Since we announced our game on steam, we've been working to get an initial working version ready for alpha testing. This will be a very bare-bones version of the game, including only a small part of the functionality we eventually want to offer, but will be playable, and will allow us to gather feedback from our alpha testers on the gameplay and the way players are going to produce events in Festivals - Headliners.
Simulation Date / Time & Production Phases!
The first thing we’re focusing on is the concept of Date and Time when producing an event. Each event goes through a number of so-called Production Phases, where various things are happening on the event site, in preparation for, during, and after the event. An event will start paused in Pre-Production, from where you progress to Load-In, where what you’ve designed during pre-production will be built, the actual Show where your join, visitors will join in the party and your artists will perform, through to LoadOut and PostProduction. Right now, most phases except Show offer similar gameplay, this will definitely change as we continue work on our game.
Navigation
The second thing we’ve made quite some progress on is navigation for all characters which populate the event, visitors of course, but also various types of crew and your booked artists and performers. We’ve got our initial navigation solution working pretty well, and are now working on the simulation which determines where these characters should move to in the first place. More on that later.
Preparing for ALPHA TESTING
The third thing we’ve been working on is setting up everything for the initial alpha testing. We’ve set up our development workflow so we can easily push new versions / builds to Steam, and are working on methods to gather feedback from our testers. If you’re interested in testing Festivals - Headliners, please let us know using this form.
Next Up: Performances
As we prepare to start beta testing, there is still one (well many, but at least this one) big thing missing from the game at this point - PERFORMANCES! In the coming weeks we’ll be working on Stages, Performances and Artists, so there’s something for your guests to enjoy while they’re at your event. Though the initial version we’ll be working on in the coming weeks will be very simple, we aim to allow our players to create entirely own performances, which can be shared through the Steam Workshop, before we fully release.
That’s it for now, we'll be back in about a month with another awesome update!