Welcome to Developer Month 2019. Between April 8th and May 8th 2019, we will feature a variety of developers, publishers, community personalities and more who will tell us their story. From written interviews and blog posts to video interviews and more, we have curated a range of interesting content to maybe even inspire you to be one of these developers in future years. Please enjoy Developer Month 2019 as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you.
We couldn’t have put together Developer Month without the support of all the developers & publishers involved. Also, huge thanks to Thrustmaster for their assistance in sponsoring Developer Month.
April 9th: FSimStudios
Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Gabriel, I’m just 20 years old and I’ve been developing Flight Simulator products under my company FSimStudios for 4 years now. I’m a full-time Mechanical Engineering student, also doing a Computer Science minor. FSimStudios is actually just one of the brands under my company. We also do webpage development, manage online stores, architectural renderings, etc. We are actually a few people working on this project, I’m the Lead Developer, and then we’ve Juan, our 3D Modeler, as well as many other amazing, talented developers that we subcontract.
I’ve been passionate about aviation from a very young age. However, for different reasons, I decided not to do a career in aviation as a pilot. If everything goes as planned, though, I’m getting my PPL in the next couple years (Just for fun!).
A few fun (aviation) facts about me:
- I’ve had the opportunity to visit both Boeing and Airbus factories – Boeing is better. Sorry.
- My favourite aircraft ever made will always be Concorde.
- My favourite aircraft still flying though, I would say either the 757 or 767.
Which developers have inspired you in the past to help you decide that you knew you wanted to make flight simulation content?
Many. I’m a big fan of FlyTampa, Dreamflight Studios, Flightbeam, etc. Ricardo from LatinVFR has been also extremely helpful and supportive with the growth of FSimStudios.
How do you decide which airports to bring to the world of Flight Simulation?
In most of the cases, we do not have any access to the airports we develop. That being said, we usually develop airports I’m familiarized with. Airports that I’ve visited as a passenger, and with as many photos available online as possible. Google Maps’ 3D View is also extremely helpful, and always a plus when developing new scenery. There are many other considerations, for example, the size (We do not have the capabilities of developing CYVR, for example), availability of high-quality satellite imagery, the complexity of modelling, etc.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a developer?
In general, developing software can get very frustrating. Especially when the platform you’re developing for is based in some old code from over 15 years ago. Most of the time, things don’t go as planned. And many, many hours are spent just trying to identify the problem and fixing it. Dealing with customer service is also a difficult job, not only time-consuming, but it also requires a huge effort to isolate a problem and engineer a way of fixing it. However, I personally think that customer satisfaction is the priority, and that is why I deal with and respond to every email I get.
What has been the most rewarding part of your job?
I think watching this become something real. Seeing the excitement on the customers’ when we develop their hometown airport. From the very first scenery, I developed, to Cancun. It has been a long learning curve (that is still ongoing), but seeing the results we’ve achieved is very rewarding.
What advice would you give to anyone who was looking to start developing their own products in the future?
Work hard. You will spend MANY hours learning how to use the software, you will get frustrated many times because things are not working as they should. But keep working hard. The learning curve is tough, the industry is very demanding, but just keep working hard and improving. Find your own way. Don’t try to copy what other people do, do whatever is more efficient for you. And don’t let criticism get you down. The criticism you will get for your work will help you make things differently and better next time.
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You can pick up a copy of Cancun from simMarket for €19.99.
Thank you once again to FSimStudios for taking part.
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Stay tuned as Developer Month continues tomorrow with Infinite Flight.
Content sponsored by Thrustmaster. Read our review on the TPR Pedal Set. | Read our review on the Air-Force Edition Headset.
