@TaylorWatson12 Just something to get everyone's attention on the main image, that's all. My challenge was a Warhammer 40k one, so I just made a big golden “40k" with the cockpit attached.
I've only done one myself, and it was apparently much too specific to get any attention haha. All you need to do is make a logo (doesn't have to be anything complex), title it "glider challenge", and put the rules in the description. You need a deadline and a prize (normally about a week away and a bunch of upvotes for the winner, respectively). I can do it if you really don't want to, though
Nothing is necessarily wrong, just remember that to get an upvote, someone has to actually take the time to download and test your plane. Most people will only do this for a small selection of aircraft, and a lot of people are uploading, so getting just a few upvotes is totally normal. Just remember that if you get even one upvote, that means someone thought it was both interesting enough to download, standing out from the other new planes, and good enough to come back and upvote after it has been tested.
@RBEEDUDE1, and anyone else wondering the same question: Ctracerx2 couldn't be more right. Think of upvotes as a nice extra thing, not the only reason to build
@Lucky13 quick hint for you mate, don't make the main image a head-on view. It needs to get people's attention, and nobody can tell what it looks like from that view. Otherwise, don't be so hard on yourself!
@Samwise no bother, I'm glad to be of use! As a quick overview, the wings types are for generating different amounts of lift in level flight. Symmetric generates none, semi generates some, and flat-bottom generates a lot. This is just for balancing your plane (in situations such as your own), so if one end of your plane needs more or less lift, you can change the type.
Sounds like either your CoL is ahead of your CoM, or your wings ahead of the CoM are semi-symmetric/flat-bottomed while everything behind it is symmetric
Awesome! Couple of suggestions: first off, the title on the splash page is off-centre and spills off the edge of the screen; second, the small text saying "simple planes" is barely visible against the blue background, I'd suggest white text. Also, if you want I can make you a higher-resolution background image?
The thing about a game like this is that for anyone to rate your plane, they have to actually put in the time to download and fly it It's not much, but it's an awful lot more than, say, looking at a picture of a cat on reddit. As a result of this and the sheer number of planes that get uploaded, you have to really stand out to noticed; just being "good" is common enough that it doesn't stand out. I'm rather proud of some of my planes, I genuinely think that they're interesting designs, but I recognise that they're not special enough to get attention over all the other skilled builders on the website. The best thing to do is not worry about it, you don't need to be famous on the website. If you want more people to notice you, then take part in the community (do challenges, review other people's planes and so on), and/or put in enough time and creativity to do something that is both original and amazing. It still won't get you instant results, mind. Nothing will.
As for the "weird planes of school boys" that get upvoted - insulting people (even if they deserve it) isn't going to make you any friends, and these planes are probably upvoted because the builders' friends look at them. However, if you actually look at the most upvoted planes for today, almost all of them are really good. There's one that's just an announcement of reaching bronze, but come on, most of that page is pretty solid.
Basically, chill out dude. Being popular isn't important.
NovaTopaz is almost certainly right.I'd say move the central wheel near the tail (and make the leg for it far shorter), and move the outer wheels forward of the CoM
Friendly advice mate, you should probably say that this is a challenge in the title if you want people to see it (assuming it is a challenge... your description seems to suggest that it is)
Fictional replica - anything from the WipEout video games (EG-R, Vanuber, Icaras, and Assegai are my favourites)
Totally made up - something with a ducted fan inside the body, like my Halberd. Call it Nidhogg and make it as badass as anything named after a dragon from Norse mythology should be.
@XVIindustries Wordpress or Tumblr would both probably work pretty well. Maybe posting a link on the forums once a month or so to let new folk know where to find it? Not to mention leaving links on the pages of the reviewed planes, of course
@Delphinus hahaha my phone has half of the minimum RAM, multiplayer is never happening for me. I'm not too worried about it, though - it doesn't take away from the rest of the game, it just means I can't join in with that particular part. It's no loss.
@TheLatentImage thank you for this. Also, just to add a little:
"If you build mediocre designs then they aren't going to get that much attention."
Hell even if you build pretty solid designs, they still won't get much attention, because a lot of talented people play the game and are doing things just as well as you. The thing to realise is that this is okay. It's not an insult, and you don't need be famous in the community to take part in it. Take part in challenges (and run them, if you have an original idea and the time!), comment on other people's uploads, etc. Just realise that not everyone can be top of the pile.
Honestly mate consider the number of people uploading stuff here; standing out from that is going to be unusual no matter what. It doesn't mean anyone has anything against you at all.
@AeroEngineering it comes from the old Roman unit of mass, the libra.
More generally, if a metric option is to be included, please let us choose the units for each thing individually - we Brits never quite finished the transition to metric, and therefore still use mph a lot of the time.
@TaylorWatson12 Sounds perfect! Although when you say northern runway location, do you mean the final approach, or actually from the runway?
@TaylorWatson12 huh, I didn't know there was a limit. Tag me in the comments when it's up!
Word of warning mate, I think the mods usually remove posts with swearing. Totally agree with the sentiment, though
@AgnesDesign mine has half of the minimum RAM for SimplePlanes, it starts to lag before 100 parts on the lowest settings hahaha
@TaylorWatson12 Just something to get everyone's attention on the main image, that's all. My challenge was a Warhammer 40k one, so I just made a big golden “40k" with the cockpit attached.
My phone says no, but I'm gonna upvote anyway for the sheer scale and ambition of this
I've only done one myself, and it was apparently much too specific to get any attention haha. All you need to do is make a logo (doesn't have to be anything complex), title it "glider challenge", and put the rules in the description. You need a deadline and a prize (normally about a week away and a bunch of upvotes for the winner, respectively). I can do it if you really don't want to, though
Nothing is necessarily wrong, just remember that to get an upvote, someone has to actually take the time to download and test your plane. Most people will only do this for a small selection of aircraft, and a lot of people are uploading, so getting just a few upvotes is totally normal. Just remember that if you get even one upvote, that means someone thought it was both interesting enough to download, standing out from the other new planes, and good enough to come back and upvote after it has been tested.
@swat132 you format it like this:
That gives you this: swat's yacht
There is not a hope in hell of my phone coping with that yacht, but it certainly looks gorgeous
@RBEEDUDE1, and anyone else wondering the same question: Ctracerx2 couldn't be more right. Think of upvotes as a nice extra thing, not the only reason to build
@Lucky13 quick hint for you mate, don't make the main image a head-on view. It needs to get people's attention, and nobody can tell what it looks like from that view. Otherwise, don't be so hard on yourself!
@BigCat which one is it?
@ahappyape thanks mate, I appreciate the kind words
@JShay no pressure then... haha, thank you for the many upvotes and comments, you've boosted my ego for the day
I'd join in with that, if you need more people
@AirplaneExpert624 ahaha nice one, glad you've got it sorted now though!
@Kevpilot cheers!
@JShay thanks, it's pretty cool to hear that from someone with so many successful builds
@Samwise no bother, I'm glad to be of use! As a quick overview, the wings types are for generating different amounts of lift in level flight. Symmetric generates none, semi generates some, and flat-bottom generates a lot. This is just for balancing your plane (in situations such as your own), so if one end of your plane needs more or less lift, you can change the type.
@Ilovesthecheeses it's okay if you don't have time, dude, just don't worry about being super-popular
How did you post this if you can't log in? But to answer your question, the site seems to be working fine for me
@Lucky13 always worth a shot, I suppose. Certainly better than none in ten!
@DeezDucks you can usually fix that by exiting the builder and then going back in to it, if it gets too bad
@Lucky13 no mention of a fix or workaround then?
@Viper28 I suppose I should get in on this too haha! I'd like to submit my Ku-12 Halberd if that's cool with you
@XVIdarkLithium have the devs mentioned it before?
@Viper28 no bother dude, it's your blog! I'll see if I can recreate the detailed version later, got planes to make for now
@Viper28 I made you a simplified, hi-res background. No offence taken if you don't wanna use it though!
Sounds like either your CoL is ahead of your CoM, or your wings ahead of the CoM are semi-symmetric/flat-bottomed while everything behind it is symmetric
@Viper28 nailed it. New colour scheme looks good too.
@Viper28 it's cool, I know very little about this stuff myself, but I'll see if I can work it out
It happens on my laptop and my phone, I don't have anything else to test it with
Edit: hijacking my spot near the top here for a clickable link
Awesome! Couple of suggestions: first off, the title on the splash page is off-centre and spills off the edge of the screen; second, the small text saying "simple planes" is barely visible against the blue background, I'd suggest white text. Also, if you want I can make you a higher-resolution background image?
The thing about a game like this is that for anyone to rate your plane, they have to actually put in the time to download and fly it It's not much, but it's an awful lot more than, say, looking at a picture of a cat on reddit. As a result of this and the sheer number of planes that get uploaded, you have to really stand out to noticed; just being "good" is common enough that it doesn't stand out. I'm rather proud of some of my planes, I genuinely think that they're interesting designs, but I recognise that they're not special enough to get attention over all the other skilled builders on the website. The best thing to do is not worry about it, you don't need to be famous on the website. If you want more people to notice you, then take part in the community (do challenges, review other people's planes and so on), and/or put in enough time and creativity to do something that is both original and amazing. It still won't get you instant results, mind. Nothing will.
As for the "weird planes of school boys" that get upvoted - insulting people (even if they deserve it) isn't going to make you any friends, and these planes are probably upvoted because the builders' friends look at them. However, if you actually look at the most upvoted planes for today, almost all of them are really good. There's one that's just an announcement of reaching bronze, but come on, most of that page is pretty solid.
Basically, chill out dude. Being popular isn't important.
NovaTopaz is almost certainly right.I'd say move the central wheel near the tail (and make the leg for it far shorter), and move the outer wheels forward of the CoM
Friendly advice mate, you should probably say that this is a challenge in the title if you want people to see it (assuming it is a challenge... your description seems to suggest that it is)
@Viper28 nah mate you had it right, don't worry haha
Sweet! Tag me when you've got it up and running, I wanna see
Also, here is the preview for those of you who missed it
@Viper28 no bother, it's a good idea. What sorta format do you think you'd do? Maybe have a few categories or something?
Some ideas:
Real-life propeller replica - MiG 8
Real-life jet replica - Hawker P.1216
Fictional replica - anything from the WipEout video games (EG-R, Vanuber, Icaras, and Assegai are my favourites)
Totally made up - something with a ducted fan inside the body, like my Halberd. Call it Nidhogg and make it as badass as anything named after a dragon from Norse mythology should be.
@XVIindustries Wordpress or Tumblr would both probably work pretty well. Maybe posting a link on the forums once a month or so to let new folk know where to find it? Not to mention leaving links on the pages of the reviewed planes, of course
@Delphinus hahaha my phone has half of the minimum RAM, multiplayer is never happening for me. I'm not too worried about it, though - it doesn't take away from the rest of the game, it just means I can't join in with that particular part. It's no loss.
@dsr1aviation @BigCat @AgDynamics @UnknownVectors @goboygo1 thank you all!
@TheLatentImage thank you for this. Also, just to add a little:
Hell even if you build pretty solid designs, they still won't get much attention, because a lot of talented people play the game and are doing things just as well as you. The thing to realise is that this is okay. It's not an insult, and you don't need be famous in the community to take part in it. Take part in challenges (and run them, if you have an original idea and the time!), comment on other people's uploads, etc. Just realise that not everyone can be top of the pile.
Maybe we could try a contest; who can get the furthest from one of the default aerial starting points or something?
Honestly mate consider the number of people uploading stuff here; standing out from that is going to be unusual no matter what. It doesn't mean anyone has anything against you at all.
@bolt nah mate I meant timezone as in GMT or UTC-5, but it doesn't matter now haha
@PuhBuhGuh well you're one up on me if you actually know Latin, I just know silly bits of trivia hahaha
@AeroEngineering it comes from the old Roman unit of mass, the libra.
More generally, if a metric option is to be included, please let us choose the units for each thing individually - we Brits never quite finished the transition to metric, and therefore still use mph a lot of the time.