News
June newsletter posted
It's been a while since the last news on the site or last newsletter posted but if you have read our forums you have noticed that the software has developed all the time. Here are the latest updates and news. A long pre-beta game has been running on the system for few months and the basic system is working almost perfectly. There are no major unresolved bugs at the moment. However some essential features are still missing from the public launch, for example better route management page and aircraft class/seat configuration. Newly added features include: What's more, we have also made some bigger scale testing by running a couple of large games with 500 computer generated airlines and around 200 000 routes - just to see how the calculation scripts work and to optimize the system. The server is able to cope at least two full games running at the same time if the tests prove to be true (but beta testing will give the final answer to this). This optimization has been also a rather time consuming process. Screenshots are again available at the forums: Forum - Screenshots (6 pages in total) As you can see the progress list above is huge ... But the time has passed fast too and AirwaySim is currently behind its schedule unfortunately. But as you can see the things are progressing all the time and we are hoping to get the beta running shortly! It will be soon time to call up the volunteers for AirwaySim beta testing. Here is some info on how this will happen. After reading this please do not e-mail or post to the forums questions about "if I can test" or "how I can join". Beta is by invitation only basis. Beta testing is planned to start as follows: So to sum up, the beta is closing and e-mail invitations will be sent by us later on. Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more news later on!
PROGRESS REPORT, JUNE 2008
- Engine model commonality (same as above but to reduce engine maintenance costs)
- Enhanced passenger demand calculation with more real world statistics and data.
- Airports will now close, and new will open according to what happens in real life. It's now possible to model for example the closure of Kai Tak at Hong Kong and so on - however basically all the data of these "historical" airports is missing but now it's technically possible to add them later.
- Airline status e-mail notification feature
- Inactivity bankruptcy
- Aircraft insurance system (all planes must be insured)
- Enhanced aircraft performance (flight time/fuel use) calculation
- Load factor distribution systems updated
- Possibility to rebrand your airline
- Staff office (major feature!). Possibility to manage staff levels and salaries.
- Airport slot system (another very major feature!). Each route must have appropriate slots at the airports it uses.
- Flight delay and cancellations (third very major feature!). Many things affect the flight delays, like how tight your routes are scheduled, how much staff you have employed and also the condition of the planes, just to mention a few items. The delays and cancellations have then effects on your profits and company image (and so on).
- Many smaller features and enhancements around the system.
- At the moment work is ongoing with the company image and advertising systems.
BETA TESTING
- Then people who have subscribed to the AWS newsletter (as of 15th June 08) are invited.
- Time when actual beta testing starts and testers can access the games is not available yet. However the invitations will be sent before the testing starts.
- When the software is fully ready for beta testing, we will e-mail all those who have been selected as beta testers and ask them to join the games and start testing.
- Actual beta testing will consist of playing 1-3 full games to test the load created to servers and to scout for any additional bugs not found in pre-beta.
- There are also certain conditions to qualify for the beta, those will be available when invitations are sent.
Yahoo / Hotmail users - Haven't received the activation email?
If you have registered to AirwaySim and you have not received the activation e-mail (and you are most likely using Yahoo or Hotmail) then please check the spam folder of your email. It seems that at least Yahoo mail automatically puts the incoming activation e-mail into spam folder and thus many users have missed the incoming mail.
All accounts must be activated after registration - the system sends you an email and you must click on the link on the email to activate your account to be able to use it.
If you have not received the activation code you can order it from the link below. And if you still have problems in activating the account please contact us.
Progress report
It is again time to post a newsletter for all of you who are interested of the AirwaySim project and to update with the latest development news. Firstly the good news. We have moved to our new dedicated server in January and it's working as expected. The game development is also progressing every day. Latest added features are for example:
- Payload / range system for aircraft (the aircraft's range depends on the payload carried - this feature enables a whole lot of other features that are added later, and this greatly enhances the realism of the game).
- Updated aircraft scheduling module with better usability (routes and maintenance are scheduled hour-by-hour to each aircraft).
- New route editor.
- Country data enhanced, countries now change names and status accoding to what has happened in real life (the break-up of Soviet Union for example). The traffic ratings at airports also change according to these country changes.
- Passenger demand calculation between airports has been enhanced with real statistical data on the background.
- New aircraft models and airports have been added (more to come..).
- Airline press releases system (works both in forums and inside the game interface).
- Plus many other smaller things.
Then some news that are not good. My real work is taking up a rather much time at the moment and that is a thing I unfortunately cannot affect. Coding of AWS is done on my free time among other things. And because of the big workload the release date and start of the public beta of AirwaySim is going to be pushed forward for some months. The initial target has been early 2008 (= basically right about now) but a slight timeout is needed to finish all the core features.
The game has been in playable condition for a long time now but some subpages are missing the content and proper layout and also some additional features (such as airport landing slots, company image/advertising, and aircraft seating config changes) are missing. I consider those to be still the "core" features of the initial release that must be completed before the release to beta.
Beta testing itself is then more testing of the load generated by the game and the functionality of the background calculation scripts. Most of the actual bug hunting has been already done by the small group of pre-beta testers so we are expecting to get out a rather bugfree and nicely working game once it's finished. And this has been the target all the way - not to release anything that is buggy or incomplete. As before there has never been a fixed time for the release and there won't be such now either as the goal is to release a working product. But like mentioned the work is progressing all the time.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more news later on!
Moving to a new web server
AirwaySim is moving to a new dedicated server shortly. The server will be delivered to ISP's facilities Jan 11th and the website will be moved to the new server during the upcoming weekend.
During the move you may not be able to access our forums.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008 for all of our visitors!
AirwaySim project is now just a tad over year old and the development work continues. The next milestones will be the move to our new dedicated server (mid-January) and preparations for beta testing phase which we hope to get started in late February if everything goes as planned. However the development timeframe is still flexible as other, real-world, commitments may take more time than expected.
