Godzone is shutting up shop

[toprob]

I've had to make the decision to shut down my online store, although this won't be immediate -- the store will close end of June, and downloads will still be available at least until the end of the year. This really depends on whether I can afford to maintain the store without any income from sales, there are a few expensive little addons I use to deliver downloads etc. I will keep the domain, as my email relies on it:)
SimMarket will continue to offer my scenery, at least until the end of the year. I would need to remove them once the site is no longer active, as I won't be able to offer the proper level of support.

There's some more details on my website, explaining this further.

I can't really show my appreciation enough for the members here, some of you go waaaay back, and the level of support has gone well beyond what should be offered to any small business, but for me it's always been an integral part of the community, someone needed to make some scenery, and doing it as a business was the best solution for me.

There is still a chance that I'll be able to continue, but this relies entirely on access to the MS Marketplace. I always assumed I'd have access, I guess a lot of small developers made the same assumption, and the fact that a lot are still waiting is kind of weird. I hope they can sort that out at some point, but I would think that it'll be too late for me.

I'll probably hang around here for the next decade, if that's all right....

[deeknow]

Rob Rob Rob

Thanks for keeping us updated, we all have appreciated your amazing work for so long so I certainly hope we continue to see a presence from you, even if to keep the big boys honest. Good luck re the MSFS store engagement I hope you get some traction there.

Is there any chance you might partner with others on projects in future?

[jpreou]

Gonna miss your awesome work, Rob, but yes, please please remain 'around' ... come on some of the group flights perhaps

[AhunterG]

So sad to hear this news Rob...

You have done a lot of heavy lifting over the years in relation to scenery for New Zealand, especially for FSX/P3D! Your Taieri scenery has been a valued contribution to MSFS and truly deserves a spot in the Marketplace. It's genuinely baffling that an experienced developer like yourself is having such trouble... It's not right!

I really hope things turn around for you, if not just sit back and enjoy some recreational flight simulation and the labours of other's hard work

So appreciative of all the work you have put into high-quality scenery development for NZ!

Andrew

[NZ255]

Good on you Rob.

You won’t know but you were one of the main reasons I’ve got this hobby. When I purchased FS2002 with my pocket money over 20 years ago, I played it for a bit but got bored flying over a country I didn’t recognise. I went to sell it on TradeMe and saw others selling their copy including CDs full of “add-ons”. Having never heard of an add-on I googled it, came across Avsim, Simviation and have been interested ever since.

It didn’t take long to find your contributions and products. I still remember being blown away seeing my home airport, Wellington, in the sim. Flying over the Interislander in the harbour, and in later versions the gates moving to meet the door, it was amazing.

Later still I found your tutorials on how to use gmax to make your own scenery. This became a hobby and I still dabble in it every now and then, the bar has been raised so it’s hard to keep up with what’s coming out though. I’ve only ever released a few add-ons because I find it hard to finish one project before starting another. I worked on my own version of Wellington on and off over the years, probably like you I enjoy the process of making it more than flying. Although seeing your creation in the sim still releases some dopamine!

Thanks for everything, enjoy retirement.

Nick

[Aharon]

Oh no no do not close the shop

I am very very very grateful for your great payware airport sceneries that I bought and for your freeware sceneries that I downloaded from your site. Your sceneries' realism make my screenshots look great. You even make sure each building in a city or town is realistic to the point I can identify the name and address of each building in your city or town sceneries accompanying your payware airport sceneries.

I also am very very grateful that you supported and sponsored NZFF's monthly screenshot contests with your prizes for the forum member winners.

I always refuse to buy Orbx sceneries for New Zealand because I prefer to show show support for your payware and freeware sceneries over Orbx.

If you have still continued making FSX sceneries, I would have continued buying more from your company.

Regards,

Aharon

[Charl]

This would be like writing an obituary.
My flightsim experience came together in FS2004: A Century of Flight.
Remember these? I downloaded this document 20 years to the month (if not day) ago:



The big news was the NZ sceneries (perhaps Robin can provide some chronology).
I know there was some stuff for FS2002 but for me the whole show came together in 1995 when there was mesh and landclass for FS9 from Christian Stock.
Godzone was central to this Forum Community, and indeed we all initially came here from the chatter there. This Forum became the focus of all the amazing things that made the NZ flightsim experience INHO the best to be had.

Sadly, FXS came along and the show unraveled to some degree.
Never mind my personal dislikes for it and its unholy spawn, there never was that sense of awe about the sim that had previously existed.

But MSFS 2020 most certainly will change all that.
It’s already done all the foundation work for NZ, and there is huge scope for building on that.

I get that a business that doesn’t pay its way, can’t continue in that form.
But Robin, please keep at it, you have so much experience, insight and talent.
The power of the MSFS Marketplace will I am sure deliver the reward you deserve.
If MS needs a chorus of voices to make this happen, I am sure there are those in this community that will happily make their voices heard.

[MichaelBasler]

Makes me a bit sad, but being 71 I've lived long enough to understand (and experience myself) things are changing in life.

Your sceneries made me follow NZFF years ago. Your several versions of Wellington (not sure was it for FS98, FS2000 or another one which I got first) were a work of art and absolutely breathtaking at this time.

Thank you so much for your contributions to Flight Simulation over the years.

Kind regards from Germany,
Michael

[toprob]

Thanks, gents, I appreciate your comments, it is all quite overwhelming, really.

Nick's comment here really is especially important to me, this really sums up what I was aiming for in those early days, just to be able to do a bit to take some of the scariness out of building scenery. Knowing that a few people actually recall those tutorials as a starting point makes me quite emotional. Even then, I never thought I'd actually be releasing my own stuff, I just wanted to show others that they could be doing it:)

Later still I found your tutorials on how to use gmax to make your own scenery. This became a hobby and I still dabble in it every now and then, the bar has been raised so it’s hard to keep up with what’s coming out though. I’ve only ever released a few add-ons because I find it hard to finish one project before starting another. I worked on my own version of Wellington on and off over the years, probably like you I enjoy the process of making it more than flying.

Charl, those shortcuts are part of my DNA now, I think! I can recall a couple of early milestones of NZ simming, first was Christian Stock's mesh, without that it didn't make sense to me to have flat Port Hills at home! The other was Ian's NZCH, it was a screenshot of the clock on the tower which opened my eyes to the fact that we could have something that looked like the actual airport.

I've just got around to checking the total sales figures for all my scenery, surprised to see that NZCH was such a solid performer, since it seems that the market has been 'volatile' to say the least since it was released. Taieri, on the other hand, has managed less that 10% of expected sales, based on previous releases.

I turn 67 next month, I was aiming to retire at 70, so this isn't too much of a change. I know that a combination of things -- mostly health, but also divorces, earthquakes and pandemics -- have meant that I haven't been up to speed for a long time, so I'd rather just walk away now than just fizzle out. The goal now is to find something meaningful to do with my retirement, not counting the 30+ hours a week looking after my grandson. Maybe politics?

[emfrat]

Maybe politics?

Maybe create an AI politician and run a campaign for it in the next election?

Mike

[Buzzard67]

That's such a shame Rob, most disappointing for everyone. I was able to get you access to NZPP in June when I get back from the Philippines so that's a real bummer. Have you thought of going through Orbx? Anyway I'd like to thankyou for all your correspondence and all the amazing scenery you've created for all platforms. I wish I could do it myself. I wish you all the best with your health and future endeavors. Hope to still see you around on the forums

Andy

[toprob]

I've just replied to an email about any future collaboration, and since there's a couple of queries here in this thread, here's basically what I said:

I have mainly worked alone, because I do have a lot of set ideas about what constitutes a good scenery. This is really a 'feature' of ASD, which I've learned to deal with.

Apart from this, there's always been the possibility of working for another developer, and I did consider Orbx in the early days. Their estimated sales back then were less than what I was getting in my store, but I assume that things have improved for them since then:) The reality is, I don't think I could complete a payware project with any other interested party, although I have thought about some freeware projects over the years, such as the VLC airports etc. I have found, though, that a lot of developers are like me, they have a clear vision of what they want to do, so anyone else would muddy the waters.

As I've said, though, nothing is set in stone, yet.

I'm currently trying to convince myself that using Photoshop AI to drop carousels into New Zealand landscape photos is not a meaningful way to pass my time! Still, it is fun.

[emfrat]

[deeknow]

I'm currently trying to convince myself that using Photoshop AI to drop carousels into New Zealand landscape photos is not a meaningful way to pass my time! Still, it is fun.

LOL !!! nicely done.

[Charl]

Know what?
I wouldn't object to some AI-assisted detailed custom sceneries being dropped into my flightsim!

[toprob]

Know what?
I wouldn't object to some AI-assisted detailed custom sceneries being dropped into my flightsim!

Years ago, when I first came across 3D scanning via photos in the Cloud, I imagined an app where you could visit an airport, walk around taking photos with your phone, which would know what you were looking at using GPS etc, and by the time you got home there'd be a 3D model of the airport waiting in the Cloud:)

I think we must be almost there by now.

[deeknow]

...walk around taking photos with your phone, which would know what you were looking at using GPS etc, and by the time you got home there'd be a 3D model of the airport waiting in the Cloud:) I think we must be almost there by now.

workmate was talking about an app that does it already, take a bunch of pics from various angles and out pops the 3d model, will dig up the name of it if you dont find it first

[toprob]

Originally I was thinking that I'd continue offering downloads for at least a year once the Store shuts down next week, but I've been costing it all and there are a number of plugins I use on the site which are up for renewal in January. One, in particular, which is a major requirement for downloads, increased the subscription price by 300% this year, and although I needed to pay the price this year, I may forego this next January. They did promise ongoing development which the new price would cover, but this is the only plugin I use which has never had an update:) So that means that downloads of owned scenery products will be available until the end of 2023.

As I've said, the site will remain for as long as it has a use, and this depends on how long my scenery remains on SimMarket. But without the prospect of updates and new sim support this won't be long now, either.

At the moment I am back to pottering on a project just to keep my mind active, hopefully released at some point.

There's still the possibility of getting access to the Marketplace, but less and less likely each week.

[Splitpin]

Rob, I've held back this post because I wanted it to sound right.
Mate, you have been my go-to guy for NZ scenery ...mainly the Christchurch area for years. Your support and advice over those years are just gold.
As I've mentioned in past posts, I remember you hand-delivering your latest work on disc to my mailbox.(FS 2004)
Being part of the Godzone process was also an honor...walking for miles in the heat with you getting photos of NZCH , gave me an insight into the amount of work you put into the craft.

And your influence continues having sparked my interest in the AI world ...go you good thing, and thanks for everything.

[toprob]

Thanks for that, Marty. One of the things I've been coming to terms with is how I see myself without Godzone, but I am figuring out how to keep myself busy, and maybe I won't need one single thing to keep me interested and involved. Although a major part of my time is devoted to taking care of my grandson, I never wanted to only have that. (Although I get a lot out of that, more and more each week.)

Today I've done a bit of scenery development, including some 3D design, plus a bit of 3D design and printing for the railway, and just finished some painting of some models for the railway. I've even learnt something new -- don't use the airbrush after a couple of wines:) I'm still finding drips of paint everywhere. I've also had a continuous stream of Facebook family group photos of kids and grandkids out in the winter sun. (16 degrees here, and 26 in Brisbane. (Yah, climate change.)

I aim to be around, there's a fine line between 'contributing to the community' and 'raving on like a maniac on the forum', and I intend to get very close to that line as time goes on.

Having you along at NZCH served a huge purpose, getting someone else's opinion on what goes into a scenery, otherwise I'm relying on one single autistic bloke all the time. The fact that you continue to encourage me means that I was probably on the right track:) I don't know if I'll ever get back to Canty for any length of time, but I'll always be a Cantabrian. The home of flightsim in NZ, no question.

P.S. Good news this week, my ex-wife and her husband have found somewhere to live in Wellington, so they'll be moving out mid-July. It's been a crappy nine months, but the end is in sight.