Dovetail Games

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rhumbaflappy
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Dovetail Games

Post by rhumbaflappy » Sat Feb 13, 2016 2:39 pm

Hi all.

Some information has been released from Dovetail games. As you may be aware, Dovetail Games has purchased the rights to use Microsoft Flight simulation technology in order to create new flying games. They are releasing 'Flight School' in April 2016. It will not have addon capability. They will release 'Flight Simulator' later in 2016.

Flight Simulator will be based on FSX technology. It will be a 64-bit, DirectX11 game based on the FSX engine. Although the exact nature of the file structure has not been released, I would not be surprised if it is nearly identical to FSX. With some luck, the nature of the scenery compilation tools will be compatible with SBuilderX.

Dick
Dick

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luisfeliztirado
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Re: Dovetail Games

Post by luisfeliztirado » Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:10 pm

Thanks for the news, Dick. At least there is some hope for our community.

Best regards.
Luis

iangbusa
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Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 5:10 pm

Re: Dovetail Games

Post by iangbusa » Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:38 pm

rhumbaflappy wrote:...Flight Simulator will be based on FSX technology. It will be a 64-bit, DirectX11 game based on the FSX engine.. I would not be surprised if it is nearly identical to FSX. With some luck, the nature of the scenery compilation tools will be compatible with SBuilderX...
Thanks for this information, Dick.

I've been very skeptical of DTG's direction in this regard. From what I gather, they generally do not "open" their lucrative platforms to developers other than selected partners (e.g. the recent OrbX announcement) where they are able to reap mutual benefit from capitalizing on known brand awareness and larger-scale resources for commercial distribution. I understand that they also take a pretty high % of any revenues (or is that just Steam?). :?:

Regarding the 'Flight Simulator', my own (probably confused) understanding of their license with Microsoft was that they could take the FSX technology, fix known bugs, tweak for performance, and distribute for "entertainment" as opposed to Lockheed-Martin who bought full access to the ESP engine and toolset with no restrictions on future development (other than , perhaps, staying out of the "entertainment" market - not LM's goal anyway?). DTG may have "learned" from FSX but can they take it directly and simply improve? 'Flight School' also sounds very much like 'MS Flight', don't you think?

On my own forum, someone mentioned they had communication from a DTG source that they're open to working with developers "who approached them". I'm not 100% sure what that means... is it "you only have to ask so they can keep track?" "Not everyone gets access unless they ask?" "DTG still gets to choose?" It's unclear. For a product release that's to be later this year, it'd be great to know so there could be more add-ons available from the get-go.

Fingers-crossed then that not only the core product but also any open tools for all developers will follow the lines you suggest. We may have our work cut out catching up with the potential and possible challenges of 64-bit capability but it'll be a positive, long-awaited step!

You can probably ignore all my skepticism though - I'm ever the pessimist and cynic! :lol:

ian

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luisfeliztirado
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Re: Dovetail Games

Post by luisfeliztirado » Wed Mar 23, 2016 2:47 pm

Great comments, Ian. Thank you.

For my part, I am more skeptical than you. While there don't seem to be details concerning "Flight School", the name suggests some sort of training sim. This is a trap that many game developers and publishers have walked into. There is no appreciable market for training sims and each and every past instance has failed. Aviation enthusiasts who don't get a PPL generally have no interest in the specific details of, nor desire to make the effort to learn how to fly. What they want from a flight game is the realistic sensation of flying and activities that prevent it from becoming boring.

This is why Microsoft Flight was so important. Finally, the developers turned from a training sim and airline (systems) sim, requiring great effort from users, to a flight game that addressed the needs of a much larger market of people who only want to fly, not learn to fly.

Flight Simulator featured various ab initio flight training programs, including Ma and Pa King and Rod Machado lessons. Almost nobody bothered with them. One would think that game developers had learned the lesson.

As for an updated version of FSX, if it caters to airline simmers, then sales will be very limited. FS did not exceed 1 million units sold until FS2000 and even the last version, FSX, sold less than 2 million copies. Many of those went right into a drawer when new users found it too difficult and/or boring. Even if this new version broadens its appeal to other types of aviation and enthusiasts, it will still be difficult to learn and lacking in activities.

It is a great shame if Dovetail Games does not understand that Microsoft Flight has an enormous potential and just needs to be marketed to the right audience, an enormous world-wide mass of aviation enthusiasts who dream of flying and want to enjoy doing so with little effort, all while experiencing a very realistic flight.

As for our small community of add-on creators, few ever appreciated the commitment by FS devs to an open sim where anybody could create content and share it freely with others. If Dovetail Games does not follow this model, we are condemned to continue with what we have from the sidelines.

Best regards.
Luis

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