Airport Master Early Access Public Alpha v. 0.2.0a RELEASED!
Changelog follows:
Game workflow
- Added Airport General Manager's office: available for preview when personalizing Player character at the beginning of a new game and fully walkable\usable in game
- Added prototype Avatar system, currently 8 male and 8 female avatars are available (note: the avatar system is very preliminary - currently it features pre-rendered mid-poly faces created by an open-source avatar system, the system itself is not in the game yet as the final decision whether this avatar system or other 3D dynamic avatar system will be used in final product is not yet taken)
- Added character name, gender, appearance, job background and perks selection to Character Selection screen available at the beginning of a new game. Persona job background and perks affect various character bonuses in game (such as -10% discount on all businesses upgrades or 10% mitigation of airline's rating of their flight being serviced (this works both ways - if a flight was serviced on time and with fair pricing on fuel\catering\etc - the character having selected such perk receives +10% to the value of changed airline rating (like +4,4% change instead of +4% change) and if the flight was serviced poorly and\or at high pricing per fuel\catering\etc - the rating drop with airline is mitigated by 10% (like instead of -5% rating changes by -4,5%)
- Added 5 career backgrounds and 5 GM specialties (perks) to choose from when creating a character on new game start. Player can have active bonus from 1 career background and 1 specialty (perk) Note: not all bonuses work currently, some do, some await integration with more in-depth economy game mechanics to be gradually introduced in v-v 0.2.1a & 0.2.2a
- Added Statistics module that accumulates game stats on all aspects of airport life - from number of meals and drinks served in Cafeteria to Runway operations per day, IFR and VFR clearances issued, management decisions etc. etc. Currently more than 40 statistical parameters are monitored and calculated in real time; in future versions the list of statistical parameters will be further extended to over 150+ and player achievements and City Mayor's tasks (quests in Career mode) will base upon this statistical data
- Cafeteria workflow changed: income now is generated upon customer making an order (not finishing eating his meal) for better precision on Time Skip approximations; cost of ingredients is deducted by cook at the completion of cooking now;
- Cafeteria orders allow for various types of order type (e.g. Drink only, Drink+Meal, Drink+2 Meals etc);
- Cafeteria now correctly accounts for orders placed and served during Time Skip interval; immediately after Time Skip is complete, probability of new order being placed is increased; same is true for the night-time break period (currently 3am - 5am) at the Cafeteria coming to an end - to simulate (with high probability) customers waiting for Cafe to re-open
- Upgrading level of skill of Cafeteria cooks now not just broadens the menu but also results in salary raise to already hired cooks and cooks hired after skill level upgrade(s)
- Fixed Cafeteria 'Number of tables' upgrade enabling 4th table prematurely
- Surveillance radar is now fully operational and provides accurate primary (radar sweep) and secondary (ADS-C\B\S transponder readback) data on screen;
- Radar display unit installed in Control Tower, providing large display for radar data; the model is a replica of last generation dedicated radar displays (some are still in use around the World, yet many are now replaced by common 16:9 digital monitors)
- Added Ground Power Units (GPUs) on A stands - currently this is purely eye-candy, but in future versions Player will be able to choose between allowing prolonged onboard Auxiliary Power Units (APU) operations (save money on installing GPUs vs higher noise factor) or installing GPUs on larger aircraft parking stands (and thus reducing Noise pollution by allowing only limited time onboard APU operation)
- Fixed incorrect bug in Initial Game Start State #3, which caused F-ISHR aircraft to file flight plan for arrival and departure at the same time, which caused ATC logics lockup, when new game started from State#3; now fixed - in future versions, the entire concept of 'New Game Start States' will be replaced by fully-automated, error-proof algorithm with virtually indefinite variability of initial New Game Start state
Aircraft
- Added new aircraft type Canonnier Contender CT-550 (CT55) (real-life prototype Bombardier Challenger CL-650), the latest version of a very popular large private\corporate jet famous for its very roomy interior and intercontinental range. The following liveries were added: HV-JRS (a medevac aircraft, with livery commemorating the amazing Swiss medevac air service, thou in game it's considered a Private aircraft for the sakes of logics), KO-FXV, OE-LUT, N6258R, MT-ZUL (all privately owned)
- Fixed very rare yet very serious bug when an aircraft that has executed missed approach, then landed, taxied to the parking, then would not correctly notify ATC of required services
- Added full support for thrust reversers. As we gradually move towards including larger and larger aircraft in the game, with inclusion of CT55 (that would absolutely need to use thrust reversers to stop on Appleton airport 1300m runway) we are introducing thrust reversers. Reversers operate on very realistic basis: deployment and retraction times are configurable for each type of thrust reverser as well as spooling time; all existing types of thrust-reversers (target-type, clam-shell and cold-stream\bypass) are supported; the crew utilizes thrust reversers (if aircraft is equipped) from firm touchdown of main and front landing gear to about 40knots landing roll speed. Noise-levels produced by operation of various types of thrust reversers are also simulated.
ATC
- Fixed very rare and dangerous bug that would allow ATC to make Time Skip possible while aircraft that has previously been marked as going around (executing missed approach) would not request ground service; this may have led to dramatic delays in service and thus inadvertent dramatic lowering of Player's airport rating with aircraft owner airline - this is now fixed!
- Tower now gives wind direction, speed and gust component in takeoff and landing clearances correctly
- Intersection MONET repositioned further to the East; hence: STARs: MONET 8Y and MONET 3B changed, SIDSs: MONET 1D and MONET 5C changed;
- Overall times for arrivals to complete STARs from MONET and LINTA are now similar, allowing for more tense ATC workload when arrivals from both of these intersections are cleared at roughly the same time slots
- Following TMA entry\exit points for VFR flights added: PT-W (west entry\exit point of TMA), PT-E (east entry\exit point of TMA), PT-SW (south-west entry\exit point of TMA), PT-N (south entry\exit point of TMA) - these are the first VFR routing points added, in further versions PT-NW will also be added alongside with VFR points for helicopters via City area
- Changed range at which APP hands off departing IFR traffic to CTR (important for aircraft climbing with smaller gradient) from 13 km radar-range to 17km radar-range; note: if aircraft reaches handoff flight level (e.g. FL120 for departures via LINTA intersection) sooner than it flies the entire SID or sooner than handoff-by-radar-distance rule applies, the aircraft is immediately handed off to Control (CTR)
Vehicles
- Fixed very very unlikely to manifest bug, when game is saved while a vehicle driver starts the engine (about 3 seconds all in all) - the data on vehicle state was saved incorrectly (indicated that the engine is not running, which in turn caused the vehicle in question, once such savegame is loaded, to stay idle indefinitely and not driving) - this is fixed. Now if the save game procedure captures such rare moment, on loading the 'Engine is being started' state is recognized and as a result, the vehicle will not get into indefinitely idle state. Moreover, a safeguard against such rarely-manifesting logics flaws was installed - now if the vehicle driver has the route to go and for some reason other than that drive path is obscured by some other object, he will start the engine and continue towards target on his path.
Meteo
- Wind direction, speed and gust component (if more than 5 kts of wind speed component) are now correctly shown both in METAR and in decoded METAR
Sounds
- New real-world engines sounds for our new CT55 aircraft (huge thanks to Tony who was able to record very clear and distinctive sound of GE CF34-3B engine on real CL604 starting up, idle thrust, revving up and down and shutdown just outside maintenance hangar on a quiet day!!!) - the new sound set for CT55 sounds great!
- Sound spread ranges for all types of aircraft re-balanced again - the way it was in 0.1.9a was pretty good, but we went too far on reducing the ranges for piston-engines and small turboprops, it is absolutely unrealistic, that someone staying in Control Tower (about 11m elevation) would hear a piston-powered Znecma pass by and then would stop hearing it the moment it turns from twy D to twy C - so we've spent some time tweaking sound distribution ranges again and came up with much better aural composition of sounds - huge thanks to Tony for hearing all the variations and comparing them to his daily real-world experiences� The balance is hardly final, but it's much more realistic now!
- Sound spread ranges modified for all ground vehicles (significantly reduced) for more realistic sound spread effect
- Added new ambient people crowd sounds to passenger terminal
- Added ambient people eating and chatting sounds to Cafeteria area
- Increased the value by which glass and concrete walls block sound distribution - the resulting effect is that Player will hear more faint sound coming from outside the buildings (Pax Terminal, GM's Office, Control Tower etc.) and full volume sound when exiting those buildings and going in airport view (Apron Cam)
- New announcement sound inside passenger terminal, when flights arrive, start boarding or delayed
Visual enhancements
- Changed some terrain around airport, lowered slightly mountains closer to the visual maneuvering area, slightly raised mountains farther away from airport;
- Resolution of terrain mesh increased to twice as before, which results in more realistic mountain ridges and even smoother transitions between mountains\hills and flatter surfaces of terrain
- High-altitude textures of terrain around airport changed to reflect new placement of geographical objects - removed large city to the North, leaving a nice patch of rural land where normal North VFR ops (dep\arr) will take place; extensively mountainous terrain in vicinity of LINTA intersection reworked depicting a typical small town right at LINTA, large agricultural area to the South replaced by more mixed terrain - there are still large agricultural fields, but now mixed with greener patches and a small city to the South also added
- City: added new type of houses: large private two-storey house with garage and driveway
- Added new high resolution concrete runway textures that support more precise blending and concrete tiles corners now look more aesthetically pleasing
- Added new high resolution asphalt texture for apron; now with better blending achieved lightened asphalt material to represent color of dry asphalt more realistically
- Added new high resolution concrete tiles textures for G & A aircraft parking stands, now all concrete tiles sizes are realistic and as per standard specs & sizes
- Completely reworked taxiway D and partly taxiway C - now taxiways have smoothly cornered taxiway skirts with correct sizes as per regulations
- New taxiway border-line markings, smoothly curved and with new shader to represent slightly-glossy paint
- Added holding point markers for M2 & M3 points (M1 sign reworked for better readability and conformity with other hold point marker signs) - all three taxi 'hot-spots' are now properly marked
- Radar dish rotation cycle and display beam are now in sync at new value of 2.81 seconds for full revolution (more typical for Terminal Area Radars of the kind in game) instead of previous value of 2.16 seconds (more typical for radars with larger coverage)
- Added sets of wheel chocks to A stands
- Added wheeled fire extinguishers at A and G stands, at FBO fuel-truck refill station and at fire and rescue station
- Control Tower changed both inside and outside - outside more visual details added like paint cracks and underlying bricks visible through chipped paint; inside: changed doors, chairs, floor surface and many other small details to higher definition and\or higher resolution meshes
- Improved lighting and reflections on many objects inside Passenger Terminal, more matte surfaces introduced; shiny surfaces are now more shiny and reflect up to 8 surrounding lights (normally 4)
User Interface
- Airport Administration UI is now split into 7 sections, each available by clicking corresponding tab: Finances, Airport Fees, Facilities, Businesses, Airlines, Statistics, General Manager. Tabbed UI will allow us to pack the Airport Admin UI window with all the airport management shortcuts in one handy interface
- Added button 'Go to GMs office' (your office) to main buttons UI strip
- Help-screen 1 now displays new keyboard shortcuts to accessing various airport facilities
- Added Settings->Mute Time Skip ticking clock sound - this may become quite annoying when Player manages some aspect of Airport business and at that moment Time Skip becomes possible, so now Player may keep choose to mute this aural notification
- Added small keyboard shortcuts labels to main UI buttons
- Added Cafeteria management UI screen, including currently employed cooks, current drinks list and meals menu, customers eating and waiting for their order at the cafe, upgrade buttons
- Changed appearance of Settings window, some polishing on UI
- Changed appearance of Aircraft Information window, some polishing on UI
- All sliders used to set values of current prices for services in Flight School UI, FBO UI, Administration\Airport Fees UI colored more distinctively, clearly indicating the relation of set price\fee to Min\Max; slider control knobs changed from round to rounded rectangle type for easier grip
- Aircraft receiving ground services are now marked with light-gray color in ATC Flight Strips block to allow Player easily distinguish those from idle aircraft on ground
- Changed display time of game tips on Game loading screen from 3 seconds to 5 seconds per tip