(01-10-2014, 05:25 PM)geozero Wrote: One area seldom considered or done right (perhaps too complex code wise) is connecting flights. I think it would be easier to look at it this way:
1) determine if this is a direct non-stop flight or how many stops along the way.
2) determine how many flights per day given the distances between stops roundtrip, etc. and how many flight hours in a day, adding for occasional breakdowns, maintenance, etc.
3) if the flight has one or more stops will that stop be a connecting flight for another flight.... ex: Flight 001 from Los Angeles to New York with a stop in Dallas. Flight 002 from Denver to New York with a stop in Dallas... will these two flights be connecting flights? the final flight (#003 could be the one from Dallas to New York allowing the first two flights to go back to L.A. and Denver respectively OR either flight 001 or 002 is the one that continues to New York.
Once you have your head wrapped around that then you can go deeper into time schedules, even in increments of 30 minutes for example.
I think there are a number of Bus/public transport games that simulate connecting services without requiring any extra input from the player.
Most of the ones ive played just let you set up routes and without your input let the actual people taking the services take connecting services if they want to get somewhere.
A recent example of this is Cities in Motion 2 (which ill just point out has the type of scheduling that i cant say i enjoy)
In this game the passengers will just take whatever service will get them closest to their destination. So for example they may board a bus, get off the bus and walk to a close train station, take a train then switch to a tram to get to their workplace.
I like this because it doesn't require extra input from the player. As long as your network reaches the location, its covered. (Though the passengers will obviously complain if it takes too long or is too expensive.)