We've spent the past week and a half on major overhauls of core building systems in preparation of beta 3 and the large map support, but before beta 3 hits experimental we're releasing beta 2.2-3 with a fix for a few minor issues, more specifically emergency vehicles and de-icing trucks not claiming jobs immediately ties to areas with no terminal assignment.
The work with beta 3 is coming along well and we'll soon be starting internal testing of the version, which is required this time around since we're making drastic changes to a few very fundamental building systems. This is in line with better coping the performance load the game will be put under as a result of the possibility to build bigger airports on larger maps and will hopefully reduce loading times and save file size across all airports. This is only one aspect of what we're improving in terms of performance improvements related to the core of the game, not only for beta 3, but something we'll continue to do throughout the remainder of this beta period. Beta 3 also packs new environment textures and a construction planning mode, so you can rest assure that it's been a bit more work here condensed into a single beta sprint compared to the two previous completed sprints.
We're aiming for an experimental beta 3 release as of next week. Here's the patch notes for this minor update:
Today we're happy to bring you an early halloween present: The release of Airport CEO beta 2 on the default branch! After a slight delay of an extra week, the original two week sprint for beta 2 have come to an end with this release. Beta 2 consist mainly of a large number of bug fixes, minor improvements and minor new features but also a few larger changes such as an overhauled weather system.
The release has unfortunately been delayed by one week due to illness within the team (not related to the pandemic) but we're now back on track and should hopefully make up for the lost time in future beta versions with less planned workload.
[/url]] - Object night window sprites sometimes visible when previewing object in build menu [/list]
Update notes
An overhauled weather system
The overhauled weather system is now powered by real world data which you can read more about in this dev blog and should provide more accurate weather simulation. However, this system is still under testing and we will be adding more weather station data points in beta 3 which will result in a higher weather simulation accuracy for the location you choose. We will continue to test, adjust and balance the new weather system throughout the remainder of the beta period.
Continued beta development
The beta development steamroll continues to plow through our sprints! We've already started work on the third beta version containing multiple new planned bug fixes as well as a planning mode for construction, player buildable world entrance tunnels and large maps. Some of these features will need to be tested on our internal branch before public release but we hope to bring the first 3rd beta version live on the experimental branch next week.
Thank you for your continued support and qualitative bug reporting, without them these beta advancements wouldn't be possible!
We're back once again with another unscheduled dev blog, a bit of a special dev blog this time, as we're celebrating the third and final year in early access! We'll dig into how we'll celebrate as well as the current development of beta 2 in Dev Blog 157: Airport CEO celebrates three years in Early Access!. Thank you for your support so far and we hope to repay you soon by completing all of the remaining beta versions and releasing the full version of Airport CEO.
After the first beta deployment this week, and as expected with larger deployments, there were of course a few number of pressing issues that you've been reporting on and that we've decided needed fixing before we deploy the first version of beta 2 on the experimental branch. Thus, we're ending this week with the default deployment of beta 1.1-2 which solves the most important things you've reported on and also provides slight stabilization on some other aspects of the game. Here is this update's change log:
[/url]] - Allowed rescheduling on current assigned stand even if auto-planner is enabled[/list]
We'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome all new airport CEOs starting their career as a result of the current ongoing three year anniversary sale! Welcome and we hope you'll like the game.
Have a great weekend and we'll be back next week!
Update: 29th of September 2020 2:30 PM
As of beta 1.1-2 we detected a critical issue with boarding not starting if ramp agent service was disabled. We have now patched this issue but left the version number the same, meaning that if you saw a minor update when launching the game on the 29th and forward this was the change that was contained in that update.
Airport CEO has now finally, officially, entered beta with this first default beta version release. For the last two weeks, as you may have read in the previous dev blog, we've been deploying daily updates on the experimental branch as part of the first beta versions sprint. This sprint has now come to an end and with that the default deployment of beta 1.1-0.
This first beta version mainly consist of a large variety of different bug fixes spread across multiple areas, for example including both functional bug fixes relating to all aspects of flights and turnaround processes but also initial performance optimizations and various UI improvements. The full list of changes is as per usual included below for your reference:
[/url]] - Zone area panel graphic raycasters can remain active despite having a near zero opacity causing strange hover panel tool tips to appear during building
[/url]] - Public parking lots are incorrectly counted as service vehicle parking lots for terminal data display which can cause confusion regarding vehicle parking availability
[/url]] - Boarding desk panel does not reveal information about currently boarding flight if heavily delayed[/list]
Update notes
New aircraft
The two new aircraft types, Fokker 70 and 100, are flown by Tulip and as per usual in order to enable them in your fleet you will need to refresh your contract with them in order to make sure that they appear in Tulip's fleet.
What happens now?
This is only the beginning of the Airport CEO beta phase, we have multiple beta versions planned and the development of beta 2 has already started. The first version of beta 2 will be deployed tomorrow on the experimental branch and throughout the next two week we will deploy daily updates until beta 2 is finish and then consequently, just like beta 1, is deployed on the default branch.
Development these two past weeks has progressed well and we expect to remain on schedule with the future beta sprints as well. Development will continue to consist of a mix between planned changes, improvements and some new minor features as well as continued bug fixing from the reports you send in.
That's it for now, we hope you'll enjoy this smorgasbord of an update and we're very much looking forward to keep improving and stabilizing Airport CEO until its full release.
Hey there, airport CEO! Another day, another stabilization update. This is the penultimate Alpha 36 stabilization release as Airport CEO goes into beta on the experimental branch later tonight, which will also be accompanied by a new dev blog.
Good day again, airport CEO! We're back yet again with another stabilization update for the emergency update as a result of the bug reports you're sending in. Here are the issues fixed in this update:
[/url]] - Sidewalk can be dragged over anything if starting point is already walkable[/list]
We will continue to deploy stabilization updates at a rapid pace for the default branch and soon swiftly move into beta. We're currently prioritizing two critical issues being reported, both relating to the pathfinding system with contractors and passengers at exits in rare occasions stalling. This update also has additional logging for those issues and will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Thanks for your continued support and bug reporting!
This Thursday we finally released Alpha 36 and the emergency update on the default branch. As per usual that initial deployment will be accompanied by a series of stabilization and bug fixing updates where Alpha 36.3-3 is the first in that series.
We'll spend the remainder of this week working on fixes for the most critical issues you're reporting and will deploy daily updates on the experimental branch that after a few hours of stability verification will be moved over to the default branch.
Thank you for sending in bug reports! Here's today's update:
Oh no! With great airports comes great responsibility. The emergency update introduces up to 24 different types of emergency incidents which any professional airport CEO is expected to handle with ease… or at least try. With emergency response vehicles, structures, new tooling and new negotiating powers it’s time to build an operation that’s always on its toes.
In this update we’ve included:
A plethora of different emergency scenarios ranging from emergency landings to staff strikes and power surges
Fire trucks, ambulances, airport police cars, birds and animals
An emergency response station, airport police station, radars and a brid strike prevention system
Contract negotiations, multiple object selection and new tooling to analyze paths and zones of any kind
Steam achievements
A complete sound effect overhaul, bug fixes and UI improvements, new aircraft and much more…
[/url]] - Aircraft emergency on lift off can cause planned emergency return flights to have a series of multiple flights preventing it from being instantly plannable
[/url]] - Weird movement of land animals in fast forward time due to incorrect update routine[/list]
Update notes
Emergencies
Emergencies are unplanned events that may occur at any time as you’re managing your airport. There are multiple different types of emergencies that impact your airport in multiple different ways, to learn more about emergencies you can easily read up on them 98.
However, emergencies will NOT be generated if any of the following criteria has NOT been met:
The game has not been running for at least a few in-game hours
The commercial license has not been researched
The frequency of emergencies are affected by the difficulty setting you chose when you started the airport. An easy setting means that emergencies are extremely rare, whereas an extreme setting means that emergencies are very common.
In order to properly handle all emergencies, you are highly suggested to research the emergency project and build the appropriate structures and procure the appropriate vehicles. As the emergencies are meant to be be explored and enjoyed we will not go into further details on how they work at this point.
Please note: The frequency of emergencies are something we’re still testing and balancing, and will continue to do throughout the remainder of this experimental testing period!
Animals
There are now both avian and ground animals roaming the airport grounds. Birds can cause bird strikes if not diverted from the runway take off area using a BSPS unit (bird strike prevention system).
Ground animals can also cause various issues if not properly contained such as stalled aircraft during taxiing. Ensure that these animals do not enter your airport by building fences, road check-points and roads as these objects block and scare ground animals. Security patrols will also exterminate ground animals on sight.
Multiple selection and tooling
Most objects can now be multiple selected by holding SHIFT while clicking the objects.
Buttons for testing the new path analysis tools, zone reader and plotting patrol routes (once the emergency project is researched) can be found in the building tool menu (where bulldozer and terminal zoning is located).
Steam achievements
Airport CEO now supports a wide array of different Steam achievements! They are live and visible via the Steam platform and can now be achieved.
Please note: All achievements previously earned on the experimental branch has been reset, this has been announced multiple times during the experimental testing phase and is done in order to ensure that everyone starts with a fair and clean slate.
Also note that any use of the development panel or development console will invalidate the save for any future achievement unlocks.
Future stabilization updates
While this update is not as substantial in terms of fundamental gameplay changing features as Alpha 35, it still contains a wide array of different types of features which also primarily disrupt existing functionality. We'll monitor the bug flow as a result of this deployment and provide bug fixing and balancing updates accordingly.
What happens now?
With this last final big content update, Airport CEO is now officially in beta! We'll be back next Wednesday (9th of September 2020) in a dev blog with more exact information on what the development pace will look like ahead and, more importantly, the first beta version of Airport CEO on the experimental branch, Beta 1.0-0.
We're very much looking forward to this new era of Airport CEO development and once and for all stabilizing and improving the game with a very, very thorough QA pass!