Hey everyone!
One of the things we’ve been thinking about a lot lately is progression.
Rental has quite a few different systems, tools, upgrades and mechanics, so we needed a way to introduce them to the player gradually without throwing everything at them at once.
In the end, we decided to build the progression around Reputation.
Reputation works a little like an experience system. As you run your rental business and perform different activities, you earn Reputation points. Cleaning cars, preparing them for customers, completing rentals and taking care of everyday tasks all contribute to your progress. Once you earn enough Reputation, you reach a new level. And every new level brings something new to the business. It might be access to another car, a new mechanic, a new building or upgrade, or another feature that changes the way you manage your rental company.
We wanted these levels to feel like more than just numbers going up. Each one should give you a clear reason to keep developing the business and a visible goal to work towards. It also allows us to introduce new mechanics naturally. Instead of giving the player access to every system right from the beginning, the rental company slowly becomes more capable as its reputation grows.
In the Prologue, this progression is intentionally quite condensed. We want players to regularly discover something new and get a good taste of how the business develops. For the full game, the pacing and balance of this system will naturally be adjusted to fit a much longer progression.
As with many of the systems we’re currently working on, this is still work in progress. Some values, rewards and unlocks are still being tested and may change as we continue balancing everything.
The goal is simple: we want progression to feel rewarding, easy to understand, and to always give you something to look forward to. After all, every rental empire has to start somewhere.
Don't forget to wishlist Car Rental Simulator and let us know what you think!
P.S. Of course, the games within our universe will have even more connections, but we'll tell you more about those in future devlogs. See how the first games in the Car Dealer Universe are connected:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2404880/Car_Dealer_Simulator/
along with Police Chief Simulator, launching today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2938460/Police_Chief_Simulator/