Posts by aarneson

Quote from Jet-Pack

No, it certainly is not a sinking ship. The webside it a little outdated, that obviously needs to be updated. Static information just can't keep up with the development of the sim. I'm part of the development team and from my point of view there are major new features in the making, all is going pretty well I'd say. We have published a SDK and quite a number of people have already created their own content like airports or repaints. We've also seen several guys working on their own aircraft for the Aerofly FS 2. The future is looking very well I'd say, not sinking, no.

Regards,
Jan

Jan, thanks for the good response here. I appreciate your enthusiasm and applaud everything that is being worked on. However, it does reinforce my concern that IPACS is not reaching out to a prospective market in any way. Since the May 2016 FS2 release announcement the IPACS website has gone cold---and dark. No dazzling screenshots or videos of the Manhattan skyline or the Alps, no shoutouts about the Orbx collaboration. Nothing. It's as if nothing has happened in over a year, and we all know that's far from the case. I was hooked on FS2 the minute I saw the stunning Chicago screenshot on the Orbx site. IPACS needs to grab new users wherever they may be, but certainly on THEIR OWN site if commercial success is to be had. And I know that updating websites is very easily done and cannot fully understand why the developers aren't shouting out their triumphs from all the rooftops they can (photoreal or not...😉).

I am an older flitesimmer, having started my simming "career" at 15 years of age in an old, beat-up Link Trainer in our local Civil Air Patrol headquarters. My buds and I spent many happy hours in that crazy hybrid of an airplane and carnival ride. Many---many---years later, in the 1980's, I graduated to digital simulation with Microsoft Flight Simulator (versions 1 through X), and more recently, the incredible Aerofly FS2. Over those years there were many "wow" moments, but none have matched the wows that FS2 delivers every time I load it up. The lighting, shadows, fluidity, and exceptional default aircraft outshine anything I have used before, notwithstanding the absence of real weather, seasons, a very limited world, or ATC. And that's without VR! In short, IPACS should be very proud of their achievement.

But apparently they are not. I first learned of FS2 on my favorite site, Orbx, when I clicked on one of their georgeous banners, the one announcing the mysterious "Project A," arriving in 2017. In fact, Orbx, possibly the greatest eye-candy flightsim company on earth, now has two of their five product banners devoted to Aerofly FS2. For Aerofly to be recognized by such a stellar company, and to have that company devote two of its new products to this new simulator is high praise, indeed. And yet if you load up the Aerofly site itself (and that includes IPACS/IKARUS) there is NO mention of this new Orbx collaboration or any information about any of the huge new additions that Aerofly themselves have added since the release of FS2 in 2016 (such as The DLCs for Switzerland, Utah, and New York). They do, however, send you to the Steam site that gives you minimal reason to purchase the sim, although it does mention the full current offerings (but still fails to hawk the amazing potential of the collaboration with Orbx.).

Would I have discovered or purchased FS2 without Orbx? Probably not. If Aerofly is to succeed---and they richly deserve to do so---they need to take a few minutes or hours to at the very least update their own website with info and screenshots of what is available and forthcoming. When I see the magic they can do on the sim, it should be a mere walk in the park for them to add a few lines of text and graphics to a web page.

Let's look at this another way. If you are shopping the Web to go on your dream cruise, do you go with the cruise line that only advertises its current ports of call and services and amenities on the web sites of its competitors? To me, that's a sure sign of a sinking cruise line---or ship. Is Aerofly a sinking ship? I really hope not...