Godzone Exposure

[hoki1185]

Well done Rob.Good to see you getting some international exposure by way of a full page in the latest issue of PC Pilot.

[toprob]

Cheers, I tell you what, I'm so drugged up at the moment (that's prescription stuff only!) that I couldn't remember what they were showcasing. They did say they'd send me a copy, quite looking forward to an actual printed magazine for a change...

It's great to get the exposure, but it'll be a lot better when I have something new on the market. Seems like forever since I finished a project.

[Ian Warren]

Hooked into a magazine, best drug yet.... now ya need to push it ! .... Bloody well done !

[AdrianPetford]

I haven't seen it yet, but well done Rob. Well deserved!

JV gave you a very positive plug on the Orbx forums recently too.

[MichaelBasler]

Indeed Adrian, which is even more remarkable as he very rarely does so.

My best wishes Rob for getting health back to normal (whatever this means). Patiently waiting for any further finished projects.

Kind regards, Michael

[toprob]

Yes it was good to see John spelling out the reasoning behind their moving on from New Zealand. People have taken a while to catch on that Orbx won't suddenly return to NZ, but in the meantime the local scene is quite unsettled. John mentioned that we had talked about me developing for Orbx, and this week I've been asked by a couple of locals why not, and would I reconsider? Developing for Orbx was always a chicken-and-egg proposition, their NZ scenery was always going to be a bit risky, and maybe if they had another keen developer working specifically on NZ it might have made a difference. But then again, it might not have.

Yes, their NZ is great, but the world is a big place, and there are millions(!?) of folks screaming out for their local area. The US market is quite untapped, in a lot of ways, so I can understand that Orbx developers would be a lot more comfortable developing there, or some equally populous area, such as Europe. When you are talking about cities with a larger population that NZ, you kinda see why NZ was always going to be a non-starter.

And really, the US has never had much of an interest in NZ scenery. I have about 50 European customers for every one US. Hell, even I'd look at developing for the US if I wasn't so stubborn...

[NZ255]

Certainly publishing through orbx increases your visibility, even if they take their piece off the top?

[toprob]

Certainly publishing through orbx increases your visibility, even if they take their piece off the top?

Perhaps, but there are a couple of issues -- you can't really do anything about the fact that New Zealand is always going to be a niche, no matter how great a scenery you make. Working on the figures supplied by Orbx, (which I think are quite optimistic) I might be able to increase my sales by 80%, but I only get half of what I make on my own. That's a nett 10% drop in total sales with Orbx, which I wouldn't moan about, but there's also the exclusivity -- Orbx would own my work, again not a problem except that I can't use what I build to make a non-Orbx version. At the moment Orbx may have the majority of the NZ user base, but not by much -- maybe 60/40.

The fact that Orbx were so quick to abandon NZ before delivering any full NI airports shows that a long-term commitment was never on the cards. So in 3 or 4 years, NZ flightsim scenery kind of becomes a dead-end.

Lastly, there's the fact that Orbx developers tend to be artists. I'm not, I couldn't draw a straight line, unless I was trying to draw a curve, and I base everything on my own photos rather than 'paint' a scenery. So there's no real guarantee that I'd be successful as an Orbx developer anyway. Sure, I'm not that successful as an independent, but I'm happy to stick with my own methods.

[toprob]

...and as a timely illustration of my last point, in the Orbx thread about NZ, someone has called my scenery 'junk'. Yes, he is from the US, where they are used to getting the best, so I wouldn't even think of going after that market...

[Naki]

Your scenery is far from junk. I consider your airports better than what Orbx has produced for NZ. Queenstown has quite a few issues, although Milford is fine.

He (actually I thought it was a she) was referring to your fs9 scenery. Anyway it's deleted now, since i responded to the comment.

[toprob]

Thanks, Naki, I appreciate the support.

I don't have any doubts about what my scenery is, I've been doing this for long enough to know that if you put in a lot of work, you'll get a good result, but there are developers a lot better at it than me. And plenty not so good. However I've said before that I win by virtue of being one of the few still-active NZ developers:)

Having said that, I'm beginning to realise that 'active' might not be the right work, although I've been trying for a long time to get back on track, with regular releases, it just hasn't happened, so I would expect to take some flack. Fair enough, too.

[chopper_nut]

I can't even register to get on the ORBX forums. Strange system. Don't be too hard on yourself Robin, NZ Flight simming needs your scenery, it DOESN'T need ORBX. If they hadn't released NZNI and SI, we'd all be running VLC (Some still do) and the photo real which is compatible with BOTH platforms, unlike ORBX's stuff. The only reason that I'm running ORBX at the moment is because of the 'feel' that it has and also because I fly around Queenstown a lot and their's is the only real Queenstown scenery at the moment. Your Wanaka is far and away more accurate than theirs, there is something seriously wrong with scale and ground friction at some of their airports that yours don't have.
You get my vote.

[cowpatz]

I can't even register to get on the ORBX forums. Strange system. Don't be too hard on yourself Robin, NZ Flight simming needs your scenery, it DOESN'T need ORBX. If they hadn't released NZNI and SI, we'd all be running VLC (Some still do) and the photo real which is compatible with BOTH platforms, unlike ORBX's stuff. The only reason that I'm running ORBX at the moment is because of the 'feel' that it has and also because I fly around Queenstown a lot and their's is the only real Queenstown scenery at the moment. Your Wanaka is far and away more accurate than theirs, there is something seriously wrong with scale and ground friction at some of their airports that yours don't have.
You get my vote.

I fully agree with that. What ORBX does provide is some treatment for some of the default aerodromes. The elevations they use are a pain and they refuse to do anything about them. In my view their colours are over saturated as well. That green is just too....well green. They seem to be appeasing the US market at present, and that is fine, but I would prefer to invest in the NZ and possibly Aussie stuff.....so hurry up Rob and start producing so that we can buy it!
There is a real lack of NZ airport sceneries available for P3D which is somewhat frustrating. Some FSX stuff works but not all. Would there be any merit in using a business model along the lines of "mass producing" say airfield "lite" versions and then following up later with the real detailed treatment as in a "Pro" version (for want of a better expression). The consumer could either opt for the first and then pay an upgrade fee or wait for the Pro version.
Is there anything due for release in the subscription series or has that now ceased?

Keep up the excellent work.

[chopper_nut]

I'm used to the colours now and to be honest, it doesn't offend me too much...... apart from Wanaka. The elevations are stupid though. I guess, if all of the elevations are out then it doesn't matter too much as long as there aren't massive cliffs where there shouldn't be.

[NZ255]

What's wrong with the elevations?

The 'official' elevations given by the AIP is the highest point of the runway (or field, I can't remember) so it's not always the best bet.
If you have accurate terrain data wouldn't you try to blend in the airport? </devil's_advocate>

[toprob]

Vector Land Class uses elevation data as good as Orbx, but still manages to blend airports to the AIP. This makes it a lot easier to mix and match addons.

I love what Orbx has done for the sim worldwide, but I will always have a problem with the exclusivity, especially for NZ, which is 'finished' as far as Orbx is concerned. Orbx are not going to produce any more NZ scenery, but it will remain against their EULA for anyone else to use Orbx libraries etc. So compatibility becomes a bit of a hack, going forward.

Microsoft always left things open for developers to use their libraries, and pretty much tweak anything to build addons, and LM have kept this in Prepar3D. Orbx have created a closed system, which is great while it is still actively being developed, but when it isn't, and is effectively finished, the lack of releases would begin to annoy me after a while...