Hello everyone!
The game's launch into Early Access is just around the corner. Moving forward, the weekly devlogs will be replaced by bi-weekly updates along with patch notes. On top of that, I intend to post stuff that is geared more towards what will be added into the game in the future, as opposed to recent progress.
This is the first such post, the first state of the game report. I will be posting these to keep you all up to date on what is going on with the game in an open and transparent way. This allows you all to step in and add your feedback as to what buildings and features you want to see added to the game and changes you want to see made. Your feedback will also be important for me when deciding what changes should be prioritised and what I can push to a later date.
So, to start off, where is the game currently in this EA 0.1 version?
Campaign: The campaign mode is fully playable. There will be a few improvements added over time. Among them icons for what buildings need to be built. There will also be some more text added to clarify certain tips.
Other changes will depend on feedback from players.
Free roam mode: This mode is essentially finished. It will be expanded as more buildings are added into the game as well as additional citizen requests.
Retro mode: Currently the base mode has been implemented. There will be several additions to this over time, both in terms of unique buildings, but also gameplay features such as citizen requests and extra map types.
Known issues:
Road tile type next to buildings is sometimes incorrect. Fix mid august.
Research in retromode allows improvements to buildings not in the mode. Fix mid august.
Mine and sand extractor descriptions and names missing in French, German, Russian and Spanish. Fix mid august.
Conglomerate counter displays too many new ones after loading a city. Fix mid august.
Ghost messages are sometimes sent by conglomerates and board of citizens. Fix mid august.
Cars can find ghost roads at times. Resolved on reloading cities or rebuilding roads. Only a visual bug and doesn't affect city connections.
Income and cost balancing needs more work.
Atmospheric scattering produces ghosting when AA is on (specifically during night time).
Fall/Winter 2019 (except *) changes and additions:
Zones:
New buildings to be added:
Small mixed low/mid and mid/upper commercial and residential buildings. Currently there are small low, mid and upper class residences and commercial buildings. These will also be receiving an alternative version as well as a second density. This means an additional 34 buildings to be made. First 4 expected late august.
Another 10 expected mid september.
The remaining 20 mid october.
Sixth density for residential and commercial buildings. This means an additional 10 buildings to be made.
Expected late october/early november.
* Alternative buildings for regular zone size.
To be determined. Means an additional 50 (at five densities) + 10 buildings (with sixth density) which requires a lot of work. Likely a gradual implementation into 2020.
Other buildings:
Wave power plant for retromode. Retro mode only. Expected late september.
Windpower for placement on water. Retro mode only. Expected late september.
Additional decorations. All modes. Gradual implementation.
Wharf/edge decoration. All modes. Early october.
Other features:
Larger retro mode levels. Late august.
Additional retro modes. Fall 2019.
Trade tickets. Timed requests for a handful of resources. Late august.
Expanded citizen and conglomerate requests. Implemented over time.
Citizen representative. Each zoned building gets assigned a specific citizen that will advise you on things. Expected late 2019.
QoL improvements:
New demolition mode to demolish multiple structures at a time. Expected late august.
Auto benchmark option. Late august.
Additional camera work in retro mode – smoothing end points. Late august.
Other:
Atmofleets. Visual improvements.
Texture polish.
Water and power connections.
Additional sound implementation.