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Show HN: Our flight sim for iOS: Infinite Flight

11 points by kpao ↗ HN
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

24 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 53.1 ms ] thread
kaolinite
Looks very good. Any plans to come to Android? Will get it if you do :-)
kpao
We might do it later this year but we have no timeline yet.
macca321
Maybe that 1% platform specific code is a big 1%? :)

Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see c# running everywhere.

kpao
Well, 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
I'll second that.

Watched the video and i'd buy it in a heartbeat.

kpao
Two 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
I 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
Yeah, 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
Looks cool, I redeemed F9HEY6MXP9JX
kpao
Thanks, let me know what you think :)
wyan
Wow, I managed to redeem the first one! :) I'll keep you updated.
tstegart
Clickable

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?m...

kpao
Thanks, my HN posting skills are pretty basic :-/
tstegart
Nope, everyone's links don't work in their original post, presumably to control spamming. Once a post turns out to be legit, occasionally someone goes around and makes them clickable just so people don't have to cut and paste all the time.
kpao
TIL, thanks :)
tstegart
Congrats 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
We'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
Can I ask where you seeing are the best response from? We launched yesterday and we're only two people too.
kpao
The 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
It 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
Aww, 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
The 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

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
I 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
Thanks!

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...