SIM720 - New to the market? - Yes, but not completely new in the Flight Sim world

What is the background to SIM720?

SIM720 are an independent company recently launched on the market with a passion to make a difference. Since its incorporation in May 2012, SIM720 has been delivering scenery upgrades, as well as a few English airports add-ons, for ORBX. The first region delivered was FTX EU England and this was followed by Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Airports delivered to the market also under the ORBX label were Goodwood, Shoreham, Old Warden, Popham and Compton Abbas. Going forward under the existing contract SIM720 are currently working on the Irish Republic, expected to be released in time for Christmas, and after that Norway South.

What do you consider your best or most popular work?

England was a massive project and apparently sold really well and received a best product award, but Scotland was our favourite. To be honest, each project has thrown up its own individual challenges, which we continue to meet. Of course we learnt as we progressed and now on the latter products we produce not only the Landclass work but also the GIS. One always expect in many ways that the favourite will tend to be the latest one developed, which at the moment is the Republic of Ireland, so ask me again after it is released but for now the favourite is Scotland.

Who are the individuals in SIM720?

I have always been a flight simmer and used Orbx software along with other supplier products. The trouble was that there was a lack of land class products covering the United Kingdom and therefore it was natural for me to want to create something to fill the gap in their regional offering; hence, as one does, I offered to produce England and Goodwood airport as a start and we've moved on from there. The original SIM720 development team was founded from a gaming clan called Smurfs of War. Our first five team members, namely: Sam Hudson, Nick Svejdal, Keith Lewis, Paul Webster and Jonas Arrenhuis all joined from the clan and are all still with us today. I guess that's where the team spirit comes from. So our current core employees are basically gamers who love flight simulation on all levels. In fact, when the team were given the chance to fly a real aircraft, having never been in one before, they were able to take off, fly around and land unaided by the trained instructor sitting by their side. That's pretty impressive as to their aviation skill level and also as a demonstration that being a simmer can seriously endanger your health; it actually teaches one to really fly - scary.

Why are you now developing as SIM720?

We have enjoyed our work developing for ORBX but felt that we had different views as to the future direction for SIM720 and also we wanted our own identity directly with a forum where we could interact with our customers as SIM720. We want to say what we want to say when we want to say it with interaction with the wider community at the level we need for an independent future. Let's face it, as of now, we are not exactly the best known mover and shaker in the industry; but we would like to be and you can't do that without a separate identity as well. We also wanted more freedom to explore other areas outside of just the one client, felt constrained by final decisions on content being out of our hands and major parts such as the GIS not being in our contract at all. We will continue to work with Orbx on agreed regional projects, where we remain in the back office with Orbx calling the shots on content and quality rather than us. However, on the airport production side, it makes no sense for us to work only for one publisher/developer and we have mutually agreed to go our separate ways. The community will in future be able to judge us on our own merits.

So, what's really changed for you?

Well, we are the new boys on the block. That gives us tremendous challenges; not least of which is that very few people know we exist and what we do. That's another reason to be producing in our own name of course, but it would be foolish to believe that just wanting it will make it so. We need the word to spread about us; we need people to want to give us a chance as a new player in the market; we want people to give us direct feedback on everything we do; and let's be honest we want people to buy from us so we can produce more. As part of our identity creation we are thinking very carefully about whom we forge relationships with, including publishers and we have initiated discussions with several of the companies. Of course part of our identity comes through our new web site Flight.sim720.co.uk so we certainly wish to encourage people to keep a watch out for what's new. We are fortunate to have as our latest recruit, David Bonney, who is not just the power behind our web site but also a great addition to our modelling capability. Also I would emphasise our Quality Assurance processes including very much our new Beta test community where we are so fortunate to have the active involvement of two great 'tell it as it is' demanding testers in the name of Kevin Firth and Christopher Low.

So do you expect to be around for the longer term?

This is our full time job, so we need to make it a success for everyone; how it pans out for us will depend on the simmer community and whether they like our work in sufficient numbers to actually pay for it. If the community tell us what they want through our forums on either our web site (Flight.sim720.co.uk) or the one we have opened up on Avsim in collaboration with the new Avsim Market Place, then that would help us gauge demand better. We might then be able to make a real difference in the areas most important to simmers, be they professional aviators or enthusiasts such as ourselves. It's also our secret wish to provide people with new experiences and we hope this will come through in some of our products being designed for the future. We have even designed a 7-axes of movement full motion simulator; but that's a story for another day.

What skill sets do your employees have?

The original team operated well in areas such as Photoshop, 3DS Max, Maya, etc. but we have recently strengthened our expertise with much better modelling and artistic skills. Other skill areas we are turning to are in the application of 3D and virtual reality in other industries; not yet sure about some of their application to flight simulation but are convinced there should be a win:win scenario from cross-industry fertilisation of ideas. Going forward, our view is that relevant skill sets can be acquired or taught, but passion, desire and drive to improve can't. That will be our main selection criteria as we seek to recruit new ideas and new blood. We are also willing to investigate strategic partnerships with other organisations and quite happy to encourage skilled individuals to liaise with us.

What do you expect?

We are not sure we expect anything, but what we would like is encouragement and support from the community where it believes we can make a real contribution. Our launch into the market with our first products was to make them available to as many simmers as possible. That's why we have developed airports that take into consideration the type of scenery upgrades people may have. Our products will work with default FSX, as one would expect, but we also try to ensure that they are compatible with others such as Horizon, MegaScenery Earth and Orbx; not to mention DX10 compatibility. We believe this open approach to help simmers make best use of their existing investment is the way to go. That will not stop us doing some products as specials but I myself fly on landclass and photoreal so would want any airport I purchased to blend with both. Also, as part of being the future as well as the present we have ensured our products are compatible with Prepare3D.

So, in just a few words, SIM720 is?

We want to be part of a community where all voices are heard so it can get better for everyone; no negatives, only constructive comments; to us that's the most important ingredient. Hopefully, our products will meet the expectations of the community and we will get the support we need.

Thanks for the opportunity to engage the community.

Barry Hudson
Director SIM720