CoD--Becoming a Masterpiece

[nodlew]

I hope your future customer base of 500 people world wide will make you happy.

You can't be serious? Even if Maddox games were to fold this afternoon, and all official support of Cliffs of Dover were to cease immediately, dozens, hundreds of amateur and semi-professional programmers would take up finishing this game On Their Own. There would be an instant call for the SDK, programming tools...

And whatever their success, or failure, hundreds of people, all flight-sim enthusiasts everywhere, would continue to work on and play this game for years, decades to come. You know why? Because, whatever its current bugs, there is nothing even in the same ballpark as this game. And there is no other company out there with the knowledge, the inclination, or the dedication to even attempt to produce one. Ever.

In fact, games like CoD are not made anymore. They don't exist. The profit margins are not high enough. They are too hard. The buying power of the Plane Nerd set is not potent enough to justify the effort involved. Ask the guys at TankSim.com how things are going in the Armored Warfare sim niche. And tanks are dirt simple to simulate compared to planes.

No, you are very wrong. Whether the folks at Maddox choose to kiss your ass or not, this game is by default the Name of the Game in WWII flight sims for the next decade. Anyone and everyone with a boner for WWII flight sims will be playing this game. And although a few may drop by the wayside, feel free to do so yourself, more will take up the game to compensate the grievous (snark) loss of your participation.

No, I am with those who choose to support Maddox games. I don't see anyone else producing anything comparable in the genre, and I predict that I won't see anyone else. I happen to love WWII, and I like simulations. I discovered flight simulation with Il-2 (and Jane's WWII Fighters--Jane's doesn't make flight sims anymore), I was always a tank sim guy before that (but they don't make tank sims anymore)*.

As I said at the beginning of this thread--I was angry about not being able to play the game, but I have witnessed the efforts of the Devs to fix those problems and I am mollified.

What the hell. All games these days are released with a bunch of bugs and problems. The classic games mature, and become refined. That's the way it works. What separates the companies that deserve our support from those that don't is their demonstration of their willingness to address these issues and perfect the game.

*Yeah, I know there's the new one with the T-62 and the M-60. I will definitely check it out.