Flight School Unlocked

[HiFlyer 9,374]

http://steamspy.com/app/441920

http://steamspy.com/app/434030

[barrel_owl 304]

http://steamspy.com/app/441920

 

http://steamspy.com/app/434030

uhm...

[Luis Vargas 4]

http://steamspy.com/app/314160   wow!

[revporl 19]

I think its alright. I'm very impressed with the default scenery, I think the flight models (for default simple aircraft and the point of the game) are fine and the only thing letting it down really are the limited missions and the way that clouds and sky colours are rendered. As something which is really at the start of its development cycle, it's pretty good and I'm happy to keep investing in it. Of course it doesn't touch my FSX with its 20 or so commercial add-ons but I wouldn't expect it to. One day, maybe and hopefully, it will.

[pmb 5,138]

http://steamspy.com/app/441920

 

http://steamspy.com/app/434030

Interesting. Could you commment on the meaning of these numbers? Notably, I don't understand why these figures -  in both cases - are fluctuating that much and notably fall. There may be a few users requesting a refund, but I can hardly imagine that much. Or, is it common nowadays, to buy every new Steam game and keep only those pleasing? (Sorry, as you see I am pretty alien to the gaming scene.)

 

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

[Cjr60611 31]

I think it looks pretty good!  With no scenery adds it looks smoother than my beast of a computer with medium FSX settings.  Looking forward to their other product later this year!

[HiFlyer 9,374]

Interesting. Could you commment on the meaning of these numbers? Notably, I don't understand why these figures -  in both cases - are fluctuating that much and notably fall. There may be a few users requesting a refund, but I can hardly imagine that much. Or, is it common nowadays, to buy every new Steam game and keep only those pleasing? (Sorry, as you see I am pretty alien to the gaming scene.)

 

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

 

Well, getting a refund for a Steam purchase is actually very easy as long as you stay withing the qualification parameters. If you look at the bad ratings you'll notice that many people play just a few minutes before making a decision, so yes, the numbers can fluctuate a bit, but even then its usually just within the margin of error of the tabulating software rather than a large number of returns.

 

A number that can change quite a bit is the "userscore", which is based on the ratio of favorable to unfavorable reviews of a program and can change even just from hour to hour (but is usually defined by a noticeable trend) Its a good indicator of how happy people generally are with their purchase, and what sort of word of mouth a program is getting, which can affect sales.

 

Obviously if you are thinking of buying and see a consistently low userscore, you are probably going to think again.

 

Here is some other info: http://steamspy.com/about

 

And some thoughts I posted in another forum.

 

Below is some pure speculation:

 

I think the numbers might actually be better for Aerofly than they are for DTG. Remember, DTG has many many many more employees and much more overhead than Aerofly, and I suspect they also have to share out any profits among a wider cast of characters, including Orbx.

 

Aerofly, on the other hand probably has less than ten employees, and has already made a good profit from Aerofly 2 through iPhone and Android sales.

 

I suspect a lot more of the profit is likely going straight into their pockets than for DTG.

 

DTG is hovering at 55% approval with mixed reviews, and Aerofly is Hovering at 70% approval with mostly favorable reviews. How will that affect the sales curve going forward.........?

 

lets see.

[pmb 5,138]

Thanks HiFlyer, I was clear on the reviews, just the purchase numbers made me a bit wondering.

 

Moreover, I fully agree. In view of the fuss DT made about FlightSchool and the size of both organizations, I find the numbers quite remarkable. While DT as well as IPACS will have a way to got yet with their offers, I can only speak for myself: I enjoy flying with AeroflyFS2 while I forgot FlightSchool pretty quickly.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[fs4fun 366]

I'm not so sure it's meaningful to compare AeroFly2 vs FS, one is a full sim versus a throwaway starter sim, version 2 product versus version 1, $50 product versus $15. It's like comparing a PMDG model to a CLS. Different products with different purposes and different target audiences. Neither of these products have very impressive sales. DTG's numbers may be higher mainly due to the lower price.

 

For DTG I doubt they planned to make much money on this, what they are likely banking on is the full sim. At $15 and given the amount of original content in FS, it looks like more of a loss leader and a vehicle to trial an early version of their sim.

[pmb 5,138]

I feel they can be well compared, and people will compare anyway.

 

AeroflyFS2 is not yet a full sim, it's Early Access with a lot of contents to be added until the end of this year (IPACS just published an initial roadmap). FlightSchool is kind of a prerelease for the full DFS to be released around the end of this year, with tons of additional contents to be added, too.

 

Both are expected to feature SDKs at that time, which are missing now. Both show a window into the present state of development, not more and not less. However, I am pretty sure, the core engines will not change drastically for both of them - that's why both were published in their present state.

 

Just my opinion - I may be completely wrong.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Heimi 91]

Anyway you can see how the FlightSimmers are more scattered and sceptical than ever.

Afaik FSX had several million sales and if i remember right Microsoft said that even MSFlight had ~1 Million downloads.

It´s quite a different number compared to P3D,FSX, FSX:SE,Aerofly and FSc nowadays....

[arsenal82 120]

 

 

For DTG I doubt they planned to make much money on this, what they are likely banking on is the full sim. At $15 and given the amount of original content in FS, it looks like more of a loss leader and a vehicle to trial an early version of their sim.

 

To my eye Dtg Flight School has done a damage to their (Flight Simulation) reputation taking in consideration the comments on steam; as steam users are the target customers and they simply reject it.

They wil not fall for the full Sim Dlc trap (as somebody already described at the steam forum); those kids are advanced; smart; clever more than anybody can think of including Dtg.

[fs4fun 366]

 

 

Just my opinion - I may be completely wrong.

 

That's not unreasonable, but one is a full sim that is incomplete, the other (flight school) is stripped down and has no pretense of ever being a full sim. Sort of differently filtered views of future products. Still very hard to compare at this point I think, but the full sim products will be comparable and directly competing products. I'm looking forward to seeing the SDK's for both products. I suspect DTG's SDK will be more familar for FSX addon devs, but who knows?

 

 

If they are not planning to make money they better change business

 

I didn't say they were not planning to make money, but often businesses use loss leaders or heavily discounted strategic products just to break into a new market. As I said they are likely banking on their full sim as a money maker, but even then they may be taking a long term view if they have other cash cow products. Do you know how many money-losing ventures Google embarks on? I guess they should pack it in too.

 

Time will tell. MS Windows 1.0 was a laughable pile of garbage. You cannot tell much from the first iteration of a product how well it will do in the long run.

[pmb 5,138]

To my eye Dtg Flight School has done a damage to their (Flight Simulation) reputation taking in consideration the comments on steam; as steam users are the target customers and they simply reject it.

If DTG is clever, DFSc might not be a financial success but a big warning and helpful as such. They can analyse user reactions and take them seriously, return to the drawing board, postpone DFS for one year (I guess they'll postpone it anyway) and should not hesitate to even modify the core engine again.

 

Given they neglected all early warnings on FSc I doubt they will do so, but who knows.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[basys 4]

Hi Folks

 

Time will tell.

MS Windows 1.0 was a laughable pile of garbage.

You cannot tell much from the first iteration of a product

how well it will do in the long run.

ROTFL

 

I read the initial sentences,

and thought, how apposite.

 

The last one threw me somewhat.

 

Brain, ticking over,

he's obviously either

forward thinking

or a time-traveller.

 

Whichever,

he's taking an extremely long view.

 

Except,

I'd read that 'laughable pile of garbage'

with my eyesight,

as being Windows 10.

 

Which in that context,

still applies.   :smile:

 

ATB

Paul