An Open Request

[Ashilta]

Dear ED Team and community representatives,

 

For the last few days, I've been discussing the state of DCS with a number of pilots, and we're all a little puzzled. The release of 1.5.2 has been seamless and we're very much enjoying the functionality it provides, however there's no clear definition of what's coming and when. Whilst we all read and appreciate Silver Dragon's roadmap thread, it's un-official and a little ambiguous.

 

Is it possible that, in the vein of the 3rd Party Developer's updates, Eagle Dynamics can prepare and provide an update which details the current progress of what's being developed, and the order in which we can expect things? As a software developer myself, I completely understand the desire to not provide estimated release dates, I do think it's reasonable to provide a product backlog and an estimate for the order of release of things. Currently, thanks to various leaks and official updates, the list of things that ED are believed to be working on comprises:

 

• DCS World 2
  
• Dedicated server
  
• The F/A-18 Hornet
  
• The F-16, as suggested by a leak of a completed cockpit model
  
• The NTTR
  
• Dynamic Campaign Functionality
  
• Multicrew functionality
  
• The Strait of Hormuz
  
• A Western Front WW2 theatre
  
• Porting the Black Sea to DCS World 2
  
• Other things that I can't think of, can't find or don't know about
  
• Providing support for a growing list of third party modules (VEAO's list is massive...)
  

 

For any development team, this is a huge, huge undertaking, and there is a lot of expectation in the community as to what will happen and when. I'm not asking for pictures, release dates or progress reports, just an indication of what's definitely planned for release and an indication of the order of priority from ED.

 

Is it possible this can be considered?

 

Best regards,

Ashilta

[Pikey]

I'm also interested in a clearer picture, given the recent changes, I understand ED work on many things in parallel and we've also had the new 2.0 acting as a kind of roadblock for many of them, but it's not clear on any plan beyond that, and as we've waited for so long for this point it's difficult to see beyond it now.

 

To put that in context, we all used to talk alot about the Hornet, we've had polls asking about dedicated server or more 4th gen fighters or dynamic campaigns, and there's enough hearsay evidence to suggest many other historic projects in various states.

 

Without DCS World 2.0 to talk about now, we are left without being able to put much conjecture anywhere! And as you know, DCS World has always been the software where we are waiting for something and talking about it!

[Silver_Dragon]

DCS: World 2.0 has release (Alpha) on late November, not date of release. Previous of stable release, need change to Beta Status.

Dedicate server has on progress but not date of release

F/A-18C on progress but not release date.

F-16C, none confirmed to a official module and only if confirm them with a official communication, no dates.

NTTR, release as Alpha version on late November, require DCS: W 2.0 release as Beta and Stable version. No dates.

Dynamic Campaign, only "design documents" or "preliminary studies" some time ago, no official communication about them, and no dates.

Multi-crew functionality. L-39 will be the test bed to that, when has appropriate implement into the simulator, others modules move to integrate them, no dates.

Strait of Hormuz, on progress, but not dates (2016 I think), none official about actual progress.

Western Front WW2 theatre has on progrees, but no official updates and no dates.

Porting Black Sea on DCS: W 2, on progress, but no dates about them.

[Regamuffin]

Also any news on the l39za my recent question got ingnored

 

 

 

Cheers chaps

[Ashilta]

Silver Dragon,

 

Thanks for that, but I'm afraid you've really just emphasised my point. There are many 'official projects' but very few 'official updates'. There's a line of developers waiting to develop multi-crew aircraft (F-14 and Gazelle being the most popular I'd imagine), but no update on progress or an expectation of how complete this is. There's a metric tonne of hearsay, but nothing actually official that says "we're working on X but ran into a problem with Y. After we resolve Y and fix X, we can work on Z. The next items on the list are A, B and C, and we're starting to plan D."

[Pikey]

Indeed. I think dates will never be provided until close, but some kind of order or priority for development so we can sense the general direction would be nice whilst we await bug squashing.

 

DCSW is about what's the next big item on the agenda, we literally have nothing to go on! :)

DCS: World 2.0 has release (Alpha) on late November, not date of release. Previous of stable release, need change to Beta Status.

Dedicate server has on progress but not date of release

F/A-18C on progress but not release date.

F-16C, none confirmed to a official module and only if confirm them with a official communication, no dates.

NTTR, release as Alpha version on late November, require DCS: W 2.0 release as Beta and Stable version. No dates.

Dynamic Campaign, only "design documents" or "preliminary studies" some time ago, no official communication about them, and no dates.

Multi-crew functionality. L-39 will be the test bed to that, when has appropriate implement into the simulator, others modules move to integrate them, no dates.

Strait of Hormuz, on progress, but not dates (2016 I think), none official about actual progress.

Western Front WW2 theatre has on progrees, but no official updates and no dates.

Porting Black Sea on DCS: W 2, on progress, but no dates about them.

[Wolf Rider]

"regular updates/ announcements" were abused, which is why "when it is ready to be announced, it will be" came from; so read from that what one would

[Pikey]

Oops i missed the magic word in both posts....

Please!

Thanks.

[Silver_Dragon]

Multi-crew has not a necessary feature to a module (Mi-8 and UH-1 work properly on actual one player flight by AI crew), the Gazelle and F-14 Can coming with appropriate AI crew.

 

ED and 3rd parties work on parallels projects (ED and Belsimtek has additional proper "Military / Professional" products line projects, can affect to the "entertainment" line with delays.

 

The support of "huge" line of 3rd projects not has a problem to DCS: W or ED.

[Darkwolf]

Hi Ashilta,

 

Those kind of questions are like "daily" in this forum. Wags carefully skip those so i wouldn't expect an answer. Maybe if you lucky, he'll show up and play evasive.

 

ED has a good communication on their product, and apart from NTTR, all their announcement were quite accurate. I come to believe that whenever they will be able to commit to something, they will let us know. But those announcment usually come late in the development, when things are nearly ready.

Don't desperate, the only way to keep up with release date is to not publish the release date until you actually release :) A quick look at 3rd Party sections will show you that most 3rd parties have their timeline late by a year or two. :D ED is smart to not play with customer expectations.

[Slipp]

If only ED would tell us if 2016 is the year of the DCS: F/A-18C. :music_whistling:

[BIGNEWY]

ED team are on a break until the 10th of January.

 

ED will only release information when it is ready to, and it will be done in the usual way official updates thread , via the news or the official facebook page

[upupandaway]

I´m a little surprised about your request.

 

No offense, but you say you are familiar with software development and I see that you have been on board here as long as I have. Surely, you must have noticed that ED has improved significantly in the PR-department over the years and that, additionally, they have provided us with everything that was promised/announced and more. I kinda understand your request, but I´m still very happy finally flying around in Nevada. A lot is still WIP, but major milestones have been reached. This actually makes me more confident.

 

Cheers!

Edited January 4, 2016 by upupandaway

[Ashilta]

Silver Dragon,

 

I'm not sure that I understand what seems to be quite a defensive response from you. To the best of my knowledge, and I apologise if I have misunderstood this, but you don't officially represent ED in any way, shape or form. Whilst I agree with the fact that multi-crew isn't a necessity, it's clear something that the community wants; to have an update on progress would be most welcome. I'm equally aware that we are not ED's only customers, but we are paying customers - I very strongly suspect that ED don't keep their non-entertainment customers in the dark. Whilst we possibly aren't their biggest paying customers, we're still paying customers and as a result, I'd like to know if my investment into this modular system is worthwhile.

 

BIGNEWY,

 

Thank you for the update, although it's not really what I was hoping. A number of us feel that we're a little in the dark; we know what's been announced, but not the order of priority for work. There's a lot of leaked information but no confirmation of modules being worked on. All I was hoping for is a definitive list of what's being developed and in what order.

 

upupandaway,

 

I'm not surprised that you're surprised, but let me say this: I'm a software developer that takes pride in under-promising and over-delivering. I have a prioritised list of work so the business that I work for knows what to expect from me and an indication that after A will be B, followed by C and so on. That doesn't seem to exist here; I'm just trying to gain a clearer understanding.

[Jacks]

I would be interested to hear a macro development roadmap so I have an understanding as to what ED are trying to achieve with dcs and where it is heading.

 

For example are ED planning any further development of the cold war scenario?

 

Will any investment be put into a korean or Vietnam scenario including aircraft ground units, aircraft ships or maps.

 

What are the plans for the WW2 elements, will it purely focus on 1944 and Normandy or will it features different periods and locations? Do ED intend to create maps large enough for late range bombing missions?

 

Do ED plan to develop the naval aspect of DCS World?

 

Is ED's main focus purely a modern battlefield?

 

These are the sort of questions I would like answering so I know where the sim is heading and whether or not to further invest time and money.

 

Basically I would like to know what ED's intent for the sim is and what they see as their priorities in terms of scenarios, features and content development, not the micro details of individual modules.

[Farlander]

I'd like to see some kind of roadmap aswell.

 

I think ED does a decent job already, but it would be nice to know where the sim is headed, and whats coming up.

 

Most of the stuff for the near future has already been up on the newsletters etc. but it would be nice to see what the planned order would be. (plans can change, go figure..)

[QuiGon]

I would be interested to hear a macro development roadmap so I have an understanding as to what ED are trying to achieve with dcs and where it is heading.

 

For example are ED planning any further development of the cold war scenario?

 

Will any investment be put into a korean or Vietnam scenario including aircraft ground units, aircraft ships or maps.

 

What are the plans for the WW2 elements, will it purely focus on 1944 and Normandy or will it features different periods and locations? Do ED intend to create maps large enough for late range bombing missions?

 

Do ED plan to develop the naval aspect of DCS World?

 

Is ED's main focus purely a modern battlefield?

 

These are the sort of questions I would like answering so I know where the sim is heading and whether or not to further invest time and money.

 

Basically I would like to know what ED's intent for the sim is and what they see as their priorities in terms of scenarios, features and content development, not the micro details of individual modules.

 

Indeed, some general info on the future of DCS development is kinda needed. There is just so much in the dark.

[Farlander]

I know at least that when i started with dcs, it took several months before i realized all the stuff that was being worked on. i think more people would be interested in the game if the knew what was being worked on.

 

Of course that might bring some pressure, but having a general roadmap that has no dates or anything would be nice. just so we have a clear idea instead of referring to several newsletters.

[Pikey]

I work for a software company and we are always asked for development roadmaps, it's incredibly normal! There's been no major change in the handling of this by ED, they do provide information up front and it's not strange to ask for it either. Some of their projects we've been following for years now, having been publically declared. So, really no need for anyone to be surprised at the question, if not the odd responses!

 

Providing release information gathers interest and plenty of folks have used it here and elsewhere to create marketing interest in the products they sell.

 

Whilst individual threads are rarely responded to by the producers, they are all read and that's the pressure they work with to understand the customer base they run the business by.

 

So, no need to reply with all the silly remarks, could you tell us your priorities for this FY, please Mr Wagner, when you return from hols, as your loyal customers are very interested :)

I´m a little surprised about your request, Ashilta.

 

No offense, but you say you are familiar with software development and I see that you have been on board here as long as I have. Surely, you must have noticed that ED has improved significantly in the PR-department over the years and that, additionally, they have provided us with everything that was promised/announced and more. I kinda understand your request, but I´m still very happy finally flying around in Nevada. A lot is still WIP, but major milestones have been reached. This actually makes me more confident.

 

Cheers!

[NineLine]

• DCS World 2
  In Public Alpha
  
• Dedicated server
  Planned, no timeline
  
• The F/A-18 Hornet
  In Progress, no timeline
  
• The F-16, as suggested by a leak of a completed cockpit model
  What leak? Never heard of it.
  
• The NTTR
  In Public Alpha
  
• Dynamic Campaign Functionality
  No known plans
  
• Multicrew functionality
  Already partially available, still a WIP
  
• The Strait of Hormuz
  In progress, will be the next map after NTTR as last we heard
  
• A Western Front WW2 theatre
  In progress, no timeline
  
• Porting the Black Sea to DCS World 2
  Being worked on Internally, hence the Alpha version of 2.0 without it.
  
• Other things that I can't think of, can't find or don't know about
  Probably an over active imagination
  
• Providing support for a growing list of third party modules (VEAO's list is massive...)
  All 3rd Parties are fully supported, not sure what you mean
  

 

My thoughts in red based on what we know.

Edited January 7, 2016 by NineLine

[scotchegg]

Whoa, what F16 cockpit photo leak?

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

F-16 would be soooo sweeeet...:music_whistling:

[OxideMako]

What leak? Never heard of it.

Really Sith? It gets mentioned a fair bit. Especially recently for some reason. AFAIK it was cancelled sometime before the A-10C came out.

[SkateZilla]

hey look they even modeled the TM MFD indicator lights..... sigh... j/k.

 

Ive seen these renders over and over again... and they are crazy outdated.

[OxideMako]

hey look they even modeled the TM MFD indicator lights..... sigh... j/k.

 

Ive seen these renders over and over again... and they are crazy outdated.

 

Yeah, but people seem to think it is still happening. Just don't ask me why.