‘OK Johannes’ I hear you saying, ‘this sounds cool. But what is Simfest: Hobby Edition?’
Simfest: Hobby Edition is a celebration of games that attempt to simulate a hobby or job. So in our case, simulating the job of Festival Organiser! As well as a bunch of amazing games and discounts it will also feature 12 hours of original live stream programming, including talks and panels all starting on April 1st!
You can find more information on Simfest: Hobby Edition right here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/simfest_hobby
Have fun!
Totally Garbage Update 🗑️
Hey everyone,
I can’t believe it is March, almost April already! Where does the time go? I suppose you want to hear about the new update? Well you are in luck as today’s update not only adds 54 new decoration items, but also trash cans… ok, it might not sound that exciting, but trust me, it is.
Also, I have some BIG news. I can’t share it just yet… but you should definitely keep an eye on things on April 6th as there will be a mega announcement about things. Yay! 🥳
(This might just be last big update before we… you know… become official?)
Anyway, let’s get to it, shall we?
Usable Trash cans
It does what it says on the tin… allows for the collection of trash, keeping the ground around the bin clear from rubbish so your festival-goers stop complaining. Just don’t forget to empty it!
New Festival Decorations
54 brand new festival decorations have been added to the game including decor in the generic, Rock, EDM and Hip Hop styles. Check out the below screenshots for a sneak peek.
Here is the full change log for this update including some UI tweaks and bug fixes:
New: Sports activities now make visitors extra hungry and thirsty.
New: Additional tutorial guides give detailed information of specific UI elements.
UI: Extreme mode profiles show the extreme mode leaderboard by default.
UI: Leaderboards now always show the player's rank at the top.
Optimized: The assistance level can now be selected between 3 different levels in the settings.
Fixed: A bug where backstage RVs would always show as "fulfilled" in the band preview window.
Fixes: A bug which prevented day ticket income to be shown in the season overview.
Fixed: A bug where the Stonehenge light decorations wouldn't light up in color anymore.
Fixed: Smaller bugs and issues, including UI, AI and content loading.
And that’s it from me today! Any questions, you know how to reach me :) Once again, thank you! <3 Johannes.
The Extreme Sports Update 🏐
Hey everyone,
Here we go again! Honestly, it feels like just a day or two passes between writing these. But it’s a new month, so here is a brand new set of updates, bug fixes and new content for you to get acquainted with. So let’s get going, shall we?
Sports Buildings! Feel like there’s something missing from your festival? Of course, there is! You need a Basketball Court, Mini-Golf course, a skating rink, Table Tennis, a Football Wall (football, not soccer!!), a human foosball table AND a Volleyball court. But then, it’s like a sports camp and everyone hates a sports camp, right? Well, let's find out!
Extreme Mode: So, you think you’re the best Festival Manager on the circuit hey? Fancy putting that to the test? Extreme Mode includes new challenges to mix things up including: Partner Deals cannot be cancelled once signed, Autosaves to prevent save jumping (sorry not sorry), minimum price per square unit on maps and many more GNARLY difficulty modifiers to come.
Here is the full change log for this update - it’s a biggie!
New: Toggle synchronised stage plan scrolling on or off in the Line-Up Planner. This allows you to scroll multiple-stage plans at once.
New: Bands in the Line-Up planner can be filtered to only show unassigned bands.
Fixed: Buildings now keep their rotation when continuous build mode is activated.
Fixed: Areas are now named correctly when placing them.
Fixed: Map turns white again when highlight mode is activated.
Fixed: A bug that led to extremely long loading times when lots of bands are booked.
Fixed: A bug that prevented continuing a festival with profiles that have a "." in their names.
Fixed: Some spelling mistakes and localization issues.
Fixed: AI selects entrances more evenly now, preventing entrances to be clogged while others aren't used at all.
Fixed: A lot of smaller bugs and issues were fixed too during this update period.
Optimized: Improved the highlighting and colouring for the build process to show a simple green or red outline depending on the state.
Optimized: A big behind the scenes shader update should make the highlight mode better and lays the foundation for future updates.
Optimized: Improved the build mode to show the actual model scale and a lot more!
Optimized: AI reacts better to prices and queue lengths.
UI: Updated build menu icons to be more intuitive to new players.
Known issues: Some decoration items will not get (fully) highlighted. This will be fixed in the next update!
Known issues: Some decoration items are missing icons. This is due to internal changes to the system, which will fix in the next update!
And that’s it from me today! Any questions, you know how to reach me :) Once again, thank you! <3 Johannes.
Full Moon Party Early Access update + Lunar Sale 🌝
Hey everyone,
Happy New Year! It feels like the holiday season was such a long time ago now, but I hope you all enjoyed it and got some much-deserved rest. As for me, I’ve been busy behind the scenes working lots of new things, with plenty to share in 2022 as we work towards the 1.0 launch of Festival Tycoon. Let’s get going, shall we?
Lunar New Year Sale: In celebration of the Lunar New Year, Festival Tycoon will be 25% off between starting at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT today until February 3rd @ 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT. This is the perfect time to either grab the game for yourselves if you’ve yet to do so or gifting it to a friend or loved one.
Band Coordinators: The Band Coordinator is here and will save you having to keep an eye on the gates for when Bands arrive. They’ll welcome those Z and A list bands to your festival, get them settled in, ensure they’re well looked after backstage before finally hitting the stage at their allotted time. They’ve been specially trained to deal with high maintenance band members.
The update also includes a new genre rating scheme for end of Festival results which is calculated per stage as opposed to the whole festival. I’d love to hear your feedback on this change either in our Official Discord or over in the Steam forums.
Other improvements:
Fixed: Improved the partner history window and fixed a couple of bugs.
Fixed: Potentially fixed a bug where the entire screen went to black.
Fixed: The save window is now fixed.
Fixed: A couple of bugs within the save system, save files can now be sorted too.
Fixed: Other bug fixes include AI, UI and a lot of smaller things.
Fixed: Bands are now angry at the player again if not welcomed in time (hello band coordinator, where are you??!?!)
Fixed: An AI bug that made agents wait forever at tents is now fixed for most instances.
UI: Clippy supports neutral messages now.
UI: New, better-sorted profile creation system.
Optimized: Visitors select concerts more evenly now.
Optimized: Improved the line-up planner to represent the new genre rating mechanic.
Optimized: Agent behaviour when finding an interactable is not reachable is now improved.
And that’s it from me today! Any questions, you know how to reach me :) Once again, thank you! <3 Johannes.
The last 2021 Update is here! It’s a biggie.
Hey everyone,
I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of 2021 - it’s been an incredibly wild ride huh? But don’t worry, this isn’t the final FINAL update, just the final update for this year before I take a break and come back at it full steam in the New Year. So let’s get down to business!
What’s new in today's update:
Patrol routes
Steam Achievements
Added a new, smaller warehouse for smaller festivals
The Prices Overview window shows all buildings and their set prices for easy access to all of them
Set custom favourites in the build menu
Actual visitor numbers now shown in the festival overview
Restock workers now carry crates and boxes around
Some visitors might arrive carrying beer crates
A worker moving towards a task is now indicated by the icon turning green
And of course, I continue to implement fixes and improvements based on community feedback.
Here’s what else has changed in Festival Tycoon:
Fixed: No more blurry thumbnails in the location editor
Fixed: A bug where the UI would stay hidden if the festival ends while the UI is hidden
Fixed: Auto-assignment of sponsor logos now works properly
Fixed: Leaderboard in festival end screen when playing a custom location is now fixed
Fixed: A bug that would lead to infinite sponsored buildings
Fixed: BBQ Areas are now highlighted by food-highlight mode
Fixed: Issue when placing buildings as VIP is now fixed
Fixed: Workers never finishing tasks should be fixed now
Fixed: If a worker squad is dissolved while a worker executes a task, the task is not stuck anymore
Fixed: Stages now have ramps instead of stairs which should improve the backstage AI behaviour of bands
Fixed: A couple of smaller bugs regarding the Steam Workshop UI
Optimized: Changed a lot of backend code regarding workers. This should have solved a lot of issues with the old system
Optimized: Further improved AI decision making and pathfinding. There should be even fewer visitors stuck now
Optimized: Changed the visitor arrival a little bit so that the entrance and arrival doesn't take forever anymore
Optimized: Interaction at Make-Up Containers improved
Optimized: Added more descriptive loading texts at the start of the game
Optimized: Increased trigger area for squad-UI which should make it easier to join squads together
Optimized: Greatly increased loading performance for Steam Workshop content
UI: Grouped the less important buttons in the management menu future-proofing the UI
UI: Improved the Steam Workshop menu
UI: Fixed leaderboard name lengths
UI: Available accommodation space supports indicating numbers above 999 now
UI: Stage overlay now shows current band during a concert
UI: Save files can now be sorted in the sandbox save window
Balancing: Improved the buildings offered by a sponsor
Balancing: Optimized worker speed when executing tasks
And that’s ya lot from me for now.
Next year I’ll be back and have big plans for the first update of the year (late January) including two brand new features. I’ve also started working on the updates after this and can’t wait to share more information with you all.
So with that said, THANK YOU so much for all your support in 2021 and I look forward to showing what’s next in 2022.
Thank you! <3
Johannes
Patch 0.12.3
Hi all!
This patch has some Christmas surprises and also these bug fixes and additions:
New: Some visitors might arrive carrying beer crates!
Fixed: If a worker squad is dissolved while a worker executes a task, the task is not stuck anymore.
Optimized: Increased trigger area for squad-UI which should make it easier to join squads together.
If you have any issues, please let me know! Cheers and have fun, Johannes
