When we launched APPControl Voice Edition, the voice controlled version of APPControl more than one month ago, the biggest question was: will the speech recognition be good enough to make it playable? The video we posted was quite convincing, but this was with only one (namely my) voice. Would it be good enough with a large sample of voices?

We have the answer now, and this is a “loud and clear” yes! The adaptations we made to the game to incorporate voice control result in recognition rates above 80%, which makes it perfectly playable. We also got enthusiastic reviews on the AppStore, which is always appreciated. We posted some today on our new facebook page, go there to read them.

The next steps for the voice edition are aimed at bringing it closer the the classic edition, with features like airports downloads from our ever growing database, and access to the online leaderboards. We’ll also improve the practice room. There is no date set for this new version at this point, so stay tuned on this blog, on our facebook page, and subscribe to our newsletter to be informed.

And as always, if you have wishes, remarks, ideas, contact us, we’re always happy to receive feedback from you.

December is almost gone, and it has been a crazy month at the APPControl headquarters. Many of the things we had in the plans for too much time eventually got done. After the release of APPControl HD for iPad earlier this year, it was already time for a first update. By the time this post gets online, the new version is waiting for apple’s approval, and we hope it should be online in the first week of 2013. It includes many new aircraft types, but also a speech synthesis feature which we are very excited about. This is not made of pre-recorded samples like the original APPControl for iOS, but relies on online speech creation. This will allow for other new features in the future, like 5 letters intersection names, different voices, and much more. It also has a new layout, with a larger heading selector, as often requested in the first feedback we received.

The new version for Mac OS X should also be available in the first week of 2013. This version contains one major update, that many players requested: a resizable window, including full screen mode as introduced by OS X Lion. The full version can also download new airports from our servers, making more than 100 different airports available.

Another long-time project is almost completed: APP Control for Android. Many online players requested a native android version, and we already had a first prototype. But now, we’re very close to release the first Android version of APP Control on google Play. If everything goes fine, this should also be during the first week of 2013.

Our facebook page is also getting more and more active, and we aim at 300 likes by the end of the year, so if you did not like it already, now is the perfect time.

APPControl version 2.5 has been released on the AppStore earlier this week, and we advise all players to update. This version fixes a but showing “Logged as (null)” after an update. This occurs when the user was never logged in, and this has been fixed. The new version shows “Tap change user to log in”.

Version 2.5 also changes the phraseology for landing aircraft. So far, the approach clearances did sound like “Cleared direct runway XX”, which is not really correct. So now the clearances for approach are “Cleared approach runway XX”. The “Direct” buttons habe also been updated to “Approach” buttons, for incoming aircraft.

This version came out rapidly after 2.4 to fix the Login issue, and version 2.6 shall come soon as well, introducing a very frequently requested feature: incoming traffic indicators…

If you have a suggestion or request, please send it to vincent [at] appcontrol.com, or leave a comment on the feedback page on this site.

And don’t forget to show APPControl to all your aviation friends…

After a few months of work, APP Control version 2.4 hit the AppStore one week ago. Besides a few bugfixes (hopefully the whitescreen issue is eventually solved), the biggest change is the introduction of the online scoring system. To use it, you first have to create a free account, by clicking on “Change user” and then “Create new user”. Once this is done, you can login from the “Change user” menu. From then on, the number of controlled aircraft and of points collected will be tracked online when you finish a game. The scores are tracked in four categories:

• iPhone – 25 aircraft
• iPhone – Unlimited
• iPad – 25 aircraft
• iPad – Unlimited

iPhone and iPad scores are tracked separately, because the distance between the entry / exit points and the runways are larger on the iPad. The iPad’s user interface is also easier to use, as the control panel is always visible and is not an overlay. The leaderboards display results per airport and game mode (25 aircraft or unlimited), for the logged in user or for all. Now, we’ll see who’s the best approach controller out there.

After one week, the system works fine, despite a few hiccups that will get fixed as soon as possible. The next update shall come in the next weeks, but this will be a minor one.

We were very excited to release this version, because for the first time we have more information about you, players, about what you like, how you play the game, and so on. We were also not sure how many players would register, or how many registration we should expect. Privacy is important to us, so we won’t reveal any specific information here, but here are a few statistics about the first week:

• 350 users did register, that’s an average of 50 per day
• 250 to 300 games are registered daily, with an upwards tendency
• 80% of the registered scores are on iPad, mostly in 25 aircraft mode
• The most played airport are London Heathrow and New-York JFK
• The most active user (no names, remember…) played over 100 games in 5 days

The majority of “25 aircraft” mode scores is not surprising, as the scoring system is available for the lite version as well, which offers only the 25 aircraft mode. The full version is required to play unlimited games. Heathrow and JFK are available in the lite version, which explains why these are the most played airports. In the full version, the German airports seem to be quite popular.

The fact that 80% of the scores come from iPads was more surprising. We had no data so far about this and we expected a 50 / 50 distribution between iPhone and iPad players.This kind of information helps us to continue the development in the right direction, and make a better APP Control for you. And so does your feedback. We always appreciate when you get in touch, be it on this blog, per mail, on the APP Control facebook page, or with ratings and reviews on the AppStore.

We’re now working on the next version, to fix a few minor issues, and we prepared a nice surprise as well, which should be available within a week: a new iPad app to allow you to create new airports… And this will be for free. More on this on a next post.

For now, we’d like to thanks all users for being such a great community, and ask you to spread the word about APP Control. Show it to your ATC friends, and keep the fun coming.

We’re very excited to announce that APPControl 2.3 for iOS did hit the AppStore earlier this week. This was a bit later then we expected, but some hiccups during the review process delayed it for a few days. This version contains two new features, a small but very often requested one, and ont that we look like to as a major step.

First, the score and number of successfully controlled aircraft are displayed during the game. If you play in 25 aircraft mode, the number of aircraft will start at 25 and decrease, and in unlimited mode, it will start at zero and increase.

Many of you asked how the scoring system works, so here’s a simple explanation. Each flight is created equal, with 5000 points. One point is subtracted at each update cycle, and the remaining points are added to the score when the aircraft reaches its destination. This means that most direct routes and higher speeds are the best ways to get more points. The scoring system is not affected by the simulation speed (1x, 2x, 5x, 10x).

The biggest change in version 2.3 is the possibility to get more airports from our servers, without having to update the app. Four of them are already available: Tokyo, San-Francisco, Geneva and Tenerife South. Just click on the “Get more airports” button and pick the one you want in the list. As the list is downloaded from our servers, the process of adding new airports is much easier than before. No need for a new version, just touch “Get more airports” and see what is available. An alert is also shown when new airports become available on the servers.

This is a first step towards more interactivity and online features for APPControl. More surprises will come soon, but we’ll also stay true to the initial versions and keep APPControl playable offline, on your iDevice of choice.

One year ago, what started as a funny little programming exercise between Christmas and New Years’s Eve hit the AppStore. A very rudimentary air traffic control simulator running on iPhone. Do you remember it? Every input was done using buttons, there was not even a wind rose to assign headings…

The later versions included more and more features, simulation speed control, runway changes, an improved (let say usable) control panel. Later on, iPad support as well as portrait and landcape orientations, and with version 2.0, the App started to talk. A web version was born few weeks after the very first iOS version, and did not evolve a lot since then, but there are plans…

Each version brought new features, and each new feature brought new requests, from an increasing number of players. More twitter users follow @APPControl and more fans like the APPControl Facebook page every day. Some of the best improvements (including the voice…) were proposed by users. It is not possible to incorporate each and every wish as fast as we would like, but we do our best. Having such a community of players is great, and this is one of the reasons to start this blog.

After one year, APPControl stands at the crossroads of gaming and simulation. This is an interesting mixture, but it is not always an easy one too keep. Many players would understand what 7700 in a label would mean, and would not even require to see the runway numbers on the screen. Others would not and could not understand the game.

So here’s a question to you, dear users, do you want to see a more realistic APPControl, even if this makes it less a game, or a version with more action, even if this is not representative of a real-life ATC system? Or both?

Let us know, and let’s make APP Control a better app for all of you!

Vincent