Overcrowd: A Commute 'Em Up
Beta 1.0.11
You can join the public beta branch by right clicking on the game your steam library > Properties > Beta > select beta in the drop down.
In this way you get access to the latest bug fixes, tweaks and new features that I test before putting the main branch.
Today, among other things, I am testing 1.5x scaling for 4k users. This has worked in the past. The issue has been that after zooming on some resolutions, namely 2560 x 1440, the zoom has become locked when you zoom in fully. I am aiming to fix that but will need help testing this as my system doesn't run at this resolution.
Thanks to everyone taking the time to let me know about any issues they have encountered.
Beta 1.0.11:
-Correct English litter icon description
-Prevent crash if complete station mid placement of signal automater
-Do not trigger win save until build modes complete
-Implement 1.5x scaling. If you are on 2x, you will default to 1.5x, but you can change this in the options. Check if you can zoom in fully and zoom out. If the game locks at full zoom in you may need to exit and switch back to 2x or 1x scaling. Please let me know via the bug form what you find (both if it works or not, this will be useful information).
-Correct rare undefined variable in building light causing rare crash
Week 1 patch, build 1.0.9
Its just over a week since launch and I'm still super happy with how everything has gone. Thanks to everyone who jumped on board in that time!
This week I've been working hard to fix up a those few issues that have cropped up. It's really useful when you submit any bugs you come across using the bug form linked in game. This takes only a minute to do and helps me with approaching what to work on. I try to reply to many of these directly.
Finally, huge thanks if you took the time to leave a Steam review. Small indie devs live and die by Steam reviews, especially close to launch, so it is extremely appreciated. If you like the game, tell the Steam algorithm about it :)
Here's this week's changelog.
Build 1.0.9:
-fix potential crash when ad detail array is undefined
-limit floor wall building behaviour for only specific room, entrance and tunnels to ward off phantom wall bug.
-remove deprecated perimeter script to limit wall flattening behaviour linked to phantom walls.
-fix ghost doors. cannot replace a door on top of a solid object in a room, which created an unsellable door.
-fail safe to mitigate train stuck in station and not sending after leaving at exactly night time without power.
-prevent rare hard crash when checking out of grid zones on network gen
-prevent random hard crash when ad checks if it has been seen on same step as it spawns
-detect and remove corrupted escalators
-prevent crash if commercial array is somehow corrupted
-cannot right click in edit room to delete a cell while you are currently extending it. Prevents unusual room glitches.
-prevent crash when unable to convert string on unknown objects
-updated train sending at or overnight to prevent duplicate trains on platforms and rare cannot call train situations
-minor update to skip to dawn to remove all commuters if walking to exit
-correctly remove turnstiles from grid when game has been through save/load cycle
-cfg icons for esclators and stairs are visible
-all url's are opened in Steam browser to prevent unfixable bug (entirely out of my control) creating false urls when Gamemaker opens Edge or Chrome browsers
Beta 1.0.8
-Updated train sending at or overnight or at skip to dawn to prevent rare duplicate trains on platforms when they arrived as night fell, and rare cannot call train in morning situations
-Minor update to skip to dawn to remove all commuters if walking to exit
Build 1.0.8
-correctly remove turnstiles from grid when game has been through save/load cycle
Beta 1.0.6
Beta 1.0.6:
-Detect and remove corrupted escalators
-Prevent crash if commercial array is somehow corrupted
-Cannot right click in edit room to delete a cell while you are currently extending it. Prevents unusual room glitches.
-Prevent crash when unable to convert string on unknown objects
Beta 1.0.5
I made a few nice fixes today which if working as planned should head off a decent proportion of the few remaining issues I have been hearing about. Thanks for filing those issues! It's only through you filing problems that I become aware of them.
Beta 1.0.5:
-prevent random hard crash when ad checks if it has been seen on same step as it spawns
Beta 1.0.4:
-fix potential crash (corrupt save?) when ad detail array is undefined
-Limit floor wall building behaviour for only specific room, entrance and tunnels to ward off phantom wall bug. The phantom wall bug is the biggest remaining glitch I have come across. Very rarely, after building a room, the game erroneously spawn phantom walls. These are flattened so don't look like walls and are easily missed. Sometimes they block entrances or routes through stairs. Reloading solves the problem, but it creates much confusion both with players and me as I continue to try and fix it. If that sounds familiar and you can figure out how to reproduce it, do let me know.
-remove deprecated perimeter script to limit wall flattening behaviour linked to phantom walls.
-fix ghost doors. cannot replace a door on top of a solid object in a room, which created an unsellable door.
-Fail safe to mitigate train stuck in station and not sending after leaving at exactly night time without power.
-Prevent rare hard crash when checking out of grid zones on network gen
Hotfix 1.0.3
Hotfix 1.0.3:
-Prevent lift crash/stuck in lift build mode in unusual layout when half of the adjacent floor at right angles to entrance is not present.
-Limit unknown crash to desktop when selling rooms
-Prevent lift crash of unknown cause when rotating lift with no exit
-Correct "end of line" achievement unlock. You may need to start a new game to do this, as the achievement is detected when you unlock the final item of tech.
-Write turnstiles to grid on load to help prevent rare disappearing turnstile issue
-Do not quit in start menu by pressing only f4, must be alt f4
-Corrected typo in general ad description in English
-Corrected advert payout text to be in correct order
-Do not award money earning achievements when unlimited money is enabled
-Wheelie bin 3 tool tip is larger
-Benches have a passable mask. Every so often I get a bug filed saying staff nav is broken when a diagonal line of benches have blocked the route to the room. Benches are now passable around the edges to match with their appearance.
-update German language power description to say double power for lvl 2 generators
Beta 1.0.3
Opt into the beta branch by right clicking on the game in your library > properties > beta. This way you get test the latest hopefully best version of the game sooner. It also helps me improve the game faster to have more people testing the beta branch.
Please do continue to file any bugs you come across using the bug form linked in game.
Beta 1.0.3:
-Prevent strange lift crash/stuck in lift build mode in very rare odd layout when half of the adjacent floor at right angles to entrance is not present.
-Limit unknown crash to desktop when selling rooms
-Prevent lift crash of unknown cause when rotating lift with no exit
-Correct "end of line" achievement unlock. You may need to start a new game to do this, as the achievement is detected when you unlock the final item of tech.
-Write turnstiles to grid on load to help prevent rare disappearing turnstile issue
-Do not quit in start menu by pressing only f4, must be alt f4
-Corrected typo in general ad description in English
-Corrected advert payout text to be in correct order
-Do not give money earning achievements when unlimited money is enabled
-Wheelie bin 3 tool tip is larger
-Benches have a passable mask. Every so often I get a bug filed saying staff nav is broken when a line of lifts have blocked the route to the room. Benches are now passable around the edges to match with their appearance.
-update German language power description to say double power for lvl 2 generators
Hotfix 1.0.2
First up, thanks so much if you took a moment to leave a review on Steam. It is super appreciated. The "recent review score" on can be very harsh because of a very small sample size, so it means a great deal when new players who enjoy the game tell Steam about it.
Today I am moving build 1.0.1 from yesterday into the main branch as it appears stable and should prevent a few rare issues that have been reported.
Hotfix 1.0.1 also has a nice balance to staff needs, preventing them getting too worn out when you skip to dawn.
I have also fixed toilets, so commuter will now use them! It turned out I accidentally prevented them from drawing power and thereby opening in a pre-launch build (oops!).
Please do continue to report any bugs you experience and I will be all over them like a rash next week.
Hotfix 1.0.2:
-Fixed toilets. Toilets were not drawing power, meaning that the door would not open and no one would use them!
-Fixed rare potential crash when selling undefined object.
-Prevent rare hard crash is selling non existing objects, may occur after room editing glitch.
-Prevent extremely rare crash caused by saving a game with undefined scenario.
-Staff needs do not ramp up when you skip to dawn, making game slightly more forgiving.
Beta 1.0.2
Thanks so much if you picked up Overcrowd this week as we launched out of Early Access.
When a game hits full release its usual to have an increase in bug reports as the player base gets larger. However, from a technical perspective, I feel the launch has gone very smoothly! I have not had many reports of technical issues and even fewer reports of crashes.
Thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to submit any problems you have had via the bug form. I usually try and reply immediately. This week has been a little different and busy because of the launch.
The beta branch is public - just right click on the game in your library, select properties > Beta and then from the drop down, opt in.
I really encourage regular players to join the beta. Most often you will get the most up to date build, and it really helps me test and advance the game as quickly as possible.
The main outstanding issue that has been reported and not fixed are occasional problems with room editing. I am working on that and you should expect fixes in the next few days.
Oh I forgot to say. Please leave a review if you like the game. It helps tiny indies like me a huuge amount if you can take a second and leave us a thumbs up on Steam, especially just after launch.
Beta 1.0.1:
-Fixed toilets. Toilets were not drawing power, meaning that the door would not open and no one would use them.
-Fixed rare potential crash when selling undefined object.
-Prevent rare hard crash is selling non existing objects.
-Prevent extremely rare crash caused by saving a game with undefined scenario.
-Skip to dawn does not increase staff needs. I noticed a lot of new players are having big problems with staff when skipping to dawn. This should balance that out.
Overcrowd 1.0 is released!
During early access Overcrowd has improved vastly over the course of more that 346 separate builds.
There are too many changes to list but highlights include: new staff A.I. (replacing micromanagement with a priority grid like Rimworld), 4K support, substations to avoid refueling, hotkeys, renamable staff, 100s of quality of life fixes including, room and track editing, dozens more shops, better GUI, toilets, lifts, escalators, a pub, an extended procedural campaign, new facilities, garbage compactors, more utilities, fish tanks, buskers, ponds, and 13 additional languages.
Today Overcrowd 1.0 is arriving with the massive new Everyday People Update. This adds a diverse cast of new characters to pamper or neglect as they commute through your station creations.
The full 1.0 release also adds 45 achievements, better train liveries, a range of snazzy staff uniforms, a heatmap tool to analyse customer sentiment, and pigeons.
Plus, there’s the usual array of fixes, tweaks, balances, quality of life updates and some significant optimisations. Lets take a look.
Everyday people: 48 new commuter types
The Everyday People update adds dozens of new commuters to the game, including punks, wheelchair users, hoodies, cane users, suits and more. Lubdon Town feels more vibrant and alive than ever.
Staff uniforms
Today’s update also adds a range of lockers and uniforms for staff. Equipping staff with a uniform boosts one of their five core skills.
The uniforms are: paramedic, boiler suit, customer service rep, refuse manager and security guard (inspired by the palace guard, including a bearskin fur hat).
There are also millions more permutations possible for staff appearances, with new glasses, earrings, facial hair and haircuts.
Heatmap sentiment analyser
This feature has been requested since the start, so I’m really happy to finally add this. You can now look at hot spots and see where you are losing station reputation.
Litter, crowding, high prices and low light levels can all be monitored live. There is also the existing thermal imaging camera to show the current temperatures in your station.
New trains
We took the chance to update the livery on two of the stock in game. We think they look much nicer!
Overcrowd: high volume edition
We have also made the vapourwave-inspired electronica soundtrack, penned by Mystic Toaster (and with two tracks by myself) available to buy on Steam alone, or as part of the Overcrowd: High Volume Edition bundle where you can get a nice discount.
Tweaks, QoL, optimisations and…. pigeons?
On top of all this, I have been working super hard on quality life tweaks and optimisation the past few months. Some of the big examples are hotkeys (another top request during early access), and improved labelling on the staff so that you can always see what they are doing at any time. Sarah also put in a nice new colour scheme on the build menu buttons.
In terms of optimisations, I managed to make some nice improvements here, both in texture groups and in some other areas that should help the game run more smoothly on lower end system or very busy stations.
Last but not least – pigeons! What game set in Lubdon Town would be complete without pigeons, who you will now see swooping overhead now and then.
Thank you so much!
I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me and Sarah make Overcrowd over the past 5 years. I had no clue that my life would take this turn when I had this idea on a packed Piccadilly Line train back in 2012. But I’m happy I took the plunge.
Finally, sincere thanks to everyone who left us a nice review :) It makes a huge difference to the success of a game from a tiny dev like us, so if you like the game – please consider leaving one.
Al and Sarah xxx
Change log (all changes since last major update build 390)
-replaced commuters. Added 48 new commuter types. Game looks fresh and lively.
-confirm wheelchair behaviour
-added staff uniform lockers
-added 5 awesome staff uniforms
-when built, you can equip uniforms in the staff window or staff file. Uniforms for each of the 5 skills will boost the staff skill by 20%.
-skill boost visible on staff file.
-added commuter type specific scenarios for certain events (football match, anarchy, conference)
-added new reputation heatmap feature (in addition to thermal imaging)! These are grouped with the other view toggle in the top right corner. Toggle heat maps to show where you have lost reputation for high prices, reactions to refuse actions, overcrowding, no seating, low lighting. Very handy to see where you are losing reputation.
-updated train liveries
-commuters enter with umbrellas up when it's raining
-added random coffee spills and rain water from umbrella spills that are moppable
-optimisation: calling train does not repeatedly trigger the flow finder, resulting in incremental performance increase
-optimisation: full bins do not always call tutorial pop up script
-optimisation: remove unused textures from legacy builds
-optimisation: various minor optimisations
-optimisation, train arriving doesn't trigger flow finder unnecessarily
-optimisation of floor/wall texture groups
-optimisation: notable optimisation in signage drawing over turnstiles, stairs, escaltors and lifts
-optimisation: aoe only draws aoe from other same objects in 1.5x radius optimise
-optimisation: aoe of light only draws aoe from other same objects in 1.5x radius optimise, and cancels when not on floor
-optimisation: texture flips for trains reduces texture pages
-optimisation: minor improvements to flow finder logic
-optimisation: floor and wall texture groups optimised for incremental performance gain
-chance to spawn footprints in crowded areas (moppable)
-spawn rates of new moppable entities is scaled by difficulty
-of these, coffee and footprints cause littering rep loss
-toggle flow finder should correctly disable ongoing flow finder
-minor increase in panic risk
-minor increase in slippage risk
-move texture page size to 4k, reducing texture swaps
-f12 screenshot turns off more GUI when you press it. This is a call for screenshots! If you build anything nice, press f12 and upload to steam. I'm looking for nice pics to put in the menu background
-show sandbox networks correctly so that they do not sometimes miss zone 5 start points for rare seeds
-cannot move objects while wiring
-cannot edit track while wiring or other modes
-if you load a game and staff have their home in a staff room, this is flag is moved
-prevent crash when placing relay and automater
-wheelchair user behaviour when no possible routes improved
-water acts only as a slip hazard
-shopkeepers despawn at night
-on hard, punching tends to cause more blood
-new sprite decals for blood and vomit
-fixed crash caused by entering edit track length mode while clicking on or entering sell mode
-draw staff selectors when staff are in lift so they do not get lost and appear bugged
-games saved in prior build will show correct control room doors.
-on screen label shows what heat mode toggle you are in
-cannot click objects though pause, double speed and skip to dawn button
-cannot click objects though all view toggle buttons
-main in game base menu ribbon has new colour scheme for edit floors and sell buttons to make more functionally distinct
-updated labels and thermal imaging key, including csv sourced labels and position more inset
-phone call texts only appear in english language
-shopkeepers show correct particles when fading out at night
-correct position of missing plant 1 text reputation alert
-fewer coffee spills
-reduce rate of new job applicants each day
-update footbridge to have ramps for wheelchair users
-added check boxes in display options to turn on and off positive and negative reputation text alert coming from commuters if you prefer less visual clutter
-balance time umbrella kept up
-fix possible bug with GUI locking up when hovering on staff then moving into open build window then selecting sell
-correct number of bonds remaining in stations (requires new network start). No longer shows un-earnable bond at end of every map.
-prevent GUI locking up when starting to move an object but then move over a GUI element before entering full movement mode
-newspapers do not draw correctly if floor focus on other level
-cannot highlight tunnels or entrances with reputation heatmaps on
-fixed labelling on main menu ribbon
-ticket machine numeric labels corrected
-sell mode toggles correctly with hotkey.
-changing edit, sculpt and sell mode in rep heatmap mode correctly toggles them off
-correct uniform draw hat while healing
-recover saves with corrupt lifts (corrupt lifts sold)
-address rare crash when selling control rooms
-rotate toggles off floor focus to prevent issues
-reputation correctly recorded as negative
-thermal imaging camera description
-commuter status icons correctly anchored at a better height over their heads
-minor reduction in ad rate
-toggle reputation text alert also prevents numerical rep particles (-1, +1)
-cannot hover on track when heatmap modes on
-atm ad costs 1 bond
-fixed reputation recording errors eg. Positive rep recorded as incorrect negative rep and vice versa, gloom and fumes were miss-classed
-selecting build when in heatmap will not turn on thermal
-reset price heatmap in the morning
-remove many textures
-staff uniform lockers available out of sandbox mode, at earlier tech gates (restart network/station required)
-available at start tech items will consider price when setting availability status when in tech tree
-update thermal messages
-prevent crash when hat wearing uniformed staff use tool when certain directions while static
-corrected bond prices to make all tech gates even, correctly prevent 1 bond remaining on certain zones (restart network required)
-20 new staff hair cuts/facial hair/glasses, and new body types
-fixed brute punch terminating correctly on double speed, therefore allowing them to be arrested
-internal debug changes for trailer capture
-fixes issue when saving and loading lifts. Certain permutations of multiple lifts on different floors were failing to configure correctly, causing flow check fail and lift back ups. Should be fixed. However, if you notice any issues like there when a lift is correctly configured but not behaving, sell it and rebuild. It should then operate ok following your next save/load cycle but if not, let me know.
-debug, shows net reputation in station summary
-updated nav grid behaviour in lifts. This prevents staff, in certain rare layouts, staff walking through the side of lifts, into the void, and despawning.
-add tutorial pop up when lifts are first available.
-vomit sprite randomised
-removed tip urging plant building in staff rooms as no longer possible
-litter affects refuse heatmap in tutorial
-rare glitch caused by half a sofa save/loading fixed (sofa removed)
-corrections to tutorial pop ups causing issue in tutorial build 408-410
-update text on cotd button hover (english)
-correctly save use of flow finder option
-correct rare issue with incorrectly saved escalators, removed on save/load cycle
-remove queue complaint
-reduce distance between commuter while queueing
-marginal reduction in commuter speed
-increase max queue number to 15
-add display option to toggle hide hud on steam screenshot
-lift cfg is simplified. Only 1 way on and 1 way out is possible. Cfg panel with clearer labelling and floors. Changed lift max capacity. Increased lift speed between floors with no doors.
-lifts show GUI alert if they are not configured correctly
-added lift tutorial
-update female steward hat origin by 1 px
-fix plant prestige requesting plant in tech gate 3 error
-fix rare wall glitch cancelling a room build action which left a half wall remaining depending on position of mouse in room when you pressed cancel, could lead to very strange room/wall issues
-increased max tutorial tracker array to enable all contextual tutorials that may have been missing
-fixed all known achievement issues
-fix define hide HUD crash
-fix check tutorial array dimension crash.
-change pigeon on spawn and depth
-sofa immovable
-update pigeon spawn on menu
-update sell cost of broken ticket machine and character spacing on sell
-updates to pigeon spawn in menu
-loading screenshots
-staff getting tool alert is pink
-corrected ad names
-thermal camera functions on seated commuters
-perceptions delayed when leaving lift
-revert staff heal behaviour
-update tutorial bond cost for carriage
-update lift config window area to include config instructions
-account for gross refuse in lifetime profit
-correct locker tech tree label
-do not show loading screen when load complete
-remove bind staff member 10 remap as can only hire 9
-prevent rare cursor to grid crash during load process
-update staff window scrolling heights to fits all staff in uniforms and to better fit in schedules/priorities
-correct position scroll bar on job priorities and schedules tab
-correct position of autorest toggle on top row schedules to not get cut off by 2 px
-updated csv to reflect health threshold functionality correctly
-add rep movement penalty for maps and ads
-commuters change depth into phone box correctly
-correct issue placing sofa (and some other 2 celled objects?) Erroneously giving red blocking object error but allowing placement
-corrected issue reporting incorrect values for bins and plants when sell
-commute of the day money will be set correctly after playing a sandbox infinite money
-fixed rep reporting on station summary
-lockers, toilets, fruit and veg do not report on power chart
-lifts do not state they use power
-update pause spillage icon descriptors
-updated punch and fall down commuter modulators
-correct plant 3 labelling
- commute of the day starts with correct money after sandbox
-end scenarios at end of day correctly (prevent late starting ones going on forever)
-do not save on complete or autosave unless fully loaded
- commute of the day autosave enabled
-plant cursor labelling fixed
-scenarios correctly end at end of day
-fast forward doesn’t make seated commuters stand on bench if just loaded
-added planes in sky
-update all languages
-lower plant level needs met by higher level plants
-update brute icon to yellow.
-added back in overcrowded icon.
-updated commuter contextual tutorials to use current commuter sprites
-new staff room walls
-updated stock 3 train livery
-can move wheelies if full
-tracks and rooms will flash green when selling
-added colours to action text when building/editing to match buttons
-add manual deploy to food trolley action
-add stamina buff on food trolley use
-correctly added crowded status icon
-force 1 or x2 dpi scaling
-food trolley boosts stamina no strength