Despite all the raining this summer we still had enough heat from work and made some important decisions. We’ve done quite a big load of work and made some important decisions. Also our team is growing – we have a new Unity/C# developer. His participation will greatly accelerate the development. And strengthen our confidence in the release on time :).
As the development moves forward, our newsletter will be more systematic and regular. The newsletter will mainly focus on these topics:
- Design – our approach, thoughts and key features.
- Reports – short summary with important tasks.
- Plans – what we are going to do next.
Design
Let’s start from the beginning and talk about Terminal and Apron construction.
These objects are both built in a similar way. You can use a square or poly tool. The poly tool makes it possible to build any closed shape. However, the angles are limited to 45 degree steps.
Of course all overlapping shapes will merge and form a single structure.
Another thing we would like to point out is the number of floors in the terminal. There are two floors but only one is playable (the second floor for now). It’s a bit confusing so let us explain. This is a result of a large number of tests, prototypes and discussions.
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Why we need two floors?
Several reasons. Jet bridges that are attached to the first floor are looking creepy. We also need some space to separate arriving and departing passenger flows.
- Why is (only) the second floor playable?
First of all two visibly working floors are expensive technically and timewise. So for now all features related to 1st floor useage will in a way we call “1st floor magic”. E.g. all inbound passengers entering the terminal through a gate on the 1st floor exterior will come out to the 2nd floor through floor connecting Arrival Exits. Arrival Exits can be placed anywhere and this gives you control of the incoming passenger flow.
At the same time outbound passengers will wait on the second floor until a departure gate will be free (by schedule).After that they will go through a gate door on the second floor and go onto the jet bridge, bus or walkway. This let us to avoid a mess at the gate door.
Internal tests and Beta will show whether or not this is a good decision.
Report
New walls(two floors) and a roof that fades in/out depending on the zoom. Separate lighting inside terminal.
Floor and apron textures + sweet grass layout generator.
Request and schedule systems. Core of the game logic. Now it’s working and makes us happy.
Passenger boarding and disembarking via walkways or buses! And passengers disembark by aircraft stairs. And everything works within schedule. It was a serious challenge but we got through with it.
Working baggage claim – luggage is moving on the belt, passengers grab it and go away. But as for now, our PAX are using shoulders and elbows for picking it up. A bit of model tuning is needed. =)
Fueling for planes is still in progress. Some final strokes to be done.
Lots of models and concepts. You can check out our twitter.
Plans
A lot of stuff was added. Now we need to fix all issues and bugs. This is the main focus for next month. After that we will happy to share a lot of videos!
Please share with us your opinion and suggestions. For this we have