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Please note: Airport Master is currently in Early Access Public Alpha stage of development. Some features described here may (and will) change from version to version as game development progresses. If you participate in early-access public alpha testing, keep in mind that savegames created with earlier versions may become unreadable in newer versions.
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Note: also see Airport Master Features In-Depth Description and Roadmap with version numbers
Airport Master Plan of Development (POD) covers estimated roadmap of major features of the game that are expected to be implemented within game development timeframe. Below you will find brief description of every phase of Airport Master plan of development with set goals (accomplished and yet to accomplish). Those are listed in chronological order of development phases from future to now to past. Please note, that since the public Early Access alpha has become available, some minor changes has been introduced to Airport Master plan of development as more feedback is acquired from Airport Master players.
As Airport Master plan of development is met, the development of Airport Master game does not finish. More polishing, DLCs, custom content, additional game modes may and will appear after the 'final release v 1.0'. As a general rule, while there is gaming and aviation community's interest in Airport Master game, the game will continue to develop, reagardless of the fact that Airport Master plan of development (POD) has been completed.
At some point in future, and exclusively to hone the old-days tradition of having the official release v.1.0 we will do that symbolic release that will have version number 1.0. The most adequate criterion for this would be such a stage of Beta product at which bug reports nearly non-existent and our development team feels the game is more or less what we wanted it to be when designing it's prototype back in 2013 and it's first working prototype back in 2015. No estimates on date of 'final release v.1.0' are made either explicit or implicit. We'll just follow Airport Master plan of development.
All game mechanics as per Airport Master plan of development and Airport Master Roadmap are implemented either as main game mode or as alternative game modes. The game has more than 100 various liveries of modern aircraft, fully ICAO-compliant ATC model, all user interface features, Career game play mode fully implemented. Graphics and sound technologies are latest level possible within game engine. Intensive bug-hunt and product polishing begins.
Preliminary beta testing according to Airport Master plan of development, focusing on QA and bugs fixes. Adoption of HDR\SSAO\AA as in-game graphics quality modifiers, finalization of shaders' code. UI polish and introduction of chosen avatar system (3D-people or 2D drawn avatars).
In accordance with Airport Master plan of development (POD), game at late alpha stage should feature complete endless freeplay mode, career mode (including all RPG elements, Mayor\City relations, venues attracting traffic, economy fully balanced), alternatively a branching in modes possible at this stage: a separate game mode may appear that will feature more hardcore economical strategy of airport business. Most upgradeable features of airport (new runway, taxiways, facilities etc) should be complete and initially balanced by the end of Late Alpha phase.
Weather engine is to be accepted in its full functionality as per Airport Master plan of development, including precipitation, clouds, visibility, temperature, pressure and winds. Endless freeplay mode mechanics should be complete by the end of this phase, and Career mode should be in development, including achievements, City\Mayor ratings and quests, perks, bonuses and probably drawbacks of choosing this or that career branching. Helicopter operations will be introduced at this stage according to Airport Master plan of development. Also, presumably first runway, taxiways and aprons upgrades will become available.
Very important stage of Airport Master plan of Development. Game mechanics for endless free play mode are getting refined and tuned to a playable level. Sound system revamped, visual engine improved. During this stage of Airport Master plan, we introduce economy, contracts system, timetable and scheduling system, improved handling of aircraft in air, improved user interface and preliminary weather. At the end of Early Alpha stage the game becomes available as Early Access title on Steam.
As per Airport Master plan of development , latest TD 8.0 version featured enclosed world with sun and moon cycles, sky, clouds, terrain and airport: flying aircraft and operating service vehicles; sound system demonstration and DirectX 11 graphics demonstration were performed as well according to Airport Master plan of development.