[Minoslas]

Update 12 DCS: World WW2:

Perhaps a little sleep deprived, DCS WWII lead developer Ilya Shevchenko answers some of the most important questions of the campaign and talks about why he's confident he can deliver on the promises made.

Please watch this video for an in-depth discussion of the project's inception as a leaner, cleaner design the team is confident they can deliver, and why the tasks that make up DCS WWII: Europe 1944 are inherently more stable than many other tasks that often are involved in game design.

This video took a lot longer to make than I anticipated, but I think it was very important to have this out before the campaign ends.

A question that gets asked perhaps more than any other is, are you sure you can pull this off? Can you keep all the promises you're making?

The answer is yes.

First of all, it is a yes because the alternative is unthinkable. Not delivering a product after a kickstarter campaign would not only be fatal to the developer's careers, it would also make them contractually obligated to refund the entire amount raised on Kickstarter to the backers. The team understands the risk, and has chosen Kickstarter as opposed to many other alternatives precisely because we are confident in our ability to deliver.

The project was designed from the ground up to be simple and lean. It's largely made up of three types of tasks: aircraft creation, landscape design, and mission and campaign design. All of these tasks are inherently more predictable than many other tasks often involved in game design. The feature list for DCS WWII was specifically chosen to contain as few risks as possible.

This way, the project plan is a matter of simple math. We can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take us to make the 3D models of aircraft and cockpits because we're not breaking any new ground here. We can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take to create new aircraft because most DCS WWII tasks follow the tracks laid down by DCS P-51. Looking over the blueprints and technical descriptions of all featured aircraft, we see no major tasks that have a serious risk of falling through or taking too much time and jeopardizing the entire project.

The landscape design is also predictable. We know exactly what needs to be done. All tasks can be estimated accurately because they follow preexisting examples.

Content creation, missions, campaigns, is again predictable. We are using the powerful DCS Mission Editor, a stable, established program, that again allows us to accurately gauge the amount of time needed for all tasks.

All in all, we know exactly what needs to be done. We can estimate all tasks with a high degree of accuracy. Kickstarter budget gives us a comfortable cushion to play test everything and correct any unanticipated problems we may encounter.

We are really looking forward to working with our backers, providing constant updates on the development progress, and watching this project take shape.

Please watch the video for an even more detailed explanation from the project's sleep deprived lead developer Ilya Shevchenko.