Hmmm...agree with pretty much 90% of that Chivas, though like i say this graphics patch is not holding up work on BOM is it? and i assume its using the same engine.

Many people have never understood the development process.

The developer has used the community, to help them research material they needed to develop the sim.

In return the developer lets us know most of the features they are working on, provided WIP screenshots, and some videos thru the very long process. All along stating there were no promises on what could be completed and the no known timeframe of those that could be completed.

All through the process people have continued to ask the question "When". There were far too many variables for them to know when, but there would be pressure from the bean counters as well, so they hazard a few guesses, and got crucified and called "Liars".

Finally after a multitude of setbacks, some self inflicted, some due to circumstance beyond their control, the sim didn't get finished, and the development funds dried up. What do you do then. Cancel the sim and walk away? Everyone loses. The investors lose, the developers lose their jobs, the WW2 aircombat communities lose the only real simulator in development.

Was there a better solution? Maybe a Win Win solution, one where the investors have a chance to get their money back, where the developers keep their jobs, and where its possible the community could eventually have the sim we all want.

Waiting for the sim to be finished before release wasn't an option, the investment money had dried up.

The only possible way for anything good to happen was release what was finished and hope there was enough sales to show the bean counters they hadn't wasted millions of dollars and there was still a chance to get their monies back. Now will there be enough sales to continue development, if they put, "Unfinished" on the box title. Probably not. People would understand the dilemma wouldn't they? Not enough people would. Many people in the community would gladly invest full price for the possibility of the simulator we all want, but again probably not enough monies would be generated to continue development. Its a "Catch 22", but a decision had to be to made. Would the community understand, most would, while others never understood the development process, why would they understand this decision. They new the reviews would be poor and there would be "you promised" spammed thru the forums, but it was the only way the sim could ever be finished.

Did the developer think they would have to rewrite the graphics engine before they could finish the sim, probably not. They assumed they would be able to optimize the existing graphics code. Things were looking good recently when Luthier stated they were close to releasing the performance patch, but reading between lines suggests this latest setback is very serious and could very well put the development out of its misery, but lose their jobs, investors their monies, the community their sim. Hopefully the developer will find the answers to finishing the patch soon. I knew for many years it would be very difficult to put all the features they talked about with playable frame rates, and many features would have to be slowly integrated thru the life of the series, but this performance setback could be the straw the broke the camels back.

This could all be bullcr#p, but probably more logical the most of the conspiracy theories presented.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here and particularly that they had to release the game when they did due to commercial reasons. What I would say though is that they completely misjudged their key market. If they had offered for purchase an open beta, plus road map to address key features I bet you it would have been very well supported and that they could have sold that beta plus the release version too very successfully. I look in my own squad and it contains people from very different walks of life but it is full of people who are in professions or at the top end of what they do. I would hazard a guess that the same demographic prevails throughout the simming community. What I am saying is that it is not the target audience to whom you want to try and sell a handfull of beans unless you want a serious backlash. That is what they misjudged and that is what has happened.

I know, i think it should be the new tag line on the box...

IL2 CLIFFS OF DOVER

"sim is absolutely brilliant, except for those who are really short sighted" Robtek.

"its just not finished" Chivas.