Greetings citizens and tourists!
May has arrived in Retroronto, bringing with it one of the project’s most systems-heavy updates yet. Taxi services now operate across the city, allowing players to fast-travel between destinations while exploring a newly revamped interactive map system. Delivery work has also expanded, introducing multiple job variations that begin laying the groundwork for more dynamic employment and overworld activities in the future.
A familiar provincial storefront has also opened its doors. B.O.O.S. now offers alcoholic items alongside a bottle return program inspired by real-world recycling initiatives, giving players another small but meaningful way to earn extra cash while navigating city life. Combined with continued balance changes, refactors, and quality-of-life improvements, this update pushes Retroronto further toward being a deeper and more reactive urban life sim.
Outside the game itself, this month also marks a major milestone for the project as Retroronto officially crossed 1,000 Steam wishlists. Between recent media coverage, convention showcases, and continued community support, the city continues to grow far beyond what was originally imagined. Thank you to everyone who’s played, shared feedback, wishlisted the game, or simply followed development along the way. It genuinely means a lot.
🕹️ Play the demo:
https://starspray-studios.itch.io/retroronto
📰 Read the full devblog:
https://www.starspraystudios.com/devblog/retroronto-report-18
📣 Join the Discord:
CHANGES/FIXES:
- Changed Trash Bins to now house random trash items the player can pick up, for a random amount of times
- Updated all places with Trash Bins, with some trash bins housing different items, sometimes based on locations (Recycle, Trash, Compost)
- Changed Trash Bins at home and work places to not give players random trash items
- Adjusted some bar environments to fit Trash Bins and move TVs
- Door to Roommate's bedroom can no longer be opened
- Updated Pizza Delivery Minigame to require multiple deliveries, and a return to pizza place to replenish
- Fixed a bug where the game would start on the wrong day
- Fixed a bug where cars would still spawn and move when paused and map was active
- Fixed a bug where players would immediately get sick after highlighting any sick NPC, they now need to 'interact' with a sick NPC for that to happen
- Fixed a bug where task objectives would remain on screen and cover minigame UI
- Disabled NPC interactions in overworld if the player is currently working
- Fixed a bug where minigame music wouldn't start in fast food places if the player does a delivery minigame prior
- Fixed a bug where pedestrians would spawn in but stay invisible
- Buses and Trams now charge 2 dollars to ride, and have added sound effects for interaction and spending money
ADDITIONS:
- Added 'B.O.O.S.' stores which sell alcoholic items and house bottle recycling stations, where players can give trash bottles in exchange for small amounts of money
- Added ‘Bag’ items to City Fits, where players can store extra items in their inventory. Comes in a variety of colours like other clothing
- Updated Map to now be navigable and scrollable, adjusting icon sizing, and changing input for face filtering from arrow keys to now using Q/R1 and E/L1
- Players can now set their own target arrows in the map screen to point towards locations in the overworld by selecting a place in the map. They can remove the target arrow by selecting the place again, or by visiting it
- Added Taxi Vehicles, that enable fast travel to any point on the map, allowing the player to jump to that location for a fee based on distance
- Added some new generic dialogue lines to NPCs
- Added a telemetry system to track player data anonymously: session time, locations visited, and money earned
- Added Mail deliveries, given to the player by a randomly spawning mailman NPC in Hotel lobbies
- Added Poster deliveries, given to the player by a randomly spawning volunteer NPC in Parks