Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Game: Santa's Landing
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tornado Destroys Airport
Here is a clip of an emergency that occurs in Airport Madness 3. A tornado destroys a runway, a terminal building, and three jetliners. Airport Madness 3 can be purchased here.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Music in Air Traffic Control Games
I've received a number of emails from air traffic control game fans who really enjoy the musical piece from Airport Madness 3. I myself love this piece, although after testing and playing the game nearly one thousand times, I've begun using the game's mute feature. In fact, muting is something that many game players do. Some prefer to listen to music of their own, while others want no distraction during game play.
When you develop a game, there are several ways to obtain music. If you are on a budget, there is royalty-free music everywhere, made by musicians trying to make a name for themselves. Some ask that their name be mentioned in the game credits. Others simply give it away. In my experience however, you get what you pay for. The truly decent music costs money, typically between $10 and $100 for a decent 45-second music loop.
Last April I went in search of music for Airport Madness 3 and immediately stumbled upon a piece from the air traffic control movie, "Pushing Tin". Although the movie left something to be desired, the opening intro scene was fantastic. Anne Dudley's "He Pushes Tin" sounds absolutely incredible when played with the sounds of jet aircraft arriving and departing. I would have used this song for AM3 if it were not for the excessive cost. I instead had a piece created specifically for AM3, with similar energy, that compliments the game nicely.
As we plan our future projects, music will likely exist only during the game intro, with perhaps only a quiet musical background beat during game play.
Last April I went in search of music for Airport Madness 3 and immediately stumbled upon a piece from the air traffic control movie, "Pushing Tin". Although the movie left something to be desired, the opening intro scene was fantastic. Anne Dudley's "He Pushes Tin" sounds absolutely incredible when played with the sounds of jet aircraft arriving and departing. I would have used this song for AM3 if it were not for the excessive cost. I instead had a piece created specifically for AM3, with similar energy, that compliments the game nicely.
As we plan our future projects, music will likely exist only during the game intro, with perhaps only a quiet musical background beat during game play.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Airport Madness Challenge Now FREE for iPhone/iPad
The high resolution of this app looks stunning on the iPad, although it plays well with iPhone and iPod Touch as well. Perhaps the greatest leap this app makes beyond Airport Madness Mobile is the multi-player function. Using Bluetooth you can play against any friend with an iPad, iPhone or iPod in either of two multiplayer modes: Tycoon Mode or Survival Mode. In Survival Mode it is a showdown to see who can last the longest without a midair collision. In Tycoon Mode your goal is to drive the opponent into bankruptcy.
Get it here!
Automating Air Traffic Control
As I type code for our upcoming air traffic control games, a question repeatedly comes to my mind. Can a computer manage real air traffic? Could we remove the human factor from radar screens everywhere, and let a computer make these decisions?
A computer is able to observe altitudes, speeds and headings, as well as flight plans. A computer is most certainly capable of broadcasting comprehendable air traffic control instructions to pilots. The coded algorithms required to make such decisions is not rocket science, either. In fact, many of our air traffic control games require some degree of 'intelligence' to detect and resolve traffic conflicts. In Airport Madness 3, airplanes see each other and make decisions regarding who should stop and who should go. In our radar game Air Traffic Controller, the system recognizes vertical and lateral losses of separation.
This technology already exists in parts of the world, although it's focus is high-level enroute situations. How hard is it to change a pilot's flight level, or give the occasional mach assignment? Passing traffic information would be very easy for a computer. Coordination with other sectors, even human ones, would be spot on. However, I am reminded of a drive I made recently through a remote area of Ontario, Canada. I encountered a complete road closure necessitating a backtrack and a complete reroute to my destination. My GPS (I don't carry roadmaps) insisted that I get back on the highway in spite of the closure. I had absolutely no way of determining what other routes were available to me and finally had to pull over to get some human advice on how I would reach my destination.
Computers are great, but when the situation is anything but normal a human brain is needed. In air traffic control things are seldom ever normal, except perhaps in the high flight levels where aircraft cruise steadily and predictably. Where things can fall apart are the unusual circumstances, which happen so often in ATC that they become almost expected. Thunderstorm activity, icing, turbulence, emergencies, loss of radar, re-routes, flow control, and airborne holds to name just a few.
Another big reality is the lack of radar information that exists in the world. There is very little coverage out there. If you were to look at a map of the world that depicted areas of radar coverage, most of you would be surprised at how little there is. Granted, they are doing amazing and wonderful things with GPS these days, but at the moment there is very little radar, especially at lower altitudes and away from busy terminal areas. There is almost no radar information over the oceans. Computers make guesses, augmented by position reports from the pilots.
As a programmer, I can't imagine the amount of code that would be required to detect and handle all of the possible situations that can unfold in the world of air traffic control. In risk of sounding naive, I think this technology is still quite a ways off.
A computer is able to observe altitudes, speeds and headings, as well as flight plans. A computer is most certainly capable of broadcasting comprehendable air traffic control instructions to pilots. The coded algorithms required to make such decisions is not rocket science, either. In fact, many of our air traffic control games require some degree of 'intelligence' to detect and resolve traffic conflicts. In Airport Madness 3, airplanes see each other and make decisions regarding who should stop and who should go. In our radar game Air Traffic Controller, the system recognizes vertical and lateral losses of separation.
Computers are great, but when the situation is anything but normal a human brain is needed. In air traffic control things are seldom ever normal, except perhaps in the high flight levels where aircraft cruise steadily and predictably. Where things can fall apart are the unusual circumstances, which happen so often in ATC that they become almost expected. Thunderstorm activity, icing, turbulence, emergencies, loss of radar, re-routes, flow control, and airborne holds to name just a few.
Another big reality is the lack of radar information that exists in the world. There is very little coverage out there. If you were to look at a map of the world that depicted areas of radar coverage, most of you would be surprised at how little there is. Granted, they are doing amazing and wonderful things with GPS these days, but at the moment there is very little radar, especially at lower altitudes and away from busy terminal areas. There is almost no radar information over the oceans. Computers make guesses, augmented by position reports from the pilots.
As a programmer, I can't imagine the amount of code that would be required to detect and handle all of the possible situations that can unfold in the world of air traffic control. In risk of sounding naive, I think this technology is still quite a ways off.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Air Traffic Control Comedy with Bob Newhart
An old classic. Bob Newhart doesn't need profanity to make things funny. For those of you not familiar with Bob Newhart, he is a terrific comedian who had a major hit comedy show in the 70's.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Internet Security
So I've installed the latest version of Internet Explorer, IE 9 Beta. While I think it is a very decent browser, I was disappointed to see that I was unable to download our air traffic control games without receiving a security warning. Some customers have complained of this issue too, and lately we have had to to point more and more customers to our alternate download files, which use the Adobe AIR installer. For some reason, Internet Explorer seems to trust the AIR format over the .exe format. Many malicious software developers choose the .exe format, so I don't blame Microsoft for filtering ours.
We've also received complaints from customers who receive warnings upon downloading, such as "This publisher has not been verified. Are you sure you want to install this file?". This has prompted us to purchase a digital certificate, which does nothing more than reassure customers that the software they are installing is legitimate.
Digital certificates are not cheap, nor are they easy to obtain. A company that wants to obtain a digital certificate to assure customers of their legitimacy must first convince a company such as Verisign or Thawte that they are, in fact, legitimate software developers.
Airport Madness 3, as well as all future developments of Big Fat Simulations, will be digitally signed for customer reassurance.
We've also received complaints from customers who receive warnings upon downloading, such as "This publisher has not been verified. Are you sure you want to install this file?". This has prompted us to purchase a digital certificate, which does nothing more than reassure customers that the software they are installing is legitimate.
Digital certificates are not cheap, nor are they easy to obtain. A company that wants to obtain a digital certificate to assure customers of their legitimacy must first convince a company such as Verisign or Thawte that they are, in fact, legitimate software developers.Airport Madness 3, as well as all future developments of Big Fat Simulations, will be digitally signed for customer reassurance.
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