Hi all
I hope that everyone is keeping as safe as possible in these challenging times. As a solo developer working at home, I'm lucky to be able to continue as normal in many ways, and that means working hard on bringing you this update.
Past updates have brought multiple changes: the Staff AI update that removed micromanagement and created a job grid similar to Rimworld; the quality of life patch which made the game easier to use; or the Facilities and Utilities updates, which brought lots of tech items to the game.
This update is focused on one big thing: LIFTS.
To mark this update Overcrowd is now discounted by 20% for a limited time.
Going up?
Lifts have been a common request since I launched into early access and I had them planned from the start, so I'm super happy to finally have them in the game.
Lifts deserve there own update because they substantially change layouts possible in the game. As you can configure commuter to get on or off at any floor, and they can traverse 4 levels in a short distance, they open up the chance to make more interesting and complex and varied station set ups.
Start a new campaign to use lifts - remember, every campaign is unique and generated procedurally.
I hope you have fun with them! Please hit f12 in game and share you creations on the Steam community. And as usual, let me know your thoughts and any suggestions on the Steam forum or discord .
Brand New Logo!
As regular update readers may know, the art for the entire game is drawn by one woman. This includes not just the pixel art and GUI, but the entirety of the branding. The talented Sarah has recently updated the Overcrowd logo which you can see in the game, alongside the snazzy new capsule art you can now see across steam. Behold:
Language and tutorial
The tutorial has undergone significant work. It should be more intuitive and easier to follow now. It will also work across languages better as tutorial pop ups have scrolling windows.
In general there have been several updates to the langues files, including an entire new Spanish translation and improvement to spacing and font sizes in Chinese and Korean.
There have also been plenty of bug fixes as usual.
Build 270:
-Entirely new Spanish translation. Sorry for the issues in prior builds.
-Lifts cost 1600 each.
-Fixed bug when building lifts when you can't afford
-Lifts and elevators now available in tech gate 3
-Lifts require 8 bonds to procure.
-FIxed game freeze if you selected Abort map and then pressed escape instead of clicking yes or no.
-corrected issue with lifts on load/save/sell
-use kWh units
-Crime desk doesn't use power
-Chicken shop uses power
-Selling small fuel barrels does not net money if empty
-Updated tool solid mask so do not block staff routes in small areas
-AoE only display on floor focus, if on
-Limit max zoom to prevent errors if using 4k gui scaling
-Entrances draw correctly on certain angles (was incorrectly drawing corner sprites)
-new translation strings for recent updates
-default into tutorial map screen for new starters on first boot
-Prevent hard crash selling lifts if one or more floor is a lift shaft
-lift signage correctly rotated when built (formerly required one rotation on certain angles)
-commuters have varying lift priorities vs stairs, so will sometimes pick one or other if both available (formerly would always choose stairs for the exercise)
-added many new icons for recent new tech, new lift, turnstile 2, ticket 2, map 2, map 3, indicator 2, light 2, light 3, handwash 1, handwash 2, powergen 3, substation, rat trap
-new game icon
-Reworked tutorial. Much improved presentation. Scrollable windows. Windows remain open unless closed. Many tweaks for usability.
-tutorial has breadcrumb trails to show progress
-Added lifts
-at night force commuter to leave
-cancelling build kiosk or sustation does not leave wall artifacts
-implemented flow finder with lift
-updated Korean font range
-updated Simplified Chinese font range
-side bar resizes vertically if needed
-commuters will queue if the decision to walk to target is taken on exit turnstile cell
-Lots of work on font heights in different languages