Today, we’re not only here to guide you on how to run a successful in-flight business in Cabin Crew Life Simulator, but we also want to share a bit about the development process behind this feature.
The idea for the “In-Flight Business” feature came from researching the real-life work of flight attendants. A significant part of their responsibilities includes serving and selling products directly to passengers. We realized this was a great opportunity for players to explore another fascinating aspect of the job. However, simulating this in the game presented many challenges.
Stock Management
When we started building this feature, the development team identified several complex problems that needed to be solved. One of the biggest questions was:
- How do we make ordering stock feel like an engaging challenge without being too complicated?
Stocking sounds simple, but it actually requires careful calculation. Players need to predict what passengers will need. We tested multiple times with various budgets, product quantities, and difficulty levels for predicting passenger demand.
In most games, leftover stock can stay in storage, but in the airline industry, surplus food must be discarded after each flight. In Cabin Crew Life Simulator, you can sell leftover stock after each flight. However, if you forget to liquidate your inventory before leaving the airport, everything will be discarded.
In early testing, players often ordered too much stock, resulting in heavy losses from surplus inventory. We had to adjust the value of leftover stock and add a “demand suggestion” feature to make it easier for players to make informed choices.
Pricing is also critical - if you price too high compared to the market, passengers will only order free items and ignore your products. Don’t overstock either, because unsold goods will need to be handled after the flight. A small tip: order just enough for the number of passengers and prioritize popular items.
Pricing
You have the freedom to set the selling price for your products. However, to ensure profits while keeping passengers happy, you must carefully consider your pricing strategy: don’t set prices too high or too low.
This feature went through hundreds of hours of testing with many playtesters. We received plenty of interesting feedback!
Some players enjoyed experimenting with high prices to maximize profits but ended up with complaints from passengers who refused to buy. Others ignored budgeting and ordered too much unnecessary stock, leading to significant losses.
To address these issues, we added a few features to help players stay on track:
- Stock suggestions: A system that recommends popular products based on the type of flight and passenger count.
- Post-flight reports: After every flight, you’ll receive a detailed report showing your revenue, costs, and profits. This helps players improve their business skills for future flights.
The ideal profit margin is 10-20% above the base cost. This ensures you make a profit while keeping passengers satisfied.
Selling
When the flight begins, this is the moment you’ll need to focus on serving passengers. They will make requests, and your task is to fulfill them as quickly as possible.
However, things won’t always go smoothly. Some passengers might ask for more details about a product (like price, flavor, or origin), while others may request items that are out of stock.
Another challenge we faced during development was making passenger behavior feel realistic. Initially, when a passenger requested an out-of-stock item, players had to wait for the serving timer to end before moving on to the next customer. This made players feel like they couldn’t do anything to solve the problem.
We fixed this by introducing a suggestion feature. If an item is out of stock, you can suggest a substitute. For example, if a passenger wants a drink that’s sold out, you can recommend a snack instead. Whether or not the passenger accepts depends on the reasonableness of the alternative, calculated by our AI system. If handled skillfully, you might even earn tips or higher ratings from passengers!
Handling Leftover Stock
In real life, managing leftover stock is a key challenge, and we wanted to reflect this accurately. When designing this feature, we aimed to make players feel the pressure of careful calculation—overstocking leads to surplus inventory, while understocking means missed opportunities. This dynamic adds depth to the in-flight business experience.
In early versions, we experimented with different prices for leftover stock. At first, the resale value at the airport was too low, making players feel overly punished for surplus inventory. After many tests, we settled on a system where leftover items can be sold for 75% of their original cost. This strikes a balance: players can recover some of their losses while still being encouraged to manage their inventory carefully.
Example:
- A soda can originally costs $10. If you sell it at the airport after the flight, you’ll only earn $7.5.
- If you have 3 leftover cans, you’ll recover $22.5 instead of losing all your investment.
It’s worth noting that you can only liquidate leftover stock after the flight and before returning to the hotel.
While this system helps players recover some costs, overstocking too often will still hurt your overall profits. However, the detailed post-flight report allows players to analyze their decisions and learn from mistakes, which turns each flight into a learning experience rather than a punishment.
Through countless hours of testing, balancing, and listening to feedback, we’ve worked hard to make this feature as rewarding and intuitive as possible. We hope it encourages you to improve your strategies and hone your skills with every flight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2959610