Developer Spotlight Interview: X-Crafts - How it all started
I’ve been interviewed by Dominic Smith or Dom at the Org, and I’d love to share that interview here because we went deep into how X-Crafts was founded, and how we got where we are today. So fasten your seatbelt and let’s get right to it!
Here in our latest Developer Spotlight feature, we meet Marko Mamula, the founder of X-Crafts. In this community-based interview, Marko talks about his journey into the world of X-Plane development, his love for Embraer jets, and why he thinks the X-Plane community is so special.
Marko, could I begin by asking you about how you got into flight simulation and the story behind X-Crafts beginnings?
Hi Dom, thanks for having me.
First off, let me introduce myself to readers who are unfamiliar with both myself and X-Crafts. I’m Marko Mamula and I'm the founder of X-Crafts. I’m half Czech, half Serbian, and born in Italy. However, I am currently based in London, UK.
Since my family lives all over Europe, I spent a lot of time on airplanes ever since I was a little kid, and I was always fascinated by them. When I was a teenager, I got an iPod Touch and I downloaded this cool-looking app called X-Plane. Soon after that, I got myself the desktop version (X-Plane 9) and I became immersed in the flight sim world. It didn’t take long before I started making custom liveries and I was shocked that people downloaded and used them. I loved that I could contribute to the community.
After some time, I became curious about making an entire airplane, not only liveries, so I started learning about Plane Maker, 3D modeling, and all the other tools needed to create an aircraft. Back then the resources were really scarce, but thanks to Dan Klaue’s tutorials and a lot of questions on the forums, I was slowly becoming obsessed with making airplanes for X-Plane. At this point, I was still about 18 years old, and I had no idea that my obsession and hobby would turn into a career. Now at 28, I couldn’t be happier to do this for a living.
What made you decide to concentrate on regional jets?
I guess it was the fact that I mostly flew on regional jets in real life during those family visits. The funny thing is that Embraers were not that common in Europe back then, and I only flew on an Embraer for the first time about 3 years after I started selling the E195 v1.0!
After spending hundreds of hours modelling and researching something, seeing it then for the first time in real life was a surreal experience. I remember approaching the door and hugging the fuselage, which must have been a hilarious sight for the passengers boarding behind me!
Marko, do you have real-world pilots flight test your products prior to release?
Yes, we have many, with one main pilot - Mike Chaney who has been helping us for a good while now and who has really pushed us to create something a lot better than we initially planned, which I am really grateful for!
…
If you’d like to read the rest of the interview, head over to the X-Plane.org page.