No, really! Were do I sign up? !! Too exciting!

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile"

I'd be willing to take a gamble and buy an advance copy. Throw in the news letter too, what the heck.

All you need is money

Don't forget this doesn't have to be a £100 or whatever figure up front payment. It could for example be a bi-monthly direct debit or a payment every 3 months whatever as the game progresses. As it gets better you pay another installment - if nothing is happening and no-one answers emails, then you can cut and run with only some payment lost?

As it starts to get better, has more features etc then you can pay another installment? if no advancement then maybe you don't pay?

Maybe as popularity grows and it starts to look and feel good, more interest builds, more people contribute etc - at least this way you can see if things are growing or dying.

Well heck I wouldn't have thought I'd say this but.. I'm kinda sceptical...First off tho lemme say that I've said for years that I would be willing to pay a premium for a great Red Baron replacement...however I am thinking twice about a
company that would not answer mine or anyone elses emails for months!! It even got to the point that people thought the whole thing was a hoax!! I just don't know... and the pole is a bit vague to me.... I need to see a contract or something. Anyway ... If this doesnt "fly" maybe we can convince Sierra to release the Red Baron source code and someone can rewrite it for
openGL....all we've seen is a few screenshot and those were way back in march...I wanted this too...Guys..find a new publisher...thats the way to get it done... I know 4 people who live within 10 miles of me who would buy it..and these people don't even post here..so if there were 4 people in every 10 mile radius that bought the game...well you do the math... FINISH IT!

Talk talk talk

Life's short, this is America and we all gamble.
I want KOE no matter what form it comes to me in.

Let these guys work, and one last thing, tell me how much ya want and where to send the check.

I want KOE please

Several issues should receive attention when publishing a sim in stages. They are obvious, but I thought I’d mention them.
1: It would seem to me that the general upgrade path should be clear before the first release. This will increase involvement of those people who appreciate the course followed, and avoid disappointment with those who don’t. So, for example, make clear which geographical areas and time period will eventually be covered, and stick to that (more can be done, but not less). The longer people are waiting for the add-on they want, and the more they like the sim in general, the more disappointed they will be if ‘their’ plane or scenery does not turn up in the end, and the more negative they may be towards future products.
2: The buying behavior of prospective clients may differ from what we have seen with other sims. For example, people who want an SE5a and a D.VII in a sim and see only a Camel and a Dr.I in the initial release, may decide to wait, whereas they might have bought a ‘complete’ sim outright. Also, if I am interested in hunting Zeppelins with a Camel above London, and in nothing else, will I be interested in buying 3 add-ons; one with five British fighters, four of which I don’t need, one with a Zeppelin, a Gotha and a Staaken, two of which I don’t need, and one with the scenery of all England, of which I need only London? Of course, the example is extreme, but I hope the point is clear.
3: So, partitioning the add-ons deserves some thought. Do you release planes, sceneries etc. individually or in packages? The former is client-friendly, but requires many separate add-ons who need to work together in all combinations. And missions would also require many combinations of add-ons. No doubt this can all be done, and the smaller the add-ons, the fewer download problems for the customer, but some customers may be put off by having to find out which downloads they need, and would rather have one big package. Of course you can offer various combinations of add-ons, but the size may get so big that you have to send CD-s to the customers. How many different add-ons do you want to offer on CD, taking logistics into account?

Of course these problems are entirely manageable, but they need to be considered, I feel involving the community in the way the poll suggests may give the opportunity for some market research in this respect.

I agree with Hookman. How much do you want and where do I send the check?

Be sure to find some one on Check Six. The news with a link to this post will be online ASAP.

We are some moderators and webmasters who believe in KOE.

I already voted, and hope that many french will follow.

When we get the website set up, we should definitely have an option to send money via PayPal - hopefully it will get to the proper place.

-FranksValli

I'd pay in stages and certainly continue to do so for add-ons, but doubt I'd pay in advance for something unless it was 99.99% certain to be finished with or without my input.

Here's an idea for you to spin out some money with only a bit of coding and some 3D art floating around. Thinking of the fishtank screensaver that's around where you get a tank and some basic fish and can then purchase extra ones, how about making a 3D one using the planes that have already been made. Make a few simple backdrops and get the models moving around according to some scripts (so no flight dynamics, AI, etc required), zooming in and out, cruising through some clouds on patrol, strafing a trench, having a dogfight etc. Release it for free with just one backdrop and one or two models then charge for extra models that can be plugged into the screensaver. It may sound a bit trivial but I'd bet it would bring in a fair amount of money, not just from people buying the models to help fund game development but general screensaver and aviation fans.

Finally of course when the game is ready for release the screensavers will have acted like some nice marketing materials and maybe help sell a few more.

I kinda have Hookmans attitude. I want the sim and it will take money to see it happen. I can make more money, I can't make a sim. Tell me how much you need and where to send it. Sure it might be risky but so what? What are we going to do, walk away from the sim?

Yeah Hookman has the right idea. Everything is a risk in life, quit your job to find a better one, you might or might not. Invest in the stock market, you might totally bomb or win big. Here we have a product that is at least in a flyable stage, with no money and no developer. It needs investors, so lets give them investors. The end result will more then likely be a WWI flight sim for all of us, and there may be a possibilty it fails but I'm willing to take that risk for the chance of something better.

We have to be willing to stick our necks out for this endeavor, at least a little bit, or KOE is not going to happen. That's the bottom line. That is the reality if we are going to resurect KOE along the lines we are talking about here.

We can't hold back funding on the grounds that this may be risky. It will be risky. But if we are not willing to take a risk who will? Apparently no publishers are.

Salute all

Its a long time I have been out of update regarding RB3D and KOE. Now reentering this WWI-world, my hopes rised to zero
I think the KOE staff was doing a great job and I joined the poll to enforce it, but lets be realistic:
1.- No one is going to spend money if there is no warranty of getting something usefull in change
2.- We (the WWI community) would like to have a new good expandable, upgradeable, custimizable etc. etc. flight sim and surely would pay for it, but... How many are we?
3.- I think we may have a generation problem too: It would be wise to poll the WWI communitys average age. I guess it will fall over 30! The "new generation" rather likes fast games with big weapons which are mainly controlled by gamepads or mouse+keyboard (take a look at the joystick market and support). I am not blaming any kind of gaming genre, the world changes!
4.- About 370 members joined this poll until today: Supposing each of us would prepay lets say $100, it would make $37.000! This wouldn't even reach for a small Advertising promotion to increase the number of potential supporters. The KOE people needs more than good words and our enforcement, what in fact they have. If there is no way to convince a Publisher that now its time and a good chance to launch a new WWI-FS and the earnings will be profitable, the WWI sky will stay as it is.

Well I strongly wish we get our new WWI sim, but I think we are getting out of being "up to date". Maybe it is the same feeling those WWI pilots had when they saw this young men flying P-51s and ME-109s, who also entered the same "privilege" when Phantoms, Mirages, Falcons, Tornados, EF2000s and so forth followed....

Salute and good luck!

I have seen the eyes of a 8 year old boy light up when he was told of The Red Barron and shown a model of a certain Bright Red Triplane. No modern day fighter pilot has quite the same ability I don't think !
KOE live on.

It's good to hear that KOE may end up coming out after all, but I tend to agree with the poster a couple above - no publisher for a flight sim probably means no flight sim unless development can be continued in people's spare/empty time or funded elsewhere. Even if it does get picked up again I'd bet that it would have to start again at an earlier point in the development cycle. And what with the ever present danger of delays etc for any game, by the time 'project a' is done and something usable is ready for KOE we could easily be looking 2-3 or even 4 years away

Have fun
Finn

I'm 100% behind this development. What I'd like to see would be a modern marriage of Red Baron III and IL2 that runs under WinXP. Heck, I'd pay up front for that considering the hours I've spent fiddling my computer to get RB3 to run right. I bought Kess's Full Canvas Jacket on spec, I'd go for this as well.

There are a LOT of people out there, programmers, artists, historians, etc. who have put 1000's of hours into modding RB3 and other sims, there should be a way to get them interested in providing content for KOE.

Tom I sent you a pm.