Author here. I did not expect this to show up on HN already.

I took a few hours to make something I’ve long wanted to make: a very tiny “ATC simulator”. It’s different from all the others in that airplanes cannot be vectored, i.e. one cannot assign headings and speeds and altitudes. Instead, they have to be separated purely by assigning them one of a few standard routes.

I’m looking for feedback on how the gameplay can be improved, without making it more complicated. Particularly curious about things such as:

- Does difficulty ramp up too fast or too slowly?

- Do planes move too fast or too slowly?

- Is the punishment for conflict too harsh?

- Should one get points for maintaining separation in addition to landing planes?

- Should points be dependent on how quickly planes were able to land?

- Do the standard arrival paths need to be redesigned, and if so, how?

- Should airplanes have different altitudes depending on where along the route they are? This would allow for crossing traffic to overfly the final approach course without conflict, for example, but it would make joining routes more difficult in ways that might be hard to explain to casual players.

Thank you for your time!