Aircraft Manufacturers

[zane94s]

I have a suggestion which you can add at some point of the production.

The ability to be an aircraft manufacturer. There is no such game out there, and you have the tools from GearCity which allows the player to model an object (car design, and possible Aircraft design). Then, the ability to go through the entire build process (just like cars), and afterwards naming and branding the aircraft.

The final step is selling them to airlines around the globe.

The player may have the option to be a manufacturer or an airline manager at the beginning of the game

[Eric.B]

The problem with this is the amount of aircraft designed (not very many), the amount that are sold (not very many again), and the length aircrafts go between new designs (decades.) I have thought about it. But I don't think it'd turn into a good game if done realistically.

To give you example, you design a 737, outside of engine selection it remains the same for 60 years. You design a 747, outside of engine selection it remains the same for 40 years... You design a figher jet, like f16, it remains practically the same for 35 years...


That being said,
We may work in a way where you can partner with aircraft manufacturers to design/fund specific airplanes for your operation. However we won't have any actual physical designing of aircraft. But the AI will control and run aircraft manufacturers, so if you buy a lot of Lockheeds, they might not stop making jet liners.

Also you should note, that with some xml modification and 3d models, GearCity would actually be able to support military and civilian fleet aircraft contracting as well as consumer aircraft sales. You could actually design aircraft in game. However the only limitations are the ratings. They'll still be car centric. But it's possible if someone ever wanted to do it.

[Tridon]

That might be a niche within the niche that is GearCity, but an expansion(or a new game) that goes into the same depth for planes as the GearCity is for cars, sounds very interesting for me, and would be something I pay cash £$€ moniez to play. And I'm outside the topic here, but this goes for more markets as well.

Ships/boats, trains/trams, MC, tanks/AC. Pulling the timeline further back to steam engines? Can't you just make this in your nonexistent spare time?

Please, sir, I want some more AeroCity et al. *lifts his empty hdd in his outstretched hands*

[Eric.B]

All of those are implementable in some way or another via the xml files in GearCity.

The only things that can't change are the hard coded stuff. But I'm mulling over the idea of even turning some of that stuff into external code, or better yet, just releasing the code as an SDK of some sort way down the line.


AeroCity, probably not however. Again, I think there isn't enough action/variation there to get people to buy it in large enough numbers to justify the costs of producing something even at the same level as GearCity. A pure text based game in this genre however would probably work. But i'm not the one to ask to make that. Our next project will be graphically better than GC, not worse!

[Tridon]

Stupid game developers needing to afford eating and living and stuff. So demanding!

An SDK making it possible to adjust the finer details to fit more to a certain market sounds good Like the ratings you mentioned. One of the reasons I like GearCity so much is due to how well everything is fit to making cars to make the player immersed into the world of manufacturing cars. The look, the feel, the choice of words, etc. If those details can be changed as well it would make a mod feel that more immersive and alive

I'm not insinuating that I would make such a mod in any case. I'm so lazy I have to put salt in my pockets to keep my hands from rotting.

[freeman2344]

The problem with this is the amount of aircraft designed (not very many), the amount that are sold (not very many again), and the length aircrafts go between new designs (decades.) I have thought about it. But I don't think it'd turn into a good game if done realistically.

To give you example, you design a 737, outside of engine selection it remains the same for 60 years. You design a 747, outside of engine selection it remains the same for 40 years... You design a figher jet, like f16, it remains practically the same for 35 years...

Now, Eric, you know that I will certainly be purchasing this and anything else you make (especially seeing that airplanes are my other main passion, next to cars) - and that I will tell everyone I know to do the same - but I do think you should maybe reconsider this.

Sure, there's not that many different aircraft "models" now, primarily due to the fact that there's not much competition anymore, but that wasn't always the case. The early jetliner age had so many other, now defunct, players on the manufacturing stage, all with their own models. Sure, you have a point regarding lifespans of certain models - but if an upgrade process would be realistically implemented, this could still be quite fun as most of these have undergone significant changes as time went on, particularly with regard to avionics. This is especially true for military aircraft, but applies to civilian ones as well - I'm sure that could be done in a fun way.

That being said, most variety would probably be presented by the early years where everything was possible (quite similar to the historical development of cars, for example) as well as the inclusion of more obscure aircraft markets, such as business jets, aerobatic aircraft, trainers and so on - I really think there'd be enough for this!

Also - and, again, I'm not doubting what you're going to do with this - the way you describe your plans for Aero Mogul sound too much like what's already been done a thousand times. As I have said, this is my one other main passion next to cars...so I've seen it all over the years. There's even some iPad stuff that does this pretty well (for mobile standards, anyway), including more or less detailed route management. Most of the market seems to be geared towards browser games ATM - so maybe there is a niche for this after all, seeing that this will most likely be SP first? There's also Airline Project, which is open-source and therefore still in a somwhat sorry state - but it's free and getting more and more detailed every time I check up on it. I'm sure that you can surpass that simulation and other competitors on the market by a mile - there's no doubt about that - but it's just...I don't know...not unique enough? At least compared to GC, that is...

Anyway, I don't think you're very far into this, so maybe you'll come around and reconsider stuff - but I'm excited to see what you're going to do with this in the future!