Author Archives: admin

Internet Security

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So I’ve installed the latest version of Internet Explorer, IE 9 Beta. While I think it is a very decent browser, I was disappointed to see that I was unable to download our air traffic control games without receiving a security warning.  Some customers have complained of this issue too, and lately we have had to to point more and more customers to our alternate download files, which use the Adobe AIR installer. For some reason, Internet Explorer seems to trust the AIR format over the .exe format. Many malicious software developers choose the .exe format, so I don’t blame Microsoft for filtering ours.

We’ve also received complaints from customers who receive warnings upon downloading, such as “This publisher has not been verified. Are you sure you want to install this file?”.  This has prompted us to purchase a digital certificate, which does nothing more than reassure customers that the software they are installing is legitimate.

Digital certificates are not cheap, nor are they easy to obtain.  A company that wants to obtain a digital certificate to assure customers of their legitimacy must first convince a company such as Verisign or Thawte that they are, in fact, legitimate software developers.

Airport Madness 3, as well as all future developments of Big Fat Simulations, will be digitally signed for customer reassurance.

Airport Madness 4

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As we start the initial design of Airport Madness 4, I realize that we face exactly the same challenges as we did with the three previous versions of the the Airport Madness series.  Airport Madness 1, 2 and 3 all had something in common:  they were 2D, top-down games.  Airport Madness 4 however, will have 3D rendering.  That doesn’t mean you will need to wear the big ugly glasses, nor does it mean that the airplanes will jump out of the screen at you.  3D rendering means that you are no longer sitting up there in space, staring down at the airport.  You now have a seat in the control tower, watching airplanes scream by.

It’s not much, but this is technically the first official screenshot of Airport Madness 4.  Please be gentle with your feedback…we are still in the very early prototype stages of development. I promise to remove the green earth color that I stole from the 1992 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Our challenge here is to avoid creating a realistic simulation.  Huh?  In my opinion, realistic ATC simulations are only fun to the hardcore ATC simmers.  To appeal to the rest of the world you need to keep things simple, fast, and entertaining, with no instructions required.  That’s not an easy task with something as difficult and complex as air traffic control.  We should have another update for this project in January 2011.

Seasonal Games

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Today one of my offspring asked me how come I haven’t made a Halloween game, since it’s October 31st and all. The truth is, I have some decent ideas for a Halloween game, but it would be at the expense of delaying a few larger projects that are on my horizon. Airport Madness 4 for example, which will happen sometime in mid-2011.

The last seasonal game that I developed was Santa’s Landing, in which you attempt to land Santa’s sleigh on people’s rooftops while avoiding starvation by eating falling candy canes. Candy canes seemed like the most appropriate reindeer food for a Christmas game. After all, how much fun would a Christmas game be if the reindeer were stuck eating lichens and vascular plants? Santa’s Landing was cute, but not exactly the viral success I had hoped it to be. It was played a few thousand times on Christmas Eve of last year, then it petered out to a steady trickle of 100 or so plays per day. Who knows, maybe it will get a second wind in December.

Every project that I undertake must be justified by a reasonable expectation of success. If a game such as Airport Madness 3 does really well, then it makes sense to spend time and energy porting it to mobile devices, as well as build a decent sequel. The rest of my ideas simply get added to “the list”. The list gets longer and longer each day. It started out as a small piece of paper from a 3M notepad in 2006. It has outgrown paper, and now exists as a series of spreadsheets littered across my desktop. I have friends, family and business partners that constantly feed me with their big ideas. “Hey, you should totally make a Halloween game and put zombies and stuff in it”. I always thank everyone, then add their ideas to my list 🙂

Airport Madness 3 Update

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When Airport Madness 3 was developed, we had envisioned a fantastic system of automatic updates which involved using the Adobe AIR installation platform. Unfortunately, a number of users experienced difficulty with installation due to their particular system, and we immediately realised that an alternate .exe file was required for those instances. “Can’t install our game? Here, try our alternate file…”.

Another shortcoming that we experienced with the AIR platform was the inability to incorporate a decent high score board, like the one you see in the free flash version of AM3.

For these reasons, we have abandoned our AIR-based format of AM3 and switched to a simple .exe format. This new format also appears to offer slightly improved framerate performance, as an unexpected bonus.

Unfortunately, this means no automatic updates. Users will have to visit this website occasionally to check for available updates. Updates are always free.

In summary, the changes in this update are:

  • Improved high score board
  • Slightly improved performance
  • Removal of Adobe AIR installation platform

We are planning a future update to Airport Madness 3 that should remove some memory leak issues, as well as add some keyboard shortcuts. Look for this update in about a month.

Where We’re Headed

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There has been great change in the casual game industry over the past couple of years. More and more users are looking for games that can be played socially on facebook, or on their mobile devices. Our most successful game, Airport Madness 3 for PC/Mac, fits neither. It is simply a downloadable application. While it is our intention to release an Airport Madness 4 in 2011 in a similar fashion to its’ predecessors, we can’t overlook the shift in the gaming industry.

Lately we have been developing quite a number of iPhone/iPad applications, such as Airport Madness Challenge, Airport Madness Mobile and Will It Fly. We are not overlooking Android, which happens to be next on our list. It is our intention to build out many of our existing PC/Mac games for both iOS and Android. At the same time, we are working on a social game for facebook, of the airport variety.

We also have a few entirely new game ideas that break free from our air traffic control theme. These will initially be introduced as flash games and later ported to Android and iOS. 2011 should be a very busy and exciting year for us, so please stay tuned.

New iOS App: Airport Madness Challenge

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We are pleased to announce the launch of our newest iPhone/iPad/iPod game, Airport Madness Challenge! AMC is similar to the original Airport Madness Mobile app, however with 6 different airports plus multiplayer functionality. It has a brilliant large resolution, ideal on the iPad. AMC also supports Apple Game Center.


This application was originally designed for the iPad. It was felt that the iPhone version of Airport Madness Mobile did not show enough landscape to offer players a view of arriving and departing airplanes. However, with the new Retina display of the iPhone 4, we were also able to publish this app for iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad version of this application offers more landscape view than the iPhone version.

We sincerely hope you enjoy this app. Please give it your honest feedback rating after playing. As always, my email box is always open to you for your feedback and comments. creator@bigfatsimulations.com

Will It Fly? Now available for iPhone/iPod

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As a bush pilot of a small aircraft you must take off with as much cargo and as many passengers as you safely can, while avoiding terrain and obstacles. Earn points by pushing your aircraft to it’s limit. The more you carry, the worse your aircraft will perform!


Get it here!

How many passengers and how much cargo can you successfully take off with, and still outclimb obstacles and terrain? This game applies the real-world laws of aviation to a variety of challenging scenarios. Earn points by daring yourself to carry as much as you safely can.

As in the real world of flying, a headwind can be your ally. Wind reduces the speed at which you travel over ground, but it does not affect climb speed, so a strong headwind can provide pilots with a steep climb angle.

Hot, High, and Heavy. Any combination of these can produce disasterous results. Hot or high atmospheric conditions indicate thin air, which reduces aircraft performance by lengthening the takeoff roll and reducing your climb angle. Too much weight will have the same effect on aircraft performance.




Airport Madness 3 Update 1.01

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We have published a minor update to Airport Madness 3. The changes are:

  • A different supervisor image;
  • Click anywhere to close command panels;
  • Maximizeable screen;
  • Reduced “continuous play” traffic levels .

There are many more changes coming, but these are the ones that we felt needed to be done right away. Plus, it gives us an opportunity to test the game’s auto-update feature. Updates are free, by the way. Those who purchased Airport Madness 3 Build 1.0 should see the message, “An update is available” appear at the bottom of the game screen.

Airport Madness 3 Post-Release

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During its’ first few days of release, our latest air traffic control game “Airport Madness 3” has received generally positive feedback. Unlike AM2, which we launched early to meet a deadline, Airport Madness 3 was thoroughly tested by a team of six from the very beginning of its’ construction. We intend to release a new update in approximately one week, that adds a few improvements and fixes some minor issues:

  • Keyboard Shortcuts;
  • Click anywhere to close panels;
  • Resizeable screen; and,
  • Landing lights for night aircraft.

If you would like to add anything to this list for build 1.1 (full version), please contact us. Updates are free to those who have purchased. The application automatically checks for updates each time you play.