Pre-Alpha access and new, mobile-friendly UI! Plus a more concrete roadmap going forward. Over the last few weeks, I've been busy getting the beta portal set up and renovating the UI to provide a more fluid experience on both desktop and mobile browsers. The Pre-Alpha is now available, however, it does not include any actual game logic (just basic UI elements and banking functionality). The idea behind launching this now is so that I can get real-time feedback on features and bugs as I develop the platform. It also gives you guys a realistic view of the current progress of the platform. Spaces on the pre-alpha are limited, but more will be added when I an confident that the infrastructure can support it. UI Improvements Over the course of the last 2 years, the UI has changed quite a lot. The initial offering was a static system with relatively little in the way of user experience enchancments and no mobile browser support whatsoever. The second iteration of the UI was shown in last month’s newsletter. It went some way to improving the overall experience (including basic mobile support), but I still wasn’t happy with it. The latest (and hopefully final iteration of the UI feels much snappier, looks better (in my opinion) and has full mobile support. Give it a spin in the pre-alpha and let me know what you think. Pre-Alpha Access Rather than a traditional open beta, I plan on inviting prospective players into the platform at an early stage to help me shape it into something that you all actually want to use. With that being said, feel free to join the Pre-Alpha below.



There isn't much to do in its current state, but this will be a live environment that I'll push changes to on a regular basis.



When you create an account, you're given £1m to use to play around with. By default, new users have a small hangar at their home airport, which you can use to store something like a Cessna 172. The current build allows you to purchase aircraft, but there isn't a way to see all owned aircraft that aren't in a hangar just yet. Up next is the ability to view all owned aircraft (whether or not they are in a hangar) and the purchase of new, larger hangars at other airports.



The banking system is also fully functional. Try to transfer money to other players (get together on the reddit to share account details) and let me know of any issues.



As exciting as early access to the platform is, the value of the Alpha/Beta is the feedback that I get from you all that allows me to build a platform that you actually want to use. So don't be shy, spam me with bugs and feature requests using that little feedback tab in the bottom corner.

Pre-Alpha Access Tail Number Generation Throughout the world, aircraft are given unique registration numbers based on the type of aircraft and where the aircraft was registered. In FSCharter, I've painstakingly tried to re-create this so that the virtual world is as similar to the real world as possible. If the registration number field is left blank when a new aircraft is purchased, a registration number applicable to the home airport and aircraft type should be automatically generated. If a registration number is manually selected, then it needs to be valid for the same criteria. Join us on r/fscharter As FSCharter is a one-man-band, developing the platform is my number one priority. I've set up a subreddit that will give users a place to communicate and help each other out, rather than relying solely on support from me. I will monitor the subreddit, but I will also be on the lookout for moderators in the coming months, so hit me up if you're interested in joining the team! Development Roadmap Up until now, I've been developing the platform on a pretty ad-hoc basis, which didn't give me the visibility that I wanted in terms of how much work was remaining. So last week, I spent a couple of days defining the main features and sub-tasks that would be required to get the platform to an open-beta state. So, without further ado, here is the list of features and the order you can expect them to drop into the alpha. Loans

Invoicing

Aircraft Purchasing, Renting & Finance

Aircraft Access

Hangars

Classified Aircraft Ads

Flight Tracking

Logbook

Fuel Management

Jobs

Ratings & Statistics

Customer Reputation

Contracts

User Profile & Messaging

PilotID

Leaderboards & Achievements

Fees

Player Transport Logic

Career Progression

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

Realism & Dynamic Environment

Failure & Damage

Teams

FBOs As you can see, there is a lot to get through, but I'll keep you all updated every step of the way. For completeness, here are the features already implemented: Login & Users

Bank Accounts & Transactions

Showroom & Aircraft Purchasing

Hangar Logic

UI

Automated Deployment Pipelines

Timeline Mechanics

Notifications

Tail Number Generation I'm on Twitter! Give me a follow to stay in the loop between newsletters! It's where I'll post polls to have your say on game mechanics decisions and the best way to get hold of me if you have any questions! <Bits For Nerds/> This is the section of the newsletter where I go into the nuts and bolts of developing FSCharter. Here I’ll cover everything from automated pipeline deployments, software testing, server infrastructure, and other behind the scenes activities required to develop, deploy and maintain a modern SaaS application. DevOps A lot of work has gone into laying the groundwork to support the delivery of new versions of FSCharter. I use GitLab's CI/CD pipelines to automate testing and zero-downtime deployment of new builds to the various servers that run the platform.



The simulator plugin will also benefit from this technique, utilising Docker containers to test build the plugin for Windows, Mac and Linux automatically, before deploying the latest version to the server for download.



By automating this process, it leaves less room for human error, is miles quicker and allows me to spend more time adding new features and fixing bugs. Calling All C++ Developers FSCharter is a huge undertaking, especially for one developer. Not only is the web platform required to be developed from the ground up, but I need to write multiple plugins for each of the supported simulators. I plan on supporting XPlane at launch and rolling out to FSX and P3D at a later date. If there are any C++ developers out there looking to pitch in on the plugin side of things to move things along, please get in touch with me via Twitter! That's it for this edition!



Until next time,



Alex.



Donations If you'd like to support the development efforts of FSCharter, feel free to buy me a beer to keep me sane!



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