Future of the FS Franchise...

[Guest Derek D]

That's a very interesting idea, it would overcome the issue of current PCs not having enough disk space to hold photorealistic terrain...MS could instead provide the storage capacity for this. Hopefully not as a subscription though :(.Derek D.

[n4gix 4,947]

Personally, I'd just be delighted to have SDK's that actually provide all the information needed, along with plenty of examples of use... ;)

[RobbieHe 0]

What kind of benefits would a 64 bit version have that a 32 bit does not have or that they could not make with current 32 bit software (i.e., Windows XP).RH

[RobbieHe 0]

I think Tom needs to apply for the job! What do you say Tom, or have I let the cat out of the box?RH

[Justin Toposim 16]

Well, as I said, servers could be provided by third parties, too. So it could develop into a competitive server market, which is always good in spurring further, more enhanced development. Who will have the highest quality/best value "content" on their servers? Consumer choice.Another possibility, a coordinator of which would fit into that job description, is that current/future developers could be provided the in-house tools to become contractors to produce the next-generation terrain, landclass, aircraft, airports, structures, etc. etc., and the MS servers will become the central repository for all this stuff, driven by subscription fees and perhaps royalties to sustain the developers.Each geographical area could be assigned an interested developer, who would then commence developing that area to the hilt. There would be constantly-added improvements and the environment would grow and improve over time over the long term, always flying through the most recent iteration, stuff possibly being added daily somewhere in the world.Those not under a developer contract could still produce and contribute their individual smaller projects as desired, after passing QA testing, and instead of uploading somewhere for download, the project would simply be added to the server and available for anyone logging in.It would definitely change the after-market paradigm, but I'm not sure it would be a change for the worse.I can see lots of possibilities here . . .Ah, don't you love speculating? :-)-------Justinhttp://www.fsgenesis.netHigh Quality Scenery for FS200x

[Flyer Ken 0]

"We have an ambitious, multi-version strategy for making the community an integral part of the game experience and need someone to ensure we succeed."The future *may* include X-Box (I doubt it), but an X-Box only FS would accomplish the opposite of making the community an integral part of the game experience. I mean, how would the community contribute scenery, planes, etc if it was an X-Box product? I read the statement above that to mean that, if anything, MS is going to focus on making it even easier to extend FS. After all, that's what makes it great.

[Guest roto5]

Greetings,More FS related jobs here:http://www.microsoft.com/careers/search/de...9d-7c7d4494bba0http://www.microsoft.com/careers/search/de...98-cb09c4d8c6bcEmerson

[Guest roto5]

(bolds by me)"3D Animator:The selected candidate will be responsible for creating reality based models and animations of humans and animals for a game based on the Flight Simulator franchise. A well-rounded 3D artist with an emphasis on animation and the ability to 'own' a large portion of the product will be ideal for this position. Responsibilities will include:Working with Lead to develop comprehensive asset list and development plan. Modeling, texturing and animating a variety of human characters and animals. Assist Lead and Devs in designing animation system. Directing and implementing motion capture data. Experience with 3dsMax and Character Studio preferred, though thorough knowledge of at least one 3d animation package is required. Ability to use Photoshop required. Scripting ability a big plus. Some previous management experience desired."From this link:http://www.microsoft.com/careers/search/de...96-4989869e7bcdIs that a hint about FS10 features?Emerson

[Noel 4,492]

Yes Justin I think it's a no brainer cash cow extraordinaire. It's a marriage made in heaven. MS makes the engine that *requires* streaming photoreal scenery at maybe 1-3" resolution from a service like keyhole.com's Keyhole (look at downtown San Diego at 3" resolution--attached) for a sense of what's coming. I know for certain the addictive power of do this in true photoreal realtime 3D will be many times more potent than FS9 is already. Tasty stuff!Noel

[Guest cwright]

Emerson, I find that reference to animating human characters and animals fascinating. I've spent quite a lot of time with the Far Cry game - and I can only say I am very impressed. Of course it is based on AI human beings (there are also AI pigs!) which are very impressive. The sceney, too, is amazing. For example, the water can reflect the clouds, terrain, trees, buildings - and even flocks of (very realistic) animated birds. The bundled editor is, quite simply, stunning and is far, far in advance of anything in the FS world. The downside of this is that it makes me somewhat dissatisfied with FS2004. In some respects the FS scenery is quite crude in comparison, but the real shortcoming is the lack of human beings. Now FS feels rather sterile. Perhaps a future version of FS could be like this: There are no AI aircraft. Instead, AI crew members will enter the planes, taxi them, talk to ATC with distinctive voices and finally take off. The player can also enter an aircraft and fly it. The player should also be able to drive other vehicles, so that he could literally drive to the airport before boarding the aircraft. Naturally the streets would be filled with other AI humans driving their own cars etc etc Impossible? Certainly not. Far Cry is almost capable of doing this now. The AI humans are impressive. For example, if they have nothing to do and get bored they will scratch themselves, bend down to tie up a shoe lace, kick the dust, or engage in conversation with another AI. Far Cry in principle could be used to make a flight simulator - apart from one small snag. It has good AI helicopters and a V-22 Osprey - but you can't build a realistic flyable aircraft, at least not yet. But it is hoped that the forthcoming C++ SDK will make the design of realistic aircraft possible. Then, using the editor, it would be possible to design a basic flight simulator. I realise some purists may not like the idea because it could make FS more 'gamey', with less emphasis on things like panels and flight systems. But for most people who will buy FS in the shops I would think the idea of realistic AI humans - and pigs! - in the game would be very attractive. There's no reason why there still wouldn't be highly detailed aircraft in the game as well. I certainly hope this is the future of Flight Simulator.... One other thought occurred. Some of the well-known games including Far Cry are based on very powerful game engines that could be used or adapted to easily produce other, completely different kinds of games - including a flight simulator. The game engines provide the raw power for scenery, graphics, effects, physical laws, AI objects - and AI humans. If, say, Crytek, decided to adapt the CryEngine to make a new flight simulator it could eat into FS sales because in many ways it would be far superior to FS2004 (although it probably wouldn't have the same depth such as aircraft systems). Microsoft may be aware of this. Conceivably they could actually buy the licence for one of the existing game engines, or pay for a new version optimised for flight simulation. Microsoft could of course build their own game engine, but it might not make much sense if it were possible to buy a game engine virtually off the hook. Best regards, Chris

[oqvist 11]

Thank you for that reply Chris.Here is another who played FS 2004 after Far Cry and IL 2 FB :)Really I think we will have this in a near future. The hot stuff in todays fps is that ALL have to have realistic physics. Valve was first to totally emphasize on physics which gave us the best physics ever in Half Life 2. For the record Half Life 2 was only the third best fps for 2004 but it

[Guest Mapper]

Hi guys-Two questions for y'all. Why do you think there are so many MSFS job openings? If I recall correctly, the FS development team starts working on the new version even before the latest version is shipped. What the heck have they been doing since summer 2003? I've got one idea...maybe these new job openings are really for FS11?Mike

[oqvist 11]

Well people happen to change jobs or they are behind schedule. The game industry is expanding a lot so no problems for capable programmers to find other jobs ;). I hope it just means they are adding tons of features and needs more folk to complete it ;)

[Guest GabrielR]

FS10 is almost done... They just need to put some bugs on it and that's it.LOL

[RobbieHe 0]

It was deleted just as I was making a response to it. When I punched in my response, I got a response telling me the topic I was responding to did not exist -- Twilight Zone Central --RH