As is the tradition at the Weed Games basement, due to bullshit excuses nobody really gives a crap about, the 420 content update is once again looking kinda rough. But hey, at least the game didn't get delisted from Steam for over 8 hours like last year, so it's still a pretty Happy 420 overall! ːws_damanː
New Content!
The new content drop is mostly focused on the late-game progression and will be fleshed out even more in the upcoming weeks. Since we were running short on time, we had to make some hard choices like do we drop the content as is on 4/20 or spend more time polishing it and miss our self-imposed deadline. And we went with "Yes!"
The Plan!
We'll be enabling more stuff in the upcoming days and weeks, basically as soon as we're pretty sure it's not gonna break the game completely. And now that the core content is out in the wild, we'll be pushing out patches on a daily basis once again, so if you run into any issues, swing our Discord server and let us know.
The Sale!
Oh yeah, Weed Shop 3 is also on sale for the next 4 days, so there's that ːws_damanː
ːws_lighterːHappy 4/20ːws_lighterː
The Final Patch
Development Update
ːws_peaceː As most of you already know, we've been promising a major content update for a while now, however, sadly this ain't it. Instead, we've been working on fixing all the event-related bugs, a performance regression introduced with the Danksgiving Update, the character controller and NPC AI issues, and finally the fucking wiggly arms.
Character Controller Improvements
ːws_peaceː After upgrading the character controller to sync values over the network we saw a huge hit in performance even when playing offline. It was one of the main reasons the Danksgiving & Kushmas Events had such abysmal FPS, even in WS3 standards ːws_damanː
ːws_peaceː Anyway, we've fixed most of the logic responsible for sudden frame drops, made the character controller move at a constant speed regardless of FPS, and added fallback movement logic to prevent slowmo locomotion at sub-30 FPS.
Performance Improvements
ːws_peaceː We've implemented additional culling logic for all the plants, pots, setups, and merch placed int the shop, and added time-slicing to the area culling logic. This should prevent sudden frame drops when running around outside and improve the average FPS when you leave your clapped-out shop.
ːws_peaceː The character controller has been, and will probably, always be the biggest CPU bottleneck in Weed Shop 3. And while there's not much we can do when 20 customers are jam-packed into your shop, we've improved their movement logic LOD to reduce the CPU load as much as possible when they're at a distance.
ːws_peaceː Having thousands of dynamic objects and hundreds of real-time lights placed in your shop will tank frames on the latest GPU/CPU rigs, not to mention all the laptops that can run GTA5 ːws_damanː So we've added the option to disable real-time lights to the Graphics Settings menu and switch to real-time dynamic Global Illumination. While this option does not provide physically based lighting or real-time shadows, it does reduce the GPU load for low-end setups while keeping everything lit and retaining the static environment shadows.
ːws_peaceː Basically, if your PC/Laptop's performance is GPU-bound, and you have a pretty crazy shop setup, toggling real-time lights off could significantly boost the overall performance. The Realtime Static Lights setting applies to all the environment lights & lights that come with the shop, while Realtime Dynamic Lights setting will toggle all the fucking lights you place yourself.
Other Improvements
ːws_peaceː Following reports of security and farmer employees not doing their jobs, we've upgraded their AI and pathing logic so they should be planting snitches and knocking out seeds like there's no tomorrow.
ːws_peaceː While these got fixed in some of the previous patches that didn't get patch notes, the missing crosshair, Steam Deck jump mapping, missing crosshair when not online, auto-ejecting wheelchair, V-Sync when doing Dxxber deliveries, and preloader crashes at 35% have all been fixed.
ːws_peaceː And finally, the bug that almost ended the development of Weed Shop 3, mother***ing wiggly arms, was just sorted out today ːws_damanː
The Final Patch
ːws_peaceː While fixing bugs and working on performance improvements is fun and all ːws_damanː it doesn't really get us any closer to the next content update, so, short of some game-breaking bug fixes, this will be our last major patch till the new content gets done. Just like the lab and the grow field, the upcoming content update has a lot of interdependent logic and can't be released in incremental updates, so starting tomorrow (or sometime next week, if there's major bugs in today's patch ːws_damanː) we'll be devoting 100% of our dev time on getting it all done.
ːws_peaceː Anyway, if you're still reading this, get a life ːws_damanː But seriously, thank you guys for sticking with us while all we did was break the game. We know it's been a while since you've seen legit new content but it's coming soon...ish, for real this time ːws_damanː, And if you'd like to help beta-test the new content once it's ready, swing by our Discord server and say High ːws_peaceː
STAY TUNED!
Merry Kushmas!!
Happy Holidaze Once Again!
Ho ho ho, Merrrrry Kushmas everyone! Yeah,.. we're basically rehashing the same sh!t we did last year and hoping most of the new players won't notice ːws_damanː
The Kushmas Event 2.0
Canna Claus has come to town and needs your help saving Kushmas... you know the drill. Are you going to be naughty or nice? The choice is yours unless you did Kushmas last year... In that case, you'll get to go the other route for your chance to collect the second half of Kushmas loot.
Kushmas Town 0.2
If trying to yank dildos off the Kushmas tree while being groped by Ganja Bears is not your thing, then swing by your local dump site... ahem... Kushmas Town! It's not much and the nutcrackers are all busted but with a little bit of elbow grease, you'll have them on deez nuts in no time ːws_damanː
Into 2023
All the cringe puns and stupid jokes aside, we've been working on integrating & testing basic multiplayer functionality within the existing game mechanics. So just like the cargo ship during the Danksgiving event, Kushmas Town is sort of multiplayer. Now we're not promising full-on multiplayer gameplay anytime soon (or ever), but we're planning on implementing more multiplayer zones along with late-game content into Weed Shop 3 in the upcoming year... fingers crossed ːws_peaceː
Stay tuned!
The Danksgiving Reboot
Happy Danksgiving Everyone!
Due to circumstances beyond our control and some controller sensitivity issues that everyone's been complaining about we had to reboot last year's Danksgiving event ːws_danː
The event will stay dank until one of the Mondays unless the half-baked Turkeyball starts crashing everyone's Weed Shops ːws_damanː And just a reminder, if you do grow tired of them chickens, you can always use the options menu to toggle the event off.
Happy Turkey Day!
Halloween Patch Notes
As is tradition, this year's Halloween event was once again full of glitches and exposed many shortcomings of the game's melee system. We've put out multiple patches since the start of the event trying to address these issues, however, some of them ended up breaking more stuff than they fixed ːws_danː
Anyway, here's what's new since the launch of the event:
ːws_potː Fixed all of the issues caused by dying in the wheelchair.
ːws_potː Fixed the bug responsible for deleting skateboards from the inventory on death,
ːws_potː Fixed the birds-eye view automatically unequipping items.
ːws_potː Fixed the rift bat seed drops.
ːws_potː Fixed the "ejector" seats at the movies.
ːws_potː Fixed the melee weapon unequip issues causing duped items.
ːws_potː Fixed the bug introduced in the last patch that made the melee hits not register.
ːws_potː Improved the hitbox accuracy of all the melee weapons.
Scream Fest Sale + Halloween Event
Scream Fest Sale
Unlike overpromising and underdelivering, virtue signaling was never our thing, but this Scream Fest we're trying to do our part in fighting global inflation by having our very first Weed Shop 3 sale... since the launch sale... and the pre-launch sale ːws_damanː
Not only will you be able to pick up a copy of Weed Shop 3 for 25% off, but the proceeds will also be used to put Stripper Dan through Elevator Repair School* ːws_danː
Hell'o'Weed Season 2
We know the title was pretty cheesy a year ago, and even more so today, but our moms think it's cute so we're going with it again for Season 2, sue us... Please don't sue us ːws_damanː Anyways, the Halloween event is finally live and offers plenty of "opportunities" to make some extra cash, boost your xp, obtain some pretty sick rewards, or die.
Got a Life?
No worries! While we couldn't launch the event any sooner and we don't own a time machine, due to multiple requests, we've extended the Hell'o'Weed event to run through November 8th. That's like at least 2 more days or something ːws_damanː
Coming Soon**
With the Hell'o''Weed event out of the way, we're going back to working on the next major content update - Danksgiving ːws_damanː
Just kidding, now we're not saying there won't be any Danksgiving, but our main focus from now on is going to be on expanding the late-game content and finishing up the new mechanics we've been working on since Summer.
Happy Halloween And Stay Tuned!
* Stripper Dan's application status is still pending. ** Ish... don't ask wen
A Weed Shop Halloween - Season 2
The Upcoming Halloween Event
Since some of you were caught off guard by our last seasonal event, we've decided to spill the beans on what's coming later this month. Our In-game Halloween event will kick off a week early and run all the way through Halloween.
It's Hell'o'Weed Season 2
This year's event will pick up where Season 1 left off with even spookier creatures, seasonal tasks, special rewards, and plenty of chances to substantially boost your XP and cash flow by selling seasonal strains and merch.
And if you weren't around for Season 1 or couldn't finish it in time, you'll have the chance to play through the Season 1 tasks and earn all of the last year's rewards before moving on to Season 2.
When Hell'o'Weed?
The event will run from Oct 26 through Nov 1 and will no longer be tied to game difficulty setting. We've added a Seasonal Events toggle to the game settings menu which will disable the Halloween event with all its goodies. Keep in mind that you still need have your quality settings above "Barebones" and be at least at level 5 or higher.
:ws_pot: This is probably one of the biggest seasonal events we've done to date so mark your calendars and stay tuned! :ws_corn:
"F" For Effort
What's up guys!
It's kinda weird trying to do patch notes after almost a two-month hiatus but, since some of you've been asking, it's only going to get weirder ːws_damanː
So while working on the new content update we kept running into increasingly severe performance issues so we decided it was time for another round of optimizations. We pressed the magical "Optimize" button which bumped the FPS up to 140+, got all the hoes on the boat, and left for Turks and Caicos ːws_damanː
Trying Is For Losers
Sorry, had to get it out of our systems... Anyway, so we spent the whole of August upgrading the codebase to run on the latest version of Unity and rewriting core pathfinding, culling, character controller, and shadow systems, in hopes that some of the changes would result in a substantial performance boost.
However, after all the effort, the increase in performance was negligible at best, and the game started experiencing intermittent crashes. Basically, whatever we did f****d the game up even more, and we had to spend another week or two (time got real blurry) debugging the crash and trying to get back to baseline.
The Silver Lining
Anyway, once we got the game back up and running and somehow managed to stop crying over our failures, we did get a couple of half-dubs in, starting with the point shop items.
The Point Shop
We got some sick-ass trading cards, profile backgrounds, emoticons, and animated avatars together, however, after multiple rejections due to them not being all-ages appropriate, we had to scrap 70% of the items and replace stuff like this:
With this:
Basically, to have the card drops approved for the point shop, we even had to blur out the weed leaf in our game's logo ːws_damanː The only items that managed to get through the review process unaltered were the animated avatars, though we did lose Chastity Prudence along the way ːws_damanː
Advanced Stat Tracking
The stats app has been a highly requested feature since the good old days when all we had was 10 strains and a grinder, and now we finally got one! It's not perfect by any means, but it will help you track your progress, or lack thereof, at daily, weekly, and monthly intervals. If there are any other stats you'd like to see tracked in the app, let us know in the comments.
Steam Deck Verified!
We managed to sort all of the input and performance issues out and finally received the elusive Steam Deck Verified badge. While it's just an irrelevant achievement for most real developers, it's a huge thing for us! The TVs still don't work though... Sorry ːws_peaceː
What's In The Gig
No, it's not the crappy background music or the stat tracking system... Most of it is used by the still WIP new content, you know the one that made us start trying to optimize the game in the first place... It still got some ways to go before it's ready though so don't go looking for Easter eggs or anything like that.. yet ːws_damanː Basically, right now we're putting a little seasonal (and optional) event together, and once that's ready, we'll get back to finishing up with Project 69.
ːws_peaceː Stay Tuned ːws_peaceː
The Mission Drop
This week we mostly worked on missions & achievements + some backend stuff:
ːws_peaceː Fixed some of the original achievements that weren't registering properly.
ːws_peaceː Added a new batch of achievements, bringing the current achievement total to 42.
ːws_peaceː @Cobretti137 & @StonyMike cooked up a new batch of mid-to-late-game tasks, bringing the total mission count to 160+.
ːws_peaceː Fixed a couple of issues with the default controller maps.
ːws_peaceː Added a controller calibration feature to the controls menu that'll allow you to independently set custom dead zones for each axis.
ːws_peaceː Added an indicator to the hud xp bar that'll pop up whenever you're high enough to get that 50% XP boost.
ːws_peaceː Worked on optimizing latency on NVIDIA GPUs. It's still a work in progress so don't expect a massive FPS boost, especially if the performance on your end is CPU bound, but the FPS should be a little more stable across the board.
ːws_peaceː Added Cloud Play support and opted into the GeForce Now cloud gaming service. At the moment though, we have no idea when or even if Weed Shop 3 will be added to Geforce Now games list since it still has to go through the manual curation process.
ːws_flagː If you could spare a minute of your time to help us out by requesting Weed Shop 3 to be added to the Geforce Now library, we'd really appreciate it! ːws_flagː Just use the SEND FEEDBACK tool in the GeForce NOW app and ask them why Weed Shop 3 is not available on their service yet. ːws_damanː
Decked Out Achievements
What's up, guys, it's been a minute... Since our last update was sort of a dumpster fire due to a bunch of different factors, we decided to chill with the content updates and just admire our achievements. It turns out we ain't got none.... and neither does the game ːws_damanː So here's what we've been up to:
ːws_peaceː Implemented Steam's stats and achievements.
ːws_peaceː As a starting point, we added 25 basic achievements and are working on adding the more crazy ones suggested on our Discord server. We're aiming for at least 50+ achievements when all is said and done.
ːws_peaceː Added full controller support, a separate key map for vehicle controls, and an improved mouse and joystick sensitivity logic. If anything behaves funky after updating, just restore the default setting and then tweak the sensitivity and keymaps to your liking.
ːws_peaceː Rolled out a Steam Deck optimized version of the game. Unfortunately, the TVs still won't work due to the limitations of the browser plugin being used. Everything else should be on point though,
ːws_peaceː @StonyMike & @Cobretti137 once again did their magic and rebalanced the influencer stats and hybrid combo hints for a smoother progression.
ːws_peaceː Added @StonyMike's Ultimate Weed Shop Guide tile to the Main Menu's community page.
ːws_peaceː Fixed a whole lot of bugs but forgot to take notes so if whatever issue you're having is still not fixed, let us know in the comments., Also, don't forget to click the bell and the subscribe button. Every little bit helps the algorithm ːws_damanː
