Howdy!

I’ve been thinking about doing this for several months and always had some excuse to postpone doing so, but I finally set aside a few hours to make it happen. Hopefully those that peruse my blog will find something of value and worthy of your time.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Lange and I’m the lead game designer for Flight Simulator X. Prior to this role, I was the aircraft program manager on Flight Simulator 2004 A Century of Flight (which I also did for the first year of Flight Simulator X development). Being a huge aircraft and aviation nut, I welcome discussions about aircraft of any type. I’m only a private pilot flying off and on over the last 25 years and I’m not an expert on all types of aircraft, but over time I’ve learned a lot about flying and what makes different aircraft tick. Working on Flight Simulator over the last 4 years has increased my knowledge more than I developed over the prior 21 years in aviation!

Before Microsoft I started working in the game industry in 1988 as a game counselor at Nintendo and became a Nintendo game designer in 1989. I’ve worked at several game companies over the years including a short stint in the world of web development just as the internet bubble was bursting. Like most game designers I know, I have a stack of game designs that will likely never see the light of day, but that’s okay because it’s fun just coming up with creative ideas.

Many Flight Simulator enthusiasts may wonder what a game designer is doing TO Flight Simulator, and I will go into that (as much as I can) in a future post.