Green With Energy will be hosting a public alpha playtest next week to get feedback on game mechanics and the first levels. To join, go to our store page and click the "Request Access" button.
About 1/10th of the final content, which includes the first tutorials, plus some larger levels
No support for Puzzle Creator or Steam Workshop
Integrated bug reporting and analytics collection, to learn how players are finding the game
How will my feedback be used?
Shortly after the playtest, we'll gather the collected data and use it to improve the game before release later this year. Please report bugs in the bottom right of the client. You can also join the #playtesting channel on our Discord server to talk directly with the developers.
We hope you have fun trying this out!
- The Green With Energy Team
Spring Devlog #2 - Energy Policies, Voltage & Transformers/Substations
Hi-voltage & transformers
In the April DevLog, we shared a preview of the transformer/substation tile. This has finally made it into the game, along with the concept of hi-voltage and lo-voltage.
Some buildings, such as factories or other industry, require a hi-voltage input. This means laying power lines, probably with a substation somewhere to step-up or step-down the voltage.
Diving deeper, voltage has some interesting properties. Hi-voltage lines are much more expensive than lo-voltage lines, in both upfront & maintenance. But on the flip side, hi-voltage lines are more efficient, with only a 5% energy loss. Lo-voltage lines can have as much as 45% energy loss. Depending on the problem you have to solve, the trade-off might be acceptable.
Energy policies
Policies such as impact the choices you have to make in each level. Players can craft effective strategies, as well as challenge them to try others, keeping the game fresh.
Government subsidies
These policies allow you to make trade-offs in return for tax cuts or cheaper prices, if you choose to specialize in a particular technology.
Smart grid, edge & IoT policies
These policies help shape market trends with IoT and smart grid technology, unlocking new power grid design strategies.
A sneak peak... (our new teaser trailer)
You can check it out below on YouTube channel, or over on our store page. [previewyoutube="rJ0V3dEVH_0;full"]
So, what's coming next?
We're moving from Pre-Alpha to Alpha. Meaning, core systems and mechanics of the game are implemented. The Alpha phase is about producing content and refining what is already a part of the game.
There's a bunch of stuff we're working on before shipping in Early Access:
Keep refining the game mechanics through playtesting with our Discord server
More levels across a variety of locations: a forest village, shipping port, town center, etc..
New energy sources like hydropower
New energy policies like EV vehicles & charging stations
If you're interested, see our public roadmap on Trello for more details, though please be aware we might change plans as the game evolves.
Moving towards launch... - Wishlist & Follow
We hope you enjoyed this month's DevLog. Feel free to leave feedback, opinions and ideas in the comments below or our Discord server.
Don't forget to wishlist & follow the game below, to find out when we launch:
Welcome to the Spring DevLog for Green With Energy!
To those of you who recently joined the official community on Discord, thank you! If you’re new to the game - welcome. It’s humbling to have you on board. Please wishlist & follow on Steam if you’re interested.
The purpose of these DevLogs is to showcase the ongoing development on Green With Energy, to both the fans as well as the wider gaming community. Hopefully it serves as a line of communication, as feedback is a critical part of evaluating the ongoing work.
March saw the introduction of an official Discord server to be the home for the Green With Energy community. Exclusive content such as in-development screenshots are regularly shared as the game is built.
This server is intended to be the central hub for playtesting, as well as the most important line of communication for feedback on the game.
Refining the core game mechanics
The core game loop is modeled similarly to the real engineering process. Players are given an interesting problem along with sandbox of tools they could use to solve that problem. Programming is also very similar, and has a suitable analogy.
Players can:
Build power stations, batteries & transformers of a given size. Part of this requires planning for the effects weather (e.g. rain, snow) has on the power grid.
Review power supply and demand curves, to engage in capacity planning
Lay power lines, building in redundancy and capacity
Run simulations to test their design over the course of a single day
If the simulation succeeds, they can continue to the next level. If it fails, or they are interested in improving the design further, they can take what they learned from the simulation and edit their design further.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-IxnXKoP1s
Settings, Main Menu & Level Gallery
In addition to the game itself, there are a couple of critical pieces of the user interface that cannot be overlooked just because the user isn't always interacting with them.
For example, the gallery isn't just a way of selecting what level you wish to play, and we can actually use this to highlight how you did in your previous play-through, relative to the wider community via Steam Leaderboards.
Time has been spent making everything flow beautifully, from menu to game in seconds, as this quick screencast shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B5lhzRZK0k
More isometric art as the style takes shape!
Power storage
Store energy for smoothing out capacity or even provide full grid power when green power generation (such as wind or solar) is unavailable.
Power substation/transformer
Step voltage up-and-down.
Wind farm (small)
Intended to be similar in cost to the solar farm, but more versatile in it's deployment, wind farms can be operated at any time of the day with the trade-off of predictability.
These obviously work best in windy weather.
Playtesting begins soon, but first...
...we'd like to survey the community about operating systems, opinions on input methods, etc... so that we can craft the most effective playtests for the whole game.
