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!