Impressions of the New MSFS...From the Guy Who Developed FSX

The original article from 2006. Of special note to @BeachAV8R, this is also when I met Mike Ray and formed that friendship.

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Sounds like you made some great friendships and connections there! In all my years I’ve never actually attended a sim convention. I really need to put it on a the schedule sometime…I know I’d have a blast.

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There you go. The fifth “Like” to get you a “Nice Post” :grin: You earned it.

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You know, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I was glad I got to be a part of, and I got to be a member of @guod’s press team in the process. I had a great time, and I saw some remarkable engineering for its day.

But, sitting at a table listening to a bunch of guys talk about flying in and out of Eritrea and Beirut, “are those guys in the Jeep with Kalashnikovs guarding us or boarding us?”, I could have sat there and listened for hours. Our table kept the bar staff busy. The other members of the press were trying to cozy up to Hal and Brett, we were trying to walk to the bathroom in a straight line.

But, I learned a tremendous amount about how their whole development process works, including why they keep updating the engine instead of creating an entire new one. For one, don’t fix what isn’t broken. It works and it’s probably one of the most ridiculously versatile game engines ever made. For another, creating an entirely new engine is costly and time-consuming. Not to mention it requires the very large third-party cottage industry to completely scrap everything they’ve ever made and learn an entirely new coding ecosystem.

These guys are fans of the genre, first and foremost. People think they’re money-hungry suits.

Those would be the last terms I’d use to describe people like Hal.

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That was a fascinating piece of information there Will. Really interesting stuff thanks

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