Here comes Computer Tycoon 0.9.5.0v! The last update was uploaded in April and I’m really sorry for not being able to be faster than this, yet again I changed fundamental systems, thank you very much for your patience!
Remember that I have a discord channel where you can talk with me and the community about the game on a daily basis!
In my last News post, I’ve already explained what were the problems with the previous version of the game and how I’d like to solve it. If you’d like to be reminded, here it is again: https://steamcommunity.com/games/686680/announcements/detail/2733073722798942664
It is a long topic, so I’d like to not talk about this again, instead, I will just talk about the current version. I think it is a much better game now than before, even though still, there is a lot of work to be done.
YOUR EARLIER SAVED GAMES ARE NOT COMPATIBLE (and hidden), SORRY!
New Logistic System
From now on you are not paying an upfront cost to sell in a given market. The whole logistic system is purely based on Logistic Points instead. Also, instead of Markets having a fixed LP price, it is you who decides how many LP points will you allocate to a market. With a single LP, you can already start selling. Then you are distributing your products by Resellers and for them, you are paying a percent of your income after every sold unit. This percent is the “Reseller Cut” that you can decrease by allocating more LPs to the market.
All the markets have a Sales Tax, too. When you decide where you’d like to sell, you have to consider these. The Sales Tax can be decreased in Capitalist Markets by making long time investments by building Factories or Research Centers there.
From now on you don’t have to sell in a Market just to be able to build a Site. These were separated.
New Map Modes
Many have asked for a Historical Map and a Simplified Map. I think it is obvious what it means. The first is more authentic and the second has only around 50 regions as Markets (like “Central Europe” or “Easter Africa” etc.) The Vanilla (Random) map also has a bit fewer markets, tho.
On the Historical Map, the Markets become Communist and/or Capitalist when it has happened in real life, on the others it is randomized. In “Closed Communist” Markets you cannot do anything. In “Open Communist” Markets you can sell your products, but you cannot build a Site, and in Capitalist markets, you can do anything and you can get Tax Discounts if you invest in it. When a market changes Type, let’s say it becomes from Capitalist to Closed Communist… then you lose your Site!
New Marketing System
The problem with the last Market System in the game was that many didn’t understand how it works, and on the other hand you were able to win without it. Likely these two were connected, why was it like that…
You cannot avoid the new Marketing System.
A computer on the market always needs marketing, so you constantly have to pay for it. You cannot turn it off. You have to decide about the campaign’s details (like the main target group, the channels, and preferences) before releasing the computer. The only thing you can change after that is its size.
Marketing Departments are decreasing your products’ marketing costs... but will you know how to set up your campaigns?
The Snowball Effect and the Computer Clone Glitch
These two were the biggest issues of the game until now. Of course, in general, there is no problem with being able to make more money when you have more money, the snowball effect was way too strong, mostly because of how you were able to expand your Market. If you had a bit of advantage, you could buy markets which others couldn’t, which granted an even bigger advantage and so on. The new Logistic System has solved this alone.
The “Computer Clone Glitch” as I named it, was the phenomenon that if you’ve released two nearly identical computers in a market with mostly similar other Computers on it, you were able to greatly increase your sales - simply by having more Computers. What made it worse is that creating a new Computer “Blueprint” was nearly free (hardware parts were the real cost), so why wouldn’t you abuse this possibility? The new Marketing system is therefore product-based. So the more products you have, the more marketing you have to do. Also, if your products are not different enough to get many different users, they won’t really increase their buyers, but you will pay for double marketing. If these two computers are also of the same Design (for example both are Home Computers), then you will have to pay an extra marketing fee, a marketing overhead fee. Simply cloning a computer and releasing it without changes is also impossible, and entering the Testing phase costs a significant cost. In short… no more “hey let’s just spam similar computers”!
Other new Features
There are a lot. You have asked for more information about ROI, a more dynamic representation of sales, more information about Cash Flow and so on, more information about your Computers reception, and so on. I’ve tried to add something to solve all of these.
From now on you can set the budget for the Marketing Department and the Logistic Department, too. Also, you can sell your Site. Other than these, you can get a Bank Loan that you can extend/increase once (until you haven’t paid it back). For the difficulty game mode, it is unavoidable to use Loans according to my experience. This helps you to manage bad financial situations, though it won’t always save you!
UI improvements
Yes, we have improvements here, too! Even though still, I have many things on my to-do list, I tried to handle the most urgent things. For example, now you clearly see on the Research Map that what are the key technologies to unlock new Computer Designs, the Computer Designer and other screens are merged and tabbed, just as the Statistics Screens, etc. You will see it!
There are smaller but similarly important adjustments, too. As an example, many believed that “product pricing doesn’t make any sense”, because in the Computer List under the price tag you saw only the “Base Price”, not the “Discounted Regional Prices”. So people thought that worse computers are sold for more and other weird things because they didn’t know the actual prices (especially after skipping the Tutorial). Now there is a window that appears when you hover over the price column, showing the discounted prices, too. It is helpful for those too, who understood the column anyways.
Performance Improvements
The game was never faster. In the future, I will include a setting to decrease the map’s details, because it still could be faster, but overall, everything is much faster now. I’ve spent considerable time tracking and optimizing things.
Of course, many bugs and smaller things were fixed/improved. Of course, still, I have to work more and more... I know guys! :) On the other hand, I've finished around 100 earlier and many new todo elements from my list, so I won't even try to translate them for you from Hungarian to English... it is easier if you see it for yourself in the game!
So… HAVE FUN! :)
THANK YOU for all the feedback I’ve got, it means a LOT! Please if you like the game, don’t forget to leave a review, too! It might help a bit with visibility in the store.
Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
7 Managers from the coming 101:
Development Update
Hello Tycoons,
3 months have passed so I think it is really time to give you news about the development here as well. (remember that we have a discord channel when you can talk with me and the community and get even day to day updates about the game etc.)
I'm working on fundamental changes. The last update changed how market prices and research prices are calculated - but unfortunately, it was not enough to really stop the snowball effect.
There are also other issues identified by the community and I'm trying to address them. Here are the biggest problems as of now:
Problems: 1 - Most players feel like the expansion is too fast and too important compared to the actual product side of the game. 2 - There is still a snowball effect problem (a given player can generate an advantage exponentially by expanding faster than the others - even tho the last update made the market and research prices decreasing drastically as someone enters/invents - unfortunately it was not enough). 3 - The previous system of how logistics and expansion work are not "realistic" enough. (Even tho Computer Tycoon is not a simulation game, but a strategy game). Basically the problem is that you have to pay a big chunk of money in the first place to start selling in a market. 4 - Marketing is not important enough. A good player can easily win the game without not touching the marketing features. Also, the current marketing system is too complex and not straightforward enough. Actually points 4 and 5 are part of why 3 as a problem exists. 5 - There are too many markets. It is hard to manage all of them! 6 - There is an ugly system problem around releasing the same computers over and over again. Even tho there is an upper limit of customers per market in the game, by releasing the same model over and over (having the same model with different names on the market at the same time), will effectively let alone increase your sales/income - which is obviously a problem.
And what are the fundamental changes? How am I trying to solve these issues?
- You won't have to pay an upfront fee to enter into a country. Moving into a market and starting to sell will cost only LPs. After you have paid with your LPs, you will sell via resellers of the market. But there is a price, these resellers will cut their share from your income in the market, and different countries will have different distributor cuts (which does not depend on the economy level of the country). This will make expansion less expensive for all the players, decreasing the snowball effect. Countries will also have Taxes. So when you first decide where you wanna sell, you have to check taxes and the reseller cut. - The reseller system won't work like "you pay 4 LPs for the USA then you are selling for all the population". One LP point will likely represent being able to cover 1 million people, so a bigger country will reach even hundreds of LP points to be fully covered, but still, you will be able to start selling there with even 1LP. - You also have the opportunity to develop your own distribution network in a market. It will have different levels which will cost you a monthly fee to upkeep and an upfront fee to build. But you will also have the possibility to sell these. Under normal (!) circumstances, the value of this network of yours will increase. So it will also serve as a long time "real-estate" investment. It will worth building a network like that if you have enough sales, because the cost of the network is fixed and constant, so blindly building it is not a good idea, also your own network won't be able to replace the resellers completely. - Taxation depends on the leadership of the country. You will have the chance to make agreements with the govs. - This is still pretty flexible, likely will come only later. - This system is obviously more realistic, too. But a problem is that it will need more management from the player's side. For that reason, we will have an extra country list where you can manage only this aspect. Also, there is a new map mode called "Simplified Map". In this one, you have only regional markets - so way less. But I'd like to mention here too, that your company shouldn't be too much focused on small markets anyways. Big businesses are not that concerned about small possibilities, there the reseller system is more than enough. - The whole previous marketing system is removed from the game. You hated it and I've heard you! The system still works with different channels such as billboards, newspapers, tv, radio or the internet, but instead of these having a different way of usage (different area restrictions, audience restrictions, and effects) this time you will just have to create "marketing campaigns" which will have a "target" (a computer or hardware), they will have an effect in all countries, and these campaigns will contain radio, tv, etc. in a ratio that you've set up yourself. The effectivity and the channels and their prices will change as time goes. So the actual decision point will be shifted to find the most effective and cheapest combination all the time. The big difference is really in the fact that you will aim products from now on with your campaigns. - And... the effect of these marketing campaigns will be significant on your products. Without a marketing campaign, you will sell way less than before! Without them, you will fail. This also has a good effect on problem 6. Because marketing campaigns will make product releases more expensive, re-releasing the same thing again and again won't be lucrative (even creating a computer is not free from now on). Also, actually you won't be able to just copy and release the same products - because new checks are in place. Also, there is a new limitation of how many products per category can you have on the market at the same time. Problem 6 would need a whole article let alone - so I will leave here only this for now.
These together will hopefully create a more balanced and interesting experience.
Other big changes?
- I already mentioned that we have a new simplified map. Many have asked for it, so there you go! But it is not all, you also have a "historical map" too (it is already implemented). Remember that it doesn't mean completely historical gameplay. You will be still able to alter computer history by having a faster research speed then real companies had, the AI players won't go bankrupt just because of real-life competition died during a given era. Instead, you have a historically more accurate map, with historical events, economy levels, population, and borders. Even communism is back, which will add a new twist to the game. Especially after I've implemented the ways you can interact with governments (not yet!). - Product parameters are more important and prices are less important now than before. Actually this could have been "problem 7" in the list above. Many complained that the balance between these was not good enough. - The statistics screen is reworked to have tabs, also its performance is greatly optimized. - The Computer Design screen is also reworked. Now you won't have to save a prototype manually, it will be saved automatically. Many didn't see that there is a "back to edit" button on the computer list screen, which put you back on your previous system to continue designing it (and they thought that they have to restart the whole process from scratch). Now, these players will see their last work on the computer list anyways. It is simpler and more straightforward now.
Aaaand many others.
Unfortunately, while many things are already in the game, I cannot upload it, because the game is kind of unplayable in this state now. These systems all overlap - therefore they have to be changed/adjusted together.
Of course, I'm doing my best to show progress!
Please join my discord server or the forums if you have any feedback. This is what makes the game better and better.
Your friend, Andris
VERSION 0.9.4.09 IS OUT NOW!
Hello Tycoons,
This version does not introduce new big features, but fixes lots of bugs, adjust balance and also tries to increase the challenge yet again for those who felt like the "Very Hard" difficulty mode is still easy - because there is still potential snowball effect.
IMPORTANT NOTE! -> Earlier saved games are unfortunately not supported in this version. They won't even appear in your saved games list! I'm very sorry about this, but I couldn't avoid it this time.
Research prices, in general, are higher now on all difficulties, but especially more expensive on hard and very hard. The 70% cut on a given tech's price after any players inventing the tech is reduced to 60%. But still, AI opponents will more easily keep up with research. (There is still space there to make it even harder... so you know guys, just let me know!) The AI will also more actively react with its pricing to you if you try to undercut him. In general, their default prices are decreased anyways, so it will be harder to undercut them.
I'd say the opponents are more balanced now than in the previous version (at least according to my tests), but this is more prominent on hard and very hard than on beginner. Sidenote - If an opponent is not making new models, it is not because he doesn't want to research, it is because he doesn't have the money to research!
I hope "very hard" is "very hard" now :) But it is definitely not a final version of difficulty, so do not worry about it too much! To me... it really felt hard for now, but I was more concerned to test if beginner and normal are still doable!
Here is the complete changelog:
Research prices increased.
Minimum research price is always at least 1RP from now on, it is never 0RP.
3D printer's price has been increased.
Research invention price cut reduced from 70% to 60%.
Updated AI algorithms (pricing, research, money management).
Still, on given resolutions and under given circumstances sliders in the options were not working. Fixed.
The population minimum was not increased effectively in the last version. Fixed.
All the AI hardware were "version 1" in their name. Replaced to date.
The load game window glitched after multiple opens. Fixed.
Resolution selection buttons seemed not working for all clicks on systems with multiple refresh rates. Fixed and shows the given refresh rate, too.
Max multiplier and max capacity of MEMORY, CPU and VIDEO visualization were glitched on AI Hardware Screens. It seemed like they are able to build impossible configurations, but it was only a visual problem.
While a computer was under polish, its polished values were refreshed only on the computer screen, and not on the computer list. Fixed.
Under given circumstances, incorrect costs were deducted after department upgrades. Fixed.
With the last version, graphical requirements have slightly increased. I was able to push it back.
When technology prices decreased because others have invented them, this effect was permanent on the technology until you quit from Computer Tycoon - even if you started a new game. Fixed.
Luxembourg didn't have its flag. Fixed.
The players' hardware didn't have a default name.
Options screen glitched and looked oversaturated. (actually, it was fixed in 0.9.4.08h2)
Technological singularity was unavailable. (actually, it was fixed in 0.9.4.08h2)
If you like the game and what I'm doing please consider leaving a review, and if you have anything to add to say, please join our discord server or the steam forums!
Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
Version 0.9.4.08 is OUT NOW!
Hello Tycoons,
Version 0.9.4.08 is here! This update changes the game's balance and progress curve significantly. The earlier "just avoid the opponent" tactic is not viable anymore and the so-called "snowball effect" is greatly reduced. You have a new difficulty setting called "very hard" which will likely challenge the better players as well.
SIDENOTE! Your earlier saves still might work but I recommend against using them. Start a new game, or the balance might be totally broken.
How? You may ask.
As the Roadmap suggested from now on technology prices are not fixed, but also market license costs are not fixed either. Whenever a player gets a piece of technology or market (let's say Printers or Germany), its price is lowered. This tries to simulate how in real life things get easier in a market where people are familiar with the product you are trying to sell, how the infrastructure is developing AND how other manufacturers will just spy or reverse engineer new technology. (Later on, when we will have our managers in the upcoming features, these will potentially replace the current mechanic).
The result is that when you buy a commercial license for a market or "you buy into a new country" or you invent something new, you (or the AI players) pay a premium price. Is it worth it? It depends. If you have a not so awesome product, but a lot of money you have to invest somewhere then you should buy a big new market OR research something that the others have (for cheap). You don't have that much of a bankroll but a superior computer? Then you'd better expand into your opponent's markets, because their prices will be peanuts, while your product will likely outperform theirs in sales, thus giving you more and decreasing their profits. Which is a good thing, right?
How much is this price decrease with techs?
Whenever a player invents a technology its price will decrease by a whopping 70%. So the first inventor will pay 100RPs, the second 30RPs and the third 9RPs and so on... Cheap right? Remember tho that late-game techs can have like 70k RPs as price depending on the difficulty level, too.
How about markets?
50% price decrease (but LPs are not changing). So 100k,50k,25k,12.5k and so on!
This offers a chance to the small guys on the market to catch up if you let them. It is way harder now to beat them, especially on the "very hard" mode where the AI starts with a much bigger starting budget than you and they are not kept back in any way.
But these are not the only changes
In general, the AI acts differently now, their algorithms, pricing, etc. are modified, too. Take care! On the hard and very hard difficulties, they will be faster than before.
To be able to keep up with them, you have a new screen: the "Site Manager Screen". On this one, you will be able to manage your sites without visiting them as earlier you had to. The expansion itself is also faster now because you can buy licenses and build sites by double-clicking and pressing Enter on the market list, too. (The earlier maximum 20 building site is also gone now).
Of course, still, it is nearly not a finished or perfect version, but slowly we reach the point where I can start adding the new major features. Before that, I will have to polish a few things (like being able to sell sites, decrease budgets in all departments, or adding the loan options when your bank balance depletes), but I'm already working on the conversations of the CEOs, the CEO goodies screen or the offices, etc. This version with its much compelling challenge and progression curve was absolutely necessary even before the historical map mode.
Here is the complete changelog:
Gameplay and UI updates
You have a new "Site Manager Screen" where you are able to manage all of your site upgrades and budgets without visiting your sites. This screen appears only when you created your third site (at that point the player should understand how much of an upkeep expense is generated by a department upgrade).
AI pricing and expansion has been updated, the game also has a new "very hard" difficulty mode.
You can build unlimited sites.
The price of a market's license is decreasing by 50% whenever a player buys it.
The price of a technology's research is decreasing by 70% whenever a player invents it.
A few were not able to find or use their F1 key on their computers, therefore you can start the game by pressing "SPACE" too.
Menu animations are speed up for a smoother experience.
More graphics options in the settings, such as resolution, texture quality and so on.
You can alter the size of the menus and windows of the game by using two sliders while you are in-game. One for the menus and small pop-up things, and one for the bigger windows such as the computer list or research queue. (your settings are saved and automatically used as soon as you change them).
You can buy market licenses and build sites on the market list by double-clicking on the given market and pressing Enter instead of clicking on the "yes" button when the game asks you if you are sure or not.
You can zoom in and out on the research tree.
You can double click on a tech note on the research tree too to automatically add its tech and all the pre-requisite techs to the research queue. (not only double-clicking on techs in the research queue to add them).
The tutorial is extended with new information about the changes and other smaller things. An example is that colored research nodes on the tree unblock new computer designs such as the "PC".
The preferences of people are slowly changing in the world. Meaning that you should check them in your statistics time after time to be sure things are not completely different now than years ago.
The minimum population size of many markets has been increased.
The tooltips size has been increased.
The term "country" is not used in the game anymore, because it was not accurate. Instead, we use the "market" from now on.
When you copy hardware, its discount will be copied, too.
I've greatly decreased the size of the game by texture compression.
BUG Fixes
When the opponent filter was activated on the market list the human player's markets were always shown even when the human player was not selected. Fixed.
The human player was able to see the hardware profits per unit of the opponents. Fixed.
The profit per unit calculation of the OS was not deducting the costs. Fixed.
When you set a budget for a department (let's say factory department), and then you changed the site's view to another department where you cannot change the budget, the budget window was still showing the budget of the factory dep. Fixed.
The player was able to add cache to the CPU without an active memory tech thus being able to abuse its bonuses. Fixed.
The pricing screen of hardware was available even when you were not creating PC Hardware (while only PC hardware can be sold separately for end customers). Fixed.
The inner base price field didn't refresh the computers' outer price field. Fixed.
There was an avatar error after starting a new game and not selecting a new avatar profile again (the previous avatar was used for the player then). Fixed.
The marketing screen's start button had a strange effect on activation instead of just turning green. Fixed.
Sometimes you had no message why you cannot create given hardware. Fixed.
The messages of the notification window were not saved/loaded. Fixed.
Various tooltip text fixes.
If you like what I'm doing, please leave a review as well. All kinds of feedback are really appreciated!
Also, I wish to all of you good health and ALL THE BEST for this hard period in the world! I'd love to message you all personally to ask how is it going, but you are just too many - but I think about you!
Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
VERSION 0.9.4.07 is out NOW!
Hi Tycoons,
I'm working on a bigger update but I wanted to share with you this version in the meanwhile.
BUG Fixes
Spelling corrections
I've changed the end screen buttons which lead you back to the game in a way that you will understand that you will continue playing in a "free mode" so victory conditions should not trigger again.
AI computer stats were bugged, making you believe that the AI is cheating deliberately with them.
ESC won't trigger the main menu on the loading screen.
I've added missing country flags.
SVGA prestige is increased from 20 to 40.
Suggestions Implemented
You've got a research bar on the main screen to always see your actual research and its progress.
Tutorial modifications (mentioning windows dragging and list ordering).
From now on you can just double click a tech on the research queue screen to add it to the queue instead of clicking on the "Add" button.
"Plentum" CPU techs were renamed to a generalized name (about their advantages), so you won't have a false feeling that you are bound to a given historical CPU tech line. You weren't, it was only a nostalgic naming.
I hope you will like it!
I'm very excited about the coming stuff from the Roadmap (and yes, I haven't forgotten about the advanced site list, so the expansion and updating part won't be that tedious as it is now...)
But...
Being honest with you in the last ~60 minutes I was typing a log update about what I'm doing at the moment, and what can you expect... but I made the mistake of not writing it in a proper editor, but in the steam announcement editor and unfortunately I pressed a backspace... And I've lost all of it (yeah, I'd really appreciate automatic saving here, but usually I do not write these here... so...) Sorry, for not going into that again, it is late here, haha! But feel free to talk with me and the others on our discord servers or check out the roadmap of the game!
############################################################# Pics of the last update:
Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
VERSION 0.9.4.06 is out NOW!
Hello Tycoons,
First of all, I wish you happy holidays and a happy and healthy new year!
Secondly... I wanted to implement the advanced Site List before publishing the new version, but I've run out of time, and because of a few fixed bugs I felt like it is better to share whatever I have right now. So you don't have to ask for it, it is under progress! :)
The new SPP System might generate a debate - but I'm very interested in how will the community react to it. It is a community-generated idea, and I'm not sure if you will eventually like it or not, so let's see! You can find a topic about it on the Steam Forums!
Now let me share with you the changelog of the new version:
Research Tree Filters - From now on, you have an extra window on the research view (tech tree), where you can highlight the hardware types on the tree, also if you click on a given tech node, its compatible types will be highlighted on that window.
Country List - From now on you have a "Country List Screen", where you can order and filter countries and special regions. You can also buy a license or build a site right from there. If you click on its name you will also enter the site, if there is any.
Notifications Window - From now on there is a notification/message window at the left bottom corner of the screen. You can filter them. Most likely you will ask for more messages, just let me know what you'd like to see there.
SPP System - From now on you have a so-called SPP System in the game. When you build logistic buildings, you get a given amount of PP buffer that you can use when your DPP is higher than your PP. Computer Tycoon being a grand strategy is not aiming to handle production logistics deeply, but this new feature can be considered as some kind of logistic extrapolation in a top-down system. This way when you release a new product, you won't lose potential customers if you have a big enough SPP.
All preference icons have tooltips on all screens.
From now on when you edit a price and the time is going in the game, the not finalized values won't be saved. So price values are only saved and used when you actually leave the edit box.
I've decreased the effect of hype when you release a new product. This means that the temporary DPP increase in the first 3 days is going to be lower than before.
The checkbox on the settings screen before the game starts is a little small, especially the box to set the exclusion of opponents has a delicate click judgment, I sometimes open their avatar change screen. Fixed.
The screen where you can set the discounts of your products is named as "product pricing" from now on. Indicating that those are affecting only the product from which you navigated there.
Tab keys between discount fields. - Added.
On the discount screen now you also have the main price edit box, so you don't have to go back to the previous screen for that.
"Another 'little' bugette at the beginning of the game. You can (almost) complete the 'New hardware' dialogs, for example, GPU, even though you haven't done the necessary research and some vital technology is missing.
So although I could select DIP Memory and Heatsink for a new GPU I could not then create it because I was "Missing visualization technology". It would be better if I was actually prevented from getting to the new hardware dialog entirely if I did not have the minimum requirements." - Done.
"Can we have the option to disable the tape drive sound, so that I don't have to mute my computer when I load the game? "- Done
"The font of the filter options is too small and blurred" - Fixed.
"The font in the list of accessories (Mouse,...) seems blurred" - Fixed.
From now on, you have an extra window on the research view (tech tree), where you can highlight the hardware types on the tree, also if you click on a given tech node, its compatible types will be highlighted on that window.
If you happen to go out from the tech tree, from now on you can grab yourself back.
BugFixes:
On the hardware screen the tech list was flashing per new day. (only visual glitch) Fixed.
Visual glitch on the speed setter menu on the top left the corner. (sometimes two speeds were highlighted with green). Fixed
Sometimes multiple computers were selected on the computer list and multiple hardware on the hardware list (only visual glitch). Fixed.
There was a bug calculating worker and gamer scores of computers (often resulting in negative values for your products on the country survey screen) - also affecting sales. Fixed.
And of course, a few smaller things that I can't even remember and I've forgotten to make a list about them :/ :)
I hope you will like the new version! If you have ANY issues, let me know on Discord or on the Forums and I will do my best to fix them. But you can simply just say hello or whatever! :)
Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
VERSION 0.9.4.05
Hello Tycoons,
This version has an improved performance in-game, and on the loading screen as well.
While I wasn't able to do anything about my engine's flaw of "being unresponsive" during the scene initialization/activation that happened in the "last 10%" of the loading, I managed to restructure things in a way that this unresponsive period is shorter, and in general the whole loading process is faster. This is the most important thing in this patch, that I wanted to upload ASAP, but to give you a full list:
Greatly improved in-game and loading screen performance
Videogame Hit requirements were bugged. Fixed.
Winchester technology now adds 1 point to quality - so when you alter the quality slider, its value will change. Earlier 0 multiplied by whatever was always 0...
When the user selected the logistic bonus, only on the country buy screen was the country price correct, on the country details window it wasn't, because there the bonus was not applied. Fixed.
The economy bonus on factories and laboratories were still problematic because of colors and actual values. Now hopefully it is completely straightforward.
There is a new idea about a PP storage on the Steam Forums. The base concept is that when you don't use all of your PP (because your DPP is lower) then you will stockpile them. With the next release, I will likely make this happen, and also I will touch research costs, too.
Please if you have anything to say about these, do not hesitate to share it with us!
If you enjoy the game, please leave me a review with your feedback! It means a lot to me!
Your friend, Andris
VERSION 0.9.4.4
Hello Tycoons,
Here is a new update (0.9.4.4) to solve lots of issues you've reported and a few changes to make the game better.
You were able to update a computer without making a copy of it fist, which led to corrupted data. From now on you can't do that.
On given resolutions players were not able to use the sliders correctly on the settings screen. Also, the mouse sensitivity label changed to its value. Fixed.
The different kinds of bearings (cooling techs) had wrong and inconsistent effects on hardware compared to their descriptions. Also, the values were reconsidered.
A very ugly bug was that research was actually cheaper in poorer countries instead of being more expensive. Fixed.
Modular Computer Design (a required tech for PC-s) was not appearing in the research queue. It was only visible on the research tree.
From now on you can use ISA and other "general buses" for video cards as video interfaces. Until now even tho they appeared on the screen as video interfaces, they were not accepted when clicking on create (only buses from the AGP line and above specifically designed originally for video cards and nothing else).
For most cases because of multiple details, selling hardware was not really possible (they had extremely low or zero sales). Fixed.
The country survey screen was showing incorrect data about hardware. Fixed!
The hardware pricing screen did not update the profit per unit values after the discounts were edited - only after closing and reopening the screen. Fixed.
Sometimes HC computers and PC computers messed up/copied their data such as name, price, and discounts. Often this was reported as a list issue, but it was actually a deeper and bigger problem. Fixed.
When you checked the computers of AI players, there was a gray 0 in the background of their price. Fixed.
You were not able to copy hardware elements. Fixed.
After saving hardware elements exclusively for the PC, after reloading it become HC compatible, too. Fixed.
On a few old-school resolutions such as 1248x1024, some screens were not handled correctly cousing issues. Such as you were not able to close the wall of gratitude. Fixed.
Small fans had a 300 quality boost. Now it is only 15 - which is obviously more rational compared to the other fans and parts.
I've lowered the "average budgets" for hardware because the possible profit margin was extreme.
Honestly, I'm ashamed that we had that many problems - I didn't expect this. So please accept my sincere apology! You just provided a huge help yet again (special thanks for the saved games!), and I'm very thankful for it. I hope this update will sort out all the biggest problems, even tho a few of the reported things were not clearly reproducible, I think they should have been part of other issues which are now solved. If something is still not working, please report it again, because as far as I know the bug report lists/forums are nearly empty now with that update.
A player has reported last time that research is too cheap at the moment. Most likely I will make it a bit more expensive again, but I wanted to hear your opinion about it first. What do you think... if the prices in the first few eras will get a 2x or a 1.5x boost, will it be still acceptable? I'd be more than happy to read your insights.
With the next update, I hopefully will be really able to release the site and the country lists, to make expansion easier and less tedious. I just didn't want to keep back this update because of the weight of the bugs.
So you on Discord and on the Steam forums! Also, if you enjoy the game, please leave a review as well - it would mean a lot! I really appreciate all kinds of critique and feedback!
Your Friend, Andris
VERSION 0.9.4.03 64bit version and bugfixes
Hi Tycoons,
1. This small version update solves a game-breaking bug that made your DPP dropped to zero and caused general issues after a while. I'm not 100% sure if it will work forever because still I don't understand the reason why it happened but had something to do with an inner Unity code. I've just replaced it with something else, so let's hope it won't come back again. You can even continue playing these saved games without a problem now (if everything goes well - and let hope so! If not, please report it asap!)
2. I also fixed a bug for PC computers. If you noticed empty pictures, you were affected, resulting in a nonreliable computer list, too.
3. I've added a 64bit version of the game to the depot. If you have a 64bit system, then most likely steam will install it automatically for you from now on. It should make the game run faster AND will solve a bug too. Namely, if you earlier just started and restarted a game (inside Computer Tycoon) around 3-4 times, then windows closed the game.
That's all! Thanks for the saved games guys, it helped a LOT! Catching bug #1 was pretty hard because it did not appear when I was running the game from my dev environment, only when I played the actual build of the game (what you do).
Your friend, Andris
UPDATE: I just faced a Steam Client/Steam uploader error. If you can't start the game, please restart your steam client (or your computer) and/or manually uninstall/install the game again. I'm sorry about that. But have fun! :)
VERSION 0.9.4.02 - bug fixes
Hi Tycoons,
I've released version 0.9.4.02 which contains bug fixes. Thank you so much for the awesome feedback and reports I've got so far! Here is the list what was fixed/changed:
- the design filters on the research queue are default true - so people won't forget them and then think that they have nothing to research - the tape drive sound's volume and its pitch was reduced - from now on you can use space to restart time, too (not only to stop it)
- on the research view, if you used the right click to move the screen, lines did not follow the tech nodes - if you renamed a product the change didn't appear in the list automatically, only after a refresh or order change - noise and heat didn't refresh on the GPU screen - on mobos, VLSI and production size techs increased the cost - power supplies had problems around quality - CPU did not calculate capacity for cache - magnetic bearings changed heat instead of noise - not all graphics interfaces were accepted on mobos and GPUs as graphics interfaces - a few sliders didn't affect their correspondent properties on hardware - ram techs were not showing their capacity values on the tree, only on the research queue - using the spacebar on the world map to stop/pause the time could push the "buy this country" button yet again resulting in money and/or LP loss, or bad error messages - the product owner picture was fixed for the human player. (new games will be fine, earliers will keep the default yet) - country details legends have new positions and a better text alignment - first techs in the tree were unremovable from the queue after addition - hyperthreading on CPUs didn't give its bonus per core - lots of typos and text corrections
Please, if you like the progress and you haven't done it already, then leave a review!
Also, I'm happy to let you know, that my father's surgery was successful and we are happy because the doc said only good news!
Have a nice weekend and have fun! Andris - Progorion
