So EGX was an absolutely awesome weekend! I met some wonderful people including developers, previous fans of the game and hopefully brought some new players into the community. If you're interested in what it's like exhibiting at an event as an indie, or want to know how EGX 2015 went down. I posted an article discussing the event on the blog.
If you're interested in what some of the new features are, how they might work or you think that my voice is sexy and just want to hear me talk at you for about twenty minutes. You can check the preview video I've just posted running through the changes made in 0.9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOPxmFPajs
One of the biggest changes to the game is the addition of basic modding support. I won't go too much into it yet but I'll be covering the methods involved in getting some of your own work into the game via video walkthroughs and blog posts on the website over the coming weeks. I'll also continue to improve mod support and find ways to make it easier when I get time between each update. Watch this space.
Secondly, please go crazy with the new sandbox mode. Build random stuff and tweet screenshots at me or share them with your friends. I'd love to see what opening the game up like this can allow people to create. (I just keep making loads of hedge-mazes)
Anyway, here's a list of everything that's new.
Update Notes:
New Features
Added Sandbox Game Mode
Added Callbox Special Building
Toilet Store Added
Coffee Shop Added
Cartography Store Added
New Epic Quest Mission Tiles
Improved Dice Roll System in Epic Quests
New 6 Supply System
New Objectives Added
More Tooltips Added
Special Epic Quest Events Added
Improved Settlement System
Heroes Can now Be Stationed in Settlements to protect them.
Added Trait Requirement to some Epic Quest Choices
Added Settlement Upgrades
Combo History for Supplies now shows when selecting supplies
Adventurers now visit multiple versions of the same store.
Settlements become endangered over time after Year 2
Attractiveness doesn't decrease until Kingdom Level 2
Completed 12 Track Original Soundtrack
Heroes now require their own House
Hero Status now shown in Hero Menu
Level Up Animation added to Quest Debriefing
New Alert Box Added
Multiple Versions of the Same Building can now be placed.
Stores can now be upgraded when levelled up using upgrade points.
Non Multiple buildings now categorised in the "Special Tab"
Icons added to Research Tasks
Various UI Improvements
Gem Inventory Item Added
Diamond Inventory Item Added
Tile now shows for Heroes while Occupying Buildings / Recovering
New Training System that now requires Heroes to be sent to the building.
Equipped Items now show while equipping other items in the inventory.
Data Files now Accessible / Editable for Modding
Balance and Optimisation
Better Compression / Organisation of Textures
Red Text changed slightly for Colour Blindness Compensation
Quest Choices slightly Rebalanced
Attraction Decay Significantly Decreased
Balanced some numbers to better fit difficulty.
Clicking on Tiles in Build Menu will now let you purchase it.
Made it easier to notice effects on Heroes when Equipping Items
Increased Expansion Limit on Kingdom Level Increase.
Lowered building buffs when levelling up to compensate for upgrades.
Items capped to Level 10
Added random chance of adventurers NOT visiting the most attractive building.
Updated Prompt Messages.
Adjusted Prompt Message Timers / Trigger Points.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug causing Clinic Layout / Blueprint to be too small.
Close Button now visible in the Plaza Menu.
Fixed a bug that only showed the last trait of a Hero instead of all of them.
Fixed bug that caused Store Levels to be reset when loaded.
Added a Failsafe to stop the game crashing if a texture cannot be loaded.
Fixed a bug causing the game to crash if a building was placed outside of the game world.
Fixed a bug limiting Heroes stats from increasing when levelling up.
Fixed a conflict bug allowing the player to select NPC's while in build mode.
Fixed some issues with pausing and then changing the game speed.
Fixed a bug causing finances not to progress on the last day of the year.
Fixed Villain Menu not resetting upon starting a new game.
Various other bug fixes.
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
It means a hell of a lot to me that you've all continued to support me this far, I really do read all your feedback / reviews and take everything you each have to say into consideration. I'm really happy with where the game is currently at, there's still a lot of work to do but I'm going to focus the next few weeks on really nailing the end-game and making the whole experience enjoyable from start to finish as I think we're really getting there now.
For my first commercial project I'm super proud of how far this has come and I can only thank you for helping it happen, being a part of it and coming along on this production process with me.
I hope you enjoy the new features.
All the best,
Matt
0.9 Development Progress & RPG Tycoon at EGX
Hey,
I realise there hasn't been much word from me over the past couple of weeks and you should all be aware it's because I've been knuckling down on everything ready for Alpha 0.9 which I'm planning to make public in a couple of weeks.
I've posted an article over on the Blog detailing what's been going on over the past couple of weeks. Including a rather in-depth interview I recently did with CC2K about the game where I'm asked some interesting questions in regards my thoughts on the design of RPG Tycoon and plans for the future. I'd suggest watching it if you're interested.
I've also been ramping up features for the game and trying to get a build ready for EGX next week which I'll be attending with a test build of 0.9. Which I'm really excited to let you get your hands on, there's some interesting new features and improvements I've made to existing systems that should really change the game up.
Some of the stuff that's coming in 0.9:
- Improved UI
- Heroes now require their own home
- Multiple versions of the same building
- New Special Hero Type
- Improved Epic Quest Choices
- Improved Quest Supply System
- Basic Mod Support (Steam Workshop will likely be post-release)
- New Buildings
- Many bug fixes
- More performance improvements
There's a lot more information on the blog if you're interested, I just wanted you to know that 0.9 is coming. I'll be testing the new features out at EGX and then I'll probably take another week or two to get some final features in before going public. I want this update to feel/be big!
Everything is starting to come together.
Head over to the blog and subscribe to the newsletter too. That way you'll be notified by email of any important blog posts and game updates in a nice curated email by myself. No junk, just game stuff!
All the best,
Matt
OPTIMIZATION, LESS CRASHING, NEW QUESTS! - RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.8.3
Hey,
I've been working over the past couple of weeks on an optimised build of the game, so this patch won't bring too many new features I'm afraid but I really wanted to start tackling the poor performance issues of the game and really iron out the issues causing many of the memory leaks in the game. A lot of the game code has had to be reworked from scratch and I've redesigned a few menus, mechanics a bit to handle it.
I'm not finished yet and there's still a lot of work to be done, but in my initial tests the past two or three days I've seen improvements in the endurance of the game, so I'm happy to announce that upon playing this build you should (hopefully) see a vast improvement in performance allowing you to play much longer without experiencing any memory-related crashes.
Secondly, I have the pleasure of collaborating with J.S Collyer, Science Fiction Writer and Author of the Orbit book series, who has lovingly come on board to work with me on writing a series of Epic Quest Events for the game. She's an incredible writer, absolutely loves the concept and is really rolling with the stories. I'm sure playing this build you'll love some of the additions to the Questlines and agree that she absolutely nails the tone.
I'm very excited to continue working with her to grow the variety of the events and stories that will occur to your Heroes as quests unfold. You can find out more about her and her work here.
That's pretty much the gist of what's been added. Full update notes are below. I'll continue working on optimisation and start working towards Alpha 9.
All the best and thanks for the continued support,
Matt
Update Notes
New Features
New Music Track
New Thief Hero Class
New Info Box Highlighting
Continue Button added to Final Screen of Epic Quest
Hero Selector now Shows Stats
Various New Quest Events Added
Redesigned Inventory Menu Slightly
Optimisation
Various Optimisations to Reduce Memory
Various Optimisations to Increase Performance
Bug Fixes
Minor Bug Fixes
PS. No doubt, I've brought on some new bugs elsewhere. So please let me know in the forums if you find any issues.
RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.8.1
Hi!
I've just updated the public build of RPG Tycoon to 0.8.1.
To celebrate the final few days of birthday week, I've introduced Hats and Balloons into the game. Just reach level 3 and place down the building from the Special tab in the build menu to start selling special props to adventurers.
I've also improved the way that choices work in the Epic Quest menu today based on feedback from watching many of you play. Previously the effects of your choices were next-to-random, now however, there's much more weight there. You should get the gist of it when you play, but if not, I explain it a bit in the video below.
Here's a quick overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1DwZUDimtA
I'm now going to work on improving everything. Adding more quests, new heroes, new adventurers and just growing the content in-game. I'm also going to attempt to fix as many bugs as I possibly can in a big bug-fixing stretch, I want to make 0.9 the most stable the game has ever been.
New Features: <*> New Balloon Store Special Building
<*> New Hat Store Special Building
<*> Replaced Cash Sound for Earnings from Adventurers
<*> Updated Choice Screen in Epic Quests
<*> Added New Dice Roll Screen to Show Choice Effect
<*> Added a New Epic Quest
Don't forget, until Monday (10th August) the game is 30% OFF and it won't be discounted again until after it's finally released. So it'll be your final chance to get it this cheap before launch! Be sure to pick it up and help support development!
All the best,
Matt
RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.8
Happy Anniversary!
I'm not sure how, but I've managed an entire year of development on Steam. This week a year ago marks the day the first build of RPG Tycoon was launched into early access and it's crazy to see how far the game has come in that time! I've just launched Alpha 8 which comes with a variety of new updates and improvements (more details below) and to celebrate the whole occasion the game is currently 30% off on Steam, so there's never been a better time to pick it up and jump in!
This update brings a large number of small adjustments to the game as well as a couple of new mechanics, both of which you'll hopefully enjoy. The main focus began working on re-doing some of the in-game text prompts as I wanted players to be able to skim-through them if they wish and pick up the important key phrases mentioned within them. So words are now highlighted to help the player understand them a bit easier.
The other main focus was implementing the school mechanic, allowing you to generate your own heroes from scratch. The player starts with only a few classes available to teach and must assign a hero from within the kingdom to be a tutor, adventurers will then start to gather in the school and eventually a hero will be generated (their stats based on the classes). As with everything in the game, the better a tutor Hero gets the more classes they can teach and the faster they'll teach them. Once generated you can decide to hire the new Hero or release them into the Hero pool to fend for themselves or for some other kingdom to snatch up!
I'm also excited to announce a new style of mechanic within the game, Dynamic Questing. These are essentially story-based quest-lines that develop over time as your kingdom grows and gains more experience. Currently there's only one dynamic quest system in the game, but over the course of the next couple of updates I'll be adding more. This system also means that a third category of building is now available, and as you meet conditions of each dynamic quest you'll unlock special buildings and trophies to place within your kingdom.
The last big mention is that I've spent some time re balancing the game to make it a little fairer on decoration placement, attractiveness, gaining followers and some of the late game progression.
A full list of updates are in the patch notes below, as well as an extended preview video where I'll walk you through a number of these new mechanics and features.
Feature Walkthrough Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYeHYXngX0E
Update Notes:
New Features
New Hero School Menu System
Quick Quest Combos now show in previous quest history screen
Gain hype from adventurers in the kingdom during hype stage of events.
Stores can now be closed to avoid maintenance or stunted to avoid growth.
Text Prompts updated to show highlighted key words.
Various Key Bindings will now Open and Close Menus
Heroes now demand more pay if they're unhappy
Heroes need to be entertained again
New research options
Scroll Speed Slider
New Sandwich Shop Building
New Music Store Building
New Winery Drink Building
New Pillar Decoration
New Block Decoration
Special Building Category Added
New Dimensional Portal Special Building
New Architect Special Building
New Treasure Chest Trophy Special Building
New Music Track "Make Your Way"
New Dynamic Quest System Introduced
New Adventurer Added
Hero View now shows a Hero's Level
Balance
Adjusted Walk Speeds
Store Maintenance now rises on Level Up
Store Appeal Added on level Up
Attraction Re-balanced
Library now Unlocks at Kingdom Level 3
Clinic now Unlocks at Kingdom Level 2
Reduced Loss of Influence from Settlements Significantly
Guaranteed Item Drops if performance is above 50%
Raised Chances of Item Drops
Multiple Heroes on Epic Quests Yields even better results
Research now introduced as Kingdom level rises
Minor Balances Elsewhere
Bug Fixes
Fixed Items being generated and lost mid-quest
Heroes can no longer be fired mid-quest
Fixed bug relating to recovering in the clinic when a clinic isn't in the Kingdom
Fixed bug relating to stock quality reducing to -1% on load
Fixed Cheese Bug
Fixed Bug Causing game to crash when attempting to place building outside of tile boundary
Fixed a bug causing rotated indexes to show incorrectly
Villain Progress now Saves
Fixed bug with ghost modules showing incorrectly and returning to default upon moving mouse
Fixed bug with level message on load
Fixed some mouseover issues
Fixed inventory bugs
Fixed a bug caused by using the demolish tool before selecting a building
Hero sprites now load properly
Fixed a bug that stopped Heroes returning if they closed the window with the close button and not continue once during debriefing stage
Books now load properly
Research now loads properly
Hero Max Health and Mana now saves/loads properly
Various other minor bug fixes
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
What's Next? 0.9 will focus on adding more to the dynamic quest system and I'll basically focus on extending everything that's already in the game to help add even more longevity and replay ability. Plenty of game mechanics and features have been neglected over the past couple of months in order to get these new systems working, so I'll be working on improving those features as well as working on optimizing some of the backend to try and fix any other instabilities or bugs.
Enjoy the new update.
All the best,
Matt
0.7.0.1 Hotfix
Firstly massive apologies for the cock-up with the last build, it seems that updating the backend of the framework caused some major issues I never caught during internal testing. Thankfully you guys are all here to jump up as soon as something fishy seems to be going on.
After a long process of trying to figure out what the problem was, I eventually discovered the bug being caused by the Colour Filters on Progress Bars. (It's awful how something so minor could cause such a massive issue!)
I've just released a Hotfix to the game which should address this issue and you should now find that the game is much more stable.
Again, my sincerest apologies goes out to all of you for the issues caused by the last update and I hope you can understand that your continued support means a lot to me.
Thanks,
Matt
Patch Notes
Fixed Major Bug causing the game to freeze frequently.
Updated speed controls to resume selected speed after closing a menu.
Villain Menu no longer loses Heroes
Villains can now be attacked.
Minor Balance, Optimisations and Bug Fixes
This Hotfix shouldn't affect your saves. So feel free to load a previous game.
RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.7
Hi,
So it looks like there's a few new fans of the game since the Steam Summer sale and I just wanted to say thanks for supporting the game. I hope you're enjoying it so far!
This update brings a few new changes to the way that the simulation and strategy of the building system is played, with one of the biggest changes being the new appeal system to stores within your Kingdom. If you place decorations beside a store, or another building beside a store it will become more appealing to Adventurers and they will be more likely to visit more appealing facilities. A handy tool should you wish to attract Adventurers to the new store that you've just built which happens to have a better produce value than the one you build four levels ago. Similarly you'll also get a bonus for connecting the front of a building to a road, because, where we're going we don'tdo NEED roads.
The update also includes a few optimisation bonuses thanks to updating the framework the game is running on to a more recent version. The most notable upside from doing this is the introduction of the scroll wheel on your mouse finally being able to control a scrollbar within a menu. (This was a bug that was infuriating me for a long time but is fixed with this update, so you can scroll menu's to your hearts content.) Huzzah! It has also made programming commands to right-click much easier, so for now you can right click on a Hero to bring up their menu, right click during building mode to flip the building or right click ON a building to access delete mode!
I've also updated the balance of various areas of your game based on your feedback and attempted further optimisations to different areas of the game, as well as various bug fixes and glitches you've reported to me in the forums.
Finally, the push to 0.7 also brings the introduction of the Event Plaza system. A new late-game object that allows your Kingdom to host events for a budget. These events will have different effects on your kingdom that will activate during, or after an event. It has elements of risk an reward depending on where you choose to align your budget and should offer something new to the game once you reach some of those higher kingdom levels.
If you're interested you can find a walkthrough of some of the new features in the video on the blog.
Update Notes
New Features
Added Brute Class Hero
New Archery Range Training Building
New Stocks Decoration
New Gallows Decoration
New Barrel Modular Decoration
New Event Plaza System
New Dialogue to confirm corrupt saves
Added A Bakery Store
Idle Heroes can work Buildings for a bonus
Added Music Manager to In-Game Menu
Added Hide Building Button
Added Appeal System to Buildings
Adventurers now Save & Load
Right Clicking on a Hero will open their Menu
Right Click during Build mode will flip
Right Click ON a building will trigger delete tool
Updated Help Section to include detail on new features
Optimisation
Changed Sound Effect for Popups
Added 1680 x 1050 to supported resolutions
Updated Save/Loading Menu
Various framework improvements
Various Improvements to Building Mode
Balance
Removed Stock from Stores
Balanced Attractiveness to be more generous in various locations
Nerfed followers gained by placing Buildings
Adjusted reward amount given during Quests to scale better
Bug Fixes
UI Shortcut Key will no longer hide UI while on Text Input
Fixed bug that caused Game Difficulty and Duration to save incorrectly
Fixed a bug that occured while navigating the inventory menu and using items
Fixed a bug that caused stats to raise continuously while saving and loading if a Hero is equipped
Fixed an issue that when loaded locked the player out of doing a quest if the
Hero was on a quest when saved
Fixed an issue with Achievements not tracking correctly once loaded
Fixed bug that caused Quest Data to remain from a previous game if a new game is started.
Fixed a crash that would occur when loading if the game was saved with a bounty enabled.
Fixed a bug that would occur in the Quest menu when choosing supplies if a supply was then removed/changed
Various UI fixes
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
What's Next?
I'm trying to make each update more specific and hopefully more frequent. As the game gets closer to completion and becomes more and more playable, I'm beginning to create a more of a roadmap of what I want to achieve next. 0.8 will continue to improve upon some of the features added in this build and will improve areas based on your feedback. Focus for the update however, will be towards the new school system that should allow the player to create new Heroes from scratch, I'll also add more jobs for you to give to the idle Heroes in your Kingdom and I'll be re-introducing some of the systems needed to keep your Heroes happy.
Enjoy the new update.
All the best,
Matt
IF FOR ANY REASON YOU'D PREFER, YOU CAN ACCESS THE PREVIOUS MOST STABLE BUILD VIA THE "ROLLBACK" BETA IN THE BETA TABS OF THE RPG TYCOON PROPERTIES IN YOUR STEAM LIBRARY
RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.6.1.2
0.6.1.2:
I've spent today correcting some of the final bugs that have been discovered by players. There's still a few I'm aware of and some others that are going to take a little longer to fix which I'll probably sort for the 0.7 build. Unless there are any other major issues, I'm going to focus development towards that.
Patch Notes:
Fixed bug that stopped AI Kingdom Heroes being loaded properly.
Fixed bug that caused attraction to be doubled upon load.
Fixed bug that allowed players to close out of the game over dialogue when bankrupt.
Fixed bug that didn't reset resolution properly when timed out.
Fixed various bugs causing the game to freeze.
Fixed bug that stopped Stock Quality Achievements from unlocking.
Fixed bug that stopped Building Icons appearing upon loaded game when using an item in Inventory Menu.
Can no longer continue placing items when you can't afford them.
Items equipped to Heroes now re-equip upon loading.
Items now unequip when sold.
Various other minor fixes
Rebalanced various costs / limits to make the game less easy / generous.
0.6..1.1:
Fixed issue causing Hero level not being saved/loaded.
Fixed bug causing multiple Heros to spawn on reload.
Fixed display issue with Tooltip within the Inventory menu and various other locations
Fixed bug causing Library to be displayed as a Store
Fixed issue causing Clinic & Theatre not to show front index correctly when flipped.
Fixed "NEW" text gradually raising higher with each Level.
Added Hedge Decoration
Added Stone Sculpture Decoration
Added a couple of new Tooltips in various locations.
Added a "Quest" Icon Type to Messages.
Updated Mouse Icons & Added Rollover Hand Icon
Added Notification when Kingdom Attractiveness is below 25%
Kingdom AI Buildings now restore on load.
Increased attraction gained from placing Decorations.
Decreased followers gained from placing Buildings.
Increased Most Building Purchase Price
Increased Most Building Maintenance Costs
Moved Achievement notification to the bottom of the screen
Various other minor bugs fixed
Original Post: Hello!
So it's been a long an arduous 8 weeks here at Skatanic Studios as I've worked my arse off radically overhauling the quest system and a variety of other core mechanics to have a greater focus on your Heroes.
This update welcomes the new "Mastery" quest system that removes the old slot system for supplies and replaces them with a much more simplified system of picking and choosing what, or what not, to take with you on each quest. There's a much larger focus on Heroes as they gain experience for undergoing different combinations of quests, settlements and focus's so that you can really tailor the questing to whatever you prefer and get rewarded for it.
Similarly, a big change with this patch is the Kingdom AI which I've spoken briefly about in the past and up until now the other kingdoms haven't had much of a presence. Now, however you are directly competing against them each year to be the best Kingdom in the land with a much greater comparison of stats at the end of each year, an ability to keep an eye on your competitors via the updated Kingdoms/Settlements screen and a whole bunch of new achievements that reward you for being better than those pesky other Kingdoms.
As well as this I've added a bit more polish as I've overhauled a variety of the Menu's and UI''s to make them look a bit better, I've added some new transitions and animation states to the UI features and even introduced the ability to hide the UI completed with U on the keypad. (That's how I've captured those sweet new screenshots on the store page!)
Finally, adventurers have been tweaked with better pathfinding (try blocking someone completely and watch them wait for you to free a path for them) and a new emote system to show you their needs / wants. Adventurers will remain in your Kingdom until they are unhappy, out of money or run out of new things to visit so the more that you build the longer they will continue to spend!
Thats just a few of the new systems in place and there's plenty more mentioned below. I really feel like this update has brought many of the games systems together finally and I'm sure you'll agree that we're really starting to get somewhere now.
Update Notes
New Features
New Tooltip System
Ability to Custom Name Decorations
White Glow Added to Info Box when locked/focused
New Crate Decoration Added
New Statue Decorations Added (Modular)
Hide UI by pressing U on the Keyboard in-game.
New Kingdoms / Settlements Menu
Competing Kingdom AI Added
Improved Villain System Added
Improved Kingdom Inventory Menu
New Item Types added to Kingdom Inventory
Maintenance/expenses shown more easily each month
Emote System Added
Adventurer now have needs
Improved the loading screen
Made Pause Game more obvious
New Supply / Mastery System for Quick Quests
Camping Store Added
Book Store Added
Cafe Added
Accessory Shop Added
Clothing Shop Added
New Research options available
Bounties System Overhauled
Made Pause Game more obvious
New Animations in Main Menu
New Quest Types Added
Hero Stats now shown when selecting them for a Quest
Equipment now has required levels
Items Equipped to a Hero now shows in Info Box
Tooltip Displays Comparison between items when equipping
Epic Quest Level added / overhauled
Previous Quest History Added
Overhauled Build Menu
Store Information / Levelling Now Available
Confirmation now required before Deleting a Save
Archway added to Kingdom Entrance
Surrounding Fence upgrades to Walls when unlocked
Fatigued Heros now move slower
New Achievements Added
Optimisation
Made Pause Game more obvious
Improved active pathfinding & stuck states.
Adventurer AI improved to remember previous buildings visited.
Balance
Changed / Lowered how Settlements donate.
Adventurers now spawn based on Kingdom Attractiveness. (Raised via Decorations)
Heros now only go home to recover fatigue and wander the kingdom when idle.
Equipment updated to work on percentage increase.
Building costs increased.
Building maintenance adjusted.
Bug Fixes
Kingdom Expand limit now reset on New Game
Kingdom Happiness now limited to 100%
Build Mode now cancels when other menus are opened
Better saving / loading
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
What's Next?
I'm really pushing for 0.7 to be mainly focused on bringing new content into the later stages of the game as I think it's really important to keep the game going once you reach the higher kingdom levels. There's a few buildings I want to add that should also bring some new features as well as a variety of other improvements. I'll also be improving the kingdom AI some more and diversifyng it a little bit, I'll likely add more for the harder difficulty and variate them based on some kind of intensity level too. As there's no real major overhaul work planned, I'm hoping it won't take too long this time around!
Enjoy the new update.
All the best,
Matt
IF FOR ANY REASON YOU'D PREFER, YOU CAN ACCESS THE PREVIOUS MOST STABLE BUILD VIA THE "ROLLBACK" BETA IN THE BETA TABS OF THE RPG TYCOON PROPERTIES IN YOUR STEAM LIBRARY
Version 0.5.3 Now Available in Public_Beta
Hi there,
For those of you that are opted into the Beta builds of RPG Tycoon on Steam you'll now have access to 0.5.3 version of the game which includes a draft build of the new quest system coming in 0.6 as well as various other improvements and fixes.
The opt-in builds are purely for testing / preview purposes and even more buggy than the public builds. They should purely be used by those looking to explore new features & understand that it is possibly unstable. (e.g Game breaking bugs) - Public Builds will be updated once all features for this development phase are fully implemented and tested.
AS USUAL, YOUR CURRENT SAVES WILL LIKELY BE CORRUPTED WITH THIS UPDATE SO IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DELETE YOUR PREVIOUS SAVE GAME AND START A NEW ONE.
Feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
RPG Tycoon Updated to Alpha 0.5
Hi, I hope you've all had a good Easter break!
I'm excited to announce that Alpha 0.5 is available for all builds with a variety of new features detailed below. One of the biggest changes to this update is the new kingdom level system. This is something that I think really helps bring the game together and begins to draw some focus on what to achieve. Basically as you gain more followers, your kingdom will grow in level and in-turn you'll be able to unlock more buildings and features for your kingdom.
This update also adds in the scoring mechanic to the end-game. As you play you'll be constantly gaining scores for the things that you achieve and how far you progress and when the game is over you'll be presented with a break-down of your score. It's kind of similar to the way that game dev tycoon and other games do it but I'm excited because it adds a little element of competitiveness to the game, trying to do better with each play-through to get a better score. It's pretty basic and doesn't score you on everything, but as the updates continue I'll no doubt continue to add in scoring mechanics.
I'm also really proud to announce better support for 4:3 and 16:10 resolutions with this update as well as support up to 4K with a new options menu and resolution picker. The game will automatically fit best for your screen, but I'd suggest looking in the menu, hopefully your resolution will be listed with a (*) when you're running in full-screen. This will show that it's your recommended desktop resolution.
Finally, I overhauled a number of the saving and loading mechanics locating and fixing a number of the bugs that people were coming across due to the lacklustre saving system.
Update Notes
New Features
New Title and Options Screen
Ranger Class Added
Witch Class Added
Medium Quarters Added
Up to 6 Heroes now Available for Hire (with Medium Quarters in Kingdom)
New Adventurer Skins
More Adventurer Names Added
Improved Messages
Added new objectives
Two new music tracks added (courtesy of composer Chris Lucca)
All Messages can now be cleared with the new red close button
New Info Box Added
Buildings and Heroes can now be renamed via new Info Box
New Unified Look to Stores
Wishing Well Added
Armour Shop Added
Stone Walls Added
Troughs Added
Stables Added
Adventurer Facilities Added (Inn & Bank)
New Stables Training Added to Training Menu
Updated Library / Research System
Added End-Game Scoring
Improved Villain Tracker
Buildings now Level Up with use making them more profitable
Updated Help menu with new features
New Achievements Added
Optimisation
Roads now affect speed again
Custom Quests re-named to Quick Quests
Various UI Improvements
Balance
Renown permanently removed
Blacksmith temporarily removed
Improved Adventurer AI
Boosted Experience and Rewards from Epic Quests
Nerfed Kingdom Requests
Frequency of Adventurers now relate to Attractiveness & Kingdom Level
Bug Fixes
Hero AI Improved to visit Facilities
Fixed annoying Radio button hitbox in Quest Menu
Fixed Various Building Placement Bugs
All Heroes can now be trained
Fixed Bug Causing Messages to disappear off-screen
Fixed Bounties constantly being listed as expired
Fixed various saving and loading issues
Fixed layout issues with Objectives
Fixed layout issues with 4:3 and 16:10 resolutions
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
What's Next?
0.6 will be focusing on improving the Quest system. It's still not quite right and I'll be going back to the drawing board to try and tweak a few areas to really bring the whole thing together.
With that, I'll also be looking at improving the Kingdom AI systems and allowing you to influence and interact more with them, and vice versa. I really want it to feel like there's a world outside of your own kingdom.
Finally, the weapons system has been long neglected. So I'll be trying to improve and implement that much better too as well as various other smaller changes to other systems. I'll probably try and get some new stores and facilities added too so that there's more stuff to build.
I'm not sure how long the next update is going to take, I'm taking a few days off this week to recharge and then it depends how much I have to change of the quest system. If you're interested though, feel free to sign up to the newsletter on the new website to keep updated more frequently with blog posts and videos.
Enjoy the new update.
All the best,
Matt
IF FOR ANY REASON YOU'D PREFER, YOU CAN ACCESS THE PREVIOUS MOST STABLE BUILD VIA THE "ROLLBACK" BETA IN THE BETA TABS OF THE RPG TYCOON PROPERTIES IN YOUR STEAM LIBRARY
