Not related to Airport CEO itself, but to the competition.
We have noted in the past that some other games are in development, namely Airport Master and AirportSim. Both have been greenlit on Steam, and Airport Master quietly released over the course of the weekend into Early Access (interestingly, a year ahead of schedule). Reviews are mixed at best, and mostly comment that the gameplay is lacking, and that the game has been released too early.
I haven’t been able to buy the game (as I am a Mac user and the game has only released on Windows) so I can’t personally comment on it beyond the Steam page. I wonder if anyone else has been able to give it a whirl? (Remember, you can get a refund within 2 hours of gameplay on Steam!). However, comparing and contrasting the game with Airport CEO, the game itself is at a much earlier stage in its development cycle, despite having gone into early access.
From what I can see, this really supports the approach of the Airport CEO devs. As impatient as many of us are, it’s better to see the game released at the higher standard that I would expect from Airport CEO than it is to go into Early Access immediately and suffer negative reviews as a result.
Although it receives a lot of negative views, that game actually looks kind of promising as long as development is continued. It looks quite in depth for what you are given, though it seems you’re more of a manager employed by the Airport CEO rather than the CEO itself. I’m gonna give that one a few months to develop before forming too strong an opinion… I do agree about the releasing a high standard game to avoid negative press though
On first view, I see that both games (Airport CEO and Airport Master) have a different purpose/goal. In Airport CEO, you really need to build an airport and optimize the infrastructure so that everything goes well or even better. In Airport Master, you more seem to be managing an airport and buying upgrades for it. It’s more ‘managing’ instead of ‘designing’.
The possibilities in Airport CEO are much bigger than in Airport Master. Still interesting to keep an eye on this game and see where it ends.
Simairport is due to release in the next 3 weeks, this looks good but of the cartoon genre rather than airport CEO looking more finer tuned with there graphics. However I do think Simairport will be a good play has many of the features of Airport Ceo but just does not look as good! “Time Will Tell”
Airport master looks like AT3 Engine. But who knows, its an early access. SimAirport looks like the Engine from prison architect and it really looks close Airport CEO, but more Comic like.
I am really sure, that Airport CEO has the better Engine and the management, as well. It also looks and act realistic, than the other.
I would go as far to say Airport Master is really in a different genre of itself at the moment, the two ‘competitors’ as I see it are CEO and Simair, I have only just recently heard of SimAirport but competition is only a good thing as the games just strive each other to improve with regular updates.
I will probably end up getting both SimAirport and CEO, but if CEO say they aren’t too far behind I won’t bother with the other
Looking at SimAirport, it seems good, but there are some things that strike me:
The flights don’t have destinations - it’s just an airline and its flight number. I’d very much like to know which routes I have from my airport, and I think expanding the range of destinations offered is something that attracts me to an airport management game.
There seems to be no luggage system - there’s a check in desk and some carousels, but no baggage system to get the luggage to and from the aircraft (as far as I can see). Having read the develogs for Airport CEO, I can see that Frederik and Olaf have put a lot of time into this aspect of Airport CEO.
I really like the art style of SimAirport.
It does lead me to believe that Airport CEO is the most promising release in terms of detail and management. I’m not just saying that because of loyalty, although the fact I’ve got more knowledge about Airport CEO than the others may influence this. We’ll see what the others have to offer, and I shall defer any definitive judgement until I’ve played the games. But the detail is an area where I think that Airport CEO is in the lead, and indeed this is a key component of Prison Architect’s success.
To me simairport seems lacking in the early graphics and seems as if the project got rushed to early release. Be interesting to see how it improves, but from what I have read and seen of Airport CEO, I’m more likely to get AirCeo.
SimAirport releasing week after next, new video up showing a bit more gameplay.
More thoughts from this:
It looks more like a Prison Architect clone, whereas what we’ve seen of Airport CEO is more “inspired by” PA. Having the garbage collections on the main road to the airport, for example, is an odd choice.
That said, I think their art style is pretty good, and the game looks nice overall.
The destinations of the flights are concealed. I very much like the idea of building a network from your airport. There will be added realism if you offer flights to specific real world cities.
In contrast to my last thoughts, the baggage system is simulated but not to the same detail as in Airport CEO - the bags go to and from a processing facility, whereas we’ve seen in Airport CEO that the complex baggage system is designed by the user.
Unisex open plan bathrooms… oh dear
The transport in and out seems to be just one road, like in PA. You can see that even with a modest airport, it’s getting congested.
I think I’ll give it a go to satisfy my airport building needs, but at this stage it seems far less detailed than Airport CEO.
Saw it too. Apparently they are releasing on 6th March Monday based on Reddit, 7th said on Steam. Reminds me a lot more of Another Brick in the Mall with it’s room to room link and the character too. Worth having a look at
SimAirport misses so many things… It’s just horrible! Game looks good, but they lack in-depth features. No seperation of screened people, unisex bathrooms, simple conveyer system, people are crossing the queues, 1 road (congestion), … Don’t like it at all (as a perfectionist)…
I think that they’re just scared of Airport CEO and wanted to release the game quickly before Airport CEO…
I saw the SimAirport gameplay video. At start I really liked its graphic. But as the video kept playing, disappointments started hitting me.
No details at all. Its just like those Minclip (web gaming site) airport management games which I used to play 3-4 yrs back…(I was 11 back then).
The two things that may make this game sell is:
The buyer doesn’t know about Airport CEO
The building mechanism which is similar (I’ll say copied) to PA, which few people may feel trying. They were successful in copying the PA style building and Graphics but failed in matching its details.
But u never know, the SimAirport developers may update the game in future. And it may start selling.
If the developers bring in more details, then Airport CEO will have a rival in place. But I think Airport CEO will eventually cover the gap (if any).
I personnaly don’t believe at throwing shit at other games, especially when it is not realeased yet. I think they put effort into that game and it should be respected. And with the fact that SimAirport is very similar to Prison Architect, we should not forget that back in the “old days” a lot of games used quake engine, and they were not bad. Also when prison architect hit Alpha 1 (the first releasae), it was extremely bugged, and it had lack of content and scale.
And also the price is not set yet, which is a big factor.
Anyway, I am more interested in AirportCEO, looks better and does not feel rushed, but don’t start a war at other games. It puts a stamp on the community.
I agree, but I’m not really “throwing shit”, I’m just giving my opinion… I do respect their effort, and I hope that they will still improve the game… I’m just not a huge fan of releasing a game that doesn’t have some important/basic features. It just looks like the project got rushed to early release like @Sherk6737 said.
