Hello! ːsteamhappyː
I can hardly believe it, but we’re finally here! This is the last public test update of Echoes of the Community: The Major Overhaul. The next update of this scale won’t be added to the public test branch. Instead, it will be included in the this huge update build we have and then pushed directly to the main Early Access branch as an official major update.
It has been a tough journey, but the game has truly reached another level compared to the old main branch. With this update, that difference is really starting to shine on the player-facing side as well.
The last update fixed the infamous freeze issue, but it also introduced a few new problems into the bug pipeline. This update also addresses those setbacks with lots of additional fixes. But while going back into the core systems, I also had the chance to improve a lot of things along the way: elevators, pathfinding, and how people interact with items. These were always planned for later, but they came earlier than expected. The overall flow of people, moving around with elevators, escalators, and stairs; feels so much smoother now. And with all the added polish like new animations, missing behaviors, and audio work, the game feels less “mechanical” and much more alive.
Since I wasn’t able to deliver the planned weekend patch right after the last update, I decided to go the extra mile and add more polish this time, animations, balancing, and fixes, to make this the final public test update before we migrate the build to the main branch. That way, Nil and I can fully focus on the final push toward the autumn event.
What’s next after this update: finishing the tutorial, adding new decisions and achievements, refreshing the Steam page with new art and a trailer, some more polishing and remaning UI (main menu, QOL, etc.), and wrapping up everything needed for the main branch migration.
Once this build is live on the main branch, the public test branch will close briefly, then reopen later for Nightlife Update testing.
Highlights & Changelog
— Major Pathfinding & Elevator Logic Improvements
These pathfinding choice logic and elevator logic improvements have been on the list since the Early Access launch because they’re so important to how the simulation feels. In my view, people flow is one of the biggest parts of the late-game fun in a simulation game like this, and it’s frustrating to run into odd behavior when you’re carefully designing your tower.
I’ve made tweaks here and there before, but this was the real overhaul, a big rewrite with new penalty systems for escalators, stairs, distances, and crowded elevators. The difference is huge compared to the old system. But now the foundation is now in place, Im sure we’ll keep tweaking as development continues.
— Elevator Logic Overhaul Elevator behavior is now much closer to real life, especially in Realistic mode. I also added four new elevator operating modes (plus full customization):
Realistic – Standard modern elevator operation.
Simplified – Always takes the first request, stops for everyone.
Old Quirky – Outdated elevator style, feels random, stops everywhere.
Luxury/Express – Skips most calls, prioritizes top floors.
Custom – Fine-tune every behavior.
— “Now Go Up! Now Go Down!” & Elevator Line UI
The elevator UI got a big design pass, plus a fun little feature: you can now manually send an elevator up or down, even for no reason at all. You can even flip its direction mid-ride. It’s surprisingly entertaining, and who knows, maybe we should add a full manual-control mini-game mode to it!
— People Coming & Going Both Ways
Another pathfinding update I’d like to mention: walkways now support people traveling in both directions. This was a highly requested polish feature. It was a bit challenging to implement in the old system because of how it handled tile data, but thanks to the rebuilt backend, it’s finally possible.
— Pricing, Vending, and Prices Menu UI
The pricing menu was waiting for me to start the final UI polish pipeline, and since it was in a rough state, it was the first one on the list. I’ve updated its design and also removed vending options from inner room pricing. Having all possible vending items mixed into room pricing was causing a lot of confusion.
My long-term plan for vending machines is that, after this major update (with the Nightlife Update), I’ll separate them fully from restaurant and café menus. They’ll get their own dedicated system and menu, with more items, billboard/advertising integration, and the option to either outsource their management for a cut or run and stock everything yourself, which is similar to how it works now.
For the moment, vending is handled as its own system. The AI already treats it mostly separate from the room system, some vending types pull from inventories directly, others need menu items. Previously, though, vending prices were tied to the room they belonged to. This caused problems and weird situations where the same vending machines in different rooms had different prices. To fix that, vending and transportation services are now priced separately from room-based services and products.
Also, people of different wealth types now judge the prices of transportation and vending based only on the overall casino resort rating, instead of factoring in the prestige level of the room they’re in.
The Polish Work Highlights
— Animation & Audio FX Improvements
The setbacks from the last update have been resolved, and lots of polish has been added. New animations and sound effects (idles, eating, etc.) bring more life to the game. People now play “animation series” depending on their jobs rather than switching abruptly. Missing AI behaviors were also filled in, massage therapists now move around during the theraphy, wash hands, hairdressers assist the people on hooded hairdryers, and so on.
— New World UI Indicators
New hoverable indicators were added for resort services. For example, you can now see what’s happening in restaurants, orders being prepared, customer wait times, and more. Office workers also got animations and audio polish.
— Lamp Colors
You can finally change lamp colors! This was originally planned for Nightlife, but it’s been requested for over a year, so I decided to sneak it in now. Some colors look fantastic with certain wallpapers. It’s not full 3D lighting, but for a 2D game it goes a long way.
— New Cars & Dirt Variations
AI-owned vehicles now include new types and dirt/maintenance variations. These visuals tie in nicely with the new garage mechanics.
— New Escalator & Item Variations
A couple of new visual escalator variations have been added. The long-term plan (coming with Nightlife) is to let you upgrade elevator parts and escalator speeds indefinitely, with visual options to match.
— Builder Headlights and Gear
The builders’ hats now emit light, and Nil also created some visual varieties for the boxes they place in the construction area. Lots of cool additions are planned for the tower construction side of the game with the Architecting Heights update, which will be released after the Nightlife update.
The Changelog
Fixes / Improvements
Receptionists and dealers now play more varied animations while working.
Added audio FX to hair salon AI actions.
Hair dryer is now used by guests in the hair salon and also by hairdressers while assisting them as part of their work.
Fixed the issue of smoking cigar animation causing graphic glitches on face expressions.
Added new audio varieties to the dice games.
Added new audio varieties to the casino cashiers and reception desks.
You can now change the color of the lamps in your casino resort; the selection menu is added to the items info window.
Patrons now play more varied animations while playing casino games.
Office workers and specialist office workers now play more varied animations while working at their desks.
Added more animation variety to the cyber café actions.
Added new audio FX to the vending machine usage actions.
All restroom and shower item audio FX revisited; new varieties added.
Added UI audio FX to the item enable/disable action.
Added new audio FX varieties to the changing cabins to play randomly.
Fixed the issue of escalator picker not starting the placement.
Audio FX of the player drag placement changed.
Fixed the issue of guests leaving happy bar not showing any tooltip info.
Fixed the issue of end-of-day report menu not rendering decimals for some numbers.
Fixed the tooltip for visitors who completed their visit: "customers are finished everything..."
Elevator behavior logic has been improved significantly.
Four new preset modes added to the elevator as an addition to the custom settings.
Lots of design improvements made to the elevator menu.
Fixed the issue of some body parts of people playing front-smoking animation while facing back.
Fixed issue of end-of-day report menu attracted wealth info bars showing incorrect info.
Added animation varieties to eating and drinking; guests now also use chopsticks while eating some Asian cuisine meals. They can now also use their hands while consuming some snacks on the dining table.
Maintenance level-dependent sprite varieties added to the private vehicles for visuals.
Fixed the issue of rich customers spawning without a high rating.
Fixed some office workers stuck at "Going to Work Desk".
Three new private car types added.
Improved the animation logic of the massage therapists; they now use sinks after each massage and become unhappy if they cannot find one.
Resolved the problem of customers going to unmanned hair stations then leaving.
Fixed the issue of some moving taxis switching to an incorrect rendering order, causing them to be rendered behind parked vehicles.
Fixed the issue of police officers sometimes leaving immediately after exiting their police car.
Resolved the problem of some people repeatedly leaving the elevator and re-entering the queue immediately.
Human pathfinding and path decision logic improvements continued.
Fixed the issue of some chefs getting stuck near their stations and not starting work.
Added more detailed world UI information indicator graphics about what’s happening in the restaurants.
Fixed the issue of some people continuing to move with the stairs penalty after leaving them.
Fixed the issue of delivery persons delivering items to the same shelves multiple times if used while going to the truck, causing them to get stuck delivering until the delivery time ends.
People now use both sides of the map to come to the casino resort after using walkways.
Fixed the issue of some massage therapists stopping service before break time.
Added missing indicator for the snap-to-closest-item hotkey for item placement and shortened the placement info bar information.
Minimum threshold to place two CCTV cameras and lamps close to each other is increased.
Fixed the issue of moving items skipping some placement checks.
Items already in the favorite item pool of employees are removed from the employee break room prestige items list; plant and terrarium added instead.
Fixed the issue of current users of some rooms being calculated incorrectly, causing too many people trying to use the room even if it is at original full capacity based on placed service items.
Resolved the issue of a person counting themselves if in the room while checking capacity of items in the room.
Employee break room now also requires a plant as a prestige item.
Executive hotel room profit increase effect by prestige level is decreased, and it now also requires plant and painting as prestige items.
Executive office room prestige buff changed to executive attention increase by level; it now also needs cold drink vending, statue, and painting as prestige-level items. Hot drink vending is now an essential item.
HR and finance office extra document buff increased per level; hot drink vending machine is now essential, plant and cold drink vending machine added as prestige-level items.
French bistro prestige buff is set to: customers in this room are x% more likely to place a side order according to prestige. It now needs painting, speaker, and statue as prestige-level items.
Gym profit increase buff per prestige level decreased.
Hair salon designing speed buff per prestige level increased; it now needs armchair, plant, and speaker as prestige items.
Armchair now removed from prestige-level items for hall; it now needs plant, painting, and statue.
Painting is now high roller room essential item, also for cigar shop; plant and statue.
Seat is now hotel reception essential item; it needs aquarium as prestige-level item.
Fixed the issue of hotel room guest not resetting correctly if the room type changed.
HR, finance, research, and marketing offices now need hot drink vending and whiteboard as essential items; plant, painting, and snack vending machine as prestige items.
Shower usage time increased.
Daily capacity of taxis increased.
Audio mixing continued; you should now mostly hear things inside your view considering zoom.
People now wait for massage and hairdresser standby by wandering in the room instead of lying on the item. More details to be added later.
Road distance from city to the resort increased from 12 in-game minutes to 17 minutes.
Issue of users not checking provider availability with non-linkable items fixed.
Steakhouse and Mexican cantina now need terrarium, speaker, and statue as prestige-level items; room buff changed to: customers in this room are x% more likely to place a side order.
Seafood restaurant and Italian ristorante now need aquarium, speaker, and statue as prestige-level items.
Increased the inventory item usage buff per level for the maintenance and janitorial rooms; poster and plant added as prestige-level items.
Plant and painting now needed as lounge prestige items.
Increased the washing machine speed buff per level for the laundry room; poster and plant added as prestige-level items.
Fixed the issue of smoke effect not showing up if people smoke cigars instead of cigarettes.
Fixed the problem of some people sitting at hair stands while there is no hairdresser in the room.
CEO office prestige effect increased; plant and aquarium added as prestige items while the whiteboard is removed.
Increased the effect of casino room prestige per level; it now needs painting and statue.
Added speaker back to the premium Asian fusion restaurant prestige items; it now also needs painting and statue as level 4–5 items.
Archive room prestige level 5 capacity increase effect increased from 20 to 30; CCTV dome cam added as level 5 prestige item.
Bus stop prestige level buff effect increased; vending machines added as needed items for level 4–5.
Profit increase by prestige level for budget hotel room decreased.
Deluxe hotel room profit increase buff decreased for levels 4–5 by 10%; it now also needs painting and plant as prestige items.
Detention room suspect processing time reduction effect increased; it now needs CCTV dome cam as prestige item for levels 3–5.
Terrarium and painting added as cigar lounge prestige items for levels 4–5; high-floor need removed; profit increase effect slightly decreased.
Increased prestige effect of casino cage for each level; added aquarium as level 4–5 prestige item.
Improvements on item lining logic continued.
Fixed issue of utility placement shortcuts not working while paused.
Preparing times of most restaurant items increased; max waiting times for service of these items increased.
Fixed issue of bar smoothie and café counters; customers were stopping claiming the item before the order was complete, causing various issues.
Balancing changes made to item maintenance decrease by room usage logic.
Removed the end-of-day auto slowdown logic and its settings from the settings menu.
Increased the profit percentage of menu items based on inventory cost and sales for every room pricing type except "Luxury."
Aquarium lighting increased from 3 to 10; color is now changeable like lamps.
Slot machine, Keno machine, video poker machine, and bingo desk lighting area reduced.
People can now get different mood types for the same moodlet type.
Resolved the problem of some people waiting too long before using the vending machine.
Fixed the issue of item placement mode getting canceled after placing each parking space.
Employees now come with cars if there is available space for them considering the policies, regardless of their transportation choice. You can now separate employee transportation from walkways and public transport by building employee parking spaces for as many employees as you like.
Base Keno machine betting increased by 35%.
Resolved the problem of some security officers not processing their suspects.
New idle/waiting animations added.
Each floor now adds +12% build time to building parts; contracting more builders becomes more handy as floors go up.
Added missing Italian restaurant and French bistro usage moodlets.
Fixed the visual glitch on favorite item in the employee info menu if the item name is long.
Added new audio FX, build box sprite varieties, and animations to builder actions.
Constructing the basement now costs x2 more for the equivalent floor number on the upper floor.
Issue of hairdressers and massage therapists leaving for breaks without completing their active massage or haircut fixed.
One massage oil now does not finish for every massage.
Item maintenance repair time increased by 20%.
Vending prices and transportation prices are no longer room-based; they now only use casino resort rating and exclude room prestige while calculating fair pricing for each wealth type.
Design improvements made to the pricing menu.
Massage therapy time increased.
Time for protesting for not finding favorite item is set to 60 in-game minutes.
Every favorite break room item now gets used for a maximum of 20 in-game minutes, except vending items. Using vending items consumes about the same time as the bought item.
Increased the max gaming PC usage for customers to 2 in-game hours from 1.5 hours.
Removed condom vending machine from the employee restroom prestige items; mirror added for prestige levels 3–5.
Cost for low floor height decreased but cost per floor height increased.
Fixed issue of every chef in-game getting the restaurant room speed buff without checking the room type.
Waste collectors and delivery persons no longer leave immediately before delivering the item they are carrying if the delivery hour is over.
Made changes to bus sprites; they now show the hired driver agent from the window.
Added varieties to left dirty dish sprites.
Focaccia removed from Italian Cuisine 5 research.
Resolved the animation glitch after people buy a snack then decide to eat it without sitting anywhere.
Chefs try not to cancel meals they are already cooking; if another chef leaves, the first continues cooking.
Chefs now finish the meal they start before going on break.
Added new moodlets to workers; added mood window to their info window similar to employees and customers.
Added spoon to eating animations, played based on the menu item.
Fixed issue of placement indicator lines not showing while moving an item.
Fixed issue of customers leaving hair salon as "Having Treatment" when they had not.
Fixed issue of chefs in some restaurants not taking dessert orders.
Resolved the problem of not allowed items not getting removed after changing the room type on pause until pressing play.
Fixed animation glitch rendering feet forward while people sit facing back.
Resolved the problem of some parked vehicles becoming unclickable.
Fixed issue of people waiting in line for an item without a receptionist while another is present in the same room.
Fixed issue of employees on strike for items already in the break room.
Fixed issue of electricity not reaching the edge of the electric line due to cable placement errors.
Resolved problem of people getting stuck while waiting in line for some items.
Fixed issue of people waiting for a Keno machine that is available.
The wording for prestige bonus for smoothie bar switches from "barista" to "bartender."
Reloading a game from the escape menu while elevator lines overlay is on creates overlay issues at start of loaded game.
Resolved an error causing some transactions in the souvenir shop not to complete.
Fixed issue of game unpausing while on end-of-day report menu if escape menu is opened and closed.
Fixed an issue where employees assigned to customer service rooms wouldn’t go to the room to work if the service capacity was full.
Fixed issue of room service hour info not syncing on policies menu if changed from the room info menu while open.
Chefs no longer use dining tables to rest in restaurants.
Fixed issue of pricing menu showing another room if opened using the rooms menu.
Fixed issue of employees paying full price to vending items even when set to free from policies menu; they now get the positive moodlet for free items.
Fixed issue of ordered desserts not rendering on dining tables in café.
Fixed issue of some employees showing available requests unmet after loading a game.
Resolved problem of some security officers getting stuck in holding cell waiting for an undetained suspect walking freely around the resort.
Fixed an issue where the HR manager’s auto-hiring tasks were incorrectly displayed under the firing task count.
New audio FX for commercial washing machine usage added.
Resolved issue of patrons buying cigarettes from cigar shop still playing cigar animation and showing got tobacco from vending instead of cigar shop on mood report.
Balance
Added plant, statue, snack, and cold drink vending machine to the parking lot prestige items; speaker, newspaper rack, and bench removed. Increased parking lot profit buff.
Painting and plant added to presidential hotel room prestige items; its profit buff decreased.
Increased chef speed buff per prestige level for the restroom; plant, mirror, and painting added as prestige items; seat and condom vending removed.
Sauna room guest double-pay chance buff increased per level.
Added painting to the bar prestige level 4–5; jukebox now also needed for level 2. Bar prestige buff changed to: chance of patrons placing a side order increased by x%.
Added painting and statue to the café prestige level 4–5. Café prestige buff changed to: chance of patrons placing a side order increased by x%.
Smoothie bar prestige buff changed to: chance of patrons placing a side order increased by x%. It now needs newspaper rack, painting, plant, and speaker as prestige items.
Jukebox, floor lamp, and statue added as souvenir shop prestige items.
Jukebox removed from sports lounge prestige items; speakers and pool table added.
Storage room now needs CCTV cam as a prestige-level item; room prestige buff changed to: storage items in the room cause x% less security penalty.
Security penalty of storage shelves increased.
Fridges now also decrease security but less than shelves.
Bus station, taxi rank, and subway station room prestige buff changed to: there is a x% chance that vehicles at this rank will skip their next maintenance requirement.
Taxi rank now needs cold drink, hot drink vending, plant, and bench as prestige items.
Bus station now needs cold drink, snack vending, bench, plant, and statue as prestige items.
Subway station now needs cold drink, snack vending, bench, plant, statue, and terrarium as prestige items.
People now get embarrassed moodlet for incident exposure crime.
Jackpot win chance based on collected pool decreased.
Subway wagon tickets now recorded as bus ticket purchase.
Fixed issue of fare being paid twice.
Casino cashier and reception desk security penalty increased; they now also reduce decoration.
Merged world money information of casino tables, entering/exiting transportation passengers, and cuisine orders with side orders.
Increased performance of aquarium fish movements.
Hot drink vending machine price increased 1700 → 2200.
Mini bar price increased 375 → 775.
Aquarium price increased 2105 → 5105.
Ceiling lamp price increased 159 → 199.
Painting price increased 1015 → 2015.
Plant price increased 180 → 280.
Arcade machine price increased 1380 → 2380.
Dartboard price increased 189 → 789.
Jukebox price increased 675 → 1675.
Pool table price increased 2075 → 4075.
Speaker price increased 499 → 799.
Copier price increased 1145 → 1745.
Tools cabinet price increased 915 → 1915.
Whiteboard price increased 409 → 1409.
Bench price increased 450 → 750.
Bookshelf price increased 349 → 649.
Hand dryer price increased 415 → 615.
Newspaper rack price increased 179 → 379.
Nightstand price increased 225 → 425.
Exercise ball price increased 250 → 550.
Television price increased 1135 → 1535.
Base gas price of articulated bus decreased 65 → 40.
Base maintenance price of articulated bus increased 1250 → 3000.
Base maintenance interval of articulated bus decreased 45%.
Base gas price of shuttle bus decreased 25 → 20.
Base maintenance price of shuttle bus increased 150 → 1200.
Base maintenance interval of shuttle bus decreased 45%.
Single deck bus base buying price decreased 1,250,000 → 1,000,000.
Base gas price of single deck bus decreased 45 → 30.
Base maintenance interval of single deck bus decreased 15,000 → 7,000.
Base gas price of utility hauler engine locomotive decreased 4000 → 140.
Base maintenance price of utility hauler engine locomotive decreased 4000 → 140.
Base gas price of standard engine locomotive decreased 4500 → 160.
Base maintenance price of standard engine locomotive decreased 15,000 → 9,000.
Base gas price of expressline engine locomotive decreased 5500 → 200.
Base maintenance price of expressline engine locomotive decreased 15,000 → 12,000.
Base gas price of prime haul engine locomotive decreased 10,000 → 250.
Basic transit wagon base buying price decreased 1,150,000 → 900,000.
Base gas price of basic transit wagon decreased 1,500 → 100.
Base maintenance price of basic transit wagon decreased 15,000 → 5,000.
Confortline wagon base buying price decreased 2,000,000 → 1,200,000.
Base gas price of confortline wagon decreased 2,500 → 120.
Base maintenance price of confortline wagon decreased 15,000 → 7,000.
Velvetline wagon base buying price decreased 4,000,000 → 1,200,000.
Base gas price of velvetline wagon decreased 2,500 → 150.
Base maintenance price of velvetline wagon decreased 15,000 → 10,000.
Base gas price of taxi decreased 10 → 5.
Base maintenance price of taxi decreased 250 → 200.
Base maintenance interval of taxi decreased 35%.
Transportation-related resource need calculation logics modified: relation, HR, and accounting documents needed for bus, taxi, and parking space license; money needed for walkway capacity.
Other Things To Mention
Community Credits
As I mentioned on Discord last week, I’m also planning to add a credits section to the main menu during this final run. We want to include community members who helped shape the game with bug reports and feedback. Nil will be reaching out on Discord to ask if you’d like to be included and how (real name, Discord name, or anything else you prefer).
I’d also like to include people who’ve supported us on Steam or Reddit, but of course only with permission. Please reach out to me if you think you’re one of them. You can contact us directly via Discord, Reddit or at [email protected].
Expect a message from Nil if you’re active on Discord soon. If you don’t get one but know you’ve contributed, feel free to reach out anyway. From now on, we plan to keep adding all community members who’ve helped through feedback and bug reports.
Balance Work, What’s Missing, and Little Warnings
There are lots of balance changes in this update, as you can see above, but most of them affect the underlying systems and drains rather than the income-facing side. For example, having your vehicles require maintenance at more reasonable intervals definitely helps, but until the last iterations are applied tomorrow, the game’s speed, bottlenecks, and jumps still won’t feel fully balanced, these will be addressed in the remaining balance pass I’m working on alongside the remaining fixes right now. So the O + P dev panel will remain active with this update too.
All of the room prestige level design changes are in place: the items and values needed for each prestige level and the buffs they provide are implemented. Placing items will correctly increase your room’s prestige level, and you will gain the associated rating and other benefits. However, some buffs may not be working yet or may still use their old values.
Since we’ve also fixed the issue with room usage calculations, the room capacity mechanic has finally started to matter. However, the balance work for which item provides how much capacity to which room hasn’t been fully completed yet.
Finally, the speaker is still missing from the research tree but is required for some rooms’ prestige. This will be added with the major update on the main branch.
Thanks for being here, for the bugs you report, the ideas you share, and for making this goofy yet deep simulation a little more alive every day! See you on the Echoes of the Community: the Major Overhaul update.
Cheers!ːsteamhappyː