Hello Tycoons,
I wanted to upload a new version still this year because I've managed to solve a few priority bugs eventually. Thank you very much for all the help you gave me!
I will also talk a bit about the future again, as the end of the year is so close.
Changes:
- Now you can archive Hardware parts by selecting them and hitting DEL. This makes archiving much faster than before
- You can leave the PC Hardware Price field on 0. If you do so, then this Hardware Part won't be sold separately.
- I've decreased how much fans buy in general, and I've increased the overall interest in hardware parts. Interestingly nobody reported it, but the numbers coming from the fans (we talk about hardware sales), was the source of that extreme amount of buyers. By decreasing it, I actually had to increase the general interest in hardware parts.
- There was a bug that caused huge DPP fluctuation coming from Hardware parts. The fluctuation was as big as jumping from 7m DPP to 300m DPP (in combination with other circumstances). A steady increase or decrease is okay, or even bigger drops, but this was indeed a nasty bug. Fixed. Thanks, Emran for your saved game, it helped a lot!
- The CompDeals Magazine gave too low scores, even when you offered the cheapest products. The algorithm was fixed behind it. I also lowered the weight of having the "cheapest" product - for cheapskates.
- The ordering function was not working on the Research Queue properly. Fixed.
- You reported that sometimes given late-game techs (such as EFI) appeared at the AI players. While it is possible to get techs earlier than they were invented IRL, it was indeed a bug. Fixed.
- When you switched from the Tech Tree screen to the World Map the Research Details window didn't disappear, it was just covered by another window. Fixed.
- The Market-share History window appeared at the bottom of the screen - instead of at its place. Fixed.
- The RDRAM tech had way too overpowered stats. It is true that RDRAM should have been the next big thing, but eventually wasn't. Its values wanted to reflect this, but something just went wrong. Fixed.
- You were able to select both SSD and HDD density techs for Storage at the same time. And there were other problems here, too. Fixed.
- The connection between sites and markets (where you build and where you sell) has changed, therefore I had to change the filters on the market list, too.
There is an engine problem (Unity) that when the game loads (during the blue loading screen), it can take for too long and the bigger problem is if you start clicking around, windows or OSX will think that the game is not answering. Even tho it is NOT frozen - you should just wait longer! Much bigger studios couldn't find a workaround yet - and unfortunately neither I, tho I tried yet again. I won't give it up yet, tho.
Now let's talk about the future! :)
Localizations
Guys, I talked about it millions of times already. I can start implementing the localizations only after all the features and texts are finished in the game. Not before that, sorry. Please understand that I'm a solo dev with a microscopic budget, losing money by working on this game. I cannot slow down the development by maintaining and updating localizations whenever the game changes - especially that it is a text-heavy game. Yes, there will be localizations, as I state in the description of the game, on the homepage of the game, on the roadmap of the game, and as in the forums of the game... so everywhere!
Please do not give negative reviews, because the game doesn't have localizations yet! I would really appreciate that! <3
The game's current state and the upcoming features
Even tho I still have to implement this and that to the core of the game (don't worry if you don't see something that I mentioned to you, I have a to-do list!) The game is slowly "getting there".
I'm really happy to see the game getting all the positive feedback it gets lately.
The plan doesn't change, I will continue following the roadmap.
The biggest remaining features are... the diplomacy (basically making deals with the opponents), the managers (and their offices), which will add you another layer to create your strategy (and it looks good, too - but you won't be able to place furniture in the offices as in Software Inc. or Startup Company, etc.), a better, more integrated tutorial, and the "CEO Stuff", which is basically a reward system connected with random events too. Basically, I will give you fancy stuff to buy, so that you have a goal why you'd like to accumulate that another 100 billion dollars...
As soon as these features are in the game, the last thing I will have to work on (next to balancing all the time of course), are the localizations. I won't release the game without localizations into the main languages at least.
How much time does it require?
Hopefully not that much, because I was working on these features in the past years already. The assets are done, most of the texts are written, and honestly, I don't wanna overcomplicate them anyway. The game is already (too?) complex, these features should not make it much more complex again, they should just expand the experience, so you really can feel like that you are a Computer Tycoon.
They will give you the pleasure factor (rewarding yourself) with crazy stuff - "the CEO stuff", giving you late game mechanics, and the impression of being an actual CEO - the manager system, and giving the impression that it is really an industry which you are the part of, making your opponents more tangible - the diplomacy system.
I always loved to call my opponents in Master Of Orion 2, or talking with them in older Civilization games. You can expect something like that.
These features fit into the game very well, without changing the core - the core we were working on together for so long.
But again how much time do you need?
Yeah, I don't like to talk about time especially after this game was originally planned to be a tiny project of mine, with an early access period no longer than half-year... haha
But while I really think we had great progress and a lot of work is already done, on the other hand, the financial reality is here, too. This game costs me too much not to finish it next year - and the sooner is the better. Unfortunately, my government has decided to increase my taxes by 30% for the next year, too... which is also not helping much. It would be really nice to release the game around the end of 2021 Q1. It is not a promise tho, just a goal.
After the full release, I won't totally abandon the development, but I will have to look for/work on other income sources, other projects.
Mod Support
I know that you'd like to get it, but I cannot give it to you. The game should have been built in a given way to make it possible, but it wasn't. The game itself isn't really workshop-material anyway, but also, while it might work with bestseller games, honestly Computer Tycoon is never going to be well-known enough to make it worthy. I cannot work on something for months, or even a year that could be used casually by 10 people and then played by maybe 50 or 100.
You might know the developer of Startup Company, he has implemented workshop support - and he regretted it deeply, too - (but other than him I talk with many others who share the experience). The amount of support he has to give because is just way too much. And the difference between his and my game that he sold more than 300k copies, while I sold around 14-15k copies (during the same amount of time). And it is not about getting rich... it is about having the money -> to have the time to make it happen.
I gave you nearly anything that you asked for so far, and more - but this one can't happen, sorry. Neither multiplayer nor a mobile port.
That's all that I had on my mind for now. I wish you happy holidays and a healthy and peaceful new year to all of you, my friends!
THANK YOU for all the help and feedback I’ve got, it means a LOT! Please if you like the game, don’t forget to leave a review, too! It might help a bit with my game's terrible visibility in the store.
Your friend,
Andris aka Progorion
http://www.computertycoon.com/ROADMAP/Roadmap.html
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Pictures of The Still Unreleased features of the ROADMAP:
7 Managers from the coming 101:
