Hi all,
I'm happy to announce the next major Overcrowd update: New Facilities!
New facilities brings a bunch of completely new objects to the game with new functions, as well as several new levels of existing objects. It also has some new features, some balancing and some bug fixes.
Please note you need to start a new campaign (or sandbox) to see the new tech. As every campaign is procedurally generated, this is a good time to start a new one and test out the shiny new stuff. Don't worry, you can keep your old save if you grew attached to it.
So what do you get with New Facilities? Lets take a look.
Never refuel again!
Functionally, the substation probably makes the biggest difference to the game. This is at the end of the power tech tree, and connects you to the national grid, meaning you don't need to refuel. However you will need to build multiple instances to power large stations, and they generate substantial heat.
Fight infection
You can now build 2 levels of hand sanitizors to attach to walls or place freely. A hand sanitizor, in case you haven't seen one, squeezes out a disinfecting hand wash to prevent the spread of disease. You get these in hospitals, public toilets and now, your metro station. Nearby commuters with gastric flu or flu will use it and have a chance to be cured.
Info points, maps, smaller ticket machines
With the New Facilities update, you have access to 3 levels of map for lost commuters to use. The difference is the range they can be seen from and then used.
You also have access to level 2 ticket machines, which take up half the space and use less power.
New turnstiles
Level 2 turnstiles use slightly less energy, but more crucially, only take one cell of space, allowing more efficient and neater stations.
New lights and indicator boards
There are also now 3 levels of light fixtures. These have an increasingly larger radius, and become more energy and heat efficient at later levels.
A new level 2 indicator board can also be placed away anywhere in the station and limits rep loss due to lateness.
The air purifier has been redrawn and is now a ceiling mounted grill. The air conditioner level 2 has been nerfed as this was previously far too powerful.
Rats entertainment
As well as the existing rat poison, you can now also build a rat trap. This is useful as rat poison is eaten and must be replaced. A rat trap does not, though needs to be reset, which will happen automatically when staff remove the dead rat from it.
Rats have been balanced as they have been too easy to cope with so far. They will now breed more frequently. Another minor change is that they will no longer eat the corpses of other dead rats (yes, they did that!). This means rats now pose a more significant threat because you will have more rat bodies lying around, and they will be more frequent, so keep on top of that. In case you don't know, decaying rats will create toxic green fumes and further upset your commuters.
Systems
I have added the often request volume control for human noises. If you hate the drinking or vomit sounds, you can alter their volume, or set them to zero. You can also remove the mouse click/hover sounds it that is not to your tastes.
If you scroll way off to the side, the game will also prompt you to press "C" which centres your view (re-bindable in options).
The text alerts from commuters now fade slower giving you more of a chance to see where reputation is being lost.
When you place certain objects you will now see an area of effect, which is how close a commuter must be to use/see an object. This applies to things like bins, maps and lights.
There are also some other balancing changes and bug fixes I list below.
Translation
There have been major updates to the Korean version. Expect full re-translations for German, Spanish and Japanese soon too, and improvements across the board in other languages.
Thanks!
I just want to say thanks for all the nice messages of support you guys sent me via various channels, be it comments or just your upvotes to the post about my recent gallstone surgery. It went well! I'm making a good recovery and I'm nearly back to full working capacity.
I can't wait to add more stuff to this game so I hope you stick with us (and by us I mean me who codes it, and Sarah who draws it!) on the journey. There several super interesting, game changing updates planned, and lots of cool new things coming over the next few months.
As ever, especial thanks to those who take the time to leave reviews for the game. This is done by clicking the the "would you recommend this game to a friend" option in your Steam library when you have selected the game. Steam review scores make a massive impact to the prospects of early access games run by a 2 person team like this.
Build 246 changelog
-added area of effect (AOE) overlay when placing bins, maps, indicators and various other objects
-revised area of effect to use standard symbol unless placing light
-kiosk properly uses heat sim
-billboards and maps, tools use heat sim, not sold by entering thermal
-4 celled substation added (no refueling, created power and heat)
-air con 2 nerfed
-extractor fan updated with new sprite, ceiling mounted, with AOE
-added mouse trap added (there is a known issue in mouse behaviour - when they die they will just slide away out of teh station and disappear)
-added 3 maps levels (wall mounted, standard free standing, and larger information point)
-added ticket machine lvl 2 - only 1 cell
-added turnstile lvl 2 - only 1 cell
-added wallmounted hand sanitizor, with AOE
-added free standing hand sanitizor with AOE
-added freestanding indicator lvl 2, reduces lateness with AOE
-added 3 levels of light fittings
-fixed no tickets bug
-added sound FX volume slider for mouse sounds
-added sound FX volume slider for human sounds (vomit, cough etc)
-if you scroll far off map, message says press C to recentre view
-Commuter text alerts eg "GLOOMY", "NO SHOPS" etc will hang in the air at point of spaen, and fade away more slowly.
-Turnstiles correctly place floor mats
-Turnstile 2 is not unlocked at start
-Compactor correctly draws power
-Hand sanitizors do not draw power
-Hand sanitizors lvl 2 has a solid mask
-Hand sanitizors are in Utility build section
-indicator does not reserve adjacent cell
-New sandbox missions default to zone 1 preset for larger more fulfilling freeplat experience with 5 tracks to build
-Korean font ranges adjusted
-new Korean translation
-fixed zone 1 maps missing tracks on lowest level
-alt-tab save status is loaded correctly
-Rats respect their dead - they no longer eat other dead rats
-Rats breed 66% more often
-Rats animate correctly
-Rats do not instantly grow or shrink in relation to energy level (they still have internal energy levels so can starve or live depending on amount of trash/vomit available to eat)
-Rat trap functions and springs when used, rat trap only unsprings when dead rat removed by staff
-Staff repair lvl 2 ticket machines