Hello everyone!
After 5 months of work I have finally released a major update to the demo! Things are starting to come together into a real game, though this build is still pre-alpha :)
See below for all the updates!
Metropolis 1998 - Release Notes
Major Changes
- Load on Demand implemented for more efficient GPU processing
- Commercial, Service, and Municple demand implemented (stage one, basic)
- Residential demand implemented. NOTE: Right now it's random, but the value effects the rate people will move in. Random is temporary.
- Unit animations, sitting/sleeping, and color variants
- Vehicle color variants
- Basic terrain modification (no height or water yet)
- Much more efficient saving/loading times and reduced save file size
- More unit activities (like going out to lunch while at work)
- Families added (basic implementation). Will move in together.
- You can place auto grow zones and buildings have construction animations. NOTE: Right now you can only place for low density, and there's only one allowed depth. This will be expanded in future builds.
- Map / terrain is now procedurally generated
- Potato graphics mode. All windows become opaque, and only the visible top floors all outdoor items are drawn by the GPU
Minor Changes
- Units can now path across a road when entering/exiting a driveway
- Units are assigned clothing + color based on their job (most businesses do not have this feature yet)
- Roof texture will output on all floors now (instead of flat roof below top floor)
- GUI Updated. Also added current weather icon
- Wind is no longer constant
- Buildings can no longer be edited when connected to road. NOTE: This will soon become a button the player can press to add the building to the market.
- New assets
- Unit wont claim a parking spot until it enters the buildings property
- Blueprints can now be mirrored (press T)
- Units can now properly path in 3D space (where as before they could only use one staircase)
- Outdoor objects are no longer deleted when an outdoor floor is placed (excluding driveways)
- Press B to open delete menu
- Trees are now deleted when zone tile is placed
- Added boundary fence / federal property.
- Highway no longer runs through city owned land.
- Added grandparents and children unit assets
- Vehicles have wheel animations when moving
Engine Changes
- Dynamic allocation for classes due to hitting stack memory limit
- Faster containers used for most data
- Major refactor, removed lots of unnecessary containers to reduce overhead/complexity
- Removed smaller tile atlases. For now the engine will just use GPU zooming
- General engine performance enhancements
- Reduced RAM usage
Bug Fixes
- Forced computer to use GPU when available. Before it was defaulting to CPU integrated graphics for laptops, causing problems.
- Fixed game freezing on rare occasion. This happened because I allowed units to path through walls. This sometimes caused an infinite loop while pathing.
- Fixed some roof sprites missing when camera was set to West
- Jobs, schedules, and units are properly adjusted when a building is deleted or modified
- Parking spots are properly freed
- Fixed some units not drawing to the screen when they were on higher floors
- Fixed units not using non driveway outdoor floors (as a path preference)
- Fixed trees not centering properly when camera is rotated
- Fixed windows not outputting when they were not touching adjacent building
- Entrances (outdoor doors) are now properly lit
- Prevented units purchasing homes that were not connected to road network
- Fixed extremely slow room output/delete code
- Fixed objects being able to be placed through a roof
- Fixed rare pathfinding bug that allowed units to walk through wall when viable path was available
- Fixed window lighting when window is placed when camera is rotated (i.e. not North)
- Fixed object unable to be placed on road median when zone exists on that tile
- Fixed zone boarders not adjusting position when camera is rotated
- Fixed blueprints not saving properly when zone was weirdly shaped
- Fixed nudge object bug that prevented object from being moved into a valid position
- Fixed bug where a unit would be assigned two cars and drive both at the same time
- Added grass to blueprint preview
- Added top down walls to blueprint preview
- Added outdoor signs to blueprint preview
- Fixed lighting not being assigned to windowless/lampless rooms (units would appear brightly lit when walking around)