SimAirport News

Long time, no see! We are getting anxious (and excited) for the next patch to hit Default, and we thought you might be too! With October rapidly approaching we wanted to take a few minutes to provide you with a brief progress report to update you on the status of the current, and massive, dev cycle -- and provide you with an idea of what you can expect from the upcoming patch, and our plans for the next few updates.


Wow! This cycle has been a long one, the last Default patch was in June, but it's for good reason and we believe the the improvements will have been very well worth the wait! A lot has changed, a whole lot -- here are just a few things that are currently on Edge branch, which will be making their way to the Experimental branch next week, and finally to Default in October. Here are a few highlights:

• BIG Performance Gains
  Edge players are reporting massively improved performance.
  
  
• Luggage Tracking & Mechanics
  Change port types on Hubs, upgrade hubs, and watch each individual piece of luggage during its journey.
  
  
• New Pax Graphics
  Rich new animated agent graphics for a more immersive & less cartoony experience.
  
  
• More Data & Reports - Needs & Timings reports, Perfect Ops breakdown, 6+ new pax/agent overlays, and numerous reporting & data improvements.
  
  
• Bank Loan Overhaul - Completely updated bank loan system with credit ratings, bigger loans, and larger interest ranges for a more realistic fiscal premise.
  
  
• Expand in ALL Directions - By popular demand, you can now buy more land in any direction! Even across the street!
  
  
• A Real Main Menu
  No longer will you be dumped into a default airport when you open the game!
  
  
• Construction Improvements
  Better supply pile positioning, fast inventorying of dismantled objects, lower performance impact.
  
  
• Pax AI Update
  Smarter pax, more maintainable code, and better performing AI.
  
  
• MANY BUG FIXES and LOTS MORE
  Of course we fixed a ton of existing bugs, along with the new ones created along the way. Lots more, too! Check out the Edge change log if you want to see what else we've got for you in the upcoming October patch, or check back here when in drops in a few weeks!
  

We are currently in burn-down mode on this cycle, and we're already starting to look towards the next cycle a bit. We've still got a lot more planned and much of it already in the works -- here are the key items that we you can expect to see in the cycle following the October patch. Be sure to check out the SimAirport Roadmap for the complete view of what's to come though!

Planned for the Next Cycle

• Tutorial. Finished! Will hit Edge same day the October patch ships!
  
• Staff Scheduling. Under way! Hits Edge the first few weeks of cycle.
  
• Cafe Overhaul. Under way! Hits Edge the first few weeks of cycle.
  

As always, plenty more will sneak its way into the next cycle too -- but generally we expect it to be a bit smaller, and more rapid, as we move back towards the rapid & iterative development cycles that you were used to.


We want to extend a huge thank you to the community who continues to support us; especially those of you who are playing SimAirport and providing feedback, bug reports, and save game files to us in the Edge forum on a daily basis -- we truly couldn't do it without you. Our most sincere thanks to you, and to everyone in the community!

In closing, here's a quick screen grab to give you an idea of just how truly MASSIVE an undertaking this cycle has been -- we're as excited as you are to see it hit Default, and we're even more excited to dig back in on the next cycle!

Today is the longest day of the year and we wanted to get a jump on it with a small cleanup patch! The small update being released today makes a few improvements and addresses several notable issues that came to our attention shortly after the June 2018 patch went live.

There won't be an update video since this is a small update following the prior release, however we are going to be trying something new over the next few weeks - we will be doing a bit of live streaming directly from the Steam Store page. We don't have dates/times set in stone yet, but we'll announce it on the forum and on our Twitter as soon as we do! We're still new to the video updates, much less live streams and while developer live-streaming may not be the most entertaining we will certainly try our best to make it a fun experience for everyone that stops by! :)

Thank you to the entire community for your unwavering support and for the awesome level of engagement we see on a daily basis! We hope you all have a fantastic summer!

• Fixes multiple bugs that caused object selection hover to alternate rapidly
  
• Fixes vehicles potentially being duplicated in spawn queue when loading saves, could cause stuck vehicles and other undefined behavior
  
• Fixes Pax AI utility heuristic giving too much value to low usefulness objects
  
• Fixes poor object selection / distribution for Pax selecting scanners within a security zone
  
• Fixes startup splash screen aspect ratio and adds LVGameDev logo
  
• Fixes mouse pointer 'hot zone' position being wrong when switching from Windowed to Full Screen mode when using a resolution that doesn't match the native resolution's aspect ratio
  
• Fixes stuck aircraft condition when loading game with aircraft very near destination gate
  
• Fixes a reservation check that could prevent runway maintenance from taking place
  
• Taxiway 10-tile border now properly respects 'exempt' objects that are under construction
  
• Ensures graphics settings window always remains centered in the viewable area, always
  
• Demolish action now always placed last on selected object dialogs
  
• Idle janitors now help load garbage when idle in garbage zone (even when >15 tiles away)
  
• Fixes functional warnings sometimes not updating properly for object presence checks that require road-connectivity, some specific build orders were avoiding cache/re-check logic
  
• Graphics setting tweaks for less pixelated visuals
  
• Disables the 'stuck' message for aircraft that are waiting at the gate for a reasonable path
  
• Removes the 'Pax Timings' button from Aircraft dialog (functionality was removed)
  
• Improvements to agent spacial refresh rate and timing
  

The Default update is here and this one has in many ways been a long time coming! Aircraft pathfinding, once an ongoing cause of frustration, will no longer cause problems for any of your airports! Accompanying this major milestone are numerous additions and improvements including a new 'Sell Airport' mechanic, connecting flight passengers, AI improvements, and the addition of the Russian language pack. There are a handful of new objects and multiple balance-related changes including several research additions & removals, plus more than 50 bug fixes too!


Watch the SimAirport Update Video - June 2018 Edition for some hands-on insight into the update. You'll also be able to learn more about how the aircraft pathfinding works under the hood and how to use that to your advantage, some initial thoughts on retail/cafes, and what we're planning in the future including further insight and an update on our progress with the latest performance improvements which are coming to Edge soon!


Check out the SimAirport Roadmap any time for the latest updated information about what's coming, and be sure to vote on your favorite items & make comments to provide ideas or details about what you'd like to see in the future! As a high-level summary, we think these three key aspects need the most immediate attention right now -- and numerous system improvements & additions, which we'll then be coming back to, after we get these three addressed:

1. Performance
   
2. Tutorial
   
3. Retail / Cafes
   

We continue working hard to bring you enhancements and additions, fixes and performance improvements, and to continue evolving SimAirport every day.

We couldn't do this without the continued feedback and the unwavering support from you, the players -- the engagement, loyalty, and the patience that we observe from the community on a daily basis is truly second to none.

We can't even begin to tell you how much we appreciate it -- Thank You!

• Aircraft Pathfinding v2 -- No more stuck aircraft!
  
• Sell Airport mechanic added; begin new airport using funds gained (Finance —> Valuation report)
  
• Connecting Flight Passenger; up to 10% arrivals now catch a departure
  
• Bank Loan mechanic updated, loan availability & interest rate now use credit rating
  
• Russian (RU) language pack - Thank you @Ursus on Discord!
  
  
• NEW OBJECTS & ZONES
  
  
  
  • Adds 'Drink Vending' machine, 'XL Flight Info Display' and 'Flight Info Kiosk' objects
    
  • Adds 'Arcade Zone' and 4 new arcade game objects, improves pax boredom
    
  • Adds 'Digital Ad Display' object
    
    
    
    • Generates revenue for your airport based on nearby foot-traffic counts
      
    • Amount generated per passenger increases with volume, determined per display
      
    • Has a negative impact on environment
      
    • Revenue is paid just after midnight each day, for the previous day
      
    • Loads the advertisement PNGs dynamically from: INSTALL_DIR/StreamingAssets/ad-displays/* (add .png files here, then click 'reload sprites' or restart SimAirport)
      
    
    
  
  
  
• PASSENGER AI
  
  
  
  • Object selection within a single security zone improved substantially
    
  • Distance & wait time heuristic adjustments (weighting and exponents)
    
  • Pax now properly take into account distance-to-gate when pre-security
    
  • Improved object selection & overall pax distribution when identical or very similar object scores
    
  • Reduces occurrence of pax choosing distant objects when nearer options of the same object are present
    
  • Multiple improvements & changes to Pax AI report too l
    
  • Far less likely to choose objects that will require re-doing security (both generally & specifically when object is secured but one-ways/escalators would force insecure path to gate)
    
  • Improved 'scoped lookups' (within security zone) to use more relevant subset of heuristics
    
  • Departures pax now focus solely on lifecycle at ~30min to flight (even earlier when PA System 'hits' them)
    
  
  
  
• RESEARCH CHANGES
  
  
  
  • All research now requires applicable administrator to complete (exception: 4x root nodes to unlock each admin)
    
  • Research in each tree can now happen in parallel per tree
    
  • Adds progress bar to bottom nav UI button that displays the soonest-finishing research item
    
  • Adds new research: "One Way Taxiways" and "Escalators"
    
  • Removes research: "Road Building", "Pricing", and bank loan related research
    
  
  
  
• NEW BUILD HOTKEY ACTIONS
  Three new hotkey actions added, defaults are listed and can be changed in options menu:
  
  
  
  • X - Demolish Tool toggle. Second press goes back to prior-selected tool
    
  • C - Clear Tool toggle. Second press goes back to prior-selected tool
    
  • Left Shift - Build Modifier. When held down, switches to the relevant 'removal' option for the currently open menu; only active while build menu is open & active.
    
  
  

• Taxiways now require a minimum 10-tile distance from structures & objects (exception: runway upgrades, gates, hangars, baggage depot)
  
• Adjustments to LRT boarding routines for faster/improved pax boarding
  
• Escalator and Stair traversal speeds increased
  
• Airport Valuation now includes fuel
  
• Phone charging station changes: enabled queueing, increased concurrency, lowered upkeep burden, decreased desirability
  
• Runway Lights and Gate Stairs upgrades now display visual indicator of required placement position
  
• Foundation tool no longer removes walls & prevents "double-walls" in more situations; improves tool consistency & performance
  
• Prevents staff from getting assigned new tasks after being flagged as Fired, allowing them to de-spawn in a reasonable amount of time
  
• Aircraft now have a stronger preference to avoid runways when taxiing
  
• Actual arrival time now recorded after aircraft rollout instead of on final
  
• Runway lighting updates for aesthetics and slightly improved rendering performance
  
• Construction of floor finishes requires fewer tasks for faster construction
  
• Adjusts stack size & task duration for a number of materials (wood, carpet, stone, etc)
  
• Tweaks to money range on vending objects that allow price setting, resulting in more sane default AI interactions
  
• Updates the approach used for Bus passenger Dropoffs to be the same as LRT, prevents build-up issues
  
• Adding gate stairs upgrade to small gates now validates & requires 2nd floor already exist before allowing placement
  
• Minor improvements to vehicle parking and lane choice preferences
  
• Aircraft more likely to go straight after landing rollout instead of turning around
  
• Aircraft now begin attempting to arrive a bit earlier
  
• Info objects now have angle-based impact cones; XL display is one-sided; tweaked info distance & intensities
  

• Adds 'Lifetime Game Stats' recorded in each save; double-click clock to view (for future Steam Achievements support)
  
• Loading a saved game will now always start Paused
  
• Airline detail UI updated to use consistent color & scheme for easier flight selection
  
• Improvements to the top HUD money hover tooltip, now more accurate & detailed cash flow estimate based on scheduled flights & actual pax counts
  
• Aircraft gate build button tooltip now shows the required level
  
• Top UI HUD money area now turns progressively darker red when bankruptcy timer is ticking, alert icon pops up with 12 hours to go, blinks faster as bankruptcy looms
  
• Game startup now shows 'New Game' following interstitial; is intended to assist new players who may not realize sandbox mode & larger maps exist
  
• Improvements to flight crew info on Aircraft tooltip
  
• Improved validation warning on objects that require zones ("Requires $ZONE_TYPE" instead of "Requires Zone")
  
• Adds a nav button tooltip warning when reaching the 10 flight/day limit, prompting you to build an ATC Tower
  
• Adds a rough count of 'objects that need staff type' number to staff report UI
  
• Removes the 'Passenger Timings' report on Aircraft (performance reasons -- requires a different approach)
  
• Translation pack files all updated from repo on Github (thank you!)
  
• Minor optimizations to build menu UI
  
• Optimizes the save/load game UIs
  
• Minor performance improvements to satisfaction score & spacial lookup calculations
  
• Improves consistency of all confirmation dialog UIs
  
• Adds Arcade Games to maintenance control panel, updates code to auto-add objects for future additions
  
• Save-fix for a dumpster that never finishes construction properly
  
• Minor optimizations to the Flight Scheduling UIs
  
• Minor rendering improvements & optimizations
  
• Adds some metadata to saves save files which allows fast retrieval of some save info prior to loading it
  
• Top HUD Weather hover now reflects runway status inclusive of maintenance downtime
  
• Enables sprite tiling for construction indicators to improve their border appearance
  
• Adds 'noaudio' custom launch option for assisting with troubleshooting game startup problems
  

• Fixes Information objects being blocked by walls/objects in frustrating and seemingly random ways
  
• Fixes moving walkways preventing environment effect from spreading
  
• Fixes a bug that sometimes let pax slip through security without being checked (or without tickets), causing them to miss their flight
  
• Fixes a pax AI nullref bug that could sometimes incorrectly rule out objects
  
• Fixes weird overlay bug when importing Grass material (affected older existing saves)
  
• Fixes security zone not showing “cannot be vacated” warning when applicable (e.g. resulting in no passengers using it)
  
• Fixes airline custom mod BaseRefuelPercentage not serialized (previously required reimport each game load to fix)
  
• Fixes agents potentially becoming stuck when drawing exclusive lounges on/near them
  
• Fixes aircraft sometimes not selecting an alternative runway when their selected one enters maintenance
  
• Fixes crash when disabling save & mod dialogs
  
• Fixes agents leaving secure areas because a non-secure path exists which is "shorter"
  
• Fixes Runway Tool hoverbox display while dragging, should only display aircraft imported in current game
  
• Fixes valid/invalid colors not updating on the Flight Schedule UI hover tooltips
  
• Fixes being able to draw objects on top of conveyor segments
  
• Fixes being able to place baggage hubs on invalid conveyor segments (if the segment is not yet built or otherwise not attached to anything)
  
• Fixes custom airline refuel percent not serializing
  
• Fixes 'Demo Aircraft Spawn' functionality used for testing aircraft mods
  
• Fixes a rare bug when pax needed to abort boarding their flight due to construction cutting off their path
  
• Fixes dumpsters sometimes not finishing construction when supply pile is on same tile & garbage truck comes while in-progress
  
• Fixes being able to circumvent the 12-hr pricing lockout period via saving & reloading game
  
• Fixes aircraft unable to leave gates that require maintenance
  
• Fixes unable to schedule flights to gates that need maintenance
  
• Fixes vehicles not properly trying to navigate around stopped traffic
  
• Fixes administrators failing to re-pick offices when appropriate
  
• Fixes cursor not reset when closing flight schedule editor while dragging
  
• Fixes runway placement should de-zone tiles
  
• Fixes vendor workers not handling “no path” when showing up for work — could result in “working” from invalid map positions on Ground floor
  
• Fixes zone requirements ‘non-secure area’ inverted formatting
  
• Fixes janitors not finish clearing immediate area when quasi-“nearby” jobs exist above or below them on other floors (could result in throughput degradation)
  
• Fixes janitors not prioritizing emptying garbage bins vs cleaning floors at all (could result in throughput degradation)
  
• Fixes top UI HUD wind direction indicator sometimes disappearing, re-adds color based on wind intensity
  
• Fixes older saves with supply piles containing deprecated objects that could result in terrain drawing tools always failing to validate
  
• Fixes being unable to sell supply piles containing certain objects (e.g. gate/runway upgrades and utilities)
  
• Fixes infrastructure cash change descriptions not formatted correctly
  
• Fixes ‘potential blockers’ not being invalidated every time after editing one-way taxiway markings
  
• Fixes a few edge cases of staff/object assignments that could lead to situations where equilibrium is not achieved promptly. This could lead to staff running around the airport more than necessary and leaving objects temporarily unmanned (due to incorrect consideration of en route agents that will soon take their spot).
  
• Fixes agent sector frontier not prohibiting traversal from nonsecure to protected areas
  
• Fixes dismantled roads not clearing the sprite index cache (and sometimes later reappearing)
  
• Fixes LRTs being able to spawn on top of each other & go through each other
  
• Fixes ‘Browse Filesystem’ button on save/load game UI
  
• Fixes worker pathing bug when building or adding runway upgrades near edge of map
  
• Fixes precision for wait times specified in game seconds when at 200+ game days
  
• Fixes vending object currency rounding display inconsistency
  
• Fixes a bug that caused text to intermittently not show up or to be noisy & illegible (macOS)
  
• Fixes sprite lighting and over-exposure, few other graphic/render setting tweaks
  
• Fixes a bug related to transport Dropoffs causing late passengers due to queue build-up
  
• Fixes Staff UI portraits not showing up, optimizes their loading/display substantially
  
• Fixes Save Game UI so that clicking a save pre-fills the text box & overwrite dialog shows which filename
  
• Fixes P&L report expansion of categories when viewing previous days data
  
• Fixes bug in game reset that could sometimes cause performance degradation
  
• Fixes pricing not showing up for a few terrain tools
  
• Fixes a security reachability related bug that could cause passengers to use the wrong security areas and generally get confused about their surroundings (primarily affected more complex layouts that made use of security exits and escalators). Specific change was to ensure that reachability did not allow a passenger to cross a Security Exit into a "Secure" area from a "Protected" area.
  
• Fixes road vehicles so that distant traffic no longer considered when choosing a route
  
• Fixes dumpsters being emptied prior to construction being completed
  
• Fixes condition that caused aircraft to end up on roads and stuck
  

We are thrilled to bring MULTIPLE FLOORS to you on the general release default branch! Building an airport across 5 different floors is truly a game changer and it brings a completely new & unique gameplay experience to SimAirport.


This single update, known as the Multi-Floors Update, quite literally contains a higher number of features & additions from the "big stuff" category than any update that we've released prior.

Moving walkways are consistently a top request and while it wasn't an easy one to implement, that is indeed what we've done. The ability to build vertically -- to take your airport from the world of constrained simulators, and to instead step into the realm of real-world possibilities -- that has easily been the most desired feature, and one that we've been vocal in our desire to tackle. That's precisely what we've done and we're excited to bring it to you. Tonight we invite you to the next level.

Build your airport with real-world possibilities and reach new heights!


Of course the first question that we hear after releasing any update, including huge updates, is what will be next! It's a great question and it is one that we are excited to answer. We're especially excited to continue our ongoing collaboration with you, the community, and in order to better facilitate that ongoing collaboration we're rolling out a few more new things to make things easier going forward.

• SimAirport Survey - 2018 Edition
  
  If you've been with us since release you may recall that we ran a survey early last year to better understand the community and get a feel for what everyone was looking for out of the experience that is SimAirport. It's back! Similar to the first but updated for relevance. Your feedback is what allows SimAirport to flourish, so please consider taking a few moments to complete the survey. By doing so you'll be playing an integral role guiding the future of SimAirport's development.
  
  Take the SimAirport 2018 Survey Now >>
  
  
• SimAirport Roadmap - Updated & Interactive for 2018
  
  We have historically released a new roadmap every few months, but the document often is quickly and it really doesn't contain everything that we're thinking about or that's on our proverbial 'primary radar'. Tonight, we're including an extra fix -- we're fixing the Roadmap itself!
  
  Official SimAirport Roadmap >>
  
  We will continually keep this roadmap updated, in 2018 and beyond, and we invite you not only to take a look -- but to actively participate as well! You can check out each card, vote on them, read & post comments with your ideas & details, and really get hands-on with the future of SimAirport's development process.
  
  
• Update Video
  
  We just barely had enough time to squeeze the video in this month while sticking to the deployment schedules, burning through bug fixes, preparing the roadmap, attending to our personal schedules (and getting taxes done!) -- it's been a whirlwind as we work to wrap up this monster update. Unfortunately Rob was tied up on the day of video capture, which means that you're stuck with Arthur -- who's been known to be a bit wordy & opinionated -- but the show must go on! Hope you enjoy, and Rob apologizes in advance for not being available to control Arthur's rambling!
  
  Multi-Floors Update Video, for April 2018 >>
  
  
• Existing Saves & Backwards Compatibility
  
  This update IS backwards compatible though there are a few things to note when bringing an existing save into this patch. Additional details can be found below, and in the full change log as well.
  
  
  • Gates (XL and L) now require second floor doors; gates from existing saves will work on the first floor however, and can also be one-time transitioned to being second-floor.
    
    
  • Baggage System has changed substantially in the latest version. When loading an existing save, all baggage-related conveyors & objects will be removed upon initial load. For baggage guidance we recommend A-Train's fantastic baggage video. Thank you @A-Train for being such an asset in the community!
    
    
  • Fuel Pipelines have changed only slightly but will also be removed upon loading existing saves. Pipelines now require floor -1.
    

Finally, the juicy details in all of their glory! Below you will find the full patch notes for tonight's update!

Multiple Floors - Core Details



• Adds floor selector on right side of main HUD UI
  
• Default hotkeys are page up/down keys - can change in preferences
  
• Adds new floor transition objects: Escalators & Stairs
  
• Small Aircraft Gate requires a ground-floor door; can also purchase 'Stairs' gate upgrade to make it 2nd-floor accessible instead
  
• Large and XL Gates require 2nd floor door for the jet bridge
  
• Baggage Carousels requires connection from "below" ("same level" and "above" varieties to come soon)
  
• Preliminary luggage movement visuals have been re-added
  
  Note About L/XL Aircraft Gates in Existing Saves
  ALL gates in existing saves will continue to work on the Ground floor. You can make a one-time transition on Large & XL gates from existing saves by selecting the gate and clicking "Set to 2nd Floor". New LG/XL gates built will always require second floor doors and cannot be changed. Small gates require a first floor door (and second floor door when stairs upgrade is present).
  
  
  





Utility Network Changes




• Conveyors and baggage objects (except Baggage Depot) require indoor areas
  
• Draw validations reduced for conveyors; 3-way intersections allowed
  
• Conveyor segments limited to 1 "consumer" per segment; connections must still pass through a hub
  
• Adds Conveyor Transition objects which allow conveyors to move between floors
  
• Conveyors are considered as non-walkable tiles
  
• Fuel pipes now require outdoor areas; fuel pipes are limited to being on Floor -1
  
• Note: Existing saves will have all baggage & fuel related objects removed upon initial load
  
  




Moving Walkways




• Use the moving walkway tool to draw & extend walkways (similar to runways)
  
• Select a walkway and click "switch directions" to invert walkway movement direction
  
  




Bonus Money for 100% Boarded and 100% On-Time Flights




• Bonus begins at $200/flight and can reach $2k/flight max
  
• Max bonus is reached after 15 consecutive "100%" days
  
• Any delayed or cancelled flights, or any pax missed flights, causes bonus to reset
  
• Calculated & credited in the early AM each day, for the prior day; completely tax free!
  
  




Translation Support




• Full in-game translation & localization support
  
• Four complete language packs included
  
• Chinese, German, Dutch, and French
  
• Change languages via: Options -> Gameplay -> Language, then restart SimAirport
  
• Public repository for adding new language packs & submitting improvements
  

Gameplay Balance

• Increases initial starting funds -- starter airport +$200k, from scratch +$250k
  
• First $10k of daily net profit is now exempt from income tax
  
• Reduces the base tax rate on property/land value
  
• Reduces and adjusts prices for Administrators
  
• Reduces hourly costs on multiple objects
  
• Reduces kiosk worker hourly costs
  
• Airport Pricing no longer requires research
  
• Adds estimated taxes to cashflow estimates on top HUD money hover
  
• Adds 'Airport Valuation' report to Finance Hub, display only (future uses: taxes, sell airport, etc)
  
• PA Speakers now substantially more effective at getting passenger attention
  
  
  Passenger AI
  
  
• Major passenger distance heuristic improvements
  
• Improves Utilization and awareness of garbage bins vs dropping litter
  
• Overall passenger object/action selection quality dramatically improved
  
• Information need no longer impacts Pax desire to get tickets, now primarily impacts pax post-security
  
• Tweaked passenger departure attenuation, resulting in more urgent desire to handle departure-related needs
  
• No longer consider objects that could get them stuck or that have no exit path
  
• Less likely to leave a secure area to use a non-secure object when otherwise “starved” for something to do
  
• Pax AI Report improved: while active, hover gates or aircraft to highlight the pax for that aircraft/gate (very helpful!)
  
  
  Quality of Life / UI / UX
  
  
• Build Menu searches both name and description, uses localized/translated version
  
• Adds gate size filter to the Airlines UI
  
• Adds 'See Interested Pax' button to smart objects, shows which pax considering the object & how strongly
  
• Adds user setting for disabling shadows & ambient occlusion (Graphics tab)
  
• Adds setting for disabling day/night cycle (Graphics tab; time still moves without getting dark)
  
• Adds user setting for Zone alpha transparency (Gameplay tab)
  
• Zone Toggle preference/hotkey now only toggles zone text
  
• Adds 'Kiosk Scheduling' button to retail kiosk objects & adds a 'selected object' highlight to the scheduling UI
  
• Improves the scaling of assignable object dialogs to reduce overlapping bounds
  
• Selecting Fuel Pipe will now change the view to -1 (the only valid level for fuel pipes)
  
• Secure area reporting now differentiates between 'Secure' (behind a security zone) and 'Protected' (unreachable by insecure)
  
• Hides the Flight Crew checkbox when queue is assigned to a “Not Applicable” object (e.g. Ticketing Desk or Gate Agent Desk)
  
• Adds a yellow highlight & active notification to aircraft with delayed departure due to late flight crew boarding
  
• Added tooltips for Dirty Floors, Garbage Bags, Baggage Car/Hangar Vehicles
  
  
  Misc. Changes & Improvements
  
  
• Zones now periodically re-validate while game is paused
  
• Door placement is now blocked by pending construction
  
• Passengers now must always have some route to leave the airport -- including prior to finishing security (which must be a fully non-secure when pre-security)
  
• Construction workers now escort stuck pax out automatically; pax in "leave airport" state are eligible for escort (ie arrival pax & missed-flight departure pax); workers take 1 pax at a time
  
• Construction now requires explicit removal of foliage/decor objects, no longer cleared automatically
  
• Removes separation forces from laborer to improve their reliability when doing low-distance tasks
  
• Gate to Ticketing Zone assignments are now be applicable on both ticketing desks and kiosks
  
• Aircraft can now choose new departure runway if the original becomes inactive due to maintenance
  
• Visual improvements for the base grass underlay
  
• Roads now form a sector, improves pickup & dropoff pathing/behaviors
  
• Large & Specialty hubs have been removed in favor of Small hub (continue to function when placed in existing saves)
  
• PAPIs now limited to 2 per runway
  
• Minor wording changes/adjustments on New Game UI screen for UX purposes
  
• Updates taxiway, gate, ramp, and fuel port sprites for a bit better aesthetic 'fit'
  
• Adds taxiway-to-gate easement sprite for visual improvement, updated fuel port sprite to match
  
• Adds small angular sway to the luggage vehicle trailer
  
• Improved positioning for luggage vehicle during loading/unloading aircraft
  
  
  Optimizations
  
  
• Construction map invalidation, path cache re-generation, improves RAM usage & churn
  
• Airline detail UI
  
• Window environment calculations
  
• Shadow geometry calculations
  
• Passenger crowd audio initialization
  
• Road rendering
  
• Baggage network state refresh calculations
  
• Grid line rendering when drawing Roads and Taxiways
  
• Removes multiple legacy assets to reduce total RAM & vRAM usage
  

• Fixes administrator wages not being included in top HUD Estimated Cashflow hover
  
• Fixes a bug that allowed bypassing research requirements for OpsCP
  
• Fixes bug with sector visual warnings that caused them to not be hidden for fully-isolated sectors
  
• Fixes leftover bags on carousel if dismantled while running
  
• Fixes a bug with Aircraft Gate hovers; always shows flight vs schedule times and asterisks indicate it differs (player changed schedule)
  
• Fixes aircraft stuck upon deserialization in a particular state of Takeoff
  
• Fixes “Repair Now” maintenance projects should always run through to completion, regardless of the maintenance window
  
• Fixes depth sorting for benches
  
• Fixes aircraft sometimes taking off in the wrong direction / facing
  
• Fixes financial report categorization for several hourly expenses
  
• Fixes bug preventing runway extension projects cancelation post-deserialization
  
• Fixes staff appearing under ticketing desk “back” facing
  
• Fixes Runway ILS object properties so that other objects can't be built on top of the ILS
  
• Fixes agents arriving so early they remain unmotivated to proceed through the airport
  
• Fixes a bug that caused task starvation (workers not building things), caused by maintenance tasks requested outside of the maintenance window
  
• Fixes a golf cart related pathfollowing bug
  
• Fixes a bug that caused stuck passengers on specific layouts with walls near LRT platform road frontage
  
• Fixes agent visibility issue during deplaning process
  
• Fixes an issue when retail delivery box ends up on a wall or has a no-path condition
  
• Fixes vendor worker sometimes being double-flipped on the X axis when working at kiosks with certain facings
  
• Fixes issue that could cause stuck janitors due to unexpected state transition during game load
  
• Fixes agents sometimes going around behind body scanners to use them
  
• Fixes sound settings in user preferences
  
• Fixes a wall avoidance bug that could cause agents in narrow corridors to “cut corners”
  
• Fixes wall-inset for some objects that only use two sprite rotations (garbage bin, etc)
  
• Fixes one-way road arrow sort orders that could sometimes be wrong
  
• Fixes usage markers not being removed properly on some objects (inaccurate "Blocks nearby object")
  
• Fixes placement of retail inventory box sometimes being outdoors
  
• Fixes a bug when cancelling a retail kiosk project when the workers have already spawned
  
• Fixes News Vending worker appearance being being outdoors vs indoors lighting
  
• Fixes Planning buttons all showing up as white
  
• Fixes a bug with stuck maintenance projects (those committed to serialization)
  
• Fixes Gate Desk to Gate assignment, works in both directions
  
• Fixes bug that sometimes caused maintenance to not be performed as expected
  
• Fixes an error when creating a zone when editing assignments is active
  
• Fixes a bug preventing demolish road/taxiway tasks from starting
  
• Fixes Administrators not showing up in Manage Staff
  
• Fixes a demolish road bug that could result in invalid state, duplicate projects, and airport operational side effects
  
• Fixes Fuel Delivery Truck stuck at spawn in a lane that doesn’t connect to target
  
• Fixes Foundation not drawing walls at map boundary
  
• Fixes numerous road related issues -- graph generation, invalidation, traversal/recovery, serialization -- improves vehicle reliability
  
• Fixes Clear tool not running can-be-dismantled validations
  
• Fixes fuel HUD being 1 game minute behind the true market price
  
• Fixes a small memory leak on save/load game UI
  
• Fixes airline details fleet pane scroll reset bug when switching between airlines
  
• Fixes a bug with the 'corrupt save' dialog triggering when it shouldn't
  
• Fixes a bug that allowed clicks to sometimes 'bleed thru' on selected object UI buttons
  
• Fixes a race condition in vehicle map invalidation that could cause stuck vehicles
  
• Fixes agents stuck on no-path to baggage for long periods of time without giving up
  
• Fixes bug with aircraft pax timings report that caused report to get stuck and stay open
  
• Fixes placement validation bug that allowed some objects to be placeable on foliage/decor objects
  
• Fixes several vehicle sort order & occlusion issues when behind large objects
  
• Fixes money description being empty for retail (Cafe) food income
  

SimAirport's birthday is/was today! March 6th! Happy Birthday!! :)

At this time last year we were nervous & flooded with emotions, the hours & days leading up to the release were tense & challenging, thrilling even, though absolutely nerve wracking to say the least. Release day, and the time that followed, would prove to be an incredibly unique experience for us -- one filled with a wide array of emotions, numerous challenges to face, and plenty of mountains to climb.

We worked hard through those first few days, finding bugs and sorting through the chaos -- often working through the night to ship another set of fixes. All told, we shipped 20 patches in the first seven days -- all while riding the emotional waves. It was truly unlike anything we'd experienced in our careers -- there's just something different about building a game that draws you in closer than in any other part of our careers prior.

While there are definitely things that we would do differently if we could, we're thrilled with the progress that was made in this first year. We consider ourselves to be incredibly fortunate for the support that many of you extended & continue to extend to us.

SimAirport's community, the level of engagement, the interest and intellectual discussions that we are so lucky to be able to spectate & engage with, on a daily basis -- it's incredibly humbling and is beyond anything we imagined or had hoped for. For that, we cannot thank you enough -- for sharing your time and your insights with us, and the community as a whole; for your support of not only SimAirport but also of us, the developers. We thank you, and we look forward to continuing to work with you as SimAirport continues to evolve into 2018.


SimAirport was a very different game one year ago and it continues to rapidly evolve -- we're incredibly excited to continue sharing that journey with you -- but we'd like to take a few minutes to reflect back on the first year to see what we've managed to achieve so far. Here are just a few highlights (more here too, though slightly dated), including some of our personal favorites, and a few charts to give some perspective on our development paradigm.

• Continuous, Consistent, Unrelenting Development
  Let's visualize it: SimAirport Patch Releases by Day which also included patches on 218 days of the 365 days in the year!
  
  
• Multiple Floors
  We'd never have imagined it'd be in already (edge only, so far)
  
  
• Localization Support
  Chinese, German, and more (edge only, so far)
  
  
• Completely Revamped UI
  Modernized and entirely redesigned UI for a this-century feel
  
  
• Systems
  Fuel Systems, Baggage Systems, Upkeep Systems, PA Systems, Vendor Scheduling, etc.
  
  
• Everything's Bigger
  Larger maps (up to 20X+), larger runways, gates, and terminals, and more.
  
  
• Aircraft & Airline Mods, Workshop Support
  Easily share your experience with the community
  
  
• Numerous Reports & Heatmaps
  Night and day difference in management-oriented features since launch
  
  
• Weather, Retail, Objects, Lighting, and More
  Plenty of refinements, too.
  

Of course, this is what you came for -- you want to know what you can expect, where things are heading, and especially now that we're getting closer to moving Multiple Floors over to the Default branch! :)

We're still working on the next official roadmap and you can expect it to drop a bit after Multiple Floors hits Default but, in the meantime, here are some higher-level pieces that you can definitely expect to see us addressing as we move further into 2018.

• In-Game Tutorial
  After a year, it's due time that we explained how to play instead of having to rely on YouTube! :)
  
  
• Performance
  We'd like to see ~10k pax. No promises, but we know we can do much better than right now & we're certainly up for the challenge.
  
  
• Gameplay Balance
  Should be a solid, ever-increasing progression ramp and not a single hurdle.
  
  
• General Gameplay Polish
  Refine the user experience, fix the 'small stuff', finish the half-finished, update and improve tooltips, etc.
  
  
• Smaller Additions
  Especially items that we have systems in place for already. EAM flights, passenger connecting flights, one-way doors, pricing imrpovements, deals/negotiations, etc.
  
  
• Cafes & Duty Free/Shopping
  Fix and/or decide on the destiny of Cafes as the workings currently stand, re-implement new or fix existing to function better. Implement Duty Free and general shopping. Improve Passenger AI to utilize them appropriately.
  
  
• AI & Behavior Refinement
  Shore up any recurring issues and rare problems, begin considering and initial implementations for random events.
  
  
• New Gameplay Mechanics
  Government lobbying & grants; airline partners/relationships & negotiations; parking; transit additions/upgrades; scheduling; etc.
  

There's plenty more on our mind, too, but these are some of the things that we're really antsy to work on and get improved, fixed, or polished up. We'll get an official roadmap out soon to provide a more concrete timeline, and we're going to actively work towards a "live roadmap" both to save us time for future roadmaps and to improve our overall communication and invovement in the planning process on an ongoing basis.


This first year went by so quickly, and it's incredible how much things have changed since the initial release. We're so fortunate we have the luxury of being excited about our work, and about what we're going to tackle each day. We're very excited for what 2018 holds in store and we hope you are, too.

We sincerely look forward to working with you this year, each and every day, to continue building SimAirport into the best game possible and ensuring that it lives up to it's fullest potential.

Thank you for supporting SimAirport, and thank you for supporting us.

-Arthur & Rob