Soft launch: why I built Fly Greatcircle

Fly Greatcircle is open. This is a soft launch: the world is running, airlines are flying and the leaderboard is live, but the game is still growing. Expect new features, changes and the odd bug. If something confuses you or breaks, I want to hear about it.

Here is how it started, and what I was trying to build.

It started with Simple Planes

I loved a web game called Simple Planes, and a few things about it made me curious. Three "what if" questions in particular stuck with me.

What if your planes kept flying when you weren't around?

In Fly Greatcircle you can chain airports into a route, and a plane flies it on its own. It boards passengers, flies the loop and earns money while you are asleep, at work or away for the weekend. You come back to an airline that kept working, and to decisions about where to grow next.

What if everyone shared the same passengers?

Every airline plays on the same map at the same time, and every passenger is a card that only one airline can carry. If you pick someone up, nobody else can. If you drop a route, its passengers are there for your rivals to take.

Sharing goes both ways. A connecting passenger you drop at a hub can be carried the rest of the way by another airline, and you still earn your share of the fare. Airlines can also sign codeshare agreements and split the traffic between them.

What if time moved forward?

The world starts on January 1, 1920. You have a field, a little money and a two-seat plane. The clock keeps running, whether you are playing or not. Aircraft arrive around their real-world dates, from biplanes to turboprops to jets. Airports open and grow, fuel prices swing and the weather closes runways. Play long enough and you can be flying widebodies across the Pacific.

A map you can watch

I also wanted the map to feel like Flightradar24: a live picture of everything in the sky. The homepage shows every airport and every plane in the air right now, from every airline. You do not need an account to watch it.

Lots of ways to play, and to win

I did not want one right answer. Some airlines run everything through one big hub. Some hop between islands, fly a few long ocean crossings, or work the short regional routes nobody else wants. Others fly business jets out of the small executive fields near the big cities.

There are challenges along the way: contracts to take on, special passengers who only fly certain ways, world events and news to react to. The leaderboard tracks both money and reputation, and the most profitable airline is rarely the one with the best name. Each round's final standings are kept for good on the scores page.

What a soft launch means

The game is playable and free, with no premium currency and no timers to pay to skip. It is also unfinished, on purpose.

I have big plans for new features. I decided to launch now anyway, to get feedback early and to build a player base before choosing which direction to take next. What you play, and what you ask for, will help decide what gets built. Along the way, balance will shift, new aircraft and regions will arrive, and some things will change as I learn how people actually play.

The best way to help is to play, and to tell me what you find. Post on the in-game message board, or email me at [email protected].

Founders and contributors

Joining early counts for something. Airlines that join during the soft launch can get a Founder tag beside their name. Send in ideas or bug reports and you can earn a Contributor tag. I add tags by hand, so yours may take a little while to appear.

Tags show next to your name on the scores, the message board and your player card. They stay with your account through world resets and new rounds. A tag is a thank-you, not a bonus: it does nothing in the game.

New to the game? Start with How to Play, or jump straight in and found your airline.

See you in the sky.