Big Fat Simulations

Airport Madness 4 Pipeline

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:16:00 +0000

It's been an exciting two weeks since we launched Airport Madness 4. We had initially planned to complete Airport Madness 4 in November, spend a month testing it, then release it on December 1st. However, we came up with some great ideas late in the game, and this delayed our launch until December 24th. Number four in the series seems to have met or exceeded most people's expectations, with the exception of a few bugs. There are always bugs with new software, and we've worked out nearly all of them with with the latest build. We've received some amazing ideas and solid feedback from users, and we are doing everything we can to process it all.

When we created our first game five years ago, we were so focused on building the 'fun' aspects of our game that we neglected to put any music in, and this was the primary user complaint. However most of the emails we've received for Airport Madness 4 sound something like, "Could you add a music volume knob so that we can, you know, turn the music down?". Another complaint has been with regard to the voices. When we launched, Airport Madness 4 came with just one voice, altered to three different pitch levels, for variety. This was not well received, and we are happy to report that the voices have been improved for the latest build, 1.12. We have not added a volume knob, but have lowered the music volume to match that of the other sounds.

Our game plan over the next few years is to launch a new version of Airport Madness every Christmas. We have some terrific ideas for this and have already begun laying the groundwork for the next three versions. Having said that, we've decided that our priority must always be to focus on the current game, and how to make it better. Airport Madness 4 will not be abandoned for the next version, as with earlier versions. Airport Madness 4 will be improved upon, changed, added to, and hopefully one day perfected. Updates are always free, and automatic from within the game.

We also plan to give Radar Chaos a makeover this Summer, adding fresh artwork, improving the traffic generation system, and adding features such as holding patterns. There will also be a second version of Radar Chaos, focussing on the 'enroute' aspects of air traffic control.

Airport Madness 4 Update

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:56:00 +0000

Airport Madness 4 Build 1.10 is now online. If you've already purchased this game, you can update it for free, directly from within the game. On the game's main page, click on "An Update Is Available". Check out this list of bug fixes and improvements.

We will be doing another release next week, hopefully adding more features, most notably some improved voices, as well as a second launcher for each aircraft carrier.

Unlike previous versions of Airport Madness, our goal is to make Airport Madness 4 stick, by adding fresh features and improvements on a regular basis. Check back regularly for updates!

Airport Madness 4 Now Available

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

After 6 long months of development, we have completed Airport Madness 4 just in time for Christmas! There will be tutorial videos shortly, as well as a demo version as well as a facebook edition.

As always, updates are free. Our first scheduled update is due December 31, 2011. Please report any issues that you may find so that we can incorporate the suggestions for changes.

Our long term goal is to release a new version of Airport Madness each year, so stay tuned!

Office Jerk Holiday Edition Now Available

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:28:00 +0000

Big Fat Simulations and Fluik Entertainment proudly present Office Jerk Holiday Edition, now available on the iTunes app store! If you've tried Office Jerk, I think you will enjoy this one.

Unlike the previous versions of this game such as Office Zombie, this one is not free (sorry). The cost, time and effort required to build an iPhone app makes it difficult to release them as a freebies.

In case you are wondering why we are making iPhone apps instead of Airport Madness 4, rest assured we are getting close to a release date for it! A huge thank you to everyone reading this blog for their support with all of our projects.

Airport Madness 4 New Screenshots Online

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:10:00 +0000

There are new screenshots available on the Airport Madness 4 page! Check back here weekly for more good stuff. We are extremely excited about this project and hope that you will be, too!

Big Fat Simulations on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:55:00 +0000

We've been trying to come up with better ways of keeping customers up-to-speed on our progress with new games. Our Facebook page and this blog are great tools and we intend to keep using them. However, the addition of Twitter will give followers the opportunity to hear what's going on with us on a day-to-day basis.

Airport Madness 4 Update

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Airport Madness 4 is progressing smoothly, and we are still hoping for a December release. Check out our first official screenshots here on the product page. At this point, Airport Madness 4 is mostly functional. We have added radar, an achievement system, multiple aircraft types as well as emergencies. The game graphics are almost complete. For the most part, the game requires only polish.

There is still artwork to be completed, as well as sound implementation for voices, music and game sounds. On the back end, there are a few game levels that still need coding to be completed.

This may sound more like a "rant" than a progress update, but ranting is an important part of the whole process. I've received a great deal of pressure from other game developers who insist that the game be Facebook-friendly and social. "Add virtual currency. Add micro-transactions so that players can build up their airport. Add a feature that allows friends to challenge each other, or even work together." Believe me, I think all of this stuff is neat, but it's an incredible amount of work. I've seen developers get so busy adding the back-end magic, they forget that they are supposed to be building a great game. And that's what Airport Madness 4 is trying to be.

Airport Madness 4 Sneak Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Airport Madness 4 is coming! We are hoping for a release in December. A huge thank you to all of you for your fantastic ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming!

Since there were no volunteers, I was tasked with creating this video on my own, with a very minimal understanding of video software and YouTube. Please excuse the crudity of this presentation, as it merely fulfills a promise that I made to you last month.

I have discovered that it is impossible to have a conversation while playing Airport Madness, so this video was created in two parts. First, I recorded myself playing the game. Then I recorded an audio narration and tied the two tracks together. I don't expect to win an Academy Award for this creation, but at the very least, it gets the job done!

What Should Airport Madness 4 Cost?

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:56:00 +0000

In 1980, an exciting new video game was released, called "Pac Man". Buyers had two choices: Buy the full console for $5,000.00, or stick 25 cents into an arcade slot and play only once (until you were eaten by ghosts). I was 8 years old, and my weekly allowance was enough for only 8 rounds. Video games were not free in the 80's and 90's.

Video games started becoming free online somewhere around the year 1998. Flash technology enabled users to play a virtually unlimited number of games within their browsers, without the need to install anything, and without the need for a credit card. Over the last 10 years, Google Ads has given basement game developers a way to earn an income by creating free games. The internet became packed full of just about every kind of game you could ever imagine, all for free. And the developers earned from it! How cool is that?

Recently the casual game industry has begun to revert back to what it was back in the 80's. Developers are now demanding money for their hard work. This is done in a variety of ways. "Micro-transactions" have become insanely popular in places such as Facebook and mobile devices, while many developers prefer to tease the player with a free "lite" version and a paid "full" version. Others make their stuff free, supported by ads and incentivized videos.

We would like your feedback on pricing for our upcoming game, Airport Madness 4. What should it cost? Please send us your thoughts by email. Before you shout "Free!", please bear in mind that these games do not build themselves. It is immensely time-consuming and costly. Web servers, digital certificates, artwork, web design, software, coding and training all add up. Version 5 only comes if version 4 was a worthwhile endeavor.

-BFS Team

Office Zombie Hits #1 Worldwide!

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:07:00 +0000

It is difficult to believe that it has been five whole months since Office Jerk hit number 1 in the iTunes App Store. We are pleased to announce that our latest game in this series, Office Zombie, has achieved the #1 rank as well.

Office Jerk and Office Zombie were developed in cooperation with the amazing Fluik Entertainment mobile game development company. These games are a departure from our main theme, which is air traffic control games. Developing for mobile devices involves a completely different audience. People on-the-go, sitting on a bus, on a coffee break or whatever, want games that are simple and entertaining. Having said all of that, I do get emails from fans asking, "So what's the deal with this game? Are you just supposed to throw stuff at the guy?"

The objective in Office Jerk was, simply, to huck stuff at your coworkers, which is something many people would like to do in real life. That seems to be what mobile gamers are after. Simple, mindless entertainment. Office Zombie, however, has everything that Apple had previously banned from Office Jerk. They will not permit things like knives, chainsaws, and other dangerous objects to be used as weapons against humans. They won't allow blood, either. So we went with zombies. After all, who cares about zombies? To heck with them! The original Office Jerk was a flash game that I built years ago. It was extremely complicated, and involved climbing the corporate ladder by strategically choosing office enemies. The iOS version of Office Jerk does not have the same depth, but is much more polished, and actually great fun.

Office Zombie comes just in time for Halloween. We intend to release many more such games in the months to come, so check back here regularly for details.

Airport Madness 4 on Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Airport Madness 4 is making super progress! When the blog is quiet, it means we are hard at work :) We have a terrific artist and an expert coder working on Airport Madness 4. We still intend to tease everyone a little longer by not posting screenshots, but we assure you, they are coming. We will also be posting a video next week RIGHT HERE that will show a sneak peak of this exciting project!

Office Zombie Available Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:38:00 +0000

The perfect game for everyone that loves to hate zombies and well, just hates work. In cooperation with Fluik Entertainment, we offer you a seasonal twist to our previous app, Office Jerk.

Office Zombie arrives just in time for Halloween. If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, be sure to grab our latest creation form the app store!

Check out this video review of Office Zombie...

Airport Madness 4 Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:35:00 +0000

We are making good progress on our upcoming air traffic control game Airport Madness 4, still aiming for a release date of December 1, 2011. When the blog is quiet, that means we are hard at work! I've promised a screenshot so here is a snippet.

Airport Madness 4 is a dramatic improvement over it's predecessor, most notably by the number of airports that it offers. There will be a total of 6 different airports to choose from, each unique with their own special challenges. Helicopters, float planes and space shuttles will be just a few of the new and interesting aircraft you will see. The Concorde may also make an appearance (depends on whether I'm still in a good mood after all this coding :)) In addition, there will be new control features, including the option to vector.

Vectoring by itself is a huge addition to Airport Madness. It adds a whole new feel to the game. In Airport Madness 3 we had 360's, which some felt were rather pointless when things got busy. Many have asked for holds, and that will be added as well, although I suspect it won't offer the supreme power of steering planes with vectors.

We are still working on the logistics of offering "any runway to any aircraft". Although Airport Madness 4 will definitely offer many more runway choices, it is difficult to offer this complex option without destroying the simplicity that Airport Madness is based on. It has been very clearly requested that we offer players the option to pick and choose specific gates, taxiways and runways, despite the consequences of aircraft becoming irreversibly stuck nose-to-nose on a taxiway somewhere. It's our intention to offer this, but it will likely only exist on one or two airports.

Big Fat Simulations Gets Facebook Page

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:46:00 +0000

After publishing five of our games to Facebook, Big Fat Simulations has now established a Facebook page dedicated directly to the company and all of its' endeavors. We invite you to visit us at the link on the left. Please be sure to "Like" the page, as this will keep you informed of any updates, new releases and news. As well, liking our Facebook page helps spread the word about Big Fat Simulations!

As a redundancy, we still intend to maintain this blog. However the Facebook page will enable you to post comments and share your ideas. We hope to hear from all of you on the new Facebook page here!

Office Jerk Update

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:23:00 +0000

An Office Jerk update is now available from iTunes! Version 1.3 offers three new FREE weapons as well as tons of new taunts, reactions and mayhem. We are getting some terrific reviews, and are moving our way back up the app store chart with the many improvements we have made.

If you own an iPhone or iPad and haven't tried version 1.3 of Office Jerk yet, grab it here. It's absolutely free! And be sure to follow us on Facebook for news, updates and freebies!

Airport Madness 4

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:21:00 +0000

We are in the early planning stage of Airport Madness 4, with an anticipated release date of Christmas 2011. At this time we are looking for all of your ideas! Please give Airport Madness 3 a thorough play and let us know what you feel is missing, or what could be better.

The biggest improvement over Airport Madness 3 will be a larger selection of airports. Some questions we have of our Airport Madness 3 fans:

Would you like a larger resolution?
Are pilot voices an important feature to you?
Do you prefer cartoon-style graphics or a realistic "Google Earth" look?
What type of music do you like? Loud and energetic, or quiet easy-listening?
Would you like more control options?
More aircraft types?
What types of emergencies?

Please write to us! We've started the official Airport Madness 4 page here.

Office Jerk Now Available for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:16:00 +0000

It's arrived, the biggest time toilet of 2011. Mindless carnage, endless fun! Big Fat Simulations and Fluik Entertainment are proud to bring Office Jerk to the Android market. We have had over 7 million iPhone downloads in over 50 countries in just two months. We're excited to see how it is received by the Android market.

Get Office Jerk for Android here!

Office Jerk for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sun, 29 May 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Nearly one month ago Big Fat Simulations launched "Office Jerk", which quickly became the #1 iPhone app worldwide, developed in cooperation with Fluik Entertainment. We are pleased to announce that Office Jerk will be available next week for Android devices. Initially, it will be featured in the Amazon App Store. Download Office Jerk for your Android device!

Heavy Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:26:00 +0000

Check out this time-compressed video of air traffic at Logan International Airport in Boston. I very much like the low camera perspective. The creative juices are flowing for Airport Madness 4!

Radar Chaos on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:21:00 +0000

I would like to invite everyone to try the Facebook version of Radar Chaos. Share the app with friends, compare top scores and discuss the app on our discussion board and wall. This version is identical to our single-level demo, no longer time-limited.

Radar Chaos is available on over 100 game portals around the world. We challenge you to give the full version a try, which includes 10 different levels including 'beginner' levels for those not familiar with air traffic control procedures.

Radar Chaos was developed in just four intense months. We wish to thank our incredible beta testers, most notably Thomas Boon who has been testing with us since Airport Madness 1, and was the developer of our Big Fat Simulations Wiki. Please keep the game feedback coming!

Stay tuned for an 'enroute' version of Radar Chaos, likely in the Spring of 2012!

Office Jerk #1 iPhone App in 26 Countries!

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Big Fat Simulations, in collaboration with Fluik Entertainment, would like to thank everyone here for their support in helping Office Jerk achieve #1 status in the US, UK, Canada, and 23 other countries. After just four days in the app store, Office Jerk has been downloaded 1.6 million times!

Check out this article covering Radar Chaos's release.

If you have not yet tried Office Jerk, grab it here!

Radar Chaos Update 1.04 Available

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sun, 01 May 2011 05:26:00 +0000

If you've purchased Radar Chaos, be sure to grab the latest update. Simply open the application and click on the bottom link, "An Update is Available". The update will install itself automatically. Should you have any difficulties with the update, please email us. We usually respond very quickly.

Radar Chaos Update: Version 1.04

Added lines to connect data tags to aircraft
Level 8: Numerous flight plan errors
Reduced frequency of emergencies
More stringent altitude compliance in beginner levels
Level 5: Added waypoint images
Reduced music volume

For a complete list of updates, read more here.

New iOS App: Office Jerk

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Big Fat Simulations proudly presents Office Jerk for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users.

Working in an office can be boring, and it doesn't help when some do-good know-it-all sits across from you all day. You know the type: he runs to the boss when you do something wrong, complains when you get the last bag of chips in the snack room or always has a better idea than you.

No longer will you sit back and take it! Grab whatever you have nearby -- a crumpled piece of paper, a mug, a shiny red stapler or crack open the ACME pack for added fun -- and wipe that smirk off his face in the feel-good app of the year, from Fluik Entertainment and Big Fat Simulations.

Download Office Jerk for free here!

Radar Chaos Free Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:16:00 +0000

If you haven't yet decided whether or not to buy Radar Chaos, we now have a free demo you can try. This demo is a single-level, traffic-limited taste of what the full version offers. Be sure to check out our instructions and tutorial videos prior to playing.

The full version gives you 10 chaotic levels of radar with unlimited traffic, emergencies and weather.

Play the demo here!

Radar Chaos Now Available

noreply@blogger.com (Creator) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:15:00 +0000

Big Fat Simulations proudly presents Radar Chaos. Ten challenging levels of radar fun, packed with emergencies, bad weather and multiple aircraft types. Be sure to check out the instructions and YouTube videos for this application.

US $14.99