Yes, I already told that and after that game development again stopped for a long time. Not trying to make excuses, but all this COVID situation did several heavy hits on my family, so game dev was not the first priority for the last half a year. But it does not mean I did nothing at all. There was a couple of hours a week for some CoffeeBiz Tycoon coding. So here are some of the main upcoming new features for the upcoming Alpha 6:
Marketing overhaul
I re-coded how customers and marketing work. Before it was a casual group approach, but now it's atomic. That means that clients represented and stored not like some pre-programmed groups (345 customers have a good opinion, 154 have a bad opinion, after another cup of coffee sold one group gets +1, other -1), but distinct - every customer who interacted with the kiosk are stored and living his/her life even when not walking on location. He can forget his bad experience or be so satisfied, that he will tell about your kiosk to his friends. It can be visualized as a group of dots. Color represents opinion about kiosk, transparency – how long ago customers interacted with a kiosk. That approach allows making more realistic marketing simulations.
Also, new marketing reports like the customers funnel are coming.
Research
Current managers/tiers research approach seem not to work the way it should. It was more distracting than giving any interesting game experience. So, I am working on a more classic research point approach when the company collects research points and then spends them to open specific new technology.
Missions
I like sandbox games when it's up to me to think up a goal for a game session. But I understand that some achieving some external complicated goal can be really satisfying. So I am working on a mission generation module that will give players some challenge.
That’s it! Thank you for checking up on my game and this update!
Alpha 5 update live!
Hi there!
I just uploaded Alpha 5.2 version of the CoffeeBiz Tycoon.
Key new features of the version:
Ingredients system updated
Kiosks rotation
New zoning system with raytracing visibility
Kiosk assistants system changes
UI improvements
New Location limits
Bugfixes
Kiosk marketing panels empty or "obj" labels instead of data numbers fixed.
Customers' typical routes now depend on customer types.
Competitor pricing, profit, and attractiveness are rebalanced.
Some new details in the first location were added.
Sprites order logic changed (still not working 100% as needed)
"Next day" speed in 100+ days game increased
Charts scale bug fixed
Objects placement grid invisibility bug fixed
Rotated kiosk line crowding bug fixed
Some competitor line stuck bug reasons removed (not all, sometimes it still can happen)
Kiosk problems visualized in UI
A kiosk that placed on location but can't brew coffee marked
Details of clients type panel can be opened from client panel
Time shifts bug fixed
District kiosk market chares graphs redesigned
Some kiosk zone visualization z-fight problems fixed
The client decides the preferred kiosk algorithm changed
The client remembering kiosk algorithm changed
Tree overlay objects bug fixed
M-size kiosk grid placement fixed
Kiosk can be placed and rotated at the same place it located
Short 24h sale to celebrate the upcoming big Alpha 5 update this friday.
Alpha 5 is coming this Friday!
Finally! After a long wait, Alpha 5 is coming live Friday, November 27. New features, new content, updated UI, and a lot of bugfixes. More details and a full changelog in the upcoming Friday post.
Thank you for all feedback on Alpha 4 and the test branch - it helped a lot make the game more fun and enjoyable.
Don't forget - the fastest way to communicate with the developer is discord channel - https://discord.gg/xEpqx6M
Friday Test Branch Update - Alpha 5.0.4 live
Some minor bug fixes and updates on the test branch version:
Kiosk marketing panels empty or "obj" labels instead of data numbers fixed.
Customers' typical routes now depend on customer types.
Competitor pricing, profit, and attractiveness are rebalanced.
Some new details in the first location were added.
Sprites order logic changed (still not working 100% as needed)
"Next day" speed in 100+ days game increased
Charts scale bug fixed
Objects placement grid invisibility bug fixed
Rotated kiosk line crowding bug fixed
Some competitor line stuck bug reasons removed (not all, sometimes it still can happen)
That's it! New version uploaded to the test branch. As a reminder - there is Discord server https://discord.gg/xEpqx6M - you can join or write a direct message to the developer.
Friday Test Branch Update - Alpha 5.0.3 live
Some minor bug fixes and updates on the test branch version:
Kiosk problems visualized in UI
A kiosk that placed on location but can't brew coffee marked
Details of clients type panel can be opened from client panel
Time shifts bug fixed
District kiosk market chares graphs redesigned
Some kiosk zone visualization z-fight problems fixed
The client decides the preferred kiosk algorithm changed
The client remembering kiosk algorithm changed
That's it! New version uploaded to the test branch. As a reminder - there is Discord server https://discord.gg/xEpqx6M - you can join or write a direct message to the developer.
Friday Test Branch Update - Alpha 5.0.2 live
Most time this week I was updating second and third locations to new game features. But also I made some minor bug fixes and updates on the test branch version.
Bug fixes and changes on the test branch
Tree overlay objects bug fixed
M-size kiosk grid placement fixed
Kiosk can be placed and rotated at the same place it located
That's it! New version uploaded to the test branch. As a reminder - there is Discord server https://discord.gg/xEpqx6M - you can join or write a direct message to the developer.
Dev play Alpha 5.02 live stream
Trying out new features, looking for bugs, chatting with players (Russian or English)
New version on test branch!
Hi there!
What a wonderful year, 2020! Anyway, no, development is not stopped, and the project is not abandoned. But for sure, updates and the new versions of CoffeeBiz Tycoon are very, very, very delayed. Sorry about that. As a solo developer, I am taking full responsibility for this situation. As if I have a choice :)
The main news
I am starting to publish the freshest version of CoffeeBiz in the test branch every week. From now on, every Friday, no matter what, a new version will be uploaded in the test branch.
Key new features of the version I just uploaded today:
Kiosks rotation
New zoning system with raytracing visibility
Kiosk assistants system changes
Some UI improvements
To increase the delivery speed of the new features, there are some limitations for the testbranch:
Only sandbox mode
Only the first location - neighborhood
No tutorial or detailed help for new features
How to enable TestBranch?
Open game settings in Steam.
Open beta-versions tab.
Choose "testbranch" and close settings window. No password needed.
Thats it! Thank you for your support in personal messages. Alpha5 coming soon.
As a reminder - there is Discord server https://discord.gg/xEpqx6M - you can join or write a direct message to the developer.
WIP news
Some work in progress news about CoffeeBiz Tycoon. For the last month, one of the Alpha 5 new features I have worked on - objects rotation and raytraced visibility zone.
Those two new features work together - now you have to think about obstacles blocking your kiosks or advertisements from customers. Now customers coming from the subway won't notice kiosk standing behind the corner.
Furthermore, you have to take into account that each object has a different visibility distance for the front, back, and sides. It also adds new options to deal with competitors - block their kiosks with yours and get all the customers.
