Soft launch status: playtesting toward TestFlight

Since cleaner navigation and tighter simulation rules, we have been less in "ship another feature every day" mode and more in "does this airline actually feel fair to run?" mode. The short version: the core loop holds up, monetization is optional rather than mandatory, and we are lining up an Apple TestFlight soft launch. The public App Store listing is still in prep. We are not live on the store yet.

Strategy playtesting: what we learned

We ran the game as new CEOs. The early path (name the airline, pick a home base, get an aircraft, open a first route) is in decent shape. The cliff comes right after that.

Once the first route is live, the app suddenly exposes rotations, crew, fuel, maintenance, alliances, and the Empire Store with not enough sequencing. Players can make "active" look successful on paper, then watch the first daily tick disappoint because nothing was published on a rotation. That is a strategy teaching problem, not a missing airplane problem.

A few findings:

• Surfacing blockers earlier. If Activate will fail (aircraft not ready, missing slots, ferry still in progress), that should be obvious before the tap, not after.
• Honest "will this fly?" warnings. An active route with no published rotation should feel like a held asset, not a silent money printer.
• "Best next investment" needs a surface. Marketplace and warnings help, but after the starter route players still ask what to buy next and why.
• Teach rotations before the first bad tick. The default schedule is easy to ignore. Skipping it makes early P&L look broken when the books are actually doing their job.

We are protecting what already works: callsign-first identity, the five-tab layout, the route wizard shell, and an economy where money only moves with a ledger line. The next polish wave is about trust and guidance, not adding more systems for their own sake.

JetCoins and Empire Store playability

Jetstream Empire stays free to play through the full airline loop. JetCoins are the optional premium currency in the Empire Store. You can spend airline balance or JetCoins on time-skips (crew training, ferry completion, AOG repair) and reputation boosts. Custom liveries remain a JetCoin cosmetic path.

Playtesting the store mattered as much as playtesting routes. The bar we are holding:

• Paying should accelerate time or cosmetics, not rewrite demand math so cash buyers print profit.
• Dual pricing (balance vs discounted JetCoins) has to stay readable. You should always know which wallet you are tapping.
• A new player with waitlist JetCoins should be able to try a livery or a small skip without feeling forced into a purchase wall.

The in-app store UI is in better shape for that story than it was a month ago. Wiring the packs through Apple and RevenueCat for real device purchases is part of the soft-launch checklist, not a separate product fantasy.

Getting ready for the App Store (via TestFlight first)

Public launch is not tomorrow. Soft launch is.

We wrote a full iOS release runbook covering EAS builds, App Store Connect, consumable IAP products, TestFlight QA, listing assets, and review notes.

What "ready for TestFlight" means for us:

1. Production API builds (no localhost, no shop-dev grant flags).
2. JetCoins products created and linked for sandbox purchases on a real device build.
3. Happy-path and live-map smoke checks on a physical iPhone.
4. A small internal tester group before any wider invite.

After that soak, we decide when to finish the public listing (screenshots, preview video, privacy labels, review account) and submit for App Store review. Until then, if someone asks "is it on the App Store?", the honest answer is: not yet; TestFlight soft launch is next.

Waitlist and Founder Livery

The waitlist headline reward is still the Founder Livery. If you signed up, keep using the same email when you create your account at launch so we can match eligibility. That paint job is real in our launch plan, and we are treating fulfillment as a public-launch gate. Soft launch can proceed on TestFlight while we finish eligibility and generation.

We also still intend the extra waitlist bonus from the July post: $2,000,000 starting capital and 50 JetCoins for matching emails at public launch. That is not wired into the live waitlist page yet; Founder Livery remains the promise on /waitlist.

What is next

Near term, in player terms:

• Close the post-onboarding cliff (blockers, rotation teaching, clearer next investment).
• Finish IAP sandbox on a TestFlight candidate.
• Keep Founder Livery on track for the public iOS release.
• Keep the live ops map and finance story honest under real-device QA.

If you want in early, join the waitlist. We will post here again when the first TestFlight build is in testers' hands, and again when we flip from soft launch to public App Store submit.