A new build is out, v0.1.1-alpha.240. It is the largest one yet, 116 changes since the last log, and most of them are about the parts of the game that were missing a beginning or an end.
Setup Night
Starting a new game used to drop you into a finished lounge with a checklist. Now you arrive the night before you open, to an empty room with no stock. Adil coaches from the corner in his own voice, Amaan waits inside with his smoke, and the shop cards show you what to buy with a picture of each piece. Everything is free that night. You place your tables, your stations and your first hookah, and the night ends with Adil taking out the bin, the lights going off, and the walk home. Day 1 opens behind Amaan's gift boxes, with Adil first through the door. It plays in Spanish too, marked beta.
A phone
There is a phone in your pocket now. It slides in from the left and shows the time, the weather, and a signal that drops off inside the lounge. Your friends text you, you text back, and you can watch them typing. There is a map of the city on it as well.
Friends with lives
Your four friends have their own arcs across a season, and they reach you as texts and evening visits rather than cutscenes. Some of it lands on the business. A thread can move your demand or your rent, an inspection books a walk-through with Adil and a verdict from Iqbal, and a friend can bring a real party into the middle of service.
An ending
The lounge can finish its story now. Your landlord offers to sell you the building, and you can buy it from the Business tab. A buyer turns up and values the place off your real books, with Adil making their case. A rival lounge opens across town and goes after your best hire, and you answer that from the phone. When it is done, the four of them sit at one table with you for a closing night.
Show nights
Book Nadira and she dances at midnight. It is a real set. The lights change, she works the room table by table, guests applaud as she passes, and every bill that night carries a door cover.
Closing up, and the day between
The Close Up Early button is gone. To shut early you walk to the door and tug the neon OPEN sign. Between days the smoke wipe is gone as well, replaced by the sun and moon riding one arc across the sky.
The wash, and the rest
Washing a hookah has suds, a ready badge when it comes clean, and a sponge that only cleans while you are actually moving it. A used hookah looks used on the rack. Build mode draws one floor map while you place, so you can see the metre someone stands on to use a counter. The day summary replays every level you gained. The delivery tracker lists each order instead of hiding them behind a count. And you can play fullscreen or windowed.
Fixed
- Guests and crew stop wedging each other in the doorway.
- A guest you turn away says why in their review.
- A fire clears a whole table, so nobody is left paying a bill that walked out.
- Story scenes stay quiet, with no chatter or lounge music over the dialogue.
- Card shadows, ticker text and the floating XP pill all sit right.
Come hang out
Tell us what belongs in your dream lounge: discord.gg/uVThPXvWgN
If you have not yet, add Hookah House to your wishlist. It is the single best way to support the game before launch.