Gear City
Full Release, Release Candidate 1
With the game nearing completion, much work went into creating the in-game video tutorials, playtesting, and cleaning up more text files.
With the additional amount of playtesting over the last few months, I am more confident that the game is at the stage where I can release it as a final product.
So we have entered the release candidate phase of development. Or "going Silver," as some call it. This phrase means that the game is "code complete" and nearly ready for release. I won't be touching any part of the program except to fix bugs or gameplay issues. My entire focus now is playtesting and finalizing English edits, documentation, and a map or two.
That's not much different than the state of the game for the last several versions. The big difference with Release Candidates is that it is a candidate for release. Any one of these updates could be the version we use as "Full Release" or "Gold," as some call it.
"Full Release" will mark the end of guaranteed development of the game. The keyword there is "guaranteed." I plan on providing support and bug fixes for the game for the foreseeable future. But with life, one never knows what can happen. Being a good steward of my software, I'll probably Open Source the game if I am no longer able to provide continued support. I also hope to continue feature development for the game well after release in what I call the "Feature Bounty System." Some of you may have already read about that some on our forums when requests pop up. I'll release more details on that after Full Release.
The current plans are to have at least 3 Release Candidates, but it may go higher depending on if any unacceptable bugs appear in the software. Roughly around RC2, I will begin PR efforts and set a release date for the game. In the meantime, I am continuing my third round of English edits, which will extend to news articles this time. I'll be adding more data to the magazine, news, and DYK articles. And of course, more playtesting.
The changelog is too long to attach to the announcement. You can find a copy of it here.
Official "Full Release" Video Tutorials
I spent the last several months creating the final video tutorials for the game. I am pleased to announce that all of the main video tutorials for the game are now available for download or streaming.
Here is where you can find them:
Steam Guide
Youtube
Official Website
You can also find some of the tutorials embedded into the game via the top-right Help menu. The missing ones will come with the next update.
In total, there are 46 videos and 4.65 hours of content. I've tried to break things down so that you can easily find information on specific topics.
I do have plans on creating some additional videos covering smaller items in the game. I also need to cut the videos on specific topics for the user manual. I may also re-dub and subtitle the mod tool videos and possibly create a couple of play through videos. I might do a live play through or two. Perhaps in a Q&A or Interactive Commentary setting, but I'm not too sure about that. I'm not telegenic.
1.25.0.12 Update
Most of the regular followers of the game already know about the video tutorials. So let's move on to what everyone wants to know about, updates.
I've started work on v1.25.0.12, which will also serve as Final Release Candidate 1 (RC1). As of this writing, I've knocked out 30 issues so far. I will continue to do extensive play through testing to find and fix everything I run across. My goal was to have this completed by the end of March. Sadly, with everything going on in the world, I am late as always.
Beyond that, I still have a manual to rewrite. I wrote the last version of the in 2013 for version 1.11. I plan on finalizing the European Map, adding more newspaper clips, magazine reviews, and some more editing. I hope to create the North American map and map tool tutorial videos, but this might come post-release.
After all that, there will be additional RC's as needed, marketing the game, releasing the game, heart attacks, and then the post-release feature bounty system.
Anyway, that's where we are.
Version 1.25.0.11 Hotfix #9
It's time for another hotfix, as a possible crash with outsourced component production was reported to me. I also went ahead and fixed several pending issues, and included the latest video tutorial.
On the topic of video tutorials, I am nearly finished, but I have been slowed down recently because of the length of the videos I'm currently working on.
Anyway, enjoy!
-Bugfix: Fixed crash in would map when opening production of a vehicle design that uses outsourced components.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue causing AI companies to own a model name when player outsources a vehicle to them. This bug prevented players from being able to make new generations of these vehicles.
-Gameplay: Adjustments have been made to the component age penalties.
-GUI: GUI load optimizations to the Office Contract window.
-GUI: Horizontal scroll bar returns to the Office Contract Window parts secletion.
-Bugfix: Fixes applied to several achievements that had database counting issues.
-Media: Main Tutorial video added to the game. (Will eventually integrate a link into the in-game tutorials themselves.)
1.25.0.11 Hotfix #8
Another hotfix for 1.25.0.11. This one fixes a crash issue with loading .car files on non-standard encoded copies of Windows, primarily Swift-JIS. I also threw in a few bug fixes listed below.
Video tutorials are going well. I am about 60% complete. At this pace, I should finish them by the end of the year, and then I can start working on full release candidates and completing the manual. This hotfix includes all video tutorials to date. You can also find them on our youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Qy-Pj_RIRvRkajKTI9bsut_ZXJ6eqWn or the tutorial page on our website: www.gearcity.info/tutorials
Hotfix includes:
GUI: Length about text in main menu.
GUI: Fixed city hover popup cutting off text.
Gameplay: Enabling autoproduction now enables auto-hire and auto-wage automatically. This is done to prevent player logic issues that can cause bad gameplay.
GUI: Enabling autoproduction hides auto-hire and auto-wage checkboxes.
Gameplay: Autoproduction will now try to avoid using factories with low morale.
Gameplay: Purchasing a company with low morale will improve those employee's morale somewhat.
Bugfix: Fixed bankruptcy flag not resetting when a player buys a bankrupt company. Situtations where this would be an issue is if the player spun off the company, and then tried to rebuy them.
GUI: Yearly Sales memo now uses base vehicle name rather than the latest vehicle model's name.
GUI: Fixed Mega Menu's Autoproduction vehicle restriction page flippers not hiding when marque restriction is enabled.
Bugfix: fixed missing demands text when Administration union wants more.
Bugfix: Fixed .car file crashes on non-unicode, non-US-compatible encoded Windows.
Bugfix: Fixed .car file loading on non-unicode, non-US-compatible encoded Windows.
Bugfix: Fixed .car file loading on non-unicode OSX.
Bugfix: Fixed component slider save/load system on non-unicode, non-US-compatible encoded Windows.
Media: Added more video tutorials.
Media: Improvements to in-game video tutorial landing page.
Version 1.25.0.11 Hotfix #7
I've also worked in a couple bug fixes in this one as well.
Hotfix #7:
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash issue with German translated save games.
-Bugfix: Fixed Autoproduction issue which ignored home country contracts during war time if the player has neutral country contract and no peaceful or limited factories.
-Bugfix: Fixed several issues with the duplicate name checker for vehicle designs.
-Bugfix: Fixed trim finish dates when the player makes multiple trims.
-Bugfix: Fixed mouse wheel scrolling on Load Game lists for Unix OS's.
-Bugfix: Fixed Branch Distribution window vehicle list alignment.
-Bugfix: Additional fixes to the save game updater and mods.
-Media: Several new tutorial videos added.
-Media: Unfinished redesign of the video tutorial page. (Might slip in an update for this in a day or two.)
There might be one or two things I forgot to add to this list.
Version 1.25.0.11 Hotfix #6
I have released the 6th hotfix for version 1.25.0.11 .
This hotfix includes:
-Media: 6 New Video Tutorials.
-Bugfix: EPS Growth Rate issue in the Stock Report
-Bugfix: Revenue Growth Rate issue in the Stock Report.
-Bugfix: Operational Margin issue in the Stock Report.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with recent changes to contract bids that could cause vehicle contracts not to being assigned.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash in the custom district branch pricing system on the world map.
-Bugfix: Fixed incorrect value in the Buyer Rating Table explination.
-Bugfix: Fixed incorrect text in the subsidize dealerships system.
-Bugfix: Fixed typo in the news paper articles
-GUI: Added global fuel rate to the Fuel Popularity Report and the newspaper.
-Engine: Added a warning message if you run the game at lower than 720p resolution. (Typically only happens with Windows 10 users playing in window mode with 720p monitors.)
About 40 more video tutorials to go. I'll work in some bug fixes if any major ones popup. Enjoy!
Version 1.25.0.11 Hotfix 4 and 5
Two more hotfixes for version 1.25.0.11.
Hotfix #4:
-Bugfix: Fixed a critical issue which wouldn't allow you to select a vehicle body.
Hotfix #5
-Bugfix: Tweaked city manufacturing growth for random history mode to prevent city's manufacturing ratings from hitting zero. The fix isn't perfect, and will be further tweaked for v1.25.0.12.
-Gameplay: Minor adjustment to racing funding's effect on over experienced teams.
-Bugfix: Fixed duplicate stock bankrupt memos.
-Media: Added three new tutorial videos.
Version 1.25.0.11 Hotfix 1-3
Since Sunday I've released 3 hotfixes targeting crash related issues. The latest issue has to do with save game corruption if you're using modded components files. If you get an error message about lost data, save the game, and reload it to get rid of the message. If you have an old copy of the save game, and the new copy, feel free to email both of them to me and I will be happy to recover most of your data.
Here is what was in each fix:
Hotfix 1:
-Bugfix:Fixed an end turn crash when Random History was enabled.
Hotfix 2:
-Bugfix: Fixed crash in Advanced Vehicle Designer tutorial.
-Bugfix: Fixed duplicate gear combinations for gearbox component because of issues in the components name updater system.
-Bugfix: Fixed scroll bar issues in Main Menu New Game options.
-Media: Added 10th video tutorial on Sales Reports.
Hotfix 3:
-Bugfix: Fixed possible save game corruption when using modded components files.
-Engine: If the save game is corrupted, fill the corrupted data with valid data to prevent crashes.
-GUI: Added an error message to office letting you know if the save game was corrupted. There is a known bug with this. The error message does not disappear unless you save the game and then reload it.
Version 1.25.0.11 Released
We’re a couple of weeks late, but version 1.25.0.11 is ready to go. As mentioned in the last update, this build would take a while to create because of the time it takes to make video tutorials and all the little tedious translation text work that I had to do. I completed most of the later, but I still have some work to do with the former. The next build update, version 1.25.0.12, will also take a while to make, so don’t panic if there isn’t an update for 2-3 months again.
This update contains 8 Video Tutorials and the basic infrastructure to deliver them. We’ve also added full tutorial audio for French, as the translations are practically 100% finished. I’ve also included partial tutorial audio for Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. I will refine the tutorial audio as the translations improve.
The update also has over 30 bug fixes, including fixes to 4 different crash conditions. Unicode issues in Windows 10 caused most of these crash issues. Speaking of Unicode, I fixed Unicode columns alignment issues in lists. I’ve also gone through the trouble of dynamically calculating how wide the columns should be. I hope this will reduce miss-aligned columns.
Some work also went into getting the French translation text to fit in the GUI. This action means that I have rearranged some GUI to increase the amount of space for text.
Version 1.25.0.12 will continue down the same path as v1.25.0.11. I will focus on finishing video tutorials. I may also slip these tutorials into small updates for v1.25.0.11 since I don’t have to alter any game code to include them. Following that, I will finish some map content and do extensive play through testing on multiple systems to find and fix issues. One thing to note, I will not be rushing v1.25.0.12, or the full release build, 2.0.0.0. Sadly delays this year, mostly because of COVID, have pushed full release timing into Q4, which is the absolute worst time for “Indies” to release games. The full release will be in Q1, even if the game I finish within the next three months. All of this is just the semantics of removing the “Early Access” tag.
Change log:
-Media: 8 Video Tutorials completed out of approximately 50.
-GUI: Video tutorial player included in the game. Located in the upper right help button.
-Media: Partial Tutorial Audio added for Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
-Media: Full Tutorial Audio added for French.
-Media: Completed editing and re-recording of English Tutorials.
-Bugfix: Vehicle comfortability design slider positively effected vehicle handling too much.
-Bugfix: Fixed Import Tax and Total Expenses values in the wrong spot in the Branch Operations report.
-Engine: Included VC++ Redistributable dll's in separate folder for people who have trouble properly installing the ones from Microsoft.
-Bugfix: Fixed 1HP rounding error bug in Advanced Engine Designer.
-Gameplay: Increased bailout funds.
-Gameplay: Lowered E85 design requirements
-Engine: Removed text scaling for English language file.
-Bugfix: Adjusted AI behavior so they won't open branches in war zones when their HQ is not at war.
-GUI: Strikes Memos are more noticeable now.
-GUI: Advanced Designer Warning message for old components.
-GUI: Advanced Designer Warning message for low smoothness.
-GUI: Removed count limit for Advanced Designer Warning system so all warning messages are displayed.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash in the Assisted Contract Engine Designer
-Websites: Added a "@" button to the translation login in page for players that have keyboard layouts that are not supported by our CEF/Berkelium builds.
-Bugfix: Removed possibility to have Unicode characters in report file names, in order to prevent crashes using non-ascii languages in Windows 10.
-Gameplay: Improvements to per capita, manufacturing, and population growth rates in random history games. Some more work needs to be done here.
-GUI: Switched location of Total Marketing and Furlough Costs in the Monthly Report.
-Gameplay: Increased the frequency subsidiaries use platform sharing.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue that prevented "No Economic Fluctuation"
start game option from over-riding historical consumer vehicle buying rates.
-Bugfix: Adjusted translation website to automatically convert smart quotes to dumb quotes so we don't break the in game font.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue causing electric engines to show up in the magazine's largest displacement superlative.
-Bugfix: Changed Cu L text to L.
-Bugfix: Fixed production amount issues with components manufacturing requirements
-Bugfix: Fixed overlapping text when using the Replace Model Auto Tool.
-Bugfix: Fixed contract bid not being removed when spinning off a marque that owns the component/vehicle that is offered.
-Bugfix: Unchecking the Auto Play checkbox during tutorials now shuts off the tutorial audio if it is playing.
-Bugfix: Fixed bug that caused Main Tutorial Slide #6 to play audio even if "Auto Play" is disabled.
-Gameplay: We now warn players if they're using an unpopular fuel type when designing an engine.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue which could cause vehicle name not to save when you click a whole bunch of things in some odd orders.
-Bugfix: Fixed Warning button overlapping text in the Assisted Engine Designer
-Media: Removed "4-Stroke" text from Gasoline image.
-Media: Added 60 or so missing predesigned vehicles. Each vehicle type should have at least 1 for all years.
-Gameplay: Morale will reset after waiting out a strike.
-Gameplay: Made some tweaks to winning contract selection when few or one contract bid was submitted.
-Engine: When we update builds now, we will parse the components.xml file and update component names in the save game in case there were changes in the translation. This might cause unforeseen issues, so keep an eye out.
-Bugfix: Fixed a couple instances where Age Demographics and Wealth Demographics could be incorrectly copied to new vehicles designs.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash when making a new generation or trim of a vehicle with an out of bounds Age Demographic because of the copying values bug.
-Bugfix: Fixed bug with incorrect initial loan payments.
-Bugfix: Fixed New Generation system not selecting the parent model's marque.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with New Game Map's legend headers.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with License Vehicle Design
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with Mega Menu < and > buttons
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with New Generation Vehicle, Select Component Lists after a component was selected.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with Action Memos.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with header overlapping in Advanced Designer bottom panel.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with Showroom Model Comparison and Marque Catalogs.
-Bugfix: Fixed World Map District Branch Distribution Merge Trims overlapping when scaled.
-Bugfix: Fixed scaling issues with branch Add Dealerships button.
-GUI: Tweaked many GUI elements to fit French translation text, which will result in better used space in English and other language files.
-Bugfix: Fixed Unicode (particularly Japanese) alignment issues in lists. (And learned something I never knew in 15 years of C/C++ programming...)
-Engine: We now parse lists before filling them to dynamically adjust column sizes. This reduces the chance of unaligned columns, particularly in non-english translations.
Version 1.25.0.10 Released
I released version 1.25.0.10 this morning. This build contains a few bug fixes, polishes, and gameplay balancing tweaks. Most noticeable is an adjustment of vehicle prices between 1920 and 1990. No changes came to the buyer population, but to counter increased sales, I adjusted the AI car designer system and pricing. I hope this balances out the reduction in prices. Please leave feedback on the balancing of these two things (the new vehicle prices and the changes to the AI) after you have played a few hours. https://steamcommunity.com/app/285110/discussions/0/3342162929519713346/
You may notice volatile sales in the first few months of playing an existing save game because of these changes. Also, you have to design new components and vehicles to take advantage of the price changes.
Finally, many translations are coming along nicely. Spanish, French, and Italian are nearly 100% finished. I will add tutorial audio for these languages in the next build. The Brazilian community has come alive in the last couple of months thanks to ChratosGameplay and many other streamers! The response is overwhelming! Thanks to the community, the PT translation has come a long way. Hopefully, the community will complete it by v1.25.0.11, and we’ll be able to include audio tutorials for it.
So what’s next? We’re getting close to final release, so for v1.25.0.11, I plan on implementing a new set of video tutorials. These tutorials will cover basic gameplay, basic concepts, advanced concepts, and basic economic theory (supply and demand). Are there any video tutorials you’d like to see? Let me know here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/285110/discussions/0/2291716608416628558/
Beyond that, it’s the standard fair of bug fixes, polishing, and map tweaks. Version 1.25.0.11 will take a little longer than normal, as the video tutorials take some time to make, and I have been doing extensive playtesting to get everything ready for full release.
Back to v1.25.0.10, here is the change log:
-GUI: Changing a district on the world map now closes any opened district windows.
-Bugfix: Fixed bottom list cut off in the World Map's Branch Distribution Window.
-Bugfix: Fixed Union benefits negiations saying "Marketing Fees" above the Administrative benefits payout slider. Fixed several other labeling issues there.
-Bugfix: Refixed engineering union benefits demand action memo.
-GUI: Added pages to autoproduction restriction lists.
-GUI: Added pages to Component Selection in Contract Windows (RnD & Office).
-Bugfix: Fixed issues with engine contract designer not selecting proper fuel types.
-Gameplay: Improved engine contract designer to use more induction systems.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible negative RnD Research Estimation ratings.
-Bugfix: Fixed missing Compact Van Predesign for 1950s
-GUI: Added column in Contract report showing customer name.
-Bugfix: Fixed incorrect PE calculations in Stock Report.
-Bugfix: Fixed construction and transport costs not being reported in reports.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash after spinning off company
-Bugfix: Fixed AI vehicle designs possibly being smaller than chassis
-Bugfix: Fixed auto-sell overriding district locks when initially turning it on.
-Bugfix: Fixed player getting fined by their own team when ending production of a vehicle.
-Bugfix: Added more names to noun list to prevent the game from running out of names in long gameplays.
-Bugfix: Fixed crash when opening a chart with no vehicles.
-Bugfix: Added additional check to hashes to catch any unexpected crashes in the hashing function.
-Bugfix: Fixed buyer rating breakdown table not having the correct value for marketing in the numbers side.
-GUI: Fixed possible new game custom funds causing a decimal value in the bottom menu cash on hands value.
-Gameplay: Tweaked AI Company Takeover offer amount, AI will now only make offers to companies 10 years old or older.
-Gameplay: You can no longer sell shares of a company if you get a bid on bankruptcy action memo.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible negative stock price of bankrupting companies.
-Bugfix: Fixed buyer rating table being empty when checking a not for sale vehicle.
-GUI: Added page flipper to World Map Competition Windows.
-Gameplay: Adjust car price rates down for several mid game decades. AI better matches real world values.
-Bugfix: Fixed contracts not being spun off with spin off company, thus creating models with the name "0" in reports.
-Bugfix: Fixed Modify Component's New Generation and Replace not ending production of old model...
-Bugfix: Purged Empty Space at end of automatically generated car and component names.
-GUI: Remove space between acceleration value and seconds unit.
-Bugfix: Replaced "Top 30 Company Sales in Selected District" header for charts since we show all companies now.
-Bugfix: Fixed player not showing up in the "All Time Market Share" chart.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible vehicle sales chart not generating properly if you have a few models.
-GUI: Added commas to the bar chart overlays in the networth chart.
-Bugfix: Removed html for missing 10/1920 depression image.
-GUI: Disabled Modify Design Window from recentering after hitting "End Production"
-Bugfix: Fixed Marque tutorial window from getting stuck open in some conditions.
-GUI: Component selection windows now default to in order of preselected dropdown.
-GUI: Design year ordering drop downs are now descending order, thus newest on top.
-Gameplay: Reduce Board of Director's tollerance for failure.
-Gameplay: Slightly faster depression recovery time Base City Map.
-Bugfix:Fixed issue with Darracq achievement
-Bugfix: Fixed possible over production by autoproduction system when entering limited conflicts.
-Gameplay: Base City Map Balancing
-Gameplay: Base Territory Map balancing
-Gameplay: Decreased licensing wins, Large AI companies are less interested in licensing designs.
-Gameplay: Tweaked licensing selection code to consider royality rates less, and signing fees much less.
-Gameplay: Increased licensing and outsourced royality rates.
-Gameplay: AI now produces trims on Hard and Nightmare mode.
-Gameplay: Increased fuel costs effect on sales of fuel efficent vehicles.
-Gameplay: Fixed Achiements on 64-bit OSX.
-GUI: Finished English Editing for main UI. A few more tweaks to come.
-Gameplay: Adjustments made to AI sliders selection for AI vehicle designs.
-GUI: Removed reference to "Profits" in the reports and replaced it with "Cash Flow" after a couple complaints by accountants. (It will probably go back after a I get complaints from laymen asking for the cash flow to be labeled profits! Such is life.)
-GUI: Right aligned category headers in Monthly Financial Report.
-Bugfix: Fixed historical sales data not being stored properly if certain conditions are met. This should fix achievement requirements for several achievements.