Fighter Ops’ Rick “Rjetster” Ladomade Page 3

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20mm: What were some of the major stumbling blocks and how were they overcome?

Rick: From a personnel point of view, the enormous challenges and stumbling blocks we faced early-on were finding suitably skilled team members that were passionate and serious about the project. Many had unrealistic expectations of what they were getting themselves involved in and how daunting the project really was. Once this sunk in, many quickly lost interest; so it really became a balancing act for XSI the first few years. We had to dissolve several issues with the project that adversely affected early productivity and morale; however, this experience eventually increased quality and responsibility throughout the team.

From a development standpoint, managing all the available resources was very difficult in the beginning. Given the critical nature of early engineering and programming style decisions, I really believe we credit much of our early progress to ultimately finding the right combined set of a very good Software Engineer “Bagonous” and Project Manager “Wipsnake” as well as extraordinary team managers and team members. Our top requirement was to build a flight sim that would ultimately become what we have always wanted, which translates into having the best flight sim ever. Of course, getting there required the use of some of the most up-to-date methods and techniques currently available. As a result we started off by doing tons and tons of painstaking meticulous research (which will always continue) to determine where the absolute cutting-edge limits were for graphics, AI etc.

From the peripheral, it appeared as if we were not advancing; but in fact we were very actively researching, evaluating and testing the latest techniques that were presently available. So, to briefly summarize our journey, software projects in general start with requirements and analysis. Design and implementation follow and then testing and debugging are done until the goals in the requirements phase have been achieved. We started with an enormous amount of technical research while evaluating several different techniques in various ways. After that, we started a series of builds and began adding more and more to the engine as we advanced forward. In addition to the coding effort required for each build, extensive work was also being prepared in the areas of art, sound, FM and, finally, testing; and as each build brings us closer to the finished product, every department continues to create new content while revising existing material. Obviously a lot of work is going on in parallel as the team completes each build and moves on to the next phase.

From a company standpoint, being a small business and trying to be extremely diverse and productive is challenging. It was incredibly tough in the early goings, as you are, more often than not, exposed to harsh criticism while trying to keep a positive slate, which still continues today. Early on, you have to realize that you can’t please everyone. In fact, nobody can. So by sticking together, understanding that your team will have its positives and negatives (you have to be very realistic about that), and believing in each other, you become very steadfast and firm with a surplus of passion and determination to succeed.

20mm: What are the major ones remaining? Was it always a modular concept?

Rick: Fighter Ops is based on a great deal of research and planning. It was designed nearly from the beginning to be a modular concept. In fact it’s a tenure that has been around for a good while and you witness it now with many of the newer flight sim projects. Now, let’s define this modular concept… Fighter Ops is not meant to be a single release; so, instead of creating a single product with everything in it, which might not be possible anyway, we are creating Fighter Ops in a series of stages or a set of releases that will continue to build on the previous release. The first will be training. We will then add the dynamic campaign engine to the mix, then combat in different theaters, and so on and so forth in whatever particular order we find necessary. This will also include various aircraft releases along the way. In addition to these major releases, many technological updates will be released as new hardware becomes available. The main factor is that the core of Fighter Ops will remain a consistent platform throughout this process of expansion.

Our scale of operations and the practical implications have changed a bit, but most of our remaining issues can be resolved in parallel with the challenges of actual software development. The amount of work involved in a combat simulation such as Fighter Ops is obviously immeasurable. As a result of this level of fidelity, the sustainability factor becomes a very large issue. There are many diverse components that need to be compatible and communicate with each other, such as graphics, terrain, aircraft systems and avionics, weapons systems modeling, flight and physics models, damage modeling for both airborne and ground-based vehicles, sound, AI, various forms of comms, UI, the weather, online play, customizability and so many others, with all sharing a unified common framework. This is where the remaining development challenges are, essentially putting all of these resources into perspective with the ability to run in real-time, without having a slide show. This matrix becomes a hugely difficult challenge in itself and is seldom appreciated.

20mm: I wonder about the statement I quoted from the FO site and about meeting the requirements of the flight sim community. Now, we all know, these people are a very demanding and diverse group. Honestly, they don’t agree about practically anything when it comes to flight sims. Some want graphical wonder, others don’t care about that and demand flight model fidelity above all else, still others want it all, plus the kitchen sink. How do you reconcile all of that?

Rick: Many of the features in Fighter Ops are based on ideas and wishes from the community. Many have provided valuable and ingenious input into our decision-making process throughout the years. We certainly believe in the importance of proper communications, so forum adeptness is a priority for XSI. Since everyone has a right to be heard, we provide an abundance of forum moderators and personnel to answer any and all ideas, questions or suggestions. The other way we approach this is to listen to the Fighter Ops team. Many of them live and breathe flight sims; and trust me when I say that they don’t let many things fall through the cracks. Essentially, we get an earful from both the community and our own development team. In terms of being demanding, not really, we are certainly trying to deliver the best of both worlds; but in this day and age most identify with the intricate balance of graphics and fidelity, restrained by the limitations of hardware. There is only so much that can go into an individual release. That’s where the modular approach assists to rally around future demands. We want your Fighter Ops experience to be rewarding. Again, on the other hand, we all know that it is unrealistic to believe you can satisfy everyone; but without sounding contradicting, I think it’s fair to say that we are able to reconcile this without too much difficulty.

Fighter Ops® is the definitive “Next Generation in Flight Sim Technology” modern day military flight simulation catered explicitly to the requirements of the flight sim community.

20mm: How has Fighter Ops been able to integrate the suggestions and the wish lists of the community?

Rick: As stated previously, Fighter Ops is based on varying ideas and wishes from the community, as well as our own development team. Now this integration of ideas and suggestions has taken place over an extended period of time. Again, every suggestion we take into consideration goes through meticulous research headed by “Pacman” and “Killer” then QA assessment first. If found worthy, it will systematically go through a conceptual evaluation, and from there, either be implemented or positioned for future placement.

20mm: Are there things that simply are not going to be possible, or are we even at the point of being able to say?

Rick: Well, we make it a policy not to discuss things that we plan to do but are not currently possible (mainly because of hardware limitations) for various reasons obviously. What we can say at this point is that all the features that we have publicly announced are definitely within reach and we are working hard to implement them.

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