Airport Madness 4 Update

Airport Madness 4 Build 1.10 is now online. If you've already purchased this game, you can update it for free, directly from within the game. On the game's main page, click on "An Update Is Available". Check out this list of bug fixes and improvements.

We will be doing another release next week, hopefully adding more features, most notably some improved voices, as well as a second launcher for each aircraft carrier.

Unlike previous versions of Airport Madness, our goal is to make Airport Madness 4 stick, by adding fresh features and improvements on a regular basis. Check back regularly for updates!

Airport Madness 4 Now Available

After 6 long months of development, we have completed Airport Madness 4 just in time for Christmas!  There will be tutorial videos shortly, as well as a demo version as well as a facebook edition.

As always, updates are free.  Our first scheduled update is due December 31, 2011.  Please report any issues that you may find so that we can incorporate the suggestions for changes.

Our long term goal is to release a new version of Airport Madness each year, so stay tuned!

Office Jerk Holiday Edition Now Available

Big Fat Simulations and Fluik Entertainment proudly present Office Jerk Holiday Edition, now available on the iTunes app store!  If you've tried Office Jerk, I think you will enjoy this one.

Unlike the previous versions of this game such as Office Zombie, this one is not free (sorry).  The cost, time and effort required to build an iPhone app makes it difficult to release them as a freebies.

In case you are wondering why we are making iPhone apps instead of Airport Madness 4, rest assured we are getting close to a release date for it!  A huge thank you to everyone reading this blog for their support with all of our projects.

Airport Madness 4 New Screenshots Online

There are new screenshots available on the Airport Madness 4 page!  Check back here weekly for more good stuff.  We are extremely excited about this project and hope that you will be, too!

Big Fat Simulations on Twitter

We've been trying to come up with better ways of keeping customers up-to-speed on our progress with new games.  Our Facebook page and this blog are great tools and we intend to keep using them.  However, the addition of Twitter will give followers the opportunity to hear what's going on with us on a day-to-day basis.

Airport Madness 4 Update

Airport Madness 4 is progressing smoothly, and we are still hoping for a December release.  Check out our first official screenshots here on the product page.  At this point, Airport Madness 4 is mostly functional.  We have added radar, an achievement system, multiple aircraft types as well as emergencies.  The game graphics are almost complete.  For the most part, the game requires only polish.

There is still artwork to be completed, as well as sound implementation for voices, music and game sounds.  On the back end, there are a few game levels that still need coding to be completed.

This may sound more like a "rant" than a progress update, but ranting is an important part of the whole process.  I've received a great deal of pressure from other game developers who insist that the game be Facebook-friendly and social.  "Add virtual currency.  Add micro-transactions so that players can build up their airport.  Add a feature that allows friends to challenge each other, or even work together."  Believe me, I think all of this stuff is neat, but it's an incredible amount of work.  I've seen developers get so busy adding the back-end magic, they forget that they are supposed to be building a great game.  And that's what Airport Madness 4 is trying to be.

Airport Madness 4 Sneak Peak

Airport Madness 4 is coming! We are hoping for a release in December. A huge thank you to all of you for your fantastic ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming!

Since there were no volunteers, I was tasked with creating this video on my own, with a very minimal understanding of video software and YouTube.  Please excuse the crudity of this presentation, as it merely fulfills a promise that I made to you last month.

I have discovered that it is impossible to have a conversation while playing Airport Madness, so this video was created in two parts.  First, I recorded myself playing the game.  Then I recorded an audio narration and tied the two tracks together.  I don't expect to win an Academy Award for this creation, but at the very least, it gets the job done!

What Should Airport Madness 4 Cost?

In 1980, an exciting new video game was released, called "Pac Man".  Buyers had two choices:  Buy the full console for $5,000.00, or stick 25 cents into an arcade slot and play only once (until you were eaten by ghosts).  I was 8 years old, and my weekly allowance was enough for only 8 rounds.  Video games were not free in the 80's and 90's.

Video games started becoming free online somewhere around the year 1998.  Flash technology enabled users to play a virtually unlimited number of games within their browsers, without the need to install anything, and without the need for a credit card.  Over the last 10 years, Google Ads has given basement game developers a way to earn an income by creating free games.  The internet became packed full of just about every kind of game you could ever imagine, all for free.  And the developers earned from it!  How cool is that?

Recently the casual game industry has begun to revert back to what it was back in the 80's.  Developers are now demanding money for their hard work.  This is done in a variety of ways.  "Micro-transactions" have become insanely popular in places such as Facebook and mobile devices, while many developers prefer to tease the player with a free "lite" version and a paid "full" version.  Others make their stuff free, supported by ads and incentivized videos.

We would like your feedback on pricing for our upcoming game, Airport Madness 4.  What should it cost?  Please send us your thoughts by email.  Before you shout "Free!", please bear in mind that these games do not build themselves.  It is immensely time-consuming and costly.  Web servers, digital certificates, artwork, web design, software, coding and training all add up.  Version 5 only comes if version 4 was a worthwhile endeavor.

-BFS Team

Office Zombie Hits #1 Worldwide!

It is difficult to believe that it has been five whole months since Office Jerk hit number 1 in the iTunes App Store.  We are pleased to announce that our latest game in this series, Office Zombie, has achieved the #1 rank as well.  


Office Jerk and Office Zombie were developed in cooperation with the amazing Fluik Entertainment mobile game development company. These games are a departure from our main theme, which is air traffic control games.  Developing for mobile devices involves a completely different audience.  People on-the-go, sitting on a bus, on a coffee break or whatever, want games that are simple and entertaining.  Having said all of that, I do get emails from fans asking, "So what's the deal with this game?  Are you just supposed to throw stuff at the guy?"


The objective in Office Jerk was, simply, to huck stuff at your coworkers, which is something many people would like to do in real life.  That seems to be what mobile gamers are after.  Simple, mindless entertainment.  Office Zombie, however, has everything that Apple had previously banned from Office Jerk.  They will not permit things like knives, chainsaws, and other dangerous objects to be used as weapons against humans.  They won't allow blood, either.  So we went with zombies.  After all, who cares about zombies?  To heck with them!  The original Office Jerk was a flash game that I built years ago.  It was extremely complicated, and involved climbing the corporate ladder by strategically choosing office enemies.  The iOS version of Office Jerk does not have the same depth, but is much more polished, and actually great fun.  


Office Zombie comes just in time for Halloween.  We intend to release many more such games in the months to come, so check back here regularly for details.

Airport Madness 4 on Schedule

Airport Madness 4 is making super progress! When the blog is quiet, it means we are hard at work :) We have a terrific artist and an expert coder working on Airport Madness 4. We still intend to tease everyone a little longer by not posting screenshots, but we assure you, they are coming. We will also be posting a video next week RIGHT HERE that will show a sneak peak of this exciting project!

Office Zombie Available Now!

The perfect game for everyone that loves to hate zombies and well, just hates work.  In cooperation with Fluik Entertainment, we offer you a seasonal twist to our previous app, Office Jerk.

Office Zombie arrives just in time for Halloween.  If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, be sure to grab our latest creation form the app store!

Check out this video review of Office Zombie...

Airport Madness 4 Progress

We are making good progress on our upcoming air traffic control game Airport Madness 4, still aiming for a release date of December 1, 2011.  When the blog is quiet, that means we are hard at work!  I've promised a screenshot so here is a snippet.

Airport Madness 4 is a dramatic improvement over it's predecessor, most notably by the number of airports that it offers.  There will be a total of 6 different airports to choose from, each unique with their own special challenges.  Helicopters, float planes and space shuttles will be just a few of the new and interesting aircraft you will see.  The Concorde may also make an appearance (depends on whether I'm still in a good mood after all this coding :))  In addition, there will be new control features, including the option to vector.

Vectoring by itself is a huge addition to Airport Madness.  It adds a whole new feel to the game.  In Airport Madness 3 we had 360's, which some felt were rather pointless when things got busy. Many have asked for holds, and that will be added as well, although I suspect it won't offer the supreme power of steering planes with vectors.

We are still working on the logistics of offering "any runway to any aircraft".  Although Airport Madness 4 will definitely offer many more runway choices, it is difficult to offer this complex option without destroying the simplicity that Airport Madness is based on.  It has been very clearly requested that we offer players the option to pick and choose specific gates, taxiways and runways, despite the consequences of aircraft becoming irreversibly stuck nose-to-nose on a taxiway somewhere.  It's our intention to offer this, but it will likely only exist on one or two airports.

Big Fat Simulations Gets Facebook Page

After publishing five of our games to Facebook, Big Fat Simulations has now established a Facebook page dedicated directly to the company and all of its' endeavors.  We invite you to visit us at the link on the left.  Please be sure to "Like" the page, as this will keep you informed of any updates, new releases and news.  As well, liking our Facebook page helps spread the word about Big Fat Simulations!

As a redundancy, we still intend to maintain this blog.  However the Facebook page will enable you to post comments and share your ideas.  We hope to hear from all of you on the new Facebook page here!

Office Jerk Update

An Office Jerk update is now available from iTunes!  Version 1.3 offers three new FREE weapons as well as tons of new taunts, reactions and mayhem.  We are getting some terrific reviews, and are moving our way back up the app store chart with the many improvements we have made.

If you own an iPhone or iPad and haven't tried version 1.3 of Office Jerk yet, grab it here.  It's absolutely free!  And be sure to follow us on Facebook for news, updates and freebies!

Airport Madness 4

We are in the early planning stage of Airport Madness 4, with an anticipated release date of Christmas 2011. At this time we are looking for all of your ideas! Please give Airport Madness 3 a thorough play and let us know what you feel is missing, or what could be better.

The biggest improvement over Airport Madness 3 will be a larger selection of airports. Some questions we have of our Airport Madness 3 fans:

• Would you like a larger resolution?
• Are pilot voices an important feature to you?
• Do you prefer cartoon-style graphics or a realistic "Google Earth" look?
• What type of music do you like? Loud and energetic, or quiet easy-listening?
• Would you like more control options?
• More aircraft types?
• What types of emergencies?

Please write to us! We've started the official Airport Madness 4 page here.

Office Jerk Now Available for Android

It's arrived, the biggest time toilet of 2011. Mindless carnage, endless fun!  Big Fat Simulations and Fluik Entertainment are proud to bring Office Jerk to the Android market. We have had over 7 million iPhone downloads in over 50 countries in just two months.  We're excited to see how it is received by the Android market.


Get Office Jerk for Android here!

Office Jerk for Android

Nearly one month ago Big Fat Simulations launched "Office Jerk", which quickly became the #1 iPhone app worldwide, developed in cooperation with Fluik Entertainment.  We are pleased to announce that Office Jerk will be available next week for Android devices.  Initially, it will be featured in the Amazon App Store.  Download Office Jerk for your Android device!

Heavy Traffic

Check out this time-compressed video of air traffic at Logan International Airport in Boston.  I very much like the low camera perspective.  The creative juices are flowing for Airport Madness 4!

 

Radar Chaos on Facebook

I would like to invite everyone to try the Facebook version of Radar Chaos.  Share the app with friends, compare top scores and discuss the app on our discussion board and wall. This version is identical to our single-level demo, no longer time-limited.

Radar Chaos is available on over 100 game portals around the world.  We challenge you to give the full version a try, which includes 10 different levels including 'beginner' levels for those not familiar with air traffic control procedures.

Radar Chaos was developed in just four intense months.  We wish to thank our incredible beta testers, most notably Thomas Boon who has been testing with us since Airport Madness 1, and was the developer of our Big Fat Simulations Wiki.  Please keep the game feedback coming!

Stay tuned for an 'enroute' version of Radar Chaos, likely in the Spring of 2012!

Office Jerk #1 iPhone App in 26 Countries!

Big Fat Simulations, in collaboration with Fluik Entertainment, would like to thank everyone here for their support in helping Office Jerk achieve #1 status in the US, UK, Canada, and 23 other countries.  After just four days in the app store, Office Jerk has been downloaded 1.6 million times!

Check out this article covering Radar Chaos's release.

If you have not yet tried Office Jerk, grab it here!

Radar Chaos Update 1.04 Available

If you've purchased Radar Chaos, be sure to grab the latest update.  Simply open the application and click on the bottom link, "An Update is Available".  The update will install itself automatically.   Should you have any difficulties with the update, please email us.  We usually respond very quickly.

Radar Chaos Update: Version 1.04

• Added lines to connect data tags to aircraft
• Level 8: Numerous flight plan errors
• Reduced frequency of emergencies
• More stringent altitude compliance in beginner levels
• Level 5: Added waypoint images
• Reduced music volume

For a complete list of updates, read more here.

New iOS App: Office Jerk

Big Fat Simulations proudly presents Office Jerk for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users.

Working in an office can be boring, and it doesn't help when some do-good know-it-all sits across from you all day. You know the type: he runs to the boss when you do something wrong, complains when you get the last bag of chips in the snack room or always has a better idea than you.

No longer will you sit back and take it! Grab whatever you have nearby -- a crumpled piece of paper, a mug, a shiny red stapler or crack open the ACME pack for added fun -- and wipe that smirk off his face in the feel-good app of the year, from Fluik Entertainment and Big Fat Simulations.

Download Office Jerk for free here!

Radar Chaos Free Demo

If you haven't yet decided whether or not to buy Radar Chaos, we now have a free demo you can try.  This demo is a single-level, traffic-limited taste of what the full version offers.  Be sure to check out our instructions and tutorial videos prior to playing.

The full version gives you 10 chaotic levels of radar with unlimited traffic, emergencies and weather.

Play the demo here!

Radar Chaos Now Available

Big Fat Simulations proudly presents Radar Chaos.  Ten challenging levels of radar fun, packed with emergencies, bad weather and multiple aircraft types.  Be sure to check out the instructions and YouTube videos for this application.

US $14.99

Radar Chaos Update

The official release of Radar Chaos is running fashionably late.  We promise to release very, very soon!  For now, have a look at the instructions that we are providing for this exciting simulation:

Radar Chaos Instructions

Radar Chaos Progress

Radar Chaos is progressing well, with an anticipated released date of April 10, 2011.  This radar-based game will have ten levels in total, and will retail for $14.99.  There will be a 'lite' version that includes two maze levels on a smaller resolution, as well as a 'demo' version that gives you a time-limited taste of one of the realistic levels.  The lite version will be available on Facebook as well as flash game portals everywhere.

The first four levels are designed with the beginner in mind.  They are not easy, but the concept is straightforward for everyone.  The next three levels are realistic, involving vectoring and sequencing of arrivals.  The last three levels are realistic to the extent of radar procedures, but have unusual features such as deep mountain valleys, volcanic islands, and restricted airspace (I highly recommend you avoid 'Area 51' on level 9).

You may wonder why this particular game costs more than Airport Madness 3 and the others. Radar Chaos delivers to a slightly smaller niche market of aviation enthusiasts and individuals who have an interest in radar.

Radar Chaos Screenshot

Our latest air traffic control game Radar Chaos is progressing nicely, and we should have the finished product done by early April 2011, fashionably late.

There are so many features we'd love to add to Radar Chaos, but in order to deliver a product within a reasonable time frame, one must say "Enough!" at some point.  We had originally planned to add some "enroute" scenarios, but have decided to release these in a future version of Radar Chaos.

Check out our latest screenshot of Radar Chaos on the product page of our site.  This screenshot shows level 10, the final level, which has an 'island' theme.  Lots of airports packed close together within a cluster of islands.  There is plenty of terrain to hit, as these islands are volcanic and very unforgiving.  This level demands a great deal of scanning.

Look for Radar Chaos next month!

Airport Madness Instead of Homework

Below is a cute video made for us by one of our customers.  Very funny!



My favorite part has to be: "If you saw me playing last night, you would be taking a train on your next trip.  It was crazy.  I had planes everywhere, and the pilots sounded scared.  But I was totally in control."

Radar Chaos Progress

Our latest air traffic control game "Radar Chaos" was originally aiming for a release in early March.  Unfortunately, we've missed the target.  We are peddling as fast as we can, hoping to get this product out the door by the end of March, or early April.  We should have some more screenshots up in a couple of days.

We have changed the user interface, as can be seen in the image.  Our original goal was to create something simple that did not require the issuance of an approach clearance.  Pilots would intuitively know to intercept any localizer you pointed them at.  Unfortunately this has caused a great deal of problems in some of our more complex levels.  We have scenarios that involve overlapping localizers, as well as areas of high terrain that involve many turns prior to final approach.  Allowing the pilots to exercise intelligence was leading to disaster.

Originally this panel had no CANCEL or SUBMIT buttons.  All the user had to do was mouse away, and the panel would close.  Unfortunately, a couple of beta testers found this to be confusing.  People like to have control over when things close.  So here it is the control panel in it's final form.  It is very quick and easy to use.  Instructions will explain how to adjust an aircrafts heading, simply by dragging the arrow to a new direction.

We have no doubt that this will be a fun game, however it begs to be separated into two separate projects: a basic maze game, and a simulator.  We will be packaging it as a whole, however.  Radar Chaos will offer a variety of air traffic control challenges, from basic to advanced.

www.airtrafficcontrolgames.com

Big Fat Simulations has acquired a couple of new web addresses, in addition to bigfatsimulations.com which we've used for more than two years.  Both airtrafficcontrolgames.com and airportmadness.com now point to our website.

We will not be changing the name of our business or website, but will likely be acquiring a variety of additional URLs with names that pertain to our air traffic control game concepts.

Radar Chaos: Fun From Basic to Advanced

It is interesting how a game evolves during it's creation. We have put much more thought into Radar Chaos's target audience than we ever did with our other games. There are actually two target audiences: the Casual Gamer and the Aviation Nut. Radar chaos will consist of 12 maps. Four of these are basic mazes that don't require any understanding of aviation. The remainder are realistic air traffic control sectors that require, at the very least, for users to read the included instructions.

The basic maze, a 2-dimensional challenge with no data tags

My favorite map so far is the very first maze, aimed at the radar newbie. This map will also package as the 'demo' version on Facebook. Initial bet testing suggested that it was still a rather complex game for newcomers to jump right into, so we've designed Map 1 to be a basic 2-dimensional "keep 'em apart" exercise. It's basic in concept, but challenging. My highest score is embarrassingly low, and I am certain that many will do far better than I.

An advanced map with realistic data tags and aircraft targets

Radar Chaos becomes complex and highly realistic in the advanced levels.  These levels offer optional selections such as true airspeed, realistic targets and data tags, as well as realistic delayed aircraft response.  In real-world air traffic control, a control assignment such as a turn or a speed change is not observed for several seconds.  In the real world, there is a great deal of airspeed error which must be incorporated into any simulation that claims to be realistic.

Options for realism are offered in the advanced maps

Having said that, I've had to pass on several ideas received from real-world controllers, such as 'visual approaches',  'auto overs' and 'point-outs'.  These options don't add to the fun.  These items would add realism, but if you truly want to know what it's like to be an air traffic controller, assemble six friends and have separate simultaneous conversations with all of them at once.  That's the only part that is missing from any online air traffic control simulation!

Radar chaos is on schedule for a release in early March 2011.

Jetliner Crash in Airport Madness 3

Here is a clip of an emergency that occurs in Airport Madness 3, our latest air traffic control game.  An arriving jet skids off the runway and crashes into a taxiing aircraft as well as the terminal building.  Airport Madness 3 can be purchased here.

Airport Madness iPhone Issues Resolved

We are pleased to announce that we have squashed a few bugs this week within our air traffic control iPhone/iPad apps Airport Madness Mobile and Airport Madness Challenge. Some players reported stability issues that required occasionally restarting their games. Grab the latest updates from iTunes!

Developing Air Traffic Control Games

Building air traffic control games has been one of the most complex endeavors I've ever tackled.  I recall how overwhelmed I was after buying my first book on the C++ programming language seven years ago.  Chapter one discussed things like functions, arrays, variables and loops.  Chapter two is where I got lost, in the lengthy discussion about associative arrays and pointers.  My head is still spinning from it all.  I am reminded of Chevy Chase's presidential debate on SNL where he answers, "I was told there would be no math".

Programming is definitely no place for those who do not care for math.  In programming, and especially programming of air traffic control games, there's plenty of it.  I've sought out ex-high school math teachers.  I've paid freelancers for assistance.  I've been a pain in the neck on many programming forums, asking questions like, "How do you calculate an angle when you only know the length of two sides?".

There are some amazingly helpful resources out there right now, which I highly recommend to anyone who is considering casual game development.  It is bold of me to assume that most game developers would choose flash these days.  There is so much being done with other platforms such as Unity and Apple's xCode for iOS.  But if you do plan to start with Flash and Actionscript 3.0 (which is my recommendation for newbies), here are two books you need to grab.

Actionscript 3.0 Game Programming University by Gary Rosenzweig is fantastic for beginners.  Gary breaks everything in Actionscript 3.0 down into bite-size chunks, aimed purely at game development.  The book is filled with projects.  It is rare to find a programming reference book that you can actually get all the way through.  The author also offers several how-to videos on his website, http://www.flashgameu.com/.

Advanced Actionscript 3.0 Animation by Keith Peters.  This book is everything you need to code complex animations for your games.  Whether you need some powerful code snippets for your pool game, or complex trigonometry to calculate aircraft trajectories, you will find this book helpful.  The book starts out simple enough, but becomes rather complex towards the end.  I don't need everything in the book, but I have used much of it.  Keith Peters has a terrific blog at http://www.bit-101.com/blog/.

I have learned in this business that you do not need to understand every little detail of code that you read from a book.  You only need to know what the code does for you and how to implement it.  I know how to cook toast, but haven't a clue how a toaster works.

Radar Chaos Gets It's Own Page

Big Fat Simulations is looking forward to the release of  Radar Chaos in March 2011.  Radar Chaos is a fun, realistic radar based air traffic control game and simulation.  This game is designed to cater to a variety of audiences which include those not familiar with aviation, including real-world pilots and air traffic controllers.  This is done by establishing a sliding scale of realism and difficulty.

Information on the development progress can be found right here in the blog.

Casual Games

I recently heard some interesting comments made at the International Game Developers Association in Los Angeles, regarding game design. "If the player can't die, then it's not a game".  This is an interesting thought, but do games really need to create inevitable failure in order to be game-worthy?  Is Farmville a game, even though you can’t die?

I like many games for the challenge, but I like others simply for the experience.  Can a game be enjoyable without rewards and punishment?  What about air traffic control games?  The trouble with ATC is the slow action, by game standards. You need at least 10 minutes of game play before things start to get interesting.  The fun of ATC is in making decisions and building a plan, then managing the situation as reality unfolds.

In the ATC world, this takes time to build.  The game begins with the player thinking to themselves, "I'm gonna make the 737 first, then stick the Cessna behind him, and slow the LearJet to follow."  These types of decisions are fun.  However, it requires time for such a plan to unfold.  A radar screen has a very broad range.  Even a fast-moving 737 takes time to get from one end of the screen to the other.  It is this very "slowness" that creates tension and suspense, which is what makes air traffic control games fun, and ultimately what makes air traffic control such a neat job in real life.  The player has time to change their mind a few times, maybe come up with an entirely new plan, and possibly make an irreversible mess of things.

It's difficult to create an ATC game that is quick and snappy, especially a radar-based game, like our upcoming game and simulation, Radar Chaos.  You can only "dumb it down" so far before it stops being a simulation and becomes a cute puzzle.

Game Developers Conference 2011

2011 will be a busy year for us as we develop two new air traffic control games, including several casual games for iPhone and iPad.  In our search for inspiration and ideas, Big Fat Simulations and it's partner Fluik will be attending the annual Game Developer Conference and Flash Gaming Summit in San Francisco this February.

The GDC is the world's largest professionals-only event in the game industry. Serving as the central forum for learning, inspiration, and networking, the GDC attracts over 18,000 attendees to the annual event in San Francisco. Programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games gather from around the world to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.

New Radar Game Planned for PC and Mac

We are pleased to announce that we have a new air traffic control game in the works.  It is a radar-based game, aptly named Radar Chaos.

You may be wondering, "Why another ATC game?". Unlike the Airport Madness series, radar games provide special challenges. Just as in real life, there is a greater degree of 3-dimensional visualization when dealing with a radar scenario. It's a completely different job than being a tower controller, in which runways and taxiways are managed. A typical radar controller manages an airspace, which can sometimes be hundreds of miles long, and covers the "enroute" side of things.

Some of you may have tried our air traffic control simulator. Despite it's bargain price tag of just $5.95, most gamers seem to shy away from this application, as it is extremely complex and resides well outside the games category. How is somebody who is new to ATC supposed to grasp a command like, "Maintain one six thousand, leaving eight thousand turn right direct SURFN, flight planned route."? We get occasional emails from real world controllers who tell us that the app is spot on. Now we'd like to make it a game that is playable for everyone.

Not only will

Airport Madness Roadmap

The first version of the Airport Madness series was released just over two years ago - December 29, 2008.  It was our first non-radar air traffic control game, and quickly became popular on many game portals.  On June 1, 2009 we launched Airport Madness 2, which offered players two airports instead of one, plus an improved control panel. It was a dramatic improvement over the first version, and made it onto Facebook a few months later.  Airport Madness 3 arrived on June 30, 2010, offering a much larger resolution, new airports, improved graphics, pilot voices, additional aircraft commands, and lastly, emergencies.

I have blogged very little regarding Airport Madness 4.  AM4 was intended to offer "3D rendering", which would give players a visual perspective from the control tower,  instead of playing the game while looking down at the airport from outer space.  While this is a very cool idea, it's an entirely different concept from the rest of the Airport Madness series.  The 3D concept deserves a separate entity.  "Tower Madness" is in the works for 2011, following the release of AM4.

AM4 will be a dramatic improvement over AM3, offering all of the special items that didn't make it into AM3,  including a much broader choice of airports.  Perhaps the most common request that we receive is for additional airports and levels.  Here is a list of proposed improvements we hope to offer in Airport Madness 4:

• 6 different airports
• Vectoring
• Radar
• Military, helicopter, and float plane traffic
• Additional weather phenomena
• More emergencies
• Bird activity

We do not offer a release date as this tends to be a difficult thing to predict, and it often becomes an unfulfilled promise.  However, our goal is the Summer of 2011.