Dear DCS Community,

First of all, a massive thank you for your patience.
We know it is frustrating to be kept in the dark, especially after the bombshell of an announcement that was dropped in January.
It was never our intent for our internal issues to go public. Unfortunately we've had to hold off on making this announcement for far too long.

Every team and business will at some point undergo difficult times, times where everything is seemingly smashed to pieces and the outlook seems most dire.
After having experienced this, we can look forward to a bright future, moving forward as a team that is now stronger than ever.

While we appreciate the fact that everyone is eager to know exactly what lead us to the internal difficulties,
we feel the need to keep as much of our private matters, private. We're here to deliver top-notch quality DCS products, not to run a forum soap opera.

No development team can exist without trust between its' members.
Of paramount importance is internal transparency and accountability-- especially with regards to financial transactions. A key issue was identified
where this requirement of trust broke down, and as such, steps had to be taken to protect everyone involved in the development of this module.

We can confirm that Laszlo “beczl” Becz has recently left the MiG-21 team.
Beczl has resigned his position amicably, and without any external or internal pressure to do so.

Hence, we are hereby known as Leatherneck Simulations and we are here to stay.


This internal restructuring primarily affect those of you who have backed the MiG-21 project on IndieGoGo.

To make it abundantly clear:

We do not have, nor will we receive, a single cent of the funds raised on IndieGoGo.

However: in the interest of goodwill and as a thank you for your incredible support over the years, we will honor each and every backer to its' fullest extent, at our own cost.
Some physical items that you are entitled to may be slightly delayed (Shirts, DVDs, etc.). We simply do not have the money required to produce these items en masse before release.

In essence, the only difference to you (the backer) -- is that you may have to wait a short period to receive your physical goods. We hope that is amicable.



Q&A

Hold On! Isn't Beczl the founder of the DCS: MiG-21?
Yes and No. The DCS: MiG-21 started as a 50/50 partnership between beczl and Novak Djordjijevic (Dolphin887). Novak has been the driving force for code development on the MiG-21 for the past 3 years, and is responsible for the majority its' codebase.

Who is Novak?
Novak has been with the project since day one, and has been the main driving force behind the code development of the DCS: MiG-21. The majority of the systems and the AFM can be attributed to Novak. With only 38 posts on the forum to date, it is understandable that he has flown under the radar.

Can I get a refund for my IndieGoGo contribution?
This is not our responsibility or decision.
We will honor your contribution to its' fullest extent at our own cost.
We do not have any of the money contributed via the IndieGoGo campaign.

Whatever you drama queens. When is this damn thing getting released?
While work has continued at a steady pace during these internal issues, it goes without saying that we are now slightly short on manpower and time has been lost.

We are looking at several options for release windows. Do not expect a long delay from the previously announced release date.

WHAT!? But you said March 30th?!
At that time, no one expected something this big to occur and hinder our development progress.
We are committed to giving you accurate and realistic time frames.

It is what you deserve and what we should be held accountable for. We will see to it that this is the case in the future.

But, seriously, when are you releasing?
There will be more info on this soon. Promise.

What happened to all the videos?
The videos are old, outdated and do not paint a proper picture of the module at this point in time.
The aircraft is a completely different piece of software relatively to a year ago.

We will post new videos very soon.

What about the MiG-23?
The MiG-23 is not in our near-future plans. It remains an attractive option for us in the long-term, as code commonality with the MiG-21 amounts to roughly 60-70%.

We hope to share future plans with you soon. There are things we are incredibly excited to show you.

I have more questions?
Feel free to ask in this thread. We understand that recent events are frustrating from an outside perspective. We are committed to to DCS and hope we can put your fears to rest.


Once again, a sincere thank you for your support, patience and understanding.
With your continued support we are here to stay and will help to foster a simulation environment that is everything a simmer could ever wish for.

Look towards a new development update for the MiG-21 later today.

Sincerely,

Leatherneck Simulations
DCS: MiG-21bis Team

Thanks Cobra.

Nice to have the official word.

Thanks for the update... Good news

Whoa, that's a lot.
Still... good to know all the work was not in vain!

Thanks for the update, appreciated.

I'm glad to hear you guys are continuing to move forward.

Thank you for the announcement. Good to know this project is back on track.

Honestly I think you guys are lucky there are so many diehard DCS and flight sim fans here.

Wow!

Somewhat glad I didn't back. Now I know that if I buy this module, my funds will go to the project.

I have to say banning discussion about such a major and important event on the ED forums looks very bad for Leatherneck on my eyes. It looked like Beczl ran with the money, but now I start to wonder what actually happened and what does Leatherneck have to hide to have to resort to such extreme means as deleting posts concerning something I'm sure every backer of the Indiegogo campaign is wondering about.

The moderation even completely misses the whole point of the discussion, its not about "getting what you paid for" - Its absolutely fantastic that Leatherneck choses to stand by the preorders in the Indiegogo campaign - but the point of crowdfunding is to fund the project and I for one would like to know what happened to my money: Was it actually used on the project, or did Beczl run away with it.

1.2.8 is looking like it's gonna be huge.

Thanks for the good news Cobra!

I am at a lost to understand all this, from what everyone has said (the team I mean) Beczsl wasn't doing much work on this addon anyway, how are they now short of manpower, just because one person left who wasn't doing much anyway.

Cobra and Rudel are doing the artwork & 3d Model.

Beczsl wasn't doing coding that was being done by mostly novak.

Very confused by all this. Very confused.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out Bec wasn't pulling his weight and the team realized they didn't need him anymore and that ALL the parts of the project they have now weren't developed by him so why should he benefit from it. Which btw was a very smart move but now we get another delay in a long line of delays.

Well said.


By the way, its bit ominous that the inaugural third party project for DCS is hitting such turbulence.

Heres hoping this is only a unique case.

Well this whole affair over the last month seems like a less than optimal development, but I'm glad to see you guys are still committing to the release. I for one cannot wait to tear around Georgia in the Fishbed, and I wish your studio the best of luck.

(Also, if you need suggestions for a follow on aircraft: F-14D )

This is the inevitable result of a project that is made by people and not machines.

In the future, when computers can program for us, we will have more accurate estimates of release dates.

I for one welcome our AI overlords!



The Jedi Master

Gents, I cleaned this thread up. We have told everyone in the announcement about the funds. If you have any questions regarding it, send it in a PM, or ask Beczl himself. The fundraiser & paypal accounts are both in his name.

Now keep this clean, no more open discussion about the MiG-21Bis funds to Beczl Studios.

Does anyone else think it's strange that title owners are moderating the title's forums on SimHQ? Please don't get me wrong, this would have to be expected and accepted on a forum they own, but why here?

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3918646#Post3918646

MAC

Strange is so right. Outright censorship when a title owner is allowed to tell people what they can and can't say even if it isn't against the TOS of SimHQ.

Hey guys,

We've been very lenient in our moderation approach both here and on Facebook. I'm not a deletion happy person, and I think everyone should have the right to speak their mind, especially as potential customers with valid concerns.

We are sensitive to the conflict of interest to the developers moderating their own forum, I apologize for anything that can be construed as unfair.

However, sometimes the witchhunt can get out of hand, which is in essence our fault as we're being intentionally vague with the amount of information provided to you.

@Kegetys (Thanks for all the great OFP and ArmA stuff back in the day!) & the rest - We really do have nothing to hide. Take the words in the announcement at face value. IndieGoGo money was not at any point invested into the project and no member of Leatherneck has received any of these monies. The money is the responsibility of Studio Beczl.

Cobra and Rudel,

It's not about who's right or wrong, it's about the fact that you guys are moderating your own forum and are making decisions what should and shouldn't be said here. I don't think that's right, from a principled point of view. I think the reason people are coming to SimHQ is because they can say more than on a company owned forum, good or bad - as long as it's not against SimHQ TOS.

Your presence here is certainly (highly) appreciated, but for me, you just shouldn't be moderators for your own title.

MAC

Good point, MAC. This is neither a studio bezcl nor a leatherneck sim forum.

So I think it is a good place for the community to discuss/ask the question where the Mig-21 indiegogo money is gone. Btw did anyone already asked bezcl about the money?

If you remember the famous post by bezcl - he wrote that "The way the money will be sent back to contributors will be communicated as soon as possible"

So if it is true that this indogogomoney is not gone in this project then we will get it back?

My 'biggest' worry is how is leatherneck studios going to get the list of names of Studio Beczl is the one with all the info and of course email addresses.

Leatherneck have stated they'll honour the offer of access to the finished mig21 to the indiegogo backers which suggests they know who they are.

To be completely fair, I should be moderating these forums. Then you'll see what a non biased moderator looks like.

You know the OFF/WOFF guys moderate their forums too, right?

No one seems to complain about that. Of course, people only complain when they're not allowed to do what they want.




The Jedi Master

The way they moderate their forums and how representatives of ED moderate are two different animals.

What representatives of ED?

I have never been in those forums , what exactly is your point. IT would appear it is "Two Wrongs make a right"

You are close to being right , people do complain when they don't get to say (do) what they want as long as it isn't against the SimHQ TOS

My point is people like to point to what they believe are absolutes when they are complaining based on opinions. Yet based on absolutes people should've been complaining about others who've been doing this a lot longer long before they started to complain about this.

In other words, an activity that has always been legal is now being reviled as "it should be illegal!" because someone disagrees with how the activity is being done. So you want to paint everyone with the same brush based on the activities of a singular group?

Since you feel group X is abusing this ability, groups A-W that came before, whom no one complained about, should also be prevented from doing it because they MIGHT abuse it in the future?

Or to put it another way...who are YOU to say they shouldn't?



The Jedi Master

I'm sure we would.

So Bezcl was a mechanic and had a lot of contacts with pilots that flew Mig-21. What about this new team? What experience do they have to produce DCS quality addon?

Beczl was not an aircraft tech or mechanic.

All research was provided (and always has been) by Novak -- our active duty MiG-21 pilot who is also our lead programmer and developer. The team behind the MiG-21 is the same, we're not "new". We're essentially just without one previous member.

Mig-21Bis

Thanks for the information, appreciated.

I think that shot looks too good. It's going to make a lot of the other planes in DCS World look like 10 yr old junk in comparison!



The Jedi Master

Wow!!

If that's the quality all around with Leatherneck modules... I'm going to be a happy man. And somewhat poorer.

shhh... counting rivets...

Ten! Ten wonderful rivets! Ha ha ha ha!



The Jedi Master

Soooo, close enough for a release date yet, pretty please?

Any news on release? Sorry for asking again, but it's the 6th now and I'm starting to get this nagging feeling that were not remotely close to a release date yet.

18th. of September

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=129858

"Remember, remember, the 18th of September. That is when the Fish will fly from its Bed."




The Jedi Master

Mig-21Bis Preorder available:

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/mig21bis/

Done!!