Roberto, what were your reasons in deciding to create a flight simulator for the mobile market?

The idea came about spontaneously, just for fun, and in its embryonic form took shape in a few days. I managed to combine my passion for flying (which I have always nurtured as a pilot of gliders and ultra-lights) with my programming, and graphics experience.

It was a kind of challenge, and I immediately decided to try to experiment with what I thought to be the most difficult and exciting challenge in the world of flight: the landing on an aircraft carrier.

Simulators dedicated to this challenge were not commonplace at that time and the products that were available were very complex and unsuitable for novice flyers. With this in mind, I was highly motivated to create a simulation product that was fun, rewarding and accessible to all; a product that would guide the new (novice) pilot into the world of flight simulation.

Could you tell us about your products and also, what their strongest and most entertaining features are for the end user?

Our most successful products are definitely "F18 Carrier Landing" and "Extreme Landings".

F18 Carrier Landing is a well-established product, which has been around for four years and has millions of active players. In August 2014, we launched the second version, completely renewed, both in terms of flight engine and graphics.

Over a period of time, we have added many new game modes, missions and aircraft. Today it is possible to fly in five distinctive scenarios with ten different aircraft, with some having the ability to perform vertical takeoffs. Likewise, there is no longer just the excitement of landing on an aircraft carrier to occupy you, as now it's possible to perform vertical landings at airports, oil rigs and bridges.

Soon, the gameplay will be further enriched with an additional 90 challenges, new for the F18. As a team, we've had great fun in creating them, and we are convinced that our users will appreciate them. This new version will also have a more accurate simulation, with an enhanced version of the flight engine, which will include (among other things) the introduction of rudder control.

Many users take advantage of our "remote control" mode, which allows them to play on their Mac. This enables you to use your tablet/phone as instrumentation and as a wireless controller. Two versions of the simulator are needed (one of which is a free download). We have already prepared an Oculus Rift version that we will soon launch in beta.

Extreme Landings on the other hand, came about as a response to our users, who asked us to implement our flight engine onto a commercial aircraft. In the design phase, we wanted to go beyond the classic flight simulation approach, by creating a simulation of critical situations. It was a demanding task to complete. We considered many types of faults/incidents, and as of today, there are over 5,000 possible combinations.

Having a fault simulation available, we studied the relationships of the NTSB and ANSV and reproduced a series of critical situations (civil aviation) that have actually occurred. Obviously adapting some aspects: in Extreme Landings there is always the opportunity to bring both passengers and aircraft safely to the ground. As in real life, some situations are insurmountable without the right training, for which we have introduced a first officer who explains what to do, adding a pinch of humor. Judging by the comments of users, we are satisfied with his personality.

Altogether, we packed in 36 missions. These ranged from the rudimentaries of flight (landing, takeoff, operation of the PFD, ND, APU, ILS ...) to the solving of critical issues. Some of which include: loss of an engine during landing, explosions, loss of hydraulics, landing gear failure, lack of fuel, ice, microbursts, flat tyres, etc. In short, a nice (if you can call it that) collection of various misfortunes.

When the user feels ready, they will then face the 168 available challenges. Here you are on your own, as you push your aircraft to its limit in a range of increasingly difficult situations. There are various parameters that measure the performance of the pilot, and all count to an online global leaderboard. The leading pilots are very competitive, and it is extremely difficult for even us to reach the top ten!

For the virtual pilot who enjoys the freedom of flight, we have introduced more than 500 airports, 1100 runways (correctly mapped), 8000 waypoints (with which to plan your own flight plan), plus real time weather. We are now working on a new version that will offer additional aircraft. Soon there will be further improvements, but we want to keep these a surprise for our 5 million+ current users.

Roberto, how did you go about creating all these highly immersive missions?

As a team, this stage really gets us 'buzzing' as it combines three very stimulating characteristics. The first is that by researching what missions to create, we learn more about our hobby (something we are very passionate about). The second is the advice we receive from professional pilots, both from a military and civilian background. At times, this is extremely amusing as real-world pilots often have plenty of humorous anecdotes to retell. The third aspect is the creative component, which is a critical ingredient of the recipe.

Could you possibly tell us about the flight engine used in your products?

Technically speaking we have several valuable secrets at our disposal, but we cannot divulge what they are. If we did, we would have to kill you! No, in all seriousness, one of the main features of our flight engine is its mathematical element, which simplifies the physics of flight and allows it to be run on modest hardware.

In short, we believe that the process, alongside the professionalism of the individual is the best solution in this case. We are extremely attentive to the perception of the end user, and therefore, because of this, we create live sessions with both regulars and newcomers. During these sessions, we analyze the behavior, note the reactions, and finally document the considerations; planning any necessary amendments.

What would you say the biggest challenge is when it comes to developing for the mobile market?

The mobile market is both extremely competitive and dynamic. Just like most areas of I.T, hardware is frequently updated. Because of this, software projects must take into account these constant changes. To make an analogy, it's like building a house on a constantly changing landscape; the project must take into account these changes from the start. To add to the difficulty, the feedback system of the mobile market is a tool that should reward quality, but the fact is, users are far more motivated to write a negative comment than a positive one, so it's extremely important to aim for a high-quality product from the start.

Are your products purely for entertainment purposes, or can people that are interested in serious flight learn things from them?

We purposefully chose the "profile" which we thought matched our products. We wanted the user to have as much realism (flight physics) as possible, whilst at the same time, maintaining ease of use. However, the pilot is still guided and encouraged in the early stages of the game to learn the elements of real and complex flight.

The greatest confirmation of this comes from the enthusiasm that our users show us, many of which are actual pilots of both military and civil aviation. These pilots come from all around the world. In fact, some of the letters we've received from military pilots have actually been written from the aircraft carriers they are serving on. For us, it's simply amazing to read that these pilots have been having fun with our simulator, flying virtual missions, whilst being in between their 'real' missions!

What advantages do you see a mobile flight simulator having over its PC counterpart?

The accelerometer, used as a yoke, provides an extremely satisfying flying sensation, as well as the ability to activate buttons and sliders with a touch instead of the mouse.

In addition, the portability the mobile environment offers, allows users to play anywhere and at any time (even if it's for a few minutes). For our team, the concept of these 'gaming micro-sessions' is very important, so we have created missions and challenges, that offer 'high impact' but which are short in duration.

In recent years, we have tried to bring our products from the mobile market to the Mac environment, and I'm pleased to say, the results have been very positive.

The Mac version has been improved graphically and offers support for joysticks and peripherals, but the game-play and the cost for users remain unchanged. It was a gamble, but we are extremely happy to be in the Mac top ten for games-simulations. We are first (Extreme Landings), fifth (Helicopter Sim) and sixth (F18 Carrier Landings II). Not bad going!

Roberto, does the mobile environment limit or constrain you in regards to what ideas you can implement in your products?

Right now, the limits of the mobile environment require us to find compromises, but the same limits also offer us the opportunity and incentive to experiment with simple solutions for complex issues.

For example, optimizing the commands and flight controls on mobile devices (even ones of a small size) remain a challenge, but one we as a team relish.

A great deal of time is spent on research (graphics and programming). This ensures that we obtain the maximum performance and efficiency with the minimum use of processor, memory and storage space needed. Our applications are going to be used on thousands of different devices with completely heterogeneous features and resolutions, so catering for all these devices remains a challenge.

Another important factor is the speed and implementations of projects, especially in a market that moves so fast. Projects longer than six months are risky, so it's essential to have good ideas and implement them quickly (with both energy and enthusiasm). Fortunately for us, we have many ideas left up our sleeves and despite nearly 50 million downloads, we are still very ambitious.

As development time is so highly constrained, do you have a large team of beta testers?

From our own experience, I think it's fair to say that the efficiency of our testing phase is obtained, not by large numbers, but rather by the team acting in a professional way. The test phase is comprised of A) finding the anomaly and B) describing what it is.

Without the appropriate professional description of how the phenomenon occurs; the programmer responsible for making changes, wastes valuable hours finding a solution (with the risk of inadvertently breaking something else in an attempt to solve it).

What ways are there for consumers to give you feedback on your products?

The collective intelligence of all of our users is a vital element (perhaps even the key) in the design of our products. We feel highly privileged to have such an active audience and one that both rewards us with praise, and also encourages us with timely and constructive criticism.

For those who do not want to express themselves publicly with a comment on the stores they can do so via: info@rortos.com; while support@rortos.com is the email address dedicated to the reporting of issues. We receive thousands of emails to which we always try to answer fully.

One of our aims is to provide even faster support, so with this in mind, we have started construction on a new web site. This will include a FAQ section, plus a 'form' section, where users can send inquiries and reports directly to us.

Roberto, what would you like people to know about you and your team?

I think what we would like people to know most about us, is our desire to share our passion with the greatest number of people, through an experience accessible to everyone.

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