As posted below, new blog up. Combat helo blog spot

Obviously cashflow is adding to what are probably many issues.

I would pre-pay if that would help things along.

Anybody else support that position?

Absolutely would support a paid beta release. Afterall, what release in the last 20 years hasn't required various patches to make them playable, which to me makes them betas until fully playable and committed to all things promised. Plus, this one just looks too fantastic to let fall through the cracks because of funding. You have my vote.

Matt

I would pay for a beta.

Me too!!

I would gladly pay for a beta and/or a donation.

Thanks guys, but can I be clear.

I'm not talking about paying for a beta.

I'm talking about pre-paying - ie giving the guys payment for the game up front before we receive anything.

I would call it a punt. And a good one.

I trust absolutely that we wouldn't be ripped off.

Hmmm, that would make me a bit leary, as there are no guarantee's for it to appear. Not doubting your integrity, but there's a chance it turns into vaporware and then where is the consumer if that happens? I have only pre-ordered after there's been at least one release from the company/designer/publisher. Not saying for certain I wouldn't, but would want some sort of guarantee, such as refundability.

Matt

A HUGE +1 to that idea .... Flex you know you and AD have a loyal and ready to help following .... and its not charity either .... I can only speak for myself here but I for one am definitely ready to help in any way I can to get CH over the line. A PAYPAL pre-pay account would be great to show that we are with you guys and if it makes life a little easier then that's a bonus

So please have a serious think about it .... we just want to help (and of course the obvious motive of getting our hands on a new sim never entered anyone's minds did it ..... NAH NEVER!!!! )

Cheers

Good idea calmer, though I doubt that Flex would take that money before he have finished a public beta at least.
Sure, I trust in them and I would spent about 35 euros for a pre-pay.

The taxman mightn't be happy about us filling a paypal account with untaxed income.

Christmas is a slow time of year and the recent events have prevented much progress at my end. It's usual that when one of us slows down the other follows the trend and of course the opposite is true. If you look at the blog history there's some pretty clear trends: December and January are quiet whilst March, April, September and October are development peaks. This pattern generally coincides with the months where we have other commitments and the time we have away from regular employment.

I'm confident the development gears will start turning once we get into the new year.

Cheers

I would support paying for a beta only because I have seen a lot of good information and videos and it really shows this team is dedicated to their project.If this was some fiasco like fighter ops and paying to see a few screen shots once a year or less I would definately pass.

Count me in too, I'd happily pay pre beta and/or make some donations if needed, over the years I've blown a stupid amount of money on booze, town escapades and even dumber stuff that I won't get into here so throwing some cash these guys way for what will no doubt be a most excellent sim when it's done seems like a damn good investment to me.

OK, here's me and my wild idea...

What if you (CH devs) could release a very small sample to wet our appetite? My real life experience with businesses, retail and customer/client concepts tell me this is often a successful way of attracting people towards your product and creating a motivation to invest in your product. A sort of trial version and yet no trial. I know I'm sounding like I'm on something right now so let me explain what I mean.

* One flyable area only, e.g. a shooting range.
* Area of max. 4km by 4km.
* Limited fuel which only allows a max. time on station of 30 minutes.
* Limited ordnance consisting of max. 300rds. and two pods each carrying max. 8 rockets with only one type of warhead available.
* No real targets like insurgents and technicals, just stationary practice targets like found on a shooting range.
* Full functioning Apache except for systems which are not yet developed or limited by the above.

Pros:
+ Give people a little more than video clips and sceenshots to really see what a great product is being constructed in your 2 man workshop.
+ Have them beg for more to come, convince them the provide funding so you have yourself some more space.
+ Every hardware is different, if bugs start to appear this might give you new insights in the programming long before you're about to release a near-complete product.
+ Downloadeable through a simple and cheap hosting service that offers nothing but a large data throughput, no publishers or whatsoever needed.

Cons:
- Requires top notch built-in security to prevent unlocking of the limitations and further development of the game for the freeware and/or warez market, because then you're definitely done!
- You would need a way of handling incoming comments because it'll probably start raining feedback (pos. and neg.) the moment you make the download available.
- You fill in the rest...
- Spouse already downloading PDF templates of divorce papers... Children complaining daddy's always busy lately.


Like I said in the opening of this post, it's just a wild idea. Perhaps you already had something similar in mind, perhaps not. Just give it some thought and tell me why my idea is a bad one.

Jp

Jaypee,

Your idea is a good one. Infact it's so good we actually thought of it this time last year. Since then we've been working on putting out a target range with a fully functioning AH-64D (sans the hellfires). Unfortunately development over the last 4 or 5 months has ground to a halt and we've long since passed our unrealistic self-imposed deadline.

Cheers

I heard about the target range, just didn't know the idea was to launch it with roughly the similar thought in mind as I suggested.

Good luck!

Might try a kickstarter campaign for funding. I know I'd be willing to chip in a chunk of change to support you guys, particularly if you guys have some good swag for the higher levels

-Jenrick

I agree that you guys should consider doing a kickstarter project. There are a lot of fans there looking to donate to hardcore/oldschool games.

Here's some info about the recent popularity of Kickstarter:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/201...-funded-gaming/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-0...ump-in-business

Cheers

The buzz around kickstarter over the last couple of months has been pretty incredible. 3.3 mil USD pledged to the development of Double Fine based purely on the memories of a bunch of games released nearly 20 years ago! That's trading on nostalgia like never before, and it's a huge responsibility for the guys making that game. What's going to happen in 18 months time if they have nothing tangible to show? If it were a publisher backing the project they could force the developer's hand and/or reclaim assets. With 87,142 mini-investors I can see some legal nastiness on the horizon. I hope it doesn't come to that as I was a huge fan of Day of the Tentacle and I'm looking forward to playing double fine. I'm just not sure if I agree that putting cash in developers hand will necessarily make them work.

Cheers

Kickstarter available in UK in the fall:
kickstarter on twitter

Richard posted a new comment on the blog and it's all looking good. Game still in progress, but it's vacation, so not much going on right now. Although, i'd love to see that vid he's talking about...