced to redevelop the wheel.

Flight was, to be honest, not very impressive for the money spent. I'm guessing the current Aerofly FS cost a lot less than $14m, and looks better whilst being similar on scope. No idea what x-plane development costs.

 

Would also be interesting to know how much LM invests in P3D. I doubt they make money on it, but based on the slow incremental changes it seems like a pretty small project.

Would also be interesting to know how much LM invests in P3D. I doubt they make money on it, but based on the slow incremental changes it seems like a pretty small project.

 

They no doubt make their money doing custom work for military clients. Selling a civilian version is just a side business for them. It's a lot like the Steel Beasts tank sim, which esim just happens to sell to the rest of us but spends most of their time on custom work.

 

Hook