Last weekend another storm of indignation rolled over the Flight Simulation Community. Milviz had published a kickstart campaign to finance their ATR 72-600 for X-Plane 11. Now the storm has subsided and therefore offers the opportunity to take a calm look at the situation. We analyze how overestimation by the developers, thoughtless reporting and the aggressive discussion culture on social media led to a result with which nobody can actually be happy.
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To finance the development of the Milviz ATR 72 for X-Plane 11, the development studio created a campaign on Kickstarter on Saturday. The software company wants to collect at least 27,000 Canadian dollars, which is the equivalent of 20,000 US dollars. The news spread quickly in the flight simulator community, and the angry comments on the respective Facebook article also gathered just as quickly. The general consensus, even if of course there were different opinions: Put the ATR 72 where the sun doesn't shine.
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How the Kickstarter campaign came about
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In order to understand the whole situation a little better, we have to look back to 2018. At that time Milviz announced by the way that they would also like to implement their ATR 72-600 for X-Plane 11 if possible (We reported). However, this was not an explicit commitment. "We hope for a release in X-Plane 11 if everything works out," the development team wrote at the time.
Milviz has now documented what has happened since May 2018 on Facebook as well. Colin Pearson, the head of the development studio, describes the situation in even more detail in a podcast on FL350.net. This is the new website of D'Andre Newman, who is especially known for his work at AirdailyX. Without going into too much detail here: Milviz overestimated himself massively. Although the software company commissioned the respected designer Javier Rollon to convert the model of the ATR 72 for X-Plane 11, and Alan Shafto was entrusted with the flight dynamics. But Milviz also has to adapt the systems of the complex turboprop aircraft for Laminar Research's simulator. "And here, my friends is where things get difficult (and expensive) for us." writes Colin Pearson.
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Because Milviz himself basically has no experience with X-Plane 11, so the developers have two options. They can hire a competent programmer, or learn how to do it by themselves. "neither is good " says Milviz. That's why they decided to put the project on the sidetrack for now. Milviz communicated these difficulties public on their own Facebook page.
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Thranda design rejected conversion
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As product manager Oisin Little wrote to us, the development team has not yet found a practical way to port the Prepar3D version of the ATR 72 accordingly. Both platforms are completely different regarding the connection of the model with the Flight Simulator. According to the current state of the art, the majority of the systems have to be completely re-programmed. Colin Pearson told in the podcast that Thranda Design had rejected a request to convert the ATR - with reference to the complex avionics of the aircraft.
Asked by flusinews.de whether the project represented a financial risk, Oisin Little replied: "The ATR is a simple aircraft, but the systems are complex and require a lot of work to get it right. The Kickstarter target does not reflect the total cost of development. By reference, we have spent at least four times the amount on the King Air 350i's Proline21/FMS3000. So yes, it's a big risk."
Finally, according to Oisin Little, the previous experience with X-Plane 11 led to the decision to shut down the project for now. "With all the noise the XP community makes, the sales of our T310R have been disappointing and have led to this reassessment of the XP market.
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Death threats against Milviz's boss
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What followed was typical for the X-Plane community, which had already successfully annoyed Robert Randazzo of PMDG with its constant harassment. Colin Pearson reports daily emails about the temporary stop of their ATR 72 for X-Plane 11. Some of them even contained death threats, he said during the podcast. He had forwarded these emails to the police.
Thereupon Milviz then - completely obviously without bad intentions - brought the Kickstarter campaign into being. The following Shitstorm is known.
Now the development team is no longer particularly taken with the community. "...honestly, the XP fans are much MUCH worse than the DCS ones. And I'm not sure we wish to even consider what would happen if we did do an ATR for XP" Colin Pearson commented on Facebook. Oisin Little sees things a little more soberly: "If the funding doesn't work, that's okay. It shows that demand isn't there."
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Debacle on ATR 72: Milviz is not solely to blame
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It's not just Milviz that had to come to this. Can you really blame the developers for overestimating themselves? Certainly not. Rather, the Canadian company deserves credit for even daring to try and invest in X-Plane 11.
The Kickstarter campaign, however, was a PR exercise, no question about it. It was predictable that the X-Plane community would react with mockery and ridicule after the previous course. After all, Milviz raised great hopes with the announcement, which were subsequently destroyed. The development team first showed pictures of the ATR from X-Plane 11 and confirmed that there would be a custom FMC. Later, the com
