Only about one more week until the AirlineSim Convention 2016 will begin! As usual we will use this event to present the next big feature for AirlineSim and - if everything works according to plan - attendees will be able to try out the new functions immediately.
Besides the feature presentation I will of course talk a bit about the past year and our short- and mid-term plans for AirlineSim. Should there be enough time left afterwards, I'd love to also touch on a few subjects that you might be interested in. I'm thinking about topics that don't fit into the scope of a forum post or that make a good starting point for a live discussion.
So if you have questions that you would like to get answered in LEJ, please let me know. It doesn't matter whether it's about technology, game design, community or feature ideas...any suggestions are welcome.
Just like in previous years, we plan to record the presentations from LEJ and upload them to YouTube. So even if you can't make it to LEJ, you might want to add your questions to the list :)
I am sure that many people have a question, similar to mine:
Between 2010 and 2014, we saw new permanent servers almost 6 months (roughly.) As it is now, we haven’t seen a new “normal permanent server”, since the launch of Ellinikon in August 2014. Since that, Riem (advanced) came, and later, two temporary servers.
There’s no doubt, that the temporary server are popular - but I do know that you also have customers, eagerly waiting to see a new normal permanent server.
Does AS have any long-term plans in regards to this issue? A lot of my "AS-friends", are like me. They don't want to play on the temporary servers, since your work just "disappears". We are waiting. Still. :-)
1/ ok with Banff, think that it could be nice to have regularly new permanent worlds to set an airline for a long time, because old server's slots are totally saturated by enormous airlines ^_^
2/ a lot of new airlines are created one day, they launch a planning and never come back... I think there should be an automated emailing asking them to come back or reset
3/ I think that many users would appreciate a live chat system, where every user online could talk together :D
My question would be about slots management and demand distribution. Regarding slot, the introduction of speed overrides & departure offsets in 6.2 and dynamic turn around time & delay in 6.3 have brought lots of flexibility to schedule flight into slots congested airports, and good job developing them. But with the demand distribution still favors the frequencies, thus the use of smaller capable aircraft, slots congestion will still be a classic issue on mega hubs.
One of the reason players avoid starting in older permanent game world is because slots congestion, with early entrants have the luxury of dominating the slots in big hubs. While we could find empty market to start due to player exit the world, usually when they start to fly beyond their domestic market, it will be quite a challenge to find slots at other countries, especially big hubs, as slots might be scarce or not suitable to our wave time.
So the question for LEJ would be: "Will there be another approach to the current slots management and demand distribution?"
Given the unique situation exist in AS regarding its demand distribution, could it be considered that slots are allocated in 30 minutes or 60 minutes time window, instead of 5 minutes time window to allow more flexibility in scheduling. I believe making good strategy should take more time and more rewarding than finding your perfect slots time.
Also if demand distribution could somehow be tweaked to favor the use of wide-body a little bit more, allowing larger aircraft to serve shorter trunk routes attractively.
These kind of things might breathe life to older server, reducing preference for new game-world and attracting more player to play in existing game-world.
Sadly as I am not able to come as I am currently in Rio de Janeiro and if TAP are not late (which they always are), I have calculated to be back in Sweden a couple of hours before the conference leaving just enough time for a cab ride home. If I would have come a couple of days earlier I would have attended. I wonder if the convention will be live streamed and we could ask real times questions or if there are any ways to participate from other parts of the world in real time and not just by a youtube video. Maybe Twitch or Youtube Stream could work?
Excellent idea, Christian. Live streaming for us overseas who cannot attend. Bandwidth should not be an issue in Germany. And YouTube can stream live, and then the stream is saved for on demand view as well.
I won't promise anything in terms of streaming, but when the network of the conference allows it I might as well just let my notebook stream the presentation and whatever the built-on camera can see :). We'll still record the presentations with a proper camera for later release, though.
I'm still planning to do a live stream some time soon on which I'll hold the presentation from LEJ again in English. Obviously, you'll be able to ask questions "live" and I'll also respond to the ones collected on the Q&A threads ahead of the convention. It's just that I'm very busy catching up with work that got pushed back due to prep for the convention, so I can't post a date for the live stream just yet.