Rec Center Tycoon
January update
I want to talk a bit about what I've been doing and what's planned in the near future.
Over the last month I've been focusing quite a bit on performance optimising, mostly rewriting intensive background processes and GUI elements.
I'm happy to say that between patch 0.2.0 & this latest patch 0.2.2, average framerates have increased by about 20-25%, making the game run better on lower end hardware, there is still plenty of optimisation to be done however!
I haven't been overly active this last month because I took a bit of a break over the christmas period but I'm now back in full swing.
I've uploaded a new patch today that adds a few new pieces of gym equipment, adds a few new emotes, some new options & changes to customer AI during events, in addition to fixing a few major bugs and crashes.
The full list of patch notes is available on the title screen in-game.
So what's coming next?
Firstly, more optimisation!
The framerate can take a significant hit during late-game when you have a lot of customers & things going on. There is still a lot that can be done to speed the game up.
Also I'm planning more work on events. A better system for event reviews, more variety & ways to customise them etc.
Food quality is also planned to go along with the event updates. A highly skilled cook at the moment just increases cooking speed, but soon cooking skill will also affect the quality of food being served at the cafe & buffet. As you might imagine, this can lead to things like better/worse reviews or customers getting sick.
2 new 'Techs' will also be added to the research tree in the next major patch that will unlock some spicy new additions.
Thank you for your patience! ^.^
Quick update
Just a quick one this time.
So I had a big update that I had been planning to release today that fixes a few major issues & many small ones, overhauls the save system to make saves transferrable between PCs and includes some new equipment and a new zone.
However A few days ago I noticed the game engines compiler wasn't working. I could test the game but I couldn't compile it into a version that I can upload to steam.
I spent the last few days doing everything I could to try & fix it. The good news is I've got it working now but it did set me back a few days worth of dev time so I need to push back the update a little longer.
I should have the full update out by next week.
Thanks for your patience! :)
Week 6 Update
I'm about overdue for an update so I want to let you know about what my plans are for the next couple weeks.
In addition to normal routine bug fixes & Quality of Life improvements, I'm planning 2 major changes.
I apologise in advance if these get a little technical.
The first thing I want to talk about is the way saving/loading works.
There's a major issue with the way the save system works that I only discovered the day before release. Save files can only be loaded on the PC that they were saved on.
This happens because of an odd quirk of the game engine I'm using. There's a great little built in function to securely save grids to a data file that my game uses. Unfortunately what the documentation didn't mention is that these files an only be opened on the PC that saved them.
Meaning things like Cloud Saving is impossible and you can't copy saves from one PC to another. This is a huge issue for me too since I can't have users send me their saved files to help diagnose bugs.
My top priority is to not break current saves. So i'm planning to fix this in such a way that it will be invisible to users and all their saves will continue functioning as normal.
Once this is fixed, transfering saves from one PC to another will be possible.
The second major change is with an issue that causes a fairly big performance slowdown on large Rec Centers & having a lot of 'building plans' up at once.
The issue is that pre-built plans like walls, tiles & pools are very performance intensive.
Each unfinished wall/tile is about as performance intensive as a customer or piece of equipment.
Building a somewhat small 10 by 10 room creates 100x 'building plan' objects & has the same performance impact as an additional 100 customers in your Rec Center.
So if you're building a large 30 by 20 room, you're adding 600 objects to your Rec Center which causes a lot of slowdown until they're built.
I did this originally just because it was much simpler & faster to implement, without considering the performance impact it might have on mid-low range PCs or when you're trying to build very large amounts of walls/floors at once.
In the next week or so I'm going to overhaul the way this works, so that a pre-built floor will have the same performance impact as a regular floor tile.
This will result in a massive performance increase for many users.
I know both of these things aren't particularly interesting features but they're both extremely necessary changes that need to be done.
Having the game run smoothly for everyone who plays is my top priority right now.
Thank you for your patience!
Week 2: Zones Overhaul
This week, I'm going to overhaul the way zones work.
This has been a much requested upgrade as the current method of placing zones is pretty janky & limited.
For example, it's not really possible to have a zone that functions as a customer swimming pool & a swim class.
It's possible to overlay different zone types on top of each other which can cause many bugs & problems.
But the biggest downside is they are strictly limited to squares/rectangles, this is because they work on a coordinates system. With the current method, each zone uses 4 variables to determine its size & location. 2 variables determine the x/y positions on the map & 2 determine the width & height of the zone. This is why they are forced into rectangles and why it will be no quick, simple task to upgrade it.
So I'm basically going to start from scratch on the whole zone system and make it work based on a single giant grid.
There are huge benefits to this, not only will zones have the possibly to take any shape imaginable, it will be much simpler to expand upon it in the future & be less prone to bugs.
I'm also going to add the ability to give your zones custom names, so they won't all have to be named boring things like Classroom 2.
Zones will also work a little differently, instead of placing a bunch of different zone types, you'll now place a single generic zone type, then customise it how you like.
This won't be a quick update, I'll need to change the way events, classes & anything that uses zones works.
So this coming week probably won't get the same daily bug fix updates as the last 2 weeks since I'll need to change a whole lot of things to accommodate the new zone system.
My aim is to keep current saved games compatible once I roll out this big update however all your current zones will disappear & you'll need to remake them in the new system.
So, short of finding any game-breaking bugs, there won't be 'daily updates' for a little while until this is finished.
If you have any suggestions or requests in regards to the 'zones overhaul', leave a comment on this post & I'll take a look at any ideas.
Here's a mock-up of how the new zone selection may work:
Week 1 update
It's been a full week now since EA launch & it's been a super busy week!
I had a goal of releasing at least 1 patch every day, fixing as many issues as I could, which I've managed to stick to pretty well.
There is still a lot to be done however, so for at least another few weeks there won't really be any big new features being added.
I plan to stick to the patch-per-day thing until the bug reports start to dry up.
I knew there would be a whole lot of undiagnosed bugs which would affect many players during the launch weeks, despite this the feedback has been amazing.
I want to thank everyone who has written a review (even the negative ones, they were all justified too!), I've read every single one & they helped a great deal with the stress that comes with launching a project you've spent years working on, into the public.
For the first 5 days after release I was basically waking up & started fixing bug reports until I went to bed.
I'm going to take the weekend off & relax for a couple days, so if I don't respond to any posts for a few days, don't worry! I'll try to get to them all after the weekend.
Thank you all for your support!
Day 2 Development Update
Fair warning; this might get long & pretty technical!
I spent about 10 hours straight today working out a way to fix this "crash to desktop" error with no error log.
This was tricky because 90% of players were completely unaffected by it, but for the 10% it did affect, the game was basically unplayable. There was no error log & I had nothing to go by because it didn't happen on my PC. With help from a user, I figured out it was related to invalid accessing of grids.
Learning that helped, but not too much because the game uses dozens of grids that are accessed every second.
After about 4 more hours of a painstaking process of elimination I figured out the main cause of this crash was something very simple:
When a member or premium member use a piece of equipment, they gain a bonus to their mood if they are in a member exclusive area. If they aren't in a member area, it reports back that they are in zone number -1, which is a problem because the zone list ranges from 0-12.
When small things like this happen, most PCs ignore the issue and the game continues as normal. But for some, it instantly crashes the game.
This isn't exclusive to this grid bug however.
I've noticed that some users can play for 8 hours straight and never experience a crash, while others get unique crashes every half an hour.
I believe this issue is related to which Windows Redistributables the user has.
You can learn about what these are here.
Certain programming functions require certain redistributables to work correctly.
I've been unable to recreate most of the bug reports I receive because I have all the necessary Redistributables.
Lucky for me, Steam has functions built in to choose which of these are necessary to run the game. So I've ticked a few common ones that should fix many issues people are having!
Steam should automatically install these for the user.
Hopefully now the game will feel much more stable for many users!
Day 1 update
It's been a little over 10 hours since Early-Access went live & I've probably had more bug reports today than in the last month of beta testing which is great because I've fixed a number of potential crashes that have been reported to me.
The first few days of an EA release are always a bit rough in regards to bugs.
Right now the plan going forward will be hopefully a new bug-fix patch every day or two.
So for at least the first few weeks there likely won't be any major or exciting new features being added because getting the game in a stable & bug-free state is absolutely critical.
Thank you to everyone who has submitted bug reports, suggestions or given feedback <3
August update + release date
It's update time & I've got some good news!
I've chosen September 6th as the Early Access release date! So a roughly 3 weeks from now.
I've settled on $12USD as the price however the first week will include a 20% discount.
Which means for the first week the price will be $9.60usd. After that first week the discount will end & the price will rise back up to $12.
I've also uploaded a new trailer which you can check out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0xssg1r5Pw
So what's been going on in the 6 weeks since the last update?
Mostly I've just been fixing bugs & taking in feedback from the small selection of beta testers.
However there have been a couple major changes.
First, I've overhauled the tech tree which you may have seen briefly in the new trailer, or check out this screenshot here:
Another fairly major addition is that at any time in-game now, you can press M on your keyboard to take control of your manager.
Using the WASD keys you can move your manager around & manually complete a variety of tasks such as repairing equipment, watering plants, emptying bins, restocking vending machines etc..
This aspect of the game is entirely optional and up to the player and you can eventually research the ability to have your manager automatically complete these tasks.
Other than that, it's just been bug fixing & balance tuning.
Thanks to all the people following along with development, especially those who have been waiting over 2 years. :)
Also big thanks to my beta testers for all the bugs found so far!
Lastly, don't forget to add to wishlist if you haven't already to you get an email notification on release.
Quick June Progress Update + Beta info
I think another update is just about overdue.
Since last update I've mostly just been testing over & over. Doing things like leaving the game running for a few hours, coming back to see if any NPCs manage to get themselves stuck etc.. also trying to break the game in any way that I can.
In addition to a massive amount of playtesting & debugging, I've added a few new pieces of gym equipment, a few new objects, redrawn a bunch of sprites (since I'm starting to get a little better at that).
Also a bit of work on a new trailer.
Anyway, I've got a bit of good news!
It's time for another small beta test (hopefully the last one). I have a small handful of 5 or so beta keys to give out to anyone interested in doing some playtesting.
I need people willing to report bugs, submit screenshots of any bugs/issues & provide general feedback. Preferably people experienced with other business management/tycoon games.
So if you're interested in this, please comment below with your PC specs & the version of Windows you're using.
Also I'd love at least one tester with a 4k monitor.
I'll check back a little later & choose a few people mostly based on getting a good diversity of PC specs, if selected, I'll dm you a beta key & add you to friends.
A note to previous beta testers:
All earlier beta testers will still have access to this test, however due to major technical overhauls your old save files won't work.
Edit:
I'm going to leave this post up as I plan to keep this beta going until release and slowly invite a couple more players every now & then as necessary.
So if you don't get an invite right away, don't worry too much. :)
Edit 2:
Thanks for your posts everyone, I have enough beta testers to choose from.
See you all at launch! :D
April Progress Update
So lets get right into it :D
What's new since last update?
- Calendar
Managing events is now greatly simplified with an in-game calendar listing upcoming events like parties & classes. Check the attached screenshot at the bottom to get an idea of how this looks.
I mentioned in the January update that I've added a random events system to occasionally throw the player a curve-ball & shake things up a bit.
I've added a few more potential random events:
- Power Outages
Not a major problem if it happens but it can disrupt some things and keep you on your toes.
- Drug dealers
Wouldn't it be awful if your wholesome, family friendly Rec Center had a problem with illegal performance enhancing drugs?!
Should a customer report this to you, it's up to you to play detective to find & ban the dealer before it hurts your reputation & leads to bad reviews.
Now, for the final major feature I'm implementing before release:
- Instructors & Fitness Classes
Since the last update I've been very hard at work on the final major feature
I plan to introduce before Early-Access release.
This is a feature I've been planning for at least 2 years now but didn't really have the framework
in place to implement it well but through my various code rewrites, I finally
came up with a good method to add this.
How it works:
So, in addition to hiring traditional worker employees, you can now hire instructors to teach fitness classes.
You can hire up to 6 instructors at once but be warned, if you hire an instructor & don't give them any work for a while, they might just up and quit their job.
Instructors aren't paid an hourly wage like a normal employee but are paid a flat fee per class based on a few things like their reputation, skills, the type of class etc..
Once you hire an instructor and have built a classroom with all the necessary equipment, you can then open the calendar & select a date to host your class.
From there, you choose things like which type of class you want your instructor to teach.
There will be 4 classes to choose from at launch, the 4 types are:
- Aerobics
- Yoga
- Boxing
- Swimming
You can also choose the length of the class, the room it takes place in & how much it will cost per customer.
Once the class is hosted and is listed as an upcoming event on the calendar, it's up to your customers to decide if they want to sign up for it.
Various factors go into whether or not customers will sign up for the class. Some of these include the price, the length, the reputation & attributes of your instructor.
If nobody likes your instructor & you charge too much, very few will sign up for the class & it won't be profitable.
Classes take time for customers to sign up, so it's important to host your classes well in advance to give time for them to fill up.
Much like with normal employees, instructors will get better at their jobs over time & gain reputation making signups more common.
What's still left to finish?
- Over the next month or two I'll be overhauling the steam page, adding new screenshots & updating the description.
Also I'll soon be beginning work on a new updated trailer since the current one is horribly out of date.
- Yet more bug fixing.
There's a million variables to look out for with this type of game, for example:
- What happens if you block an entrance to a class just before it starts
- What happens if you start bulldozing a pool while customers are swimming in it
- What if there's a blackout while a customer is on a treadmill
- What happens if a customer needs to pee and you sell the last toilet before they reach it
these examples basically go on forever..
Many of these "what if's" result in crashes, so basically I need to test, test & test some more in thinking up ways to break the game & fix it before players encounter the bugs.
For this, I'll have another small closed beta period but the details of this will come soon.
The Future
I've been internally looking at a couple of potential release dates which I can't really share more about just yet but they're not far off.
Since basically all of my programming time now will be spent not on adding new features, but instead on bug fixing, polishing & optimising the game it should not be too much longer. (I know I've said that before but for real this time!)
It's been 2 years & 1 month since I put up this store page & I've been working harder in these last few months than ever before, probably averaging about 10 hours per day 7 days a week to get this game ready for release.
So if you've been here since then, thank you for sticking around so long.
Here's a new screenshot showing the in-game calendar with some upcoming classes & events:
