Hey everyone!
Thanks for sticking around this midsummer! I've got to admit, I've been working hard these past few weeks, and I've got some big stuff to share with you!
So without further ado, let's dive right in.
This Week's Recap
I did it. Your competitors can now create consoles. And I didn't do this half-heartedly - I really pushed the algorithms to make it interesting. First off, when you start a new game, you can choose story mode. If you enable it, competitors won't create consoles until 2025, but if you disable it, then the console wars will kick off much earlier. It really depends on the difficulty level. As you might expect, the higher the difficulty, the sooner competitors will start making consoles.
Let me dive a bit deeper into console creation. First, when a competitor makes a console, they don't necessarily use cutting-edge components - they'll use the components that suit them best from a cost-benefit perspective. This means a competitor might release a console that flops, or they might create the best console that outperforms the PlayStation. With these changes, no two playthroughs will be the same, that's for sure.
You can publish games on competitors' consoles without licensing fees, for now. I'm not sure yet how to implement this intelligently. But I'm working from the assumption that since they're in the same city as you, you have an economic advantage that allows you to get free licenses. That said, competitors who publish consoles will quickly become very powerful if their console sells well. As a result, they'll buy up most of the available studios in the city. Yeah, this is going to be a game-changer.
I've also reworked the game's pause animation, which was a bit too subtle for my liking.
What's Next
I've already dropped a big bombshell on you there. I'm happy with the work I've accomplished - I've tested it and everything seems to be working properly. Now what's next is improving the view of competitors' consoles. When we look at competitors, it would be great to list their consoles. I haven't had time to implement this yet, but I'll get it done this week.
Another thing I'd like to do this week is add the Game of the Year view. To have a history of Games of the Year, it would be cool to have a dedicated panel, so if I have time I'll implement it this week, otherwise it'll be next week. Another change I'd like to make is giving the ability to see total revenue generated by game engines.
That's all from me, see you next week!
Thanks for reading
Take care of yourselves
Xavier aka Binogure