It’s been quite a journey for us here at the development team, especially over the last five months. We’ve been deeply focused on tackling one of the most challenging and frustrating issues for both us and you—aircraft getting stuck on taxiways. This problem has been a thorn in our side, and we’re committed to resolving it.
We’re excited to share that we’ve been developing a brand new taxiway system from the ground up. This isn’t just about fixing bugs; it’s about revolutionizing how traffic flows at the airports in our game. We’re introducing features like “hold position” commands that will give you more control and make managing your airport’s ground traffic a more nuanced and engaging part of gameplay. It’s also going to enhance how tower controllers make decisions, making the simulation more realistic and immersive.
But let’s delve deeper into the intricacies of taxiway operations at airports. In reality, managing these operations involves navigating a labyrinth of variables for each aircraft transitioning to and from the apron. Consider the sheer volume of operations surrounding a single aircraft: coordinating gate assignments, timing pushback procedures to avoid bottlenecks, sequencing taxi routes among dozens or even hundreds of flights simultaneously, and adjusting for real-time disruptions like weather changes or operational delays. Each of these steps involves a complex decision-making process, with the added challenge of maintaining a seamless flow of arrivals and departures. This complexity is magnified when you factor in the unique configurations and operational demands of different airports, underscoring why a one-size-fits-all approach to automation in taxiway management is unfeasible. It demands a sophisticated blend of human insight and adaptability to ensure smooth, safe, and efficient ground operations.
As we implement this new system, we anticipate a period of adjustment. We’re going to need your feedback more than ever to fine-tune and optimize the experience. It’s a collaborative effort between our team and you, our dedicated community, to make the gameplay as engaging and realistic as possible.
We’re incredibly grateful for your patience and ongoing support as we’ve been hammering away at this project. Your input and engagement with the game mean the world to us, and we’re eager to see how these changes improve your experience.
Stay tuned for further updates, and prepare for some exciting enhancements to your airport management adventures.
Great news and great to underscore the different variables and dynamics at different airports. Introduction of the new management features will surely be a game changer for all of us. Ready to give my feedback and a big THANK YOU to the Devs for creating the best Airport Management Game for Mobile.
I’m glad to see this being addressed, and am excited about the possibilities it adds in adding to the gameplay experience. Please do consider two more things that are a drag on why I play this game very little between the release of new airports:
1 – there isn’t any reason to play airports once all the levels are completed. It’s just grinding for the sake of grinding, and with how many SP you earn, there isn’t much reason to continue.
2 – The bug where you have to open / close the airport to get most player planes to show up. It’s been in the game since 2.0, and it’s a total drag to have to do. Please fix this.
Please consider trying to do these more often! These are really interesting to read, and we’d love hear what is going on more often. I don’t really care about when updates release… but I am really interested in what y’all are working on!
It always amazes me to find out what the team is working on. The improved taxiway system in particular is something I look forward to because as someone who spent a lot of time at MCT (before switching to LHR) the current system proved frustrating at times. However I realise how hard the task before you is and appreciate the hard work you put in the game for the community.
A huge thank you from the entire woa community for the continued improvement of an already amazing gaming!
So how will this impact gameplay? Is the ground manager position now a major part of the game, does the game do it all in the background? It’s very good to see this changing!
Thank you for the information about upcoming and in-progress stuff! I’m sure you guys get tired of hearing non-stop complaints and impatience, so I appreciate your efforts to give us information and get things out fast anyways. This will probably keep the community busy for a while about something other than the A320 and Sydney lol.
As someone who has experience creating and editing AFCADs in FS, I could only imagine the struggle you are going through with your own program.
I’m glad to see this being a focus and having an update to see what’s going on behind the scenes to better understand what you’re dealing with.
I do hope that SXM will have small changes to the taxi system it currently features.
Generally what is in place is already pretty good but I do feel some slight changes could help improve.
Backtracking M planes vacating the runway via E or atleast D to help clear the runway faster. L/X can continue vacating via C.
Reversing the taxi route to the C stands. Would also expedite them getting to the stands and would mimic real life ops a bit more.
And apart from this. I do agree with the points brought forward by CJ especially the playing after the airport is complete. Especially if more levels are gonna be added later on, a lot of the XP you gain just goes to waste.
Not trying to rant, complain or ask to get my way.
I’ve mentioned this before and I will continue to do so, but this game/simulator is showing promise and I can see this being developed in great ways. If you ever consider a PC version, the possibilities might be endless!
You should be proud. This is amazing work. Keep it up!
That’s really nice to have some update from devs. I salute the effort of the devs and I did see this during the past years. And I also appreciate devs have taken feedback from players seriously, I have personally sent an email to devs when LHR was available to point out issues I met with the airport and I feel my concerns was addressed in a timely manner.
Just a small request… I have noticed the last dev blog was in DEC of last year, may we have them in a more frequent manner to have better understanding of what is going on within the dev team? Proper communication would be really appreciated as in many cases, especially in the last year before v2.0, many people were impatient in the forum for sure.
Alternatively, could we have feedback board back in a more comprehensive form (to help devs manage this easier)? I understand it could be hard to maintain, whereas a board that collecting everything on it rather than simply laying them out in different threads. So I suppose that would reduce the questions like “If … is in progress” or “When will … be available?”
This is my favorite website for seatmap, truly a standout from similar sites (including the popular Seatguru), btw.
I know it’s been mentioned before but slightly altering how the day works in the game would make a huge difference. Daytime goes by so quickly in the game and I haven’t even handled half of what I have coming by the time to the sun sets, in especially at bigger airports like LHR.
Would also help that flights like DOH-LHR return more often that they can be handled multiple times in that time frame like IRL
I agree with how it gets dark early, but i have recorded that it is dark from 3pm - 8am UTC (for me at least), and it is 8am at the time of writing, and it has been light for a while
This just crossed my mind, but with the this new rework of the taxi system, does this also include taxi out vs pushback options for certain aircraft?
I.e. SXM C gates that don’t need pushback IRL, or the S aircraft in INN that just turn around and taxi out instead of being pushed back.
Just wondering, it’s not a request or anything
Thanks for your work, these are great news!
I can’t wait to see how your work affects the game experience!
I also think it’s great that you’re letting us look behind the scenes to see where all the hours of work are going.
I hope with the revised taxiway system, you will finally be able to have (especially @ MCT & LHR) planes of the same size always take the same runway exit. Especially at the two airports it takes an incredible amount of time when small planes (S&M) take the furthest exit to get to the gate. (LHR Terminal 5; MCT: picture)
