Welcome to the 'final' (more or less!) update to the Demo Build for Hydro...
I really debated on whether I should release this one, however in hindsight I think you will enjoy it. There's no real game play changes with this update. The focus instead has been on 'atmosphere'...the sky atmosphere to be exact :-)
With this update, you may now notice that the sky will transition to periods of 'haze' and have a gloomy almost overcast feel to it at times. The bright blue sky is still retained from before and this will continue to make an appearance in between all the gloom. I won't go into specifics, but there is randomness on (1) the duration and (2) the time it takes before the 'weather' transitions, so you won't always have the same experience day in and day out.
Note that these changes *may* set the foundation for potentially a full dynamic (or close to) weather system that I am experimenting with at present; this is currently planned to include rain and wind effects. If I go one step further (still, without promising anything!) I could envision the weather actually affecting game play in a variety of ways. E.g. day shifts (or even night shifts) where you could encounter stormy weather conditions and the Township Demands you receive may reflect these weather conditions, too (e.g. imagine: "Township coal power plant flooded-out, we need 100 units of power!").
If I manage to get proficient enough with weather effects, I'd love to have a scene where ships passing in the night could burst through thick fog and require a hefty accumulator charge and bright marker light(s) in order for the ship passage to succeed!
In any case weather systems and fidelity on that lofty level will be reserved for the Full Release of Hydro (if anything), but nonetheless I thought I'd give a little 'taste' of what has been in development around this lately within the Demo build, by including some elementary sky effects in this update.
Below are some screenshots of the atmospheric 'gloom' / haze effects that are gracing the Demo with this v0.28c update:
As always, my YouTube channel (linked below) is THE place to visit for more news, information and game play regarding Hydro. Look-out for Dev Logs and the like around the continued development of Hydro in future!
For now, I look forward to getting properly head-down and developing the full release version of Hydro.
As the weeks (and perhaps months) continue on, I hope to have an announcement for the official release date as well.
Once again, thank you so much for your ongoing support!
Until next time...happy power-generating! :-)