Why REX Sky Force is so dramatically late ? Aborted ?

[klamal 282]

10 minutes ago, Drumcode said:

LOL, that's a little over the top. 

Yeah, I agree.  I think that we have to admit that we bring it on ourselves.  How many posts do we see here asking when ABC add-on is going to be released??  Everyone wants "play by play" updates from the developers but then they're not happy when those timelines slip, which they always do.

[anden145 2,273]

18 minutes ago, Mark II said:

QW 787, REX Sky force, Aerosoft A330 etc etc.. are all perfect examples of how much the community is constantly screwed since years by fake marketing advs, 8 years to be precise in case of QW 787, sigh.

What was the matter with Aerosoft A330??? As far as I'm concerned, that project has been quite streamlined with quite a progressive development. Besides, Aerosoft is one the developers who's very open regarding their upcoming projects, with previews and images of the developmental process.
And before you start mentioning the CRJ, that particular projects development time, is not Aerosoft's fault, since they took over the project. Mathijs has also said multiple times, that having a project of that scale, with only 1 programmer, is - well, just a bad idea... 

I'll agree with you regarding the QualityWings 787... I quite honestly don't know what to believe anymore. They've said 'Summer 2017' for the FSX version. Let's see, if they deliver... then we'll just have to wait a couple of years (if not decades) for the Prepar3D V4 version... 

FSLabs also seems to be taking their time with their A320-X for Prepar3D V4. I've nearly lost hope, that we'll see that this year, since it's not even in beta yet.

But who knows...

[vgbaron 3,486]

Well. it's one person's "hype" and another person's "marketing" and it's part of business. The issue is the timing. Get everything right and the interest peaks at time of release, get it wrong and people complain.

IMHO, I think back at the convention last August they had an idea, created a great video outlining their product and ran into a bit of a bind implementing their ideas.  The hinted it was 3 months away - that was over six months ago and now you throw 64bit into it and it makes it tougher.

I am sure they are doing their best to get SF and all the other products out as fast as possible.

It does make a good case for those developers who say nothing until the product is almost ready.

Vic

[jason99vmi 157]

21 minutes ago, Mark II said:

Yes, mine was a complain about the recent marketing strategies which have ###### me off to me honest and we must react.

QW 787, REX Sky force, Aerosoft A330 etc etc.. are all perfect examples of how much the community is constantly screwed since years by fake marketing advs, 8 years to be precise in case of QW 787, sigh.

 

There should be a law where a company is allowed to advertise a software product only 6 months before the release, in case of delay such product must wait at least 3 years or be aborted. 

If such company tries to release it under another name, such company will face the court.

I think in 2017 our rights must be protected from fake internet advs

You need to find a new hobby then.  "I want it ultra realistic and look like real life but I don't want to wait for it" is what i hear.  The era of instant gratification.  

Go check out how many games are in Early Access or Beta on Steam.  Or how many times release dates change for video games.

Or if you have any historical knowledge you would know that people complained about REX's weather engine.  So being good devs they set about redesigning their whole weather engine and give a little preview in 2016.  All of sudden you have an issue with what they are doing.  Damned if you do and damned if you don't huh.

I'm not even a dev and i'm tired of the complainers.  

Aerosoft A330 has never mentioned a release date.  They did with CRJ but then had a major issue with the FMC that set them wayyy back.  But hey if they released it then and the FMC didn't work you would blast them to high heavens for delivering a non-100% perfect product.  

This is why devs don't even mention a release date anymore because of people like you.

Grow up.....can't have your cake and eat it too.  

[Indy511 686]

3 hours ago, jmig said:

In the meanwhile HI-FI is dangling a fresh carrot in front of me. Tempting...

Go for it. It beats never knowing when REX will get back in the game.

[magnetite 38]

I'm not too worried about when it'll be released. I've got plenty of other things to do to keep busy until it does come out.

[rstough 523]

Let me address some of the issues posted here... It is best to hear from the horses mouth.  

Issue #1 - Is Sky Force aborted as the title says?

No it is not aborted. We are presently finishing up some internal fixes before we hand the final product to our beta team.  About 3 weeks ago we thought we were ready, but we added one more feature we felt was crucial to the project.  We are presently working on the user manual as well as all the marketing material.  When that will be available I don't have a date yet.  Understand we are also working on Environment Force, Weather Force, as well as the P3Dv4 fixes on top of Sky Force.  So there is some bottlenecking going on now.  But we are pressing forward.

Issue #2 - What happened to SIMAIR?

SIMAIR was planned A LONG time ago.  Frankly, because of immediate business needs we have had to postpone it several times.  I have stated several times that around 2011 it was finished and ready for beta testing.  Both Tim and I looked it over and thought - we could do better with this and planned higher dreams for it.  We started again around the end of 2013 and hoped to have it done by 2014.  But about Q3 of 2014 we realized we had to change direction again and focus on our immediate business needs.  Let me just say that SIMAIR is not like anything we have done before.  In reality it is a full on game/simulator itself.  But we want to make it so that the flight sim community can utilize all its features and bring a new reality that hasn't been there before.  Our "PLAN" is to restart development of it in Q4 of this year.  That is the plan, but that can always change.  This is the same as other projects we have planned for the future.

Issue #3 - Soon, Soon, and more Soon?

We are a small team with a few developers that have wives and children.  Things happen and things get delayed.  Parents die, family and children get sick, etc, etc, etc.  But we don't feel it is necessary to post these things.  With a small team and big things like these happen deadlines get greatly affected.  I have 7 children in my family ranging from 22 to 8.  When our family gets sick it doesn't take a day or two, it takes weeks before it goes through.  In addition to this, there are always those things in development that can affect a deadline.  You may plan one thing, but find out it will not work and you have to regroup.  

We knew P3Dv4 and DTG FSW were on the horizon, but with our team focused on Sky Force there was really no way to test our products until the final builds were released.  Yes, our products are not aircraft or scenery.  But we do have to test over 80gigs of textures manually to make sure they work properly for each of our products.  This takes a tremendous amount of time.  As it appears most of our products will port over.  We just released the hotfix for Soft Clouds.  Both Texture Direct and Texture Direct with Soft Clouds are done, but just need beta testing. So those should be available within the next couple of weeks.  REX Worldwide Airports is not ready.  All the backend code is there for P3Dv4, but we have to make new textures for P3Dv4.  So that will take longer.  This is something that was a surprise and again causes delays.  The WX Advantage Radar also has to be designed for P3Dv4.  We are not using normal features of the SDK to make the WX work.  So this takes some time.

Issue #4 - Is it hype or marketing?

Not sure how to address this one, because really it is in the eye of the beholder.  For us we are just informing you what we have in development.  In regards to Sky Force the plan was to have it ready by Q3 of 2016.  But like we have stated several times here and on our forum, we felt we needed to improve and expand it.  Thus, we have added many new features to the project.  The ONLY harm I see to the customer is that they end up with a better product when released and also a little extra patience.  But somewhere I read that patience is a virtue.

Final words....(The following does not represent the expressed opinion of REX Game Studios or its employees - this is my personal thoughts)

I end with the last few words "patience is a virtue".  Consider this a mild exhortation.  We are now apart of a society that is growing more and more impatient and more vocal about it.  We don't have to go far to see all that occurred during our Presidential race.

However, I have seen the comments made about other 3rd party developers.  I have met these guys and they are real people that love flight sim.  They have proven themselves over and over again to provide quality products.  I remember talking to one person (who will remain nameless) at FSC last year, who was sharing with me all the work they were doing on flaps of a specific aircraft.  I was blown away by the detail they were putting into their work. Their passion was clear.  The reality is they have real lives and we forget this. Some are fortunate to develop for flight sim full time, but others are not.  Either way, in this world of instant gratification we must not forget this is a hobby!  We must not forget the men and women who behind 3rd party development are on your side - trying to improve your experience as well as theirs.  Yes there are those who take advantage of it, but those are far few compared to the many that have proven time and time again they see value in this hobby to improve it.

I know some will not agree with anything I have said, and they just have an agenda.  Whether it is personal or agenda to troll a competitor, it really doesn't matter. 

Let's us enjoy this ride with flight simulation while it still available to us.

 

[vgbaron 3,486]

Well said, Reed!

Vic

[anden145 2,273]

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this, Reed! 
Makes a lot of sense, coming from you... 

I guess all of this came from the fact that about a year ago, you've presented SkyForce with an extremely nice video and materials (video presentation etc). After which not much have been heard, and I guess people were so excited (myself included). The hype increased, as you hinted at the presentation, that release was just a few months off... 

But thanks again for explaining. Best of luck in your future development.

[rstough 523]

3 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Well said, Reed!

Vic

Thank you Vic.  

[rstough 523]

2 minutes ago, Anders Bermann said:

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this, Reed! 
Makes a lot of sense, coming from you... 

I guess all of this came from the fact that about a year ago, you've presented SkyForce with an extremely nice video and materials (video presentation etc). After which not much have been heard, and I guess people were so excited (myself included). The hype increased, as you hinted at the presentation, that release was just a few months off... 

But thanks again for explaining. Best of luck in your future development.

I understand and we are learning.

[CrownCityMisfits 58]

I don't think a delay in a new product release warrants questioning the company's overall integrity. Furthermore, speculating that a project has been aborted when the well-established company has made no such announcement, is just noise.

1 hour ago, Mark II said:

There should be a law where a company is allowed to advertise a software product only 6 months before the release, in case of delay such product must wait at least 3 years or be aborted. 

If such company tries to release it under another name, such company will face the court.

I think in 2017 our rights must be protected from fake internet advs

I can't respond to that without being offensive, because what you are suggesting is absolutely offensive.

 

 

[jmig 100]

4 minutes ago, CrownCityMisfits said:

I don't think a delay in a new product release warrants questioning the company's overall integrity. Furthermore, speculating that a project has been aborted when the well-established company has made no such announcement, is just noise.

I can't respond to that without being offensive, because what you are suggesting is absolutely offensive.

 

 

4 minutes ago, CrownCityMisfits said:

 

I wish it applied to politicians running for office. :)

Thank you Reed for a well written and insightful post. As consumers, we do sometimes get impatient. I think it is good to be reminded of reality every so often. 

[B777ER 2,475]

5 hours ago, vgbaron said:

Well said, Reed!

Vic

I think Reed summed it up well. At this point further discussion on this is just nothing more than flogging a dead horse. I humbly make a motion to close the thread. 

[vgbaron 3,486]

I agree Eric