The minimum target to ensure that this project goes ahead has been reached, on day 14. This is great news, and I can’t express my thanks enough to the backers who have leaped onboard, and a special thanks for the high-tier contributors, their generosity has made up more than 50% of the total so far.

But with two weeks to go until the end of the campaign, there’s still a lot to do to surpass this minimum amount — as I’ve said before, I needed to set a minimum goal, which would determine whether the funding went ahead, but really there was always a need to exceed this, for a couple of reasons.

First, although reaching the target means I can dedicate all my time to the initial project, it will be the success of this project which funds the next. Having a bit of leeway so that I don’t need to wait for sales to pick up after the release of the first project, would mean a continuity of development going into project two.

Plus, it is time to update some development tools. My initial investment in Godzone 11 years ago went towards some software/hardware which has since — like me — become a little past its prime… So the bigger the buffer, the less time I’d need to spend juggling resources, and as there is a lot of work to do — having it ‘real’ now, the impact is just starting to hit me — I need to devote 110% over the coming year.

So, those who have contributed, thank you again, please continue to put the word out to your friends. For those who have yet to make a pledge, now that it’s a ‘sure thing’, it sort of becomes a pre-order, for a considerable saving, albeit without knowing exactly what is coming…

At the moment, I’m still working on updating the existing Real NZ/Godzone scenery for Prepar3d v4, which will be completed by the time this campaign ends in a couple of weeks. The opportunities which these new simulators offer are amazing, and I can’t wait to get stuck into some feature-rich projects for all these sims!

We are just at the beginning of a new era, where ‘Real New Zealand’ becomes a lot more real.