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Interview with Stephen Borick, NGiS Conducted By Dominic Smith [Note: images included in this article are supplied by NGiS and are described as images captured from UNIGINE Port Angeles Tech Demo, and thus do not necessarily represent the exact look of the final product.] Stephen, first off, how did you and the team come up with the idea of creating a new simulator? It actually, all began with me watching videos of GTA V Flight School. I was amazed by the level of detail in those videos and it suddenly dawned on me that for the foreseeable future we were not going to see anything like what I was seeing in GTA V visually unless someone took the time to seriously take a good look at the tools available to create a new flight simulator based on new technologies. P3D, X-Plane, MSFS series, and Flight Gear are all based upon code that began several years ago and will never be much more than what they are now. Sure, you may see some improvements such as cloud shadows and the like, but you'll never see LOD such as that seen in modern software... those engines just aren't built for it, and the more you try to increase the capacity of this older code, the more bloated it becomes and the results are the experiences you have today. When it comes to physics, flight dynamics, weather, modeling, etc. the same applies. With what's available you're literally stuck with what you get as there is little overhead within existing engines for improvements. What is sorely needed is a new simulator based upon a new engine that is continually evolving to take advantage of the advancing technologies in both software and hardware for developers as well as end users. The advancements in these areas never quit and neither should the advancements in flight simulation. If we ever want to see the next level of "As Real As It Gets" we need to move on. We created an online Next Generation Flight Simulator Symposium; where hundreds of flight simulator enthusiast voiced their ideas, opinions, as well as their desires for the need for a next generation flight simulator. It was a remarkable experience of cooperation. From that Symposium, a standard was set as to what enthusiasts were looking for in a new simulator; a suitable 3D engine was found (UNIGINE) for the creation of this new simulator, and the decision to go to Phase II, the development, was decided upon. Again, from that Symposium we have gathered, what is most probably the most formidable team of developers since Aces Studios, for the development of a Next Generation Flight Simulator. In fact, some of our members are former developers for Aces. Many of our team members are well known developers who have made a positive name for themselves in the flight simulator community; they are a huge asset to our project. We invite anyone, everyone, who has the love for flight simulation and who has the talents needed to help in the development of a next generation flight simulator to join us. Will your simulator be marketed as a game or simulator? NGiS intends to market the Next Generation Flight Simulator as a simulator for both the avid enthusiast as well as for newcomers who have yet to step into a virtual cockpit. One only needs to take a look at our growing features list (which, by the way, for the most part, is being created using those features given to us by members of the flight simulator community) to see what we fully intend to include in this new simulator. The proposed Users Interface will allow anyone to adjust the simulator to their personal preference level, from easy, allowing the most novice user to enjoy the simulator doing the things they want to do... all the way to the most sophisticated level, allowing for the most realism in any flight simulator available. Your entire environment, to include external as well as your aircraft will be adjustable to suit your preferences. We'll also have preset levels designed into the UI, allowing easy setups at various levels, as well as the ability to create your own preset levels to suit your fancy. Along with that, we'll provide scenarios that will cater to everyone... what all those scenarios will be just yet is still a work in progress and we're most definitely looking for ideas from everyone from game players to simulator fanatics. What advantage do you see your simulator having over other simulators such as P3D, X-Plane and the MSFS series? Every advantage imaginable! Again the feature set tells what we have planned for our initial release and you can find that list by visiting our home page and clicking on the Green Button near the bottom of the page. When you look at that list, you'll see there are improvements and additional features requested in just about every aspect of flight simulation and that list can be continually influenced by anyone who cares to visit our forum and add their thoughts and ideas. It should be obvious that a new flight simulator can have some very distinct advantages over what is currently available. We've got a pretty good list going, but if there is anything that you as an individual would like to see specifically, we're just waiting for you to add your request to the growing list. (We'll soon have a web page that you'll be able to access from our web site with the list of features that we already have. This page will have the sophistication to allow anyone to add to the list those things that are most important to them. You'll also have the ability to vote on your favorite features and those features with the most votes will have top priority...we'll let FlightSim.Com know when that page is available). [page][/page] Stephen, what type of flight model do you plan to use? Probably the easiest way to answer that question is with a question... "What method won't we be using to create the flight model for the Next Generation Flight Simulator? It's more likely a combination of methods will be used and even some that haven't been developed yet. Whatever is required to develop the most sophisticated/realistic model available for every type of aircraft imaginable will be used. Will a damage/failure model be included? Yes! Highly requested feature with details that still need to be worked out, but it'll be there. Do you plan to model the whole world, or just a small area? Yes... the entire world, at an incredible level of realism. This goes back to the reason for using modern technologies in software and hardware. The capabilities available to us today allows for some pretty amazing visuals that go far beyond what you see in current flight simulators. If you want a taste of what's to come we invite everyone to visit our home page and our forum. There are three videos at the bottom of our Home page and there is a tech demo available for download in the forum. What you'll see is only the beginning. We are collaborating with UNIGINE to create a virtual world that will be designed to immerse you into a world that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "As Real As It Gets". All the major civilian simulators have the option to enable real world weather. Will this be implemented in your simulator? Absolutely, and again, at a level not yet seen in a simulation. Even more importantly the effects of weather will have a direct effect on your aircraft. We're looking at every feasible possibility of weather effects on aircraft and intend to recreate those effects into the Next Generation Flight Simulator. Here's a for instance; you take off on a bright sunny morning, the heat of the sun has not yet created the thermals that will build up as the sun continues to rise every higher in the sky... so, takeoff is as smooth as silk... landing may not be so smooth. Stephen, is there a plan for third party content to be added to the simulator (freeware/payware)? If so, will there be a software development kit? One of the most important features requested is the ability to import 3rd party content that end users already own either directly or by use of a conversion tool into the Next Generation Flight Simulation. The ability to do so isn't as complicated as one would think, but there are other issues that will need to be addressed, such as legal. As you might well imagine there are quite a few 3rd party developers who will see the release of a new flight simulator as an opportunity for additional sales. This is a logistic that will need to be worked out and one way to do that is to allow end users the ability to import there current add-ons as place holders to fill their new simulator with aircraft and scenery (i.e. cities, towns, airports, etc.) while the 3rd party developer creates a replacement with even more fidelity than what they are currently offering. It's a delicate balance that will need to be addressed. With that being said, we have every intention of providing an SDK with a set of standards that will have to be met in order to get the NGiS Gold Star of Approval. Those 3rd party developers who meet this standard will receive that stamp of approval and end users can rest assured that the add-on has been designed to work properly with the Next Generation Flight Simulator. Of course other add-ons may not receive this stamp of approval and end users will need to rely on reviews as well as their own judgments as whether or not it's a good idea to include this level of add-on into their simulator. One thing to keep in mind is that there really won't be a need for the level of geo-spatial and environment add-ons that are required in the current flight simulators. The initial release will be built on and will include the best height maps, vector and raster data available. There will be no need for 3rd party developers to recreate the world we fly in areas such as shorelines, waterways, height details, landclass, etc. Does that mean that there won't be a need for terrain developers? No it doesn't. It does mean that terrain developers will need to focus on creating sophisticated geological landmarks, similar in nature to what Frank Dainese has done with Monument Valley and Yosemite National Park. Our SDK will provide the tools that will allow terrain developers to concentrate on natural and manmade features in a much greater detail than previously obtained. The same goes for weather. Our goal is to include the most sophisticated weather engine available and to include things such as volumetric clouds, weather conditions that have an effect on your environment; such as accumulating snow, icing, water puddles (hydroplaning), muddy fields, and a whole lot more. How will your simulator attract new users to the genre? Again, the Next Generation Flight Simulator features list is a good place to turn to see what we've got planned for missions and training. One of our team members created the training mission in FS2000 and is just itching to get his hands on the sophisticated models that will allow him to extend his vision further than what was before capable. We'd like to hear from everyone who is interested in flight simulation, from novice to expert, as to what they would like to see in the way of missions and training. If you've got an idea, than we want to hear it. And don't worry about someone else already posting a similar idea, post anyway... that way we'll know that it's a popular mission or training scenario that endusers want to see. Will multiplayer be included? Absolutely... and, again at a level never before seen. I can't go into details of some of the ideas that we have planned (Intellectual Property and all that) but I can tell you that some of it has to do with a very sophisticated ATC system that will also include the capability of using real ATC students who will have the ability to direct our simulated traffic as well as end users. We'd also like to hear from the end users as to what they would like to see in multiplayer that would keep you coming back time and time again. What distribution methods are you planning on using? There are several available and as to which we will be using hasn't been determined yet. It's a matter of what is most advantageous to our marketing plans and to our customers as well, and if we can't get the cooperation that will be needed to implement our model we may just decide to do sales from our store only. As I said, it's a "still to be determined" part of our plan that will be finalized as we get closer to distribution. With OSX and Linux now viable simulator platforms, do you plan to release your simulator on numerous operating systems? Yes, we are. UNIGINE is a 3D engine designed for Windows, OSX, as well as Linux, making it a sensible proposition. Lastly, do you have a projected release date and will there be public beta testing? As always, it wouldn't be wise to announce a projected release date and then not be able to release our product in that time frame... Star Citizen has run into the problems that can arise from doing just that, even within their Alpha development. We do however intend to release a technical demo based on a small area of our planet (right now we're looking at Corsica for its diversity as well as the many detailed features of its terrain) which would include many of the feature sets that are planned for the initial release. I can't get into much detail at the moment, but a demo is a part of our strategy to "spread the word". Right now we have a very qualified pre-alpha and alpha Quality Assurance team and we're going to utilize that team to the fullest. However, sooner or later we'll need beta testers as well and we've already started a growing list of volunteers. Our goal is to make the initial release of the Next Generation Flight Simulator as bug free as we can possibly make it... and if we utilize our Quality Assurance team properly, beta testers will be used primarily for testing fidelity of the demo as well as the simulation. We have every intention of releasing an "I want it Now!" demo, which is going to be the catalyst for a very successful launch of the Next Generation Flight Simulator. What we at Next Generation Interactive Software want to communicate to every fan of flight simulation, even those fans who don't know they're fans yet, is that the Next Generation Flight Simulator is a community driven flight simulator. What does that mean... simply this... that your input on our forums will serve to drive the direction of the development of the Next Generation Flight Simulator for years to come. We're not stopping the continued development of this simulator with its initial release. It's impossible to complete a simulator on the level we're prepared to commit to in just the time frame that we have set for initial release. Our world and the physics that act upon it are far too many to exploit in a limited and feasible time frame. What will be available to everyone in the initial release is just the beginning... But, What A Beginning! Over a reasonable amount of time we intend to extend your experience far beyond what is currently available on any flight simulation platform on a level yet to be seen. And, just when everyone thinks we're finished, it'll be time to start again on the next level of "As Real As It Gets". Stephen Borick, NGiS Next Generation Interative Software Web site: http://nexgenflightsim.com/wordpress/