Hi All! We just released the latest update to the game, here is a full list of the changes:
1) [Bug] Fixed crash bug when dragging production line route placer off the map.
2) [Bug] Fixed bug where queued research could disappear and be untriggerable if requirements not met.
3) [GUI] Various usability improvements to the research queue and R&D screen.
4) [SFX] Factory sounds now controlled by SFX volume, and muted during research.
5) [Bug] Fixed bug where after reloading the same games, some cars were invisible at certain zoom levels.
6) [Tutorial] Hint now given if player has not done any research after producing 10 cars.
7) [Graphics] Added a bunch more machine animations for the metalpresses.
8) [Feature] Pickup truck is a new body style option!
9) [Simulation] Sports Cars, Compacts & pickups now require half as many seats.
10) [Bug] Fixed bug where wingmirror painted layers were not painted the right color.
11) [Balance] Adjustments to AI competition and component price variation.
12) [Bug] Fixed bug preventing dragging scrollbars vertically.
This was more of a content than a code patch, but there are some usability improvements in there, plus some balancing stuff. I know the prices and AI-competition need some further adjustment, and I'm aware of some path-finding that isn't working 100% right, plus a list of GUI improvements I want to get in to improve the usability, like telling the player when a luxury car is now only considered mid-range, and so-on...
The next big feature we will work on will be the hybrid/electric power-train, so that we can give those as options, which might involve a fair bit of time due to code/art/testing and design requirements.
Thanks to everyone playing the game during beta, and thank-you for leaving such awesome reviews on the store pages, as these are really helpful to us.
Here is the new pickup truck, hope you like it :D Also look out for the animated metal presses!
Version 1.33 uploaded. here are the changes
Some much-wanted, and kinda cool stuff went in this week. Enjoy :D
[version 1.33]
1) [GUI] The current object under the cursor that will be deleted with a right click, is now highlighted in red.
2) [GUI] You can now place down a slot directly on top of an existing conveyor facing the right way.
3) [SFX] New Sound effects for various things. Ambient sounds scale, slot placement sounds depend on size. Conveyor & car sounds.
4) [GUI] You can now drag a conveyor through an existing slot without the conveyor trying to path around it.
5) [Balance] Changes to the way customers evaluate car values, and more customers at very low prices.
6) [Graphics] Design studio now has dedicated design employees using yo-yos :D.
7) [Simulation] Customers now giove you feedback if a car lacks enough features and is below spec for their needs.
8) [Bug] Fixed crash bug when placing research in some circumstances.
9) [Tutorial] Various tutorial UI improvements.
10) [Bug] Fixed bug where resource importers next to car conveyor belts could give incorrect wrong direction errors.
11) [Bug] Fixed crash bug when starting second game mid-game then clicking on research.
12) [Graphics] Fixed some Z-order anomalies that resulted in overlapping graphics on some slots.
13) [Balance] Adjusted competitiveness of AI.
14) [Balance] Rent of locked factory lots now rises and falls based on level of competition.
15) [Graphics] Drying slots now have single large fans instead of four mini ones. They also animate :D.
16) [Feature] Game Over screen now cannot be closed by ESC, and offers 'crisis' loan if some are available.
17) [GUI] Factory slot windows now have an 'upgrade all' button, plus green tick icon if currently installed.
18) [GUI] Improvements to fonts resulting in better text rendering in lots of places.
We should be getting a new pickup truck added in soon, and after that I'll be designing the way we can add different car engine types, such as hybrid and electric, to the game. That might involve a fair bit of code, but hopefully will be really cool :D.
Don't forget to vote on our priorities, and if you enjoy the game, leaving a review is much appreciated :D
Version 1.32 released. Customer & GUI improvements
Hi again, we just released a new build of the game. here is the full changelist:
[version 1.32]
1) [Balance] The load-balancing algorithm between resource importers has been tweaked to distribute imports more widely.
2) [Bug] Fixed issue where some combined resources (like heated & folding wingmirrors) did not get pre-stocked in the necessary quantities.
3) [Simulation] Changes to the way customers are simulated. They now have target budgets and can cross price & model boundaries and give better feedback. They also consider multiple potential cars.
4) [GUI] Some more resources have been nested under parents in the selection GUI for supply stockpiles.
5) [Bug] Fixed some bugs where the sliders on supply stockpiles could result in a lack of refunds, or phantom resource orders.
6) [GUI] Added day indicator to the in-game clock.
7) [GUI] Drop down lists now support scrollbars.
8) [Performance] Another speedup for pathfinding.
9) [Bug] Fixed it so a few tech upgrades that also applied to manufacturing slots still get the 'edit models' button on the research complete dialog.
10) [AI] AI competition levels now start earlier, and scale in.
11) [GUI] Finance screen now shows operating profit distinct from raw profit.
12) [Achievements] The High efficiency achievement trigger has been made higher.
13) [Tutorial] Some slots get temporarily greyed out during the tutorial now.
14) [GUI] Improvements to the usability of the resource conveyor placer.
15) [GUI] New GUI animations show difference between potential import and exit slots.
Hopefully seeing operating profit helps run your car company better, and we think the tweaks to AI competitors along with the changes to how customers choose cars is going to be noticeable. There is a chance that we have really dramatically sped up large factory game processing too.
We recently appeared at the EGX game show and have a lot of GUI and tutorial feedback for the game, so the next week is likely to concentrate on that. After that goes in Along with new sound effects), we have pickup trucks coming, and some more animation stuff :D
If you are enjoying the game, please leave a positive review so we know :D
1.31 released. Big update. here are the changes!
OOk...we tweaked a LOT:
1) [Bug] Fixed problem where features restricted to a body style, such as bullbars, could become essential for all body styles.
2) [Balance] Loan terms are now half the previous length.
3) [GUI] Production line placer now shows predicted cost on red background if too expensive, and cancels build to prevent you going bankrupt by accident.
4) [Bug] Fixed bug where cars could get stuck at aircon slot if it came after an un-upgraded fit accessories slot and before a fit dashboard slot.
5) [Bug] Fixed bug where vehicle design colors were not saved and loaded correctly.
6) [Performance] Various optimisations for super large factories with low end CPUs, or single/dual core CPUs.
7) [Bug] Fixed graphical glitch where stockpiles did not always remove old graphics in some circumstances.
8) [Bug] Fixed error where the efficiency screen showed car sales/hour instead of production.
9) [Feature] Car design facility can now be researched and placed, with its own separate tech tree GUI to unlock car body styles in parallel with normal research.
Thats a big change. we basically have a new min i tech tree accessible when you place down an all-new and exciting design studio facility!
10) [GUI] Top strip interface now less overcrowded on small resolutions.
11) [GUI] Research facility pop-up dialog now formatted like the tech tree.
12) [GUI] Changing screen resolution now issues a warning dialog if you are mid-game.
13) [GUI] Cleaner design for the explanatory windows on the task picker, plus this now shows more data for some facilities.
14) [Tutorial] Added tutorial popup that explains car colors GUI.
15) [GUI] Finance graph now shown on the game over screen when you go bankrupt.
16) [GUI] Research complete screen now disables 'upgradeall' button if it would cause bankruptcy.
17) [GUI] Unlockable zones now have distinct icons to click and unlock, rather than the entire zone area.
That was much requested. you now get special icons like these:
18) [GUI] Market matrix now has better tooltips that give advice on production and pricing strategies.
19) [Bug] Locked car colors no longer assigned in random color cases.
20) [SFX] Added some more placeholder GUI sfx.
21) [GUI] The supply stockpile 'copy slot' GUI now also copies resource requirements for any unlocked upgrades available for that slot.
This should make the copy slot button much much more useful.
22) [GUI] Unlock zone dialog now shows total rent.
23) [GUI] The create button on the car design window now copies all the existing cars option settings.
Another usability improvement which reduces needless clicking when copying a design to make a premium version...
24) [GUI] Research complete window now stays open until you have visited both car design (if appropriate) and research windows (if needed).
25) [GUI] Body style/production scheduler GUI on the slot details window is now much more obvious and appealing.
26) [GUI] Added stock levels and sales per hour stats to the car design window.
27) [Feature] Heated steering wheel.
Lots of usability improvements in this build. Expect the next build (which may be a few weeks due to holiday & showing the game at EGX) to be more focused on the economy and customer purchase complexity.
Build 1.30 released. The changes...
We noticed some people had a crash bug that was fixed in build 1.30, so we released that yesterday ahead of schedule to fix it. here are the other changes and new content:
[version 1.30]
1) [GUI] Upgrade all button on research complete dialog now has cost in tooltip.
2) [GUI] Research button tooltip now also displays the research queue items.
3) [GUI] You can now add items to the research queue that cannot currently be researched, due to predecessors not being researched yet.
4) [GUI] Manufacturing slots now show how many and what components they produce on the pop-up window.
5) [Bug] Manufacturing facilities now do not commence work if the number of free export slots is less than their output, if they have output > 1.
6) [Feature] Different body styles now have a different distribution of market share across each price category. So few budget sports cars etc.
7) [Content] Sports car body style, with new open top option.
8) [Bug] Fixed crash bug when opening the achievements dialog from the main menu before starting a game.
9) [Feature] Color picker on car design window assigns color(s) for each model. Some colors unlocked through the achievements system.
As for that last item, the colors are not saving and loading right, but we have fixed this ready for the next update.
Update notes for build1.29 (17th August)
Hi there! We patched the game last night and I was too tired to post the changes then...but here they are!
1) [Bug] Customers now reflect body-style market size correctly as well as the cost-band (which already worked).
2) [Feature] New layout for achievements, and 12 new achievements.
3) [Bug] Fixed issue where some car components were rendered wrongly when slightly zoomed out.
4) [Bug] Changed design screen so you can no longer select an upgrade (like climate control) dependent on an upgrade (like aircon) which was not selected. Old designs may still have this issue.
5) [Bug] Fixed issue where some of the smaller marketing boosts didn't have an effect on customer numbers in the correct fashion.
6) [Redesign] Changed the resource production and fitting system so that resources are now fully descriptive without those tooltips explaining extra features.
7) [Simulation] Changed the way slot stockpiles work so they only ever queue up 4 car loads of resources, as one measure to prevent blocking.
8) [GUI] Sales matrix entries now have a tooltip to show which of your car designs are in each category.
9) [Bug] Fixed bug where the tooltips for cars in the showroom reported stock numbers for that body style, not specific design.
10) [GUI] Added a horizontal scrollbar to the top of the vehicle design browser to make it easier and clearer to navigate.
11) [Simulation] Improved the algorithm controlling the way resource stockpiles maintain stock.
12) [Translation] Added French Language.
13) [Feature] Added new research queue feature with GUI at top right of R&D screen.
14) [Feature] Premium music added as a new researchable feature.
15) [Feature] In-car music now requires a speaker component.
16) [GUI] Clicking the large image of the selected car in the showroom screen now opens the design browser at that car design.
17) [Balance] Adjusted frequency at which the AI calculates the appropriate level of competition.
18) [Bug} fixed some occasional issues wwhere the pricing and the price category of some vehicles would seem to get out of synch.
19) [Performance] Fixed a memory leak that could cause slow performance on long games with big layouts.
Apart from the premium sound systems, achievements and French language support a lot of this stuff is 'behind the scones' but hopefully you are noticing improvements to the games balance and usability with each patch. Thanks for continuing to support and play the game!
Updated to build 1.28 (August 1st 2017)
1) [Gfx] Glossier rendering of cars.(optional)
This is the new shiny shader for final painted cars. I don't think it has much of a performance hit but you can turn it off if it does on your particular setup.
2) [Features] Added bullbars as a feature, and support for style-specific features.
3) [Features] Added 4x4/AWD/Offroad body style.
4) [Feature] Car body styles now each have their own variable market share, rather than being equal.
5) [Bug] Fixed bug where you could place some office facilities so they stuck out of an office zone.
6) [Performance] Boost for routefinding speeds on larger factories.
You may not notice as difference, but if you have big setups and a low-spec PC (CPU-wise) it should be rather noticeable.
7) [Balance] Sunroof & panoramic sunroof increased fitting/resource/production/feature costs.
8) [GUI] New icons on research screen for in-car music, aluminium body and voice recognition.
9) [Bug] Fixed a bug where the sales matrix and the charts reported wrong number of hourly sales for each model.
10) [Feature] Aluminium bodies now require new aluminium resource, more time and more expensive upgrade cost.
11) [Feature] In-car music now requires a speaker, and is worth more.
12) [Feature] Voice recognition now requires a microphone and is worth more.
Basically a lot of balance stuff, and some new resource requirements to increase the variety and complexity of the production line.
13) [Feature] Stockpiles now only remove old(unused) components now if room is needed, as they may be needed for the next car.
This fixes a long standing but quite obscure bug, and makes them work better when the car model going through the slot keeps changing.
14) [Feature] Edge scrolling on map can now be turned off under options.
15) [Bug] A bunch of bug fixes and improvements for the level editor.
16) [Tutorial] Added a tutorial pop-up the first time you place an office in a non office location or vice versa.
17) [Bug] Fixed bug where progress of individual slot tasks didn't seem to pause correctly when the game was paused.
18) [GUI] Improved the usefulness of the data shown in tooltips in the showroom screen.
I got rid of the thoughts of customers looking for a different budget range or body style, and added in data on the current number of that design in stock, and the current price markup for that design.
19) [Feature] Supply stockpiles now have configurable imports.
This is a bit experimental. Its not locked, so you can use it immediately. I might lock it behind the same research for slots in the next patch. This lets you determine on a per-resource basis, where a supply stockpile tries to get its inputs from, and its handy if you want to combine local production with supply stockpiles.
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Hope you like the new update to the game. There are definitely some economics model and customer-modelling issues I need to work on to make the game more balanced and interesting. This was a bit of a 'features' update with a bunch of new stuff, but the next one will be balancing, probably some customer-related stuff, maybe new achievements. With any luck I didn't break anything with this build, and the performance should definitely be getting better with each patch.
Updated to 1.27, 19th July
Here we have version 1.27! The big updates are the introduction of proper marketing campaigns, and a new feature where we restrict the positioning of offices (marketing and research) to be in defined 'green' zones. This may cause you some headaches with existing layouts, so sorry about that!
We also add 2 new wing mirror techs, and a bunch of major balancing fixes, optimisations and GUI improvements. Full list:
1) [Design] Touchscreen is now an upgrade for fit dashboard instead of fit electronics.
2) [Bug] Fixed bug where the AI would be very reluctant to research air conditioning or polished paintwork.
3) [Bug] Placing facilities and slots is now correctly recorded as a capital expenditure in expenses charts.
4) [Bug] Bubble next to car sales icon now expands to show numbers greater than 999 correctly.
5) [Bug] Fixed visual bug where scrolling in the sales showroom resulted in invisible cars.
6) [Balance] Research costs of some later-game research items have been increased.
7) [GUI] Various improvements to the style scheduler window.
8) [Feature] Marketing campaigns can now be launched to boost brand awareness, and thus visits to the showrooms.
9) [Bug] Fixed crash bug if the game autosaves within a minute of a manual save, the next time the save dialog was launched.
10) [Bug] Fixed bug in slot-picker where expand icon buttons (+/-) would not unlock when research triggered if slot picker was open.
11) [Bug] Fixed bug where the market screen doesnt show the correct market segment of cars until you have viewed them in the car design screen.
12) [Bug] Fixed bug where cars would have a red error message on them if the next slot was a really long conveyor journey away.
13) [GUI] The style scheduler at the start of the production line now lets you edit existing quantities of entries.
14) [Feature] Wingmirrors can now be manufactured, and also have folding and heated upgrades.
15) [Balance] Costs of wingmirrors and alloy wheels has gone up. Making alloy wheels requires more steel.Keyless entry worth more, requires 2 chips.
16) [Balance] Resource prices are now affected by demand from AI competitors.
17) [Balance] Crossing up to a new price category now produces a 'bump' in value which prevents pricing anomalies.
18) [Tutorial] New pop-up explains what to do when you have researched a new body style.
19) [Balance] Increased price of last robot upgrade so its less of a no-brainer upgrade. Also slight increase in power-draw.
20) [Feature] Offices (marketing and research) can now only be placed in office areas zoned on the map. Non office items cannot be placed there.
Hope you like the update! let me know what you think.
Version 1.26 released, July 8th
We just released a new build, here is a complete changelist:
1) [Bug] Fixed issue where some rapid-processing slots seemed to trigger resource-needed when this was not true, and behaved differently if observed.
2) [Performance] Sped up frame rate when placing a new slot.
3) [Bug] Fixed issue where sun roof was universal and panoramic sunroof was not considered an acceptable substitute.
4) [Bug] Fixed bug where sometimes certain slots would refuse to be placed and show as red even when they are placed correctly.
5) [Bug] Fixed bug where the designs of cars in the showroom may be scrambled during a save and load in some situations.
6) [Performance] An improved level of performance in very large factories.
7) [Performance] Major speedup opening the sales screen when there are vast numbers of cars in stock.
8) [GUI] Make Engine Block now sits under Make Engine Assembly in the slot menu.
9) [GUI] Red tooltips for resource items with special features now hidden if behind a window.
10) [Bug] Fixed timing bug where a resource importer always imported immediately after resuming the game.
11) [Bug} Where feasible a production slot now only uses a resource object with the correct set of upgrades (like stop start engine) rather than choosing randomly.
12) [Feature] Marketing can now be researched & facilities placed which generate ideas, but cannot actually be used yet.
I'll be doing another blog video tomorrow to talk about the changes and what comes next. This is a bit of a bug-fix and interim update while we start getting going on adding marketing to the game, obviously proper functionality will be in the next patch, plus a few long overdue GUI bug fixes. We have a new car model being worked on, and a long list of other features in the pipeline. Don't forget to vote in the latest features-poll, and to rate the current build as you do so.
Version 1.25 released 24th June
Here are this weeks changes:
1) [GUI] Added new mini progress bar for research under the research button on main screen.
2) [GUI] The showroom tooltips show number of customers who viewed each car.
3) [Performance] 8.1% faster now on the main factory screen, especially for large factories.
4) [Translation] Added current versions of crowdsourced Spanish & German language translations.
5) [Feature] 2 New researchable manufacturing upgrades: Rapid Panel Stamping and Advanced Glass Processing.
6) [GUI] Added new window under showroom button which shows the current market breakdown of sales and market share.
7) [Bug] Fixed issue where showroom car models could be the wrong size.
8) [Alpha] Added user-ratings to main menu.
9) [Balance] Changes to some numbers to reflect less customers, but more likely to purchase.
10) [GUI] Design screen now auto-pauses the game.
11) [Balance] Chips, sensors & servos are now 25% more expensive to buy, and correspondingly harder to make. Features adjusted accordingly.
12) [Balance] Engine block manufacture time reduced.
13) [Balance] Values of a number of features increased.
14) [Balance] Panoramic sunroof now requires more glass plus a servo motor.
15) [Balance] Bluetooth phone support now requires a chip.
16) [Balance] Leather interior now takes longer to research and much longer to fit, and is worth more.
17) [Balance] Competition now drives up wages. (not currently exposed to the player).
18) [Bug] Fixed some confusing and wrong reporting of income and profit on the finance summary screen.
I'm on holiday (gasp!) from next Tuesday so there will be a skipped week regarding new updates. After that its straight into marketing stuff, unless there are urgent bugs. I know the balance is not right, cars are too cheap, and high-end cars lack the necessary features (leather steering wheel, cabin lighting, high-end speakers etc), but I want basic marketing in so we have enough of the 'core features' of the game before I start tweaking all the numbers. A discussion about potential marketing features is here:
