POLL/QUESTIONAIRE - for new flight/combined simulator kick starter

Hi Kelvin,

1) Would you support a kick starter project for a new flight simulator or combined simulator platform?

Outerra looks like an incredible engine which has potential to be the next gen platform for Flight Simulation but before I would be willing to contribute I'd need to see how well it performs with all required components of a flight simulator (ie robust flight model, weather, AI Traffic, ATC, Navaids, detailed, large international airport, regional landclass, real vector data, higher resolution mesh, autogen and custom buildings depicting a large urban area).

2) What would your expectations be for a new flight simulator or combined simulator platform?

In no particular order:

1. Performance/Visual Fidelity - Needs to perform better and look better  on current gen hardward than FSX does with popular Grade A quality add-ons.  This would likely need to leverage 64 bit technology, GPU offloading, multi-core and any other current gen technology that can prevent the simulator from becomming cpu bound.  Looking at intel's and AMD's processor roadmaps it is abundently clear that neither vendor is spending R&D on raw CPU power.  The next gen platform needs to be designed to take advantage of these new hardware technologies at stock processor clock speeds if it is to be sucessful.

2. Robust SDK - Powerful SDK with some ease of use and functionality to allow users to create their own content and for 3rd party developers to create commercial quality addons.

3. Solid flight dynamics and physics engine - This one is key for this to be considered a true flight simulator.

4. No DRM or micro-transactions - I would likely not switch to a new platform if DRM/micro-transactions were implemented.  There's a reason that core flight simmers haven't and never will switch to Microsoft Flight.  Out of the box the new simulator would have to cover the entire globe along with the 24,000+ airports.  I wouldn't be interested in purchasing a partial product and then pay later for regions that I'm interested in flying in.

5. Support for home cockpit builders/3rd party hardware.

6. (Nice to Have) - Tools/Convertors provided to current FSX addon developers to assist in them porting their work to the new platform.  I've invested thousands of dollars in commercial addons.  I don't expect addon vendors to provide their addons for the new platform for free to current customers but if there is a way to keep the third party developer costs down of porting over their addons, I'd being willing to pay a percentage of what I paid for the original FSX addon.

3) What would convince you to switch to a new flight simulator or combined simulator platform?

See #2

I don't see Kickstarter as a viable way to fund the development of a full-fledged Flight Simulator as I suspect you wouldn't be able to raise enough to do so.  My suggestion would be to use crowdsourcing funds to develop a limited proof of concept.  Partner with some of the top tier 3rd party developers, seek out some members of the old Aces team and come up with a plan to put together a tech demo that includes one region (a large enough area with several airports, urban areas, towns etc), support for all of the major aircraft types (commercial jet, military, prop, turbo-prop, helicopter, glider), some AI traffic, ATC, Navaids, weather etc.

For this type of R&D I'd be more than willing to kick in some $$ ($20) to see explore the viablity of Outerra as the next-gen flight simulation platform.  If you offer contributors the option to beta test you'd likely get some interest.

In short, I love the idea.  I think the scope/expected deliverable would have to be tailored to match what you can expect from kickstarter but if you are able to provide a viable PoC in the end you may find a lot of dedicated and financially invested FSX users willing to move to the new platform.

Cheers,

Scott