Friday 2010-02-25 Development update:Interview by Grégory Lemasson/Discussion Thread

[JVM]

Originally Posted by Freycinet

The requirements are too high for amateur developers like the third-party scene around Il-2, but professionals who can actually earn money selling add-ons should be able to work with it, I guess. Just get some translators to work on documentation (very important!) and change the name of the engine (SoW is too warlike).

You have a really low opinion of "amateurs"...Most often "amateurs" are professionals in other ways and understand what it means to start, drive and complete a project and in consequence some of them can perfectly tackle add-ons for SoW...

Most of the "professionals" in MSFS third-parties have started as "amateurs" (you have to start at one point!), and many top-level add-ons for MSFS are from "amateurs" and will give nothing in quality to any of the professional ones...

Another advantage of being an "amateur" is that you are not in for the money but only out of passion, of willingness to prove something etc...this allows them to explore ways which would be too costly in time for the developer for an unforeseeable result, and/or to not be constrained by time considerations!

Give everybody a chance at it and be prepared to be surprised...and also to get some sub-standard stuff but that's the name of the game!

JV

[Oleg Maddox]

Originally Posted by JVM

You have a really low opinion of "amateurs"...Most often "amateurs" are professionals in other ways and understand what it means to start, drive and complete a project and in consequence some of them can perfectly tackle add-ons for SoW...

Most of the "professionals" in MSFS third-parties have started as "amateurs" (you have to start at one point!), and many top-level add-ons for MSFS are from "amateurs" and will give nothing in quality to any of the professional ones...

Another advantage of being an "amateur" is that you are not in for the money but only out of passion, of willingness to prove something etc...this allows them to explore ways which would be too costly in time for the developer for an unforeseeable result, and/or to not be constrained by time considerations!

Give everybody a chance at it and be prepared to be surprised...and also to get some sub-standard stuff but that's the name of the game!

JV

Perfect words!

I would add just following:

To make the base - the first game or sim with special tools that allowing third party to make additional content is way more profesional work than to make additional content...
To develop the base code of engine and its initial main features is way more different and more complex than to modify it....

You can be professional creator of add-on, but you can't make the main thing - the engine and its features.

Investments in development of the main code around which all the things doing third party isn't even close in comparison to investments of third party. By other words... to add something in already ready advanced product isn't the same as to develope from zero this advanced product.

Simply people should understand this great difference.