Hello everyone!
Here we are, v1.25.0 has just been released and the changes are as numerous as they are significant. So without wasting a single second, let me tell you about the major changes in v1.25.0.
Game of the Year
This is the biggest change in v1.25.0 as we're completely overhauling the Game of the Year feature. The interface has been completely redesigned to make it more consistent with the rest of the game. The first version of Game of the Year dated back to 2020 if I remember correctly, and in the meantime the game has undergone several graphical overhauls.
What's changed is the presentation of information. City Game Studio now shows you much more clearly which game has the best chance of winning the award. This allows you to make more informed decisions. It's now possible to view the history of games that have won this award.
And the cherry on top, when you win this title, you can now place a trophy in your studio that will boost your employees' morale. I would have liked the trophy to have more references to the winning game, but the game's data structure doesn't allow it without significantly impacting performance. And I preferred to sacrifice that part to gain performance.
The Studio Director
With every update, the studio director gets modifications. And all the modifications come from your suggestions, which tells me you really love the studio director. The big change for the studio director is the ability to port games to other consoles. Don't worry, you're the one who decides the console compatibility rate, allowing you to ensure quality ports.
Indeed, the higher the compatibility rate between two platforms, the better the quality of the port. And conversely, the lower the compatibility rate, the worse the score will be.
And since the studio director had a somewhat cluttered interface, I also took the time to rework it to better organize the information and allow you, once again, to make the best decisions. I hope you like these changes!
The Interface
I completely redesigned the interface for game and console sales. Gone are the curves and hello to histograms. We lose some information on marketing expenses, but we gain visibility on profits.
All sales curves have been reviewed, and some are colored to better match game types. For example, when you work with a publisher, the curves will be yellow. If you publish a game, then the curves will be blue, and if you hire a studio to develop a game that you publish, then the curves will be green.
Regarding console sales information, there's now a gauge indicating production cost reductions. It's handy, and it lets you know where you stand in terms of sales. Because the more a console sells, the more production costs will drop.
In this sales panel, on the right, there are also menus where some elements are disabled. And I've added tooltips to explain why elements are disabled. In fact, there are a lot of changes to these panels, and I invite you to launch the game to check them out.
Other Changes
When you publish a game, if a producer is assigned to the game, they'll be automatically unassigned from the game, allowing you to use them right away. It's no longer possible to assign a producer to an already published game. This is a change that will reduce micro-management.
I've also added some cheat codes allowing you to get servers for free, or to complete all kinds of games and remakes.
On top of all that, the options panel has been reviewed and fixed to make it a bit more readable. Especially for adjusting the game's graphics. A tooltip will indicate what impacts game performance the most, allowing you to have a better gaming experience.
New options have appeared. Notably 120 FPS or windowed fullscreen mode (which works well this time).
Bug Fixes
There are many, you'd think I only introduce new bugs! So some in-game achievements had no translation. That's fixed. The studio director was selecting game engine features randomly, which led to bad games.
When you sold or destroyed a studio, the furniture wasn't sold, it was destroyed, making you lose a few thousand or even millions in the process, sorry about that.
A fairly rare but annoying bug, some minigames could completely freeze the game. Sorry about that one... I should have caught it sooner.
Contract duration was miscalculated when playing in slow or very slow mode.
A player found a way to port the same game over and over to their own console. This allowed making tons of games and money in minimum time.
Another small bug this time, you could crack the same game multiple times.
This is a non-exhaustive list of changes, and there are many more, but I'll spare you the smallest ones.
V1.26.0 is already in the pipeline, with planned small changes for the save interface, new game creation, but especially updates, DLCs and adding a DRM component to game consoles. I won't say more about these changes, but I think it will greatly change your gaming experiences!
Thank you for reading me, it was like every major update, a wall of text, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have ideas and suggestions, the comments are there for that!
See you very soon
Take care of yourselves
Xavier aka Binogure