Hello everyone!
The v1.21 Studio Director update isn't even two months old, and already the next update contains most of the major features I had planned to add.
And honestly, it's fantastic - I'm really happy with the work done, and thanks to this head start, I can add even more content to the next major update!
Weekly Recap
The biggest part of v1.22 is already ready. I'm talking about the ability to copy/paste studio furniture layouts. I've tested it on a large studio, and it works pretty well.
So I've made it available for you to try out and provide feedback, and maybe find some bugs. I might revisit it to add useful information, such as displaying the number of desks on the thumbnails, or make some adjustments to improve performance. In any case, I wanted to get this feature to you as early as possible to get as much feedback as possible!
What's Next
This update will be released mid-March, so I have some time to add more content. From your feedback, I've made a non-exhaustive list of elements that seem coherent and important to add to City Game Studio.
First, I'm planning to add a list of games published by competitors. Currently, we only see games that are "on sale," not "all" of a competitor's games. When you buy out a competitor, it's always useful to know their complete game catalog.
Another piece of feedback concerns the digital store. The best-selling games list isn't very aesthetically pleasing, and I'd like to make it more visually appealing.
There's also feedback about online games. City Game Studio currently displays the number of copies sold including monthly subscriptions. This means you might see more copies sold than there are console users. I admit it's not very consistent, but it's fixable.
There's also a small thing I'd like to work on: tooltips. I want to prevent the same tooltip from appearing twice in a row. Currently, it's quite annoying to see the same tooltip appear over and over when starting a new game.
Another change, more significant and in my opinion very useful, concerns the studio selection panel. Currently, when selecting a studio, the game only lists available studios. I'd like to completely revamp this panel to make it more consistent with the rest of the game interface, more compact, and list all studios, even those that are occupied.
A frequent request concerns the game history. Adding a filter to see only games made by you or by certain competitors. Maybe even the ability to completely archive a game so it's not displayed anywhere.
Regarding conventions, an interesting change could be adding a button that would let you put the same game on all stands at a convention. This would save us some clicks.
Another change, which I think will be part of a separate update, is about the marketing specialist. I'd like to give them the ability to automatically manage promotions for your games and consoles. Basically, the marketing manager would promote games when an update is released, or when a sequel is announced/published. For consoles, we can do the same thing when a Normal/Large or AAA game is announced or published, to boost sales before the game's release.
So that's what I plan to add to City Game Studio in 2025, if I have time to implement everything. But I'm also planning to work on City Game Studio's mod support. Make it more robust, and show which mods might "break" the game.
I haven't prioritized all this feedback yet. So if you also have feedback or want any of these suggestions to be added as a priority, please share your opinion in the comments because it will influence the next City Game Studio updates!
That's all, thank you for reading.
Have a great day
Xavier aka Binogure