After Microsoft Flight Simulator"s weekly update schedule being hampered due to coronavirus concerns since the start of this month, the team seems to be back on track in terms of the updated development goals it has been outlining for itself. Last week, despite the release of the latest Alpha"s build notes, things looked bleak in terms of meeting other components" deadlines.
Today"s news update, however, brings good news for other facets of the game as well. There have been a couple of major releases with regards to the Feature Discovery Series and the development roadmap, with more just around the corner.
For starters, episode 7 of the Feature Discovery Series has been made available. This one focuses on the multiplayer aspect of the game, moving on from the discussion of airports in episode 6. Notably, what is now episode 8 - instrument flight rules (IFR) - was initially supposed to be released before the multiplayer one, though Microsoft ended up switching the dates around for both. Both the episode and an updated development roadmap have been released in the Insider Area. You will need to sign up as an Insider in case you want to view these before they are made publicly available.
The latest iteration of the Feedback Snapshot has also been released. This was initially released to Insiders a couple of weeks back and is now publicly viewable. In comparison to the previous version, there is only one new "top question" this time around - a query regarding Bing update frequency.
A bunch more Alpha issues have been noted, though, including concerns regarding grass appearance and scaling, ground effect aerodynamic sensitivity, ground effect formula, and more. With previous wishlist components retaining their place, there is one new addition in the form of peripherals/support for advanced setups.
Rounding up the exciting news for this development update, the latest Alpha build - termed ready for release - is expected to be accessible by Alpha participants by next week. Microsoft will send an update once it"s available to be downloaded. As far as further updates are concerned, early April (next week) should be bringing another version of the Feedback Snapshot to Insiders. By mid-April, the Flight Simulator team plans to introduce episode 8 of the feature Discovery Series, as well as a Partnership Series update.