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KhaiSimon
KhaiSimon

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Behind the Aisles: The Essential Role of the Service Cart -Devlog#10

Hello everyone, it’s me, Simon — the lead developer of the game Cabin Crew Life Simulator. Welcome to my blog post for Cabin Crew Life Simulator !

I hope you have been enjoying the things we have been talking about up until this point and I will have much more to share in the future. If you’re new here, don’t forget to join our Discord channel to stay up to date with the latest news from our team regarding Cabin Crew Life Simulator as well as our other projects.

  • How to Ensure a 5-Star Flight Experience?

Of course, you need to satisfy all passengers on the flight. But how can you make them happy? Aside from ticket prices — which passengers always complain about — the evaluation of in-flight service quality is extremely important.

You need to work swiftly, performing tasks like brewing tea and coffee, serving food and drinks, all with precision and speed. This is why the service cart is an essential tool for cabin crew. Using the cart quickly and efficiently can significantly enhance your service.

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How Does the Service Cart Work?

In the Demo version, you’ve already had the chance to experience our service cart.
Essentially, you need to place necessary trays, napkins, teapots, coffee pots, etc., into the cart. Then, you roll it into the aisle to begin serving passengers.

To design the most convenient and realistic cart mechanics, we spent over two weeks testing and improving more than five different versions of the cart. The biggest challenge was syncing the cart’s functionality with the airplane’s frame of reference when the plane reaches cruising altitude.

Other games often use tricks like moving the background map instead of the airplane itself to simulate flying. This simplifies calculations and avoids physics errors but sacrifices the realism of the experience.

In contrast, we aimed to simulate the plane’s ascent to commercial flight altitudes as realistically as possible. This approach introduced numerous challenges, including issues with the cart’s operation — a persistent headache during development.

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How to Operate the Cart Properly?

Once you’ve loaded the necessary trays and items into the cart, there are two designated starting and ending points in each aircraft. Always place the white tray on top, as it holds fragile items and warm water.

When you roll the cart to the first row, it will automatically align for service. At this point, you can open and close the drawers by clicking on the handle or pressing the number keys (1, 2, 3, 4) corresponding to the cart’s drawers. This allows you to quickly retrieve items to meet passenger requests. Note that your movement speed with the cart will be slightly slower than usual.

On larger flights, you’ll have 4–5 service carts, so the number of food and beverage trays must be distributed appropriately. Cabin Crew AI will assist you with simultaneous service, so you’ll also need to arrange the carts effectively for the crew members.

The cart will automatically stop at the last row of the plane. At this point, you should double-check to ensure no passenger orders have been missed.

After use, place items like teapots, glasses, and napkins back in their proper positions. Then, return the cart to its storage location. Do not leave it in other areas, as this could pose safety risks during the flight.

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Flexibility of the Trays

You’ll set up the menu before each flight. A more diverse menu gives passengers more options, boosting satisfaction scores. However, you can’t fit all the trays into the cart at once. Currently, the cart holds four trays, plus one top tray for glasses, napkins, etc.

So, how can you optimize the serving process? You can mix items in the trays. For example, remove half the bottles from the water tray, and add half a tray of wine or soda to create a mixed tray.

This allows you to have a tray with two types of beverages, making it easier to serve on flights with varied menus.

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Future Features?

We’re considering adding a POS system directly to the service cart to enhance the player’s sales experience. However, this will depend on feedback from the community. If you like this idea, leave us a comment to let us know! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2959610

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