Looking for a long-term collaborator for Contrail — a playable airline management sim

Hi! I’ve been working on Contrail: Airline Sim, a single-player airline management game that started as something I really wanted to play myself.

There’s already a playable build with flight scheduling, fleet management, cabin design, connecting passengers, airport operations, maintenance and AI airlines. Scheduling and cabin design are two parts I’ve put a lot of thought into.

I’ve been working on it mostly by myself, and I’d love to find someone to make it with, rather than someone to work for me. I’m looking for a long-term collaborator who likes management games and wants to bring their own ideas to the project, not just follow a list of tasks.

You might be interested in UI/UX, 2D art, programming, game design, or some combination of those. I’m keeping this open because I care more about finding someone whose interests and skills complement mine than I do about filling a particular role. Aviation knowledge is welcome but not necessary.

I’d love for us to discuss ideas, disagree, experiment and shape the game together.

The plan is a commercial Steam release. Before starting work together, we’d agree on responsibilities, credit, ownership and financial arrangements, so we’re both clear on how the collaboration would work.

I’d be happy to share a playable build so you can see whether this is something you’d actually enjoy being part of. You can reply here or message me with a little about yourself, what you like to make and what you find interesting about the project.

Hi Toushif,

I came across your post about BALANCE and the systems-driven approach immediately caught my attention.

I'm a game developer, programmer, and systems designer with a fairly broad technical background, and I think there could be a strong fit between my experience and what you're building.

I've worked extensively with Unity and C# through Kerbal Space Program mod development, where I've spent years creating and maintaining gameplay systems, integrating systems into existing game architecture, debugging complex interactions, and building mechanics that extend well beyond simple content creation. I've also collaborated extensively on KSP projects involving gameplay systems, AI/gameplay behavior, equipment, resources, environmental interactions and other interconnected mechanics.

Before my current work, I developed OrX Kontinuum, including the systems and gameplay work associated with the OrX/BD Armory projects. I also was a member of the BD Armory Continued development team. That work involved things such as gameplay mechanics, equipment systems, environmental considerations, AI/gameplay interactions and designing systems that had to operate together inside a larger existing game framework.

More recently, I've been developing A Measure of Warmth (AMoW) in Godot. AMoW is a systems-driven simulation built around interconnected NPC needs, perception, awareness, decision-making, environmental interaction, resources, social relationships and emergent behavior.

The part of BALANCE that particularly interests me is the idea that problems should cascade through the ship rather than simply becoming conventional damage numbers.

For example:

Storm → Hull damage → Water ingress → Increased weight → Stability changes → Cargo movement → Crew/equipment requirements → Repair

That's exactly the kind of interconnected systems design I enjoy working on. I tend to think about gameplay in terms of states, dependencies, feedback loops, failure conditions and the consequences one system can create for another.

I'm also currently developing ATUM (Architecture for Thought, Understanding & Memory), with Seshat as its knowledge, archive and memory subsystem. That's a separate project, but it has further expanded my interest in architecture, provenance, state, relationships between information, conflict detection and building systems that can reason about interconnected data.

So while my recent development work is in Godot, I'm not new to Unity or C#. KSP has given me substantial practical experience working within a Unity-based game and its existing architecture, and I'm comfortable moving between engines when the underlying programming and systems concepts are transferable.

I'd be particularly interested in contributing on the gameplay/systems programming and design side of BALANCE, although I'm also comfortable working across disciplines where needed.

The deliberately small scope is another thing I like about the project. One ship, one voyage, one storm, and making that experience work really well before expanding the world is a much more interesting proposition to me than joining another project attempting to build everything at once.

I'd definitely be interested in seeing the existing prototype and talking about what you've already implemented, where the architecture currently stands, and where you see the biggest systems challenges.

I'd also want to understand the revenue-share agreement, IP ownership, contributor rights, expenses and departure terms before committing to production work, but the project itself definitely caught my attention.

If you're still looking for someone focused on systems/gameplay programming, I'd be happy to talk.

— Doc