Dear all,
I am Xavier, humble creator of GEFS.
First of all, I would like to thank Rodion for his enthusiasm and the great post he wrote about GEFS.
I am very pleased the Orbiter community is taking interest in GEFS as I think you all probably are very well versed into all things that fly.
As some of you pointed out, GEFS is still in its infancy and a lot remains to be fixed, improved or just built. I would like to explain a bit more about this project, how it started, where it is headed, etc.
I occasionally spend some time in real aircraft but do not have a license. I built a lot of RC planes when I was younger. I love things that fly. I am long time flight simulation fan and I probably logged thousands of hours on various software. I built a few flight simulators along the years and I think it keeps improving with every new try.
GEFS is my last try and it all started as an experiment to see how the Google Earth plug-in would behave when being abused to become a gaming platform. Results where encouraging and I kept adding to the original prototype, slowly heading to something usable by many and hopefully enjoyable to all.
Challenges are numerous as Google Earth was not meant to build games with. I had to create a physics engine from scratch which, even if ok, could be greatly improved. The API does not handle objects hierarchy and animation: I had to build a grouping/pivots and animation engine as well. GEFS is built using Javascript and performance has to be monitored closely as it is limited. And of-course, when working with browser based applications, all cross-browser incompatibilities have to be handled.
Also, GEFS is closely tied to Google and the development of the Earth plug-in. Right now, the plug-in is still under heavy development and raises a lot of issues/bugs. Graphics are very limited as are all the 3D manipulation interfaces. Bugs, crashes and graphic artifacts are common, and there is little I can do about it except reporting bugs to the Google team. It is very difficult to have visibility on the future of Google products as they do not communicate easily on these matters.
Finally, even though I am a professional software developer, my knowledge suffers from quite a few gaps in mathematics, physics and the like. But I keep learning all the time
The time I can spend on GEFS development is very limited as I have a full time job and a baby to feed, bath, entertain, you name it. (and the baby's mum does not really like/get it when I spend too much time writing code to make virtual planes fly).
Conclusion:
GEFS started as a prototype, just to see what the Earth plug-in could do. It went online in October 2010 and kept gaining attention and visibility. I tried to keep up with the demand and improved it as much I as could. I now have the feeling that expectations have raised an extra step. More knowledgeable people (hard-core simmers) are discovering GEFS and they would like to see it becoming more sophisticated. I do not know if I have the time and/or skills to reach such a "product like" result. I do not know if the technology behind GEFS can handle such a pressure and be really future proof. The solution would be to bring more people on board but I am not sure how to do that as I would like to keep the commercial opportunity open (no open-source). Do not get me wrong, GEFS will remain free, but I may use it to generate revenues through different means and this would have to be shared across all contributors. My focus, right now, is to bring more attention and grow a community of users (marketing basically). If results are good enough, I may be able to pitch for investors/sponsors and could spend more time on development.
So this is it: I reached that point where I have to move from "nice little experiment" to "real good piece of software" and it is not easy. But I am going to try.
Thanks to all for your appreciation, encouragements and suggestions.
Have a nice flight.
Xavier.
I am Xavier, humble creator of GEFS.
First of all, I would like to thank Rodion for his enthusiasm and the great post he wrote about GEFS.
I am very pleased the Orbiter community is taking interest in GEFS as I think you all probably are very well versed into all things that fly.
As some of you pointed out, GEFS is still in its infancy and a lot remains to be fixed, improved or just built. I would like to explain a bit more about this project, how it started, where it is headed, etc.
I occasionally spend some time in real aircraft but do not have a license. I built a lot of RC planes when I was younger. I love things that fly. I am long time flight simulation fan and I probably logged thousands of hours on various software. I built a few flight simulators along the years and I think it keeps improving with every new try.
GEFS is my last try and it all started as an experiment to see how the Google Earth plug-in would behave when being abused to become a gaming platform. Results where encouraging and I kept adding to the original prototype, slowly heading to something usable by many and hopefully enjoyable to all.
Challenges are numerous as Google Earth was not meant to build games with. I had to create a physics engine from scratch which, even if ok, could be greatly improved. The API does not handle objects hierarchy and animation: I had to build a grouping/pivots and animation engine as well. GEFS is built using Javascript and performance has to be monitored closely as it is limited. And of-course, when working with browser based applications, all cross-browser incompatibilities have to be handled.
Also, GEFS is closely tied to Google and the development of the Earth plug-in. Right now, the plug-in is still under heavy development and raises a lot of issues/bugs. Graphics are very limited as are all the 3D manipulation interfaces. Bugs, crashes and graphic artifacts are common, and there is little I can do about it except reporting bugs to the Google team. It is very difficult to have visibility on the future of Google products as they do not communicate easily on these matters.
Finally, even though I am a professional software developer, my knowledge suffers from quite a few gaps in mathematics, physics and the like. But I keep learning all the time
The time I can spend on GEFS development is very limited as I have a full time job and a baby to feed, bath, entertain, you name it. (and the baby's mum does not really like/get it when I spend too much time writing code to make virtual planes fly).Conclusion:
GEFS started as a prototype, just to see what the Earth plug-in could do. It went online in October 2010 and kept gaining attention and visibility. I tried to keep up with the demand and improved it as much I as could. I now have the feeling that expectations have raised an extra step. More knowledgeable people (hard-core simmers) are discovering GEFS and they would like to see it becoming more sophisticated. I do not know if I have the time and/or skills to reach such a "product like" result. I do not know if the technology behind GEFS can handle such a pressure and be really future proof. The solution would be to bring more people on board but I am not sure how to do that as I would like to keep the commercial opportunity open (no open-source). Do not get me wrong, GEFS will remain free, but I may use it to generate revenues through different means and this would have to be shared across all contributors. My focus, right now, is to bring more attention and grow a community of users (marketing basically). If results are good enough, I may be able to pitch for investors/sponsors and could spend more time on development.
So this is it: I reached that point where I have to move from "nice little experiment" to "real good piece of software" and it is not easy. But I am going to try.
Thanks to all for your appreciation, encouragements and suggestions.
Have a nice flight.
Xavier.
