Time for an Update!
Hello, SimAirport Community! We're alive!!
As we've talked about on our live streams, Discord, and on the forums -- we're dying to ship an update for SimAirport, we owe you an update. So, that's exactly what we're working on! We wanted to take some time today to let you know that we're alive, that we're working on a few patches, and provide some insight and a brief overview of what's in the pipeline, and what you can expect to see coming to SimAirport in the near future.
[h3]We're Alive![/h3]
First off, we're not dead (and no one is dying - as of writing this)! Stuff happened, much of it relatively unavoidable, which unfortunately resulted in this period of downtime. The good news is that we're back at it now, and a SimAirport update is actively in development -- and we're looking forward to being able to release it to you as soon as it's ready! :)
[h3]Live Stream[/h3]
As per tradition, we'll do a fire-side chat live stream coinciding with the patch releases - we always enjoy these and we love to chat with you all. We'll announce date/time of the live stream at the same time the patch is released, which we anticipate will be very soon!
[h3]What Are We Working On?[/h3]
We're targeting several specific points and we intend to break them up over two upcoming updates/releases
The first update will consist of general improvements, mainly fixes and improvements to things that already exists, including bug fixes and addressing several major pain points. We're aiming to have an edge patch out as soon as the end of this week, with a public release following soon thereafter.
That will then be followed up by a beefier second patch -- which is slated to include a number of actual gameplay enhancements, changes and additions(!!). While we don't have a firm timeline on this larger patch, internally we're hoping to be able to ship it by the end of November, but we'll ship it as soon as we feel it's ready.
Keep an eye on the Edge branch, Discord, and the Steam forums -- you can expect a flurry of activity in the very near future!
Here's a high-level overview of what we're hoping to be bringing you over the coming days and weeks!
[h2]- Patch #1[/h2]
-- Steam Deck UI/UX
Since our input rework several issues and quirks have been noted regarding SA's Steam Deck compatibility - we'll be taking a closer look and resolving these quirks, ensuring that SimAirport can be enjoyed just as well when on the go as it can from your desktop!
-- Logic Quirks & Bug Fixes
We know the game isn't perfect in regards to bugs and this will be a major point for us for this patch. Whatever we find we'll take a look at! We already have a list on our end of things we need to check out but if you have any bug or weird thing be sure to post or bump it in the Bugs Discussion subsection of the Steam Discussions - we'll check and note whatever we haven't taken care of!
[h2]- Patch #2[/h2]
-- The tale of Bridges, Overpasses and Roads
Bridged building and roads going up to floors above the ground floor have been a major ask for a long time. While bridged building has been an option via the Skywalk mod by TBFlash - very well done on that note! - going up with roads is still not possible. This is going to be the main change with this release, and it will allow you to finally build airports with separated - above ground(!) - Departure and Arrival sections, like many (most?) IRL airports use today.
-- Baggage Changes
The baggage system is not a great user experience currently -- it's challenging, sure, but it's also tedious (some might say it's a PITA) -- there are certainly some pain points, to put it lightly. We'll be working to make some major improvements on this front, and we're currently evaluating some concepts & ideas for expanding it a bit, too! Once the aforementioned rework for bridges and roads are done, it should open the door to allowing vehicles into the ground floor of terminals, - which may not sound like a massive change, but it'll allow for a indoor/ground-floor baggage depots, without having to go below ground -- making a 'starter' baggage system a lot cheaper, and simpler, to get up and running!
-- Research / Tech Tree
The tech tree is quite short and often completed rapidly - it simply doesn't add more "late game" gameplay, as it was intended to, and that's something we intend to improve upon. It's also visually quirky, at best, and we'd also like to fix that aspect. With the upcoming second patch, we're going to revamp & augment the current tech tree, with the goal of having it add actual gameplay value for mid-to-late game airports. This may include some changes, not locking some things that currently require research, as well as adding some new features that can be unlocked -- and perhaps an additional twist or two, that we'd like to see how they "feel" during gameplay.
Fear not -- existing saves will not be (forcibly) impacted. We'll implement logic that ensures you can continue your existing airports as you have been, potentially allowing you to "opt in" to the updated version, but certainly such that your existing saves won't be negatively and forcibly impacted.
-- AI
This is such a big and broad topic but it's probably also the general area that we hear the most feedback about; it's a non-trivial "problem", and there are numerous types and variants of AI within SimAirport, but we'll be looking to make some positive strides on several fronts:
Construction & Worker AI is an area we hear about quite a bit -- from acting weird or inefficiently, to to sometimes seeming to completely ignore instructions and priorities. We'll be taking a deep look, making some adjustments and testing them thoroughly, to make sure it's smarter and that workers finish the job and are never slacking around or requiring you to reload the game.
Passenger AI is another area we're going to be taking another look at; we've spoken in-depth about Pax AI, and it truly is a tough cookie overall (for a number of reasons). It's obviously a critically important aspect of the game, though, and it's an aspect that we think we can iterate on and further improvements to -- and that's exactly what we plan to do!
-- Quality of Life Improvements:
We have a number of items from this category on our list and we're going to try to get as many done as possible; we don't want to hold up a larger content patch for these, but we're going to do our best to tackle as many as we can.
-- Performance
We always profile code, but we're going to do a bunch more profiling -- we generally do this every so often but over time, as we've looked through the codebase, we've noticed a few things and there are a few areas that have some low-hanging fruit. We'll do our best to tackle those and, if we're lucky, find some more performance wins along the way, too! :)
[h2]We ❤ SimAirport[/h2]
Just to reiterate -- we still absolutely love SimAirport -- we love working on it, playing it, and we adore the SA community. While the time we've had to take away has been difficult, and frankly was suboptimal for us too, the reality is that we truly ❤ SimAirport and we're thrilled to be able to jump back into the code to improve the game that we all love to play.
Something you'd like our eyes on? Speak up! Let us know about anything on Discord or over on the Steam Discussions / Forum!
[h3]Thank You!![/h3]
As always, thank you for your patience and continued support -- and a special thanks to the great community members who are always active and willing to helping others. There are far too many to name everyone, apologies in advance to those we'll inevitably miss, but we want to extend an especially large thanks to: Alo, chick1000 and modair -- and many others on the modding side -- for your continued support of SimAirport, and the LVGameDev team as a whole.
We're extremely happy to be able to make this post; and even more enthused for the next one, because it'll mean we've actually released a patch!!
Thank you everyone -- we sincerely couldn't do any of this without you!!
As we've talked about on our live streams, Discord, and on the forums -- we're dying to ship an update for SimAirport, we owe you an update. So, that's exactly what we're working on! We wanted to take some time today to let you know that we're alive, that we're working on a few patches, and provide some insight and a brief overview of what's in the pipeline, and what you can expect to see coming to SimAirport in the near future.
[h3]We're Alive![/h3]
First off, we're not dead (and no one is dying - as of writing this)! Stuff happened, much of it relatively unavoidable, which unfortunately resulted in this period of downtime. The good news is that we're back at it now, and a SimAirport update is actively in development -- and we're looking forward to being able to release it to you as soon as it's ready! :)
[h3]Live Stream[/h3]
As per tradition, we'll do a fire-side chat live stream coinciding with the patch releases - we always enjoy these and we love to chat with you all. We'll announce date/time of the live stream at the same time the patch is released, which we anticipate will be very soon!
[h3]What Are We Working On?[/h3]
We're targeting several specific points and we intend to break them up over two upcoming updates/releases
The first update will consist of general improvements, mainly fixes and improvements to things that already exists, including bug fixes and addressing several major pain points. We're aiming to have an edge patch out as soon as the end of this week, with a public release following soon thereafter.
That will then be followed up by a beefier second patch -- which is slated to include a number of actual gameplay enhancements, changes and additions(!!). While we don't have a firm timeline on this larger patch, internally we're hoping to be able to ship it by the end of November, but we'll ship it as soon as we feel it's ready.
Keep an eye on the Edge branch, Discord, and the Steam forums -- you can expect a flurry of activity in the very near future!
Here's a high-level overview of what we're hoping to be bringing you over the coming days and weeks!
[h2]- Patch #1[/h2]
-- Steam Deck UI/UX
Since our input rework several issues and quirks have been noted regarding SA's Steam Deck compatibility - we'll be taking a closer look and resolving these quirks, ensuring that SimAirport can be enjoyed just as well when on the go as it can from your desktop!
-- Logic Quirks & Bug Fixes
We know the game isn't perfect in regards to bugs and this will be a major point for us for this patch. Whatever we find we'll take a look at! We already have a list on our end of things we need to check out but if you have any bug or weird thing be sure to post or bump it in the Bugs Discussion subsection of the Steam Discussions - we'll check and note whatever we haven't taken care of!
[h2]- Patch #2[/h2]
-- The tale of Bridges, Overpasses and Roads
Bridged building and roads going up to floors above the ground floor have been a major ask for a long time. While bridged building has been an option via the Skywalk mod by TBFlash - very well done on that note! - going up with roads is still not possible. This is going to be the main change with this release, and it will allow you to finally build airports with separated - above ground(!) - Departure and Arrival sections, like many (most?) IRL airports use today.
-- Baggage Changes
The baggage system is not a great user experience currently -- it's challenging, sure, but it's also tedious (some might say it's a PITA) -- there are certainly some pain points, to put it lightly. We'll be working to make some major improvements on this front, and we're currently evaluating some concepts & ideas for expanding it a bit, too! Once the aforementioned rework for bridges and roads are done, it should open the door to allowing vehicles into the ground floor of terminals, - which may not sound like a massive change, but it'll allow for a indoor/ground-floor baggage depots, without having to go below ground -- making a 'starter' baggage system a lot cheaper, and simpler, to get up and running!
-- Research / Tech Tree
The tech tree is quite short and often completed rapidly - it simply doesn't add more "late game" gameplay, as it was intended to, and that's something we intend to improve upon. It's also visually quirky, at best, and we'd also like to fix that aspect. With the upcoming second patch, we're going to revamp & augment the current tech tree, with the goal of having it add actual gameplay value for mid-to-late game airports. This may include some changes, not locking some things that currently require research, as well as adding some new features that can be unlocked -- and perhaps an additional twist or two, that we'd like to see how they "feel" during gameplay.
Fear not -- existing saves will not be (forcibly) impacted. We'll implement logic that ensures you can continue your existing airports as you have been, potentially allowing you to "opt in" to the updated version, but certainly such that your existing saves won't be negatively and forcibly impacted.
-- AI
This is such a big and broad topic but it's probably also the general area that we hear the most feedback about; it's a non-trivial "problem", and there are numerous types and variants of AI within SimAirport, but we'll be looking to make some positive strides on several fronts:
Construction & Worker AI is an area we hear about quite a bit -- from acting weird or inefficiently, to to sometimes seeming to completely ignore instructions and priorities. We'll be taking a deep look, making some adjustments and testing them thoroughly, to make sure it's smarter and that workers finish the job and are never slacking around or requiring you to reload the game.
Passenger AI is another area we're going to be taking another look at; we've spoken in-depth about Pax AI, and it truly is a tough cookie overall (for a number of reasons). It's obviously a critically important aspect of the game, though, and it's an aspect that we think we can iterate on and further improvements to -- and that's exactly what we plan to do!
-- Quality of Life Improvements:
We have a number of items from this category on our list and we're going to try to get as many done as possible; we don't want to hold up a larger content patch for these, but we're going to do our best to tackle as many as we can.
-- Performance
We always profile code, but we're going to do a bunch more profiling -- we generally do this every so often but over time, as we've looked through the codebase, we've noticed a few things and there are a few areas that have some low-hanging fruit. We'll do our best to tackle those and, if we're lucky, find some more performance wins along the way, too! :)
[h2]We ❤ SimAirport[/h2]
Just to reiterate -- we still absolutely love SimAirport -- we love working on it, playing it, and we adore the SA community. While the time we've had to take away has been difficult, and frankly was suboptimal for us too, the reality is that we truly ❤ SimAirport and we're thrilled to be able to jump back into the code to improve the game that we all love to play.
Something you'd like our eyes on? Speak up! Let us know about anything on Discord or over on the Steam Discussions / Forum!
[h3]Thank You!![/h3]
As always, thank you for your patience and continued support -- and a special thanks to the great community members who are always active and willing to helping others. There are far too many to name everyone, apologies in advance to those we'll inevitably miss, but we want to extend an especially large thanks to: Alo, chick1000 and modair -- and many others on the modding side -- for your continued support of SimAirport, and the LVGameDev team as a whole.
We're extremely happy to be able to make this post; and even more enthused for the next one, because it'll mean we've actually released a patch!!
Thank you everyone -- we sincerely couldn't do any of this without you!!