Dev Diary - 2/24/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster
Hey, folks. Usually I don’t do any kind of updates unless a patch has just been issued or a game has been released. However, more consistent updates on what’s going on seemed like a better idea. That being said, here is the first planned dev diary, for both Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.
Haulin’ Oats Status
Since the initial Haulin’ Oats playable alpha, there was a lengthy and expected list of bugs that needed fixed. Everything from weird screen resolution issues, to offset mouse clicks, and even the inability to play the game except for roll dice. All of those, hopefully, have been fixed at this point. With all that out of the way, for now, the focus shifted to multiplayer, Steam, and adding in missing content.
Multiplayer will offer two different modes: first-to-place and placed. First-to-place is obviously the first driver to complete all required deliveries and make it back to the warehouse. Naturally, placed mode is the top three drivers to do so; since it’s a 4-player game, one of you will lose.
Multiplayer and Steam will go hand-in-hand as the game will be using Steamworks’ P2P and networking functionality. This will give easier invite options, server lists, and NAT-punching than what was in Into Oblivion (though this is getting changed in the Brewmaster update). While it is not planned, there may be a non-Steam version of multiplayer utilizing Godot’s networking.
Speaking of Steam, the game officially has an app ID now and bits of pieces of the store page and Steamworks stuff has been started. The store page will become public once the first beta version comes out. However, Steam keys for alpha testing will roll out this week for all cast, crew, and early adopters from Itch.io; it will also make updating the game a lot easier too.
Missing content is being added in the form of cards. Currently all missing Encounter cards have been placed in the deck, bringing the total up to 75. They are a pretty good mix of pick-up / drop-off missions, offers to do things (cure disease or sell stuff), etc. and finally round out the cast list for the game. While they will be present in alpha v0.0.2 the remaining Incident and Resource cards will not. A lot of drawing and programming goes into the card system so expect to see the last two categories in v0.0.3.
Additionally five more guest characters have been added (Isaac McDaniels, Phyllis Guffy, Unknown, Ol’ Glitchy, and Dankey Kang) and two new regular characters (Amara Hanks and Ford Dowling). All guest characters are locked by default and only available after certain tasks are completed. Now that stats are actually being recorded in v0.0.2, you should be able to unlock those characters and use them.
Speaking of stats, achievements should also work in v0.0.2; if not in Steam, at least in the game itself.
The Dope Game Remaster
Most of the time spent on the remaster has been, well, remaking all of the graphics in the game; mostly to support resolutions up to 1440p. That and a little touch-up never hurt. The location graphics have been a huge time-sink; with the interfaces being less so.
Like the bus map. You will even notice in this image of the new bus map that there is a new location you can visit.
The Starkham Docks, which are actually a location from The Dope Game 2, will be added to The Dope Game remaster. It felt like there needed to be one more location added due to multiplayer. This new area, of course, comes with a new sub-location and new NPC. You will be able to visit the Brewery and talk to Jenkins (from One Way To Die and Into Oblivion); he will offer you a way to spend some of your cash as well as sell you some drinks that have different effects.
Speaking of multiplayer, it was mentioned previously that it is being added as a test for The Dope Game 2 but will have less functionality. The Dope Game remaster’s multiplayer will only let you join or host timed matches, much like the single-player mode. The goal still being to raise as much cash as you can before time runs out. Or just kill all the other players.
That being said, you can fight other players or even jump into a fight another player is having with an NPC, like the cops or Sweaty Mike. You will be given the option to either join the NPC or the player in combat. Of course, killing NPCs means they are dead for everyone and will lock off whatever services they provide.
Lastly, the newest thing has been an overhaul to the HUD. The HUD now sits across the top of the and has color coded data points. The player’s avatar also sits in the corner and changes based on damage taken. Players will also be able to change the hoodie, hair, and skin color of their avatar; primarily because of multiplayer so everyone doesn’t look the same.
Henchmen will also get their own little avatars and and health bars; though in this image they are missing their armor bars. Obviously armor will now be a thing you can acquire and equip.
That’s about it for now. Stay tuned for more information.
The Dope Game Remaster And The Dope Game 2
Hey, dope fiends! Today is a good day for talking about the upcoming The Dope Game Remaster and The Dope Game 2.
As you can see from this image, from The Dope Game Remaster, the graphics have been redone on the locations and pretty much everything else. The title itself has been altered to match the sequel’s title too. Characters, avatars, and interfaces are also getting a touch-up. Everything getting scaled up to 1440p as opposed to the original 1080p and, of course, done in the art style being used for our games currently.
The Dope Game Remaster will also have an upgraded engine which fixes a bunch of minor pains under the hood, though most of this is invisible to players. What isn’t is a new multiplayer mode that serves as a test to some functionality in The Dope Game 2.
Multiplayer will allow up to 4 players to run around and compete against each other to sell the most drugs in the given time frame. Killing NPCs will cut off other players from being able to use their services. Player will also be able to fight each other or trade drugs and money.
The Dope Game Remaster will also have some minor additional features suggested by the community as well as polish to existing features including things like body armor and price tracking.
There isn’t a solid date yet but it should be out before Spring hits. While this rather huge update is free to all existing players, we are considering a small price bump for new players and are looking to the community for feedback on this.
While we slog away at getting Haulin’ Oats up to beta, The Dope Game 2 prototype is being slowly built. Built with graphical placeholders, the prototype is coming along nicely given it gets only one day a week. There are a lot of suggestions from the community on what to add so we will talk a bit about what is all going in there.
All of the regular things from The Dope Game will be in the sequel but getting expanded over six different cities across the fictional state of Blannington. Depending on a few things, players will start in different locations with different bonuses / penalties. Transit will consider of buses, planes, and private cars; each having different travel times and mini-events.
Single-player will have a story mode that takes the player through a main campaign across all the cities while dealing and making money but also taking on quests. Of course the standard timed mode will make a return.
Multiplayer will come in three flavors: timed mode, Drug Wars mode, and The Cartels. Time mode in multiplayer is much like what The Dope Game is getting with the remaster update. However, Drug Wars mode will allow some players to join the opposing team and fight against the dealers. The Cartels mode is more of a persistent world, backed on our servers, that will allow players create empires and team up or fight each other. They can even tap into a lot more of the end-game functionality.
All of the original NPCs make a comeback along with a pretty large roster of new characters, including ones you can hire for your gang. Casting calls will start once we get Haulin’ Oats released and we’ll make more announcements about that when the time comes.
Lastly, players will be able to buy and sell more than just drugs, branching their empire out in various ways; even dipping into politics. With end-game levels finally allowing players to spend their millions or billions on things that have more of an effect on the game world.
That’s it for the details we have now but there will be another post soon-ish with more details as we get closer to the Remaster release and The Dope Game 2′s first alpha test. Stay tuned!
The Dope Game - XMas Holiday Event Now Live
Hey, dope fiends! The X-Mas holiday event is now live in the game. Snow covers the city of Starkham and all the NPCs are getting festive.
On top of that there are two achievements available; one unlocked by a mini-game where you smash snowmen. Even the drugs are getting in the spirit with temporarily changed names. Make sure to give gifts to each NPC you meet and get yourself another achievement.
Happy holidays!
The Dope Game - QoL Update This Winter And The Sequel
Hey dope-fiends! This winter we will be pushing the "final" quality of life update for The Dope Game. The update will include things like:
New graphics
Minor changes in the HUD
Minor changes to interface controls
Controller support
A new secret feature
Minor refinements to Stashware
Minor refinements to combat
Minor refinements to inventory
A few small additions to The Stash DLC
The QoL update should be out some time this winter; most likely Q1 2020. Leading up to, of course...
Yep, The Dope Game 2 should be playable early-to-mid 2020. Art is being created, the base system is almost ready, and the majority of design is finished. This includes many of the ideas you guys put forth in our sequel thread.
An early access version will be available, once the playable alpha is ready, to let players test the system, help us make changes, and stress-test server capabilities. We expect almost all modes to be available.
Character modeling recruitment will also open up this winter to fill all the missing roles. For more information on being a character in the sequel, contact us at dopegame2@coaguco.com for details.
We will have more information on the game available this winter with details on modes, multiplayer, etc. Stay tuned!
The Dope Game - Halloween Event
Hey, dope fiends! It's that time of year when the residents of Starkham don their favorite Halloween costumes and await their treats from all their trickery. This year from October 20th to November 2nd, The Dope Game Halloween event will be active!
As tradition dictates all the NPCs will be wearing their costumes and all the environments will be Halloween-themed. Even the illicit substances will be called by holiday-appropriate names. And if you can manage to collect 100 pieces of candy, you will be awarded with a special holiday achievement. If you don't, for whatever reason, meet this goal you can always reset your PC's clock and try again.
Happy holidays!
The Dope Game - Version 3.8 Update
Hey, dope fiends! We are pushing another small patch to upgrade some stuff behind the scenes. While there is nothing really too exciting added, here is the change log so you can find out what was:
Changed: holiday date ranges to be consistent with other CoaguCo games
Changed: functions handling achievements and statistics
Changed: functions connecting to CoaguCo API
Changed: streamlined some code
Happy new year!
The Dope Game - X-Mas Event Live
Hey, dope fiends! The X-Mas event for the game has gone live and it adds a few things to the game, if you’ve not played during last year’s. The event will run until early January, usually around the 2nd.
The X-Mas event adds in two additional achievements, both tied to mini-games within the game. The first is for gifting each NPC a specific gift. The second is for destroying 12 different snowmen across Starkham. You will also notice that every area has gotten a layer of snow and all the characters have dressed up a bit. The names of all the drugs have also changed to more festive versions.
Happy holidays!
The Dope Game - The Stash - Updated
Hey dope fiends! Tonight we are pushing an update to The Stash DLC that updates the Android Edition of the game that is bundled inside. This fixes a few small issues with the game like the hospital interface showing up by default and removing some unused code from the desktop version.
Happy Halloween!
The Dope Game - Halloween Event Live
Hey dope fiends! The annual Halloween event is now live! It will run from today all the way until November 2nd.
If you didn't play it last year, it changes up all the areas of Starkham to Halloween-themed versions. Even the NPCs are getting in the mood and have dressed up in costumes. There is even a candy side-quest to get an achievement available. And, last but not least, all the drug names have been changed to candy names.
So go out there and slang that sugar!
The Dope Game - Version 3.7 Update
Hey, dope fiends! We are pushing a very small update to the game which mostly changes two things. First it adds full-sized buttons to the dialog choices so you don't have to click on the small arrows anymore. Personally, I always hated that and now it is way better. Second, we removed the holiday gift interface. For those who didn't know, sometimes when you booted up the game during the holiday season our server would sometimes send you a Steam key for one of our games. We will be doing something new this season instead!
For those curious, here is the minor change log:
Added: full-sized buttons for dialog choices
Changed: small code updates
Removed: holiday gift system (not related to holiday in-game mechanic)
