DevLog 63: Baggage Handling, Design Contest Finish & Literally Easter Eggs

Ok, then how long until the release outside of steam?

I don’t think there will be a release outside of Steam :slight_smile:

What would the added value be?

Edit: I understand there might be reasons to distribute the game on other platforms (gog?), but i’m saying that at this time afaik there are no plans to go that route :slight_smile:

Your kidding, I do not even have a steam account

It’s free :smiley:

Edit: But seriously, i’m curious: Why would you not install Steam?

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Steam app is too slow. The browser version works fine. But app?? It launches fine but then sometimes gets hanged.

There are many complaints about this on their site. And usually the discussion end with no clear reason why. Most of the time, it’s because of Steam’s bad optimization (Not a hardware problem). It’s like a glitch. You may have a performance PC but still suffer lag. Some people have old PCs still run Steam fine.

I would love if there is a release outside Steam. And independent release which can be bought from Airport CEO’s site.

I can cope with Steam for Early Access. But when this game goes into alpha and beta… i definitely want an independent version.

I usually try to get independent versions of game rather than Steam ones.

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@Ryan

You don’t have to run steam all, or any of the time other than to play Airport CEO, it makes releases and updates much easier as it’s only a single platform to release on and therefore you only have to deal with the steam SDK, which leaves more time for game dev.

For yourselves it’s free to get a steam account and who wouldn’t want access to the steam sales :stuck_out_tongue:

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It’s just a platform to sale the game…
Games don’t need to use steam to start (eg Cities In Motion)

Depends on the game and the level of DRM involved. Often they need steam to be running such that it can be proved you bought the game.

If a game has steam integration it will not run without it. Games that do allow this have 2 separate versions of the game

All seems fairly good, some minor tweaks here and there and the passenger cycle looks complete!

Want to say a few things with respect to the gifs that i’m sure have been noticed but in case they haven’t.

First gif:
People getting off the bus seem to have to reach a specific location before being able to path into the terminal, surely this should be the door of the bus, not the front of the bus? Those who seem to be collecting a bag don’t have this issue. Alongside this when entering the queue they seem to pause before continuing down the queue which creates a minor traffic jam going into the queue.

Second gif:
The easter eggs are being put on top of each other? Maybe the line of eggs shouldn’t be so organised, maybe they shouldn’t fall into slots more into a pile. Alternatively there could be a stop at the end of the belt? Kind of like Factorio, things just back up? With regard to the incoming line, the workers aren’t putting the bags down where they stand, it seems to appear randomly on top of the belt.

Third gif:
You can really see the pre-queuing building up now, which at security in a busy airport could cause problems? Within the queues people are more likely to face the direction they’re going to go rather than the one they’ve come from. Some people might face backwards or stand in groups if the queue is wide enough to allow for conversations. To compliment this there could be an element of random spacing between the people, for example a family might stand closer together and then everybody might keep a large space between themselves and a backpacker (Because backpackers smell!).

Fourth gif:
The dynamic queues don’t seem very dynamic… They seem to get longer in a random direction but surely they should also get thicker as people double up to talk to each other and maybe turn more corners, like the actual set queue routes do. Alongside this, people aren’t likely to just know where the back of the queue is and thus they’d go to where they expect the queue to start and follow the dynamic queue to the back, or just cut in. Finally the movement of the queues seem a bit too robotic, people might want to “shuffle” around a bit, have some idle animations and maybe a group of people will start moving all at once.

Of course all these little points will add realism but they will also take up computing power that could be used to simulate an even larger number of agents and as such it would be very nice to have them, would add to the realism and the atmosphere to see all the little people grouping and moving uniformly and queuing in a somewhat unorderly fashion, but I can equally see why you would not change these small aspects.

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Some games do require Steam to run in background/ or atleast to launch the game.

I really like Steam. But some time it can get ‘Nasty’.

Great work guys, I can already see this at the Steam frontpage: smiley:

Two things I’ve came up with:

-What happends with the baggage transports when they are not working? Do they go back to the depot? Otherwise, how do they couple/uncouple carts when necessary?

-How would the luggage be handled in a system such as the showed if we have the baggage for two flights in the belts simultaneously?

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Amazing work guys, cant wait to see all you have in store for us.

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Also, if it wasnt released via steam, modding would become much harder. the steam workshop is fantastic for adding mods with ease, just look at games like minecraft, modding is made much harder due to the lack of steam workshop support compared to games such as prison architect or cities skylines, much easier!!

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Nice DevLog! You are doing an amazing job with this game! I’m really looking forward to Airport CEO!

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Definitely something a lot of people (including me) would love because my steam is very VERY slow and running it is a nightmare, so having an independent version would be fantastic.:smile::airplane:

I disagree. Minecraft modding was hard because the game was built without modding in mind. when a group of people introduced forge, that became much easier.

Look at dwarf fortress. most things are in text filee and easily moddable.

Maybe this is related to your computer’s overall health or capabilities or your internet connection?

I have never experienced the steam application to be slow.

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Better get one :joy:

Computer’s overall health?? Well as i said… my old computer has no problems with Steam (except when it runs in background while playing). But my new laptop has problems even launching it. While my laptop has superior hardware than my old one.

Internet connection?? 128 kbps is enough to ‘launch’ steam. I get around 10 Mbps on both my computer. So that’s not usually the problem.

Steam is an excellent platform. But it’s app is badly optimised, atleast for some devices.

I am fine with using it. But i would love it if ACEO has an independent version. Anyways i don’t use many mods in games. And if i do, i use the game directory to make those mods work.