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Show HN: Our flight sim for iOS: Infinite Flight
We started this flight simulator about 2 years ago to be PC based, after realizing that it was too big of a task, we switched to Windows Phone 7 (Release Apr 2011) and recently released on iOS (March 2012).
So far, the reviews have been encouraging, and we're closing in on our second update. Last update brought iPad3 support, new airplanes and bug fixes. Next one will bring 2 additional aircrafts, missions, better map, IFR Fixes/Airways...
Now, for the things that the HN crowd might be interested in:
- It's entirely in C#. Codebase of the simulator itself (excluding XNA, MonoGame) is 99% shared between WP7 and iOS.
- The user base on iOS is much larger than on WP7, the numbers go far beyond our wildest expectations. (It's a bit early to tell, but something like 30x to 45x what we had on Windows Phone so far)
- The physics engine is custom, we're using rigid body simulation and apply forces based on angle of attack, airspeed, lift tables...
- Using MonoGame/MonoTouch has been incredible, the guys at Xamarin are great!
- We did run into issues with Garbage Collection, but nothing that we couldn't solve with a classic optimization session at the end
- People seem to love the fact that we setup a uservoice site. (http://feedback.flyingdevstudio.com). We've got tons of suggestions and we'll try to implement what people want first.
Some videos/pics:
http://youtu.be/YBww2pOkPec
http://imgur.com/a/n9hXV
Here's how to get the game:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infinite-flight/id471341991?mt=8
Some promo codes:
R9ARH4W3734E
RHKE3YXPNJKE
PAXRJMKAJRW4
7JH9L3XRYXL9
F9HEY6MXP9JX
- kaolinite 15y agoLooks very good. Any plans to come to Android? Will get it if you do :-)
- kpao 15y agoWe might do it later this year but we have no timeline yet.
- macca321 15y agoMaybe that 1% platform specific code is a big 1%? :) Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see c# running everywhere.
- kpao 15y agoWell, if you exclude MonoGame, most of the platform specific code is some window handling (showing messages boxes). The accelerometer, touchpanel, etc... is all handled by MonoGame and even though we contributed to it, it's not technically the core of the flight sim. That's what I counted in the 100% :) For the UI, it's a custom toolkit we built on our own, so it's 100% similar for both platforms.
- chargrilled 15y agoI'll second that. Watched the video and i'd buy it in a heartbeat.
- kpao 15y agoTwo things that keep us from going on Android today: - We've been porting/optimizing for the last 5 months, we'd like to code a few features :) - Android fragmentation is scary
- kaolinite 15y agoI think a lot of the Android fragmentation talk is just fear-mongering in all honesty. If you pick a few flagship Android devices - Galaxy Tab + Motorola Xoom (for tablets) and Samsung S2 + HTC Desire (for phones) - I think you'll be ok. Just make sure you specify which devices are specifically supported and add more as you get feedback. The Android store lets you specifically target certain hardware and over the many years of using an Android phone, I've only had 1 app not work on my phone. I had paid for it, so I refunded the purchase, the app was deleted - no issues :-) Still, I appreciate the concerns and I also appreciate the desire to implement new features. Bug fixing is no fun. If you do release it for Android though, make sure to post on HN. :-D
- kpao 15y agoYeah, that's pretty much the plan, only support the big devices. That also gives us an excuse to buy them all (who doesn't like unboxing a new toy :) We'll probably get to it later this year, my main phone is a Galaxy Nexus and I'm bummed to not be able to fly with it :P
- brk 15y agoLooks cool, I redeemed F9HEY6MXP9JX
- kpao 15y agoThanks, let me know what you think :)
- wyan 15y agoWow, I managed to redeem the first one! :) I'll keep you updated.
- tstegart 15y agoClickable Some videos/pics: http://youtu.be/YBww2pOkPec http://youtu.be/YBww2pOkPec http://imgur.com/a/n9hXV http://imgur.com/a/n9hXV Here's how to get the game: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infinite-flight/id471341991?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infinite-flight/id471341991?m...
- kpao 15y agoThanks, my HN posting skills are pretty basic :-/
- tstegart 15y agoCongrats everyone! I hope the launch goes well. Are you guys big enough to have a PR department or will it be just you guys doing it?
- kpao 15y agoWe're doing everything ourselves now, and it's taking more time every week. We'll see how things evolve, but since we're only two devs, we might have to do something about that at some point.
- tstegart 15y agoCan I ask where you seeing are the best response from? We launched yesterday and we're only two people too.
- kpao 15y agoThe big iOS Gaming Blogs pretty much ignored us :) Most of those who mentioned us were flight sim related. It's easy for us to get featured in those sites since we're in a niche market. One thing that helped a somewhat was to send them promo codes directly. It's a painful task, sending all those emails and keeping track of those who replied, ignored, bounced back, etc... :) What app did you guys release? Good luck to you!
- tstegart 15y agoIt is a painful task. I have a spreadsheet of most of the U.S. app review sites if you want it to make sure you didn't miss any. Just email me. I couldn't find one anywhere else so I started compiling one. They disappear quickly. We launched a little travel magazine; www.overnightbuses.com Good luck to you guys as well!
- jgeorge 15y agoAww, heartbreaker! All the codes are used. You'll just have to take my money then. I have a WP7 phone, but I havent shopped a lot of apps for it. I'll have to check it out, I'd love to see a comparison. I'm a bit of a WP7 developer and would be interested in your comments on any gotchas you've experienced with MonoGame porting to iOS.
- kpao 15y agoThe WP7 and iOS versions are pretty similar. The only device that has specific code if the iPad, to support a different layout of the controls. As to the gotchas, we did a talk at AltDevConf a couple of months ago that was just about that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOnUog6WeUU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOnUog6WeUU The second part is about Infinite Flight and how we ported the app from WP7 to iOS using MonoGame and MonoTouch. If you eventually get the app, let me know what you think, and don't hesitate to leave feedback on our uservoice site :)
- jgeorge 15y agoI bought it, I'm a flight sim fan and loved all the user reviews comparing it favorably to X-Plane (which isn't bad). I'll tinker around with it a bit later when I'm not up to my eyeballs at work, but on first glance it looks pretty sweet!
- kpao 15y agoThanks! FYI, we have an update coming next week which will add a CRJ-200, a Space Shuttle, Missions, map enhancements, better runways, bug fixes for sound and accelerometer issues...