This Devlog will be all about how you will track and identify aircraft flying beyond visual range in Project Airspace!
Recently I've had a little bit of a change of perspective on which direction I think Project Airspace should go moving forward.
As far as I can see, there are two typical paths:
1. Full true-to-life simulation. We design every detail to mimic reality as accurately as possible, so we create a game that is very realistic- but feels a bit more like a job or chore than a game.
2. Arcade-style simulation. We take the general concept of ATC and run with it, flinging various features and mechanics in until we get a game that is fun but loses a lot of realism.
From the start of development until now I've had a development mindset that closely aligns with the former. I thought that an 'ATC sim' needed to exactly recreate the reality of being an ATC. Now though, I'm starting to lean toward a middle-ground between these two options.
The main issue I often personally find with type-1 simulators is that they lean too heavily into the realism and lose sight of the whole point of what they're making, which, at the end of the day, is supposed to be an entertaining and enjoyable simulation experience. On the flip side, type-2 sims are usually very fun to play, but I often find they lack degree of depth, complexity and realism that I'm looking for, and I'm constantly thinking 'that shouldn't've happened', 'come on that didn't make any sense' and any sense of immersion is ripped away from me.
SO, I've decided that I don't want Project Airspace to fall into either of these categories. I think we should try to design this project in such a way that it captures the 'feeling' of being a controller. A sim like this shouldn't be entirely built for factual accuracy, but should instead showcase and amplify the key components of the experience. Moreover, I believe that if we can seamlessly blend this experience with the extensive real-time data that is available in the aviation industry, we have the chance to create a truly fantastic experience.
But here's the caveat: I need your help to do it. I plan to design and build Project Airspace following this philosophy as much as possible, but I am only one measly person with just one perspective, and so I'm counting on you to shape Project Airspace with your opinions and design tastes. With each Devlog I need you to compile a quick list of anything that you don't agree with, you think could be improved in another way, or you think is the right direction, and send me all your thoughts at contact@jetstreaminteractive.com, or through the contact form. Alternatively, come chat on the discord server so we can hash it out the old fashioned way!
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Keeping on-brand with the brand-spanking-new design philosophy I just spent six pages writing about, I've taken a more artistic & creative approach when it comes to the control towers. At least for the smaller, lower-traffic towers (which is what I'm working on now), I've deliberately chosen to go with a much older ATC system, with a much older display to match. To get into specifics, I'm talking about a standardized system employed heavily in the 60's to 80's known as Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) Mode C.
SSR mode C had the bare minimum of information available to the controller- transponder (squawk) code, position, and altitude. Because of this restriction, controller workload was massive compared to modern standards, which is saying a lot considering the role is still considered one of the most stressful in the world! With mode C, controllers had to rely heavily on their ability to quickly correlate the 4-digit squawk code with the callsign of the aircraft, and the relevant flight progress strip (more on this in a later Devlog).
In Project Airspace there will be a few aids to help you out, the first of which is a squawk-callsign correlation system.
This is a very simple system that existed on some computerized radar scopes during the period that Mode C SSR was the primary radar system. It was not automated, but did reduce the risk of controller error by swapping out the Squawk/SSR code on the scope for a callsign that was input manually.
The simplicity of this system does have some drawbacks though. Because the data provided by Mode C SSR is so limited, the Squawk code is the only thing that the system can rely on. This means that any squawk conflicts can cause some serious confusion, so controllers needed to be vigilant and maintain good special awareness by mentally tracking aircraft.
Another basic system possible only thanks to computerized radar scopes. This system would just check if the change in altitude from the last update to the current one was significant, and display a little arrow up or down to indicate the direction. It's a small but powerful indicator because it allows you to quickly understand the status of an aircraft at a glance, without needing to wait for the next position update.
These systems were a little more complicated to implement, and so were less common until the 70's-80. They were especially rare at smaller airports like where these scopes will be used in Project Airspace. These alerts will only be simple on these scopes- within range of another aircraft or below safe terrain minima, but should be helpful when your airspace gets busy or you have a close cluster of aircraft.
When designing the radar display (meaning the display itself rather than the model), I jumped around a few different concepts before settling on the one you've seen. All I really knew at the start is that I wanted a CRT style display, but that is a broad definition. At first I put the display content on the screen raw, but I immediately decided that wouldn't do, something about a perfect display just destroys my sense of immersion.
So, I set out with intent to make a horrendously bad-quality display that is just good enough to be legible. I started with a dot-matrix style display, but that didn't make a lot of sense and had a very trippy screen-door effect when viewed from certain angles. I tried an RGB colour-segment display but this just made the screen-door effect look like it was on acid with the mix of red, green and blue colours. Eventually, I stumbled upon the style that you see to the left.
This one is pretty simple in design, it exaggerates the scanline tendency of traditional CRT's and emphasizes the classic green phosphor aesthetic, while reducing the screen-door effect by only having gaps along one axis, and with some sneaky scanline focus effects based on distance.
Using this design, I was able to implement some really interesting visual effects like vertical roll, interlacing offset, flicker and some warmup on power-on and vertical collapse on power-off. I recorded a brief showcase of these effects below, keep in mind that the effects in this clip are heavily exaggerated so they are easier to see. They will be less intense in the finished sim. Be sure to let me know what you think!
That's all for this week, next Devlog will be on Flight Progress Strips because that's what I'm finishing off now. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this week's Devlog and I hope to catch you on the next one! In the meantime, write that scalding email of critiques for me or come and discuss it on the discord!
Ka Kite!
Nick
This will be a short devlog to give you an idea of what you can expect here.
"Project Airspace" (provisional name) is an in-development Air Traffic Control simulator by Jetstream Interactive. Project Airspace aims to create an immersive and realistic environment, powered by real-world aviation data. The simulator leverages advanced procedural generation and global mapping data to create an accurate depiction of over three thousand airports across the globe. Project airspace will integrate with real-time aircraft flight traffic, weather, and airspace data, allowing users to direct aircraft just as their professional counterparts do!
The simulator is in active development, with core world generation, flight dynamics, aircraft taxi pathing, command following, tower air/ ground radar, and a few more features already implemented. That said, there is still a long road ahead, and I'm hoping to develop this simulator together with the flight sim community to make it the best it can be! If you have any queries, concerns or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out here.
Throughout the journey, I will be showcasing the progress of Project Airspace through 'Devlogs' (Development Logs), and I aim to publish these on a regular basis to keep you informed. If you want to get notified as these devlogs come out, please register at the bottom of this page.
That's all for now, thanks for reading and I hope you'll join on the journey to realize this vision of Project Airspace!
Ka Kite,
Nick
