It’s time for another update, and it’s going to be hot! The last few weeks saw the implementation of the stair placement system, floor painting, an experimental fire system, UI changes, and further work on the Guest AI.
Stair Placement
Stairs add a lot of verticality to the game, allowing guests to access higher floors/levels in the hotel. They can be built indoors or outdoors, and they will automatically remove any floor tiles directly above them. In the future, you will be able to purchase various types and styles that will certainly elevate your hotel’s aesthetic.
Floor Painting
Floor painting takes a lot of inspiration from its older sibling, wall painting. It allows you to change the colour and texture of floors to your liking. There are many materials to choose from, such as marble, wood, carpets, tiles, and so on. We’re planning to add even more options for both floor and wall painting, so get your creative juices flowing.
Fire
The first iteration of the fire system has been implemented. This is designed to be one of the many ‘disasters’ that can strike your hotel. Fires can be started naturally or triggered by faulty equipment/electrical problems. Players will have to ensure their equipment is well maintained, and it wouldn’t hurt to invest in some safety equipment to avoid fires getting out of hand. As you can imagine, there is still plenty of work for us to do in this area, but we’ll keep burning through it.
AI work
Although we’ve mentioned AI improvements in previous updates, these last few weeks have seen some genuine progress. Some nasty bugs related to the animation system have been resolved, making it a lot easier to implement and test AI behaviours. Guests will now check in/out, sleep, drink, eat, and exercise. They’re beginning to act a little more human!
However, animation and character model quality continues to be a problem. If there are any experienced 3D modellers or animators reading this, or if you know of anyone who may be interested, please feel free to contact us.
UI and what's next?
We’ve also been spending some time implementing new management menus. We are still waiting on a few assets, but the menus for guests and individual rooms are just about ready. You’ll notice a significant difference between the old and new UI, with better transparency and less distracting colours.
Over the next month, we will be focusing our time on properly implementing the new management menus and working on more guest tasks, like gambling. Additionally, we’re hoping to begin work on staff behaviours soon, most likely starting with the cooking staff. If things go wrong with their AI in the kitchen, at least we’ll have a great way to test the new fire system.
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