Early release, alpha, betaāthey are all examples of charitable loans. The first times I can recall participating in these programs I was also invited into a beta forum and even signed an NDA in one case. That was years ago. Now companies donāt even bother. The real genius of early release is that it provides cover for a flawed product. Better still, it gives hope to the disappointed customer that eventually all ills will be cured. The āItās still beta!ā mantra is even used by one customer to crudeon the head of another who dost dare complain. Itās a pretty cool system actually.
I think the practice makes sense. A nice little game like VTOL VR with reportedly a single developer would never be possible if he could only release it as a finished product. The Harrier and Hornet, in their unfinished states, have both been the fulfillment of childhood dreams. That sentence will sound entirely pathetic to any reader who isnāt a flight sim nut. But itās true, they really have. I would have little interest in the F-15 but there is NO WAY I will give it a pass if @klarsnow is still around. Even if I fly it just for an hour with him telling stories on Teamspeak, it will be more than worth the 50 bucks!
About the 2 coders/8 modelers thing: Is there really all that much fresh code in a module? I figured, obviously incorrectly, that they were just a big heap of tables held together by scripts as needed.
