Mall Craze News

[h3]Hello everyone! 👋[/h3]

A new update is here - version 0.3.4!

When your customers visit your mall, I bet that they get really hungry after a while, and even though vending machines for some quick snack are already in the game, it is time to start working on a proper Food Court!

Starting with this one, the next couple of content updates will focus more on adding the Food Court mechanics. The truth is, I was planning to have some of those features ready for this update, but I've hit a couple of roadblocks along the way. This is also the main reason for almost 2 month period between this and the last update, as I was mostly figuring stuff out.

In the meantime, I also started working on a new kiosk - the Cake Kiosk, which will serve as a nice transition and introduction into the Food Court updates.

And what exactly will these following updates include? In no particular order:

• customers sitting and eating
  
• hunger and thirst influencing shopping behaviour
  
• more food oriented kiosks, vending machines, and shops (I've heard they also call them restaurants 🙂)
  
• what goes in must eventually come out -> toilets
  

Now, let's take a look at the new Cake Kiosk!





Thank you everyone for your support and for all the feedback and ideas that you share with me here on Steam or on Discord. It really helps a lot!

Thanks again, and I will see you in the next update!
- Milan, Developer



[h2]Cake Kiosk Added (7 new products)[/h2]

• Cakes (Homemade Cakes, Desserts, Tray Cakes, Donuts & Cupcakes, Little Treats)
  
• Beverages (Green Tea, Black Coffee)
  

[h2]
Small Changes[/h2]

• Perfume and Dental Kiosks build prices increased to $3400 and $2600.
  
• Foods and Drinks vending machines build prices increased to $700.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed: Deleting new shop under construction doesn't recycle spent money on products, entrances, windows, and cashier tables.
  

[h2]Available Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1223530/

[h3]Hello everyone! 👋[/h3]

A new update is here - version 0.3.3!
It brings with itself two new features: time speed control and autosaves.

Let’s take a closer look!


This update completes the time control feature introduced in the previous version, which added the ability to pause time. Update 0.3.3 expands on this by introducing speed control, allowing your customers to zip through your mall at up to 6x the normal speed!



The following GIF is not sped up in post-production:

Watching customers zoom through the mall makes my brain produce happy chemicals. ːsteamhappyː


You can now set how often you'd like your game to autosave, with the interval ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. To keep the folder from growing too large, the autosave folder has a cap of 20 save files.



The other small changes na big fixes are listed in the full patch notes below.

Thank you, everyone, for your support, and I will see you in the next update! ❤️
- Milan, Developer



[h2]Additions & Improvements[/h2]

• Time Control: 3x and 6x speeds added.
  
• Autosave added:
  
  • Save & Load UI: autosave tab added.
    
  • Settings UI: autosave interval settings added.
    
  • Autosave cap: 20 files.
    

[h2]Small Changes[/h2]

• Shop Construction UI now has confirmation pop up window when cancelling construction.
  
• Contents of confirmation pop up inside Shop UI now changes based on shop class (kiosks, vending machines, ...).
  
• Save function is now disabled during shop construction (was causing save file issues).
  
• Demo updated from version 0.2.5 to version 0.3.3.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed: Eyedrop, and subsequent construction of floor during Shop Construction causes glitches (eyedrop of floor is now disabled during Shop Construction).
  
• Fixed: Customers sometimes unnecessarily resetting to spawner after savefile load, even when standing on navigable area.
  
• Fixed: Controls UI & grid overlay not hiding when deleting objects during object Move mode.
  

[h2]Available Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1223530/

[h3]Hello everyone! 👋[/h3]

It is time for another update - version 0.3.2!
It may seem odd to emphasize time in bold, but in just a few seconds, you'll see that this update is all about time.

Let's jump in!


In this update, I’ve decided to tackle some Quality of Life (QoL) improvements you've been requesting for a while now, and I felt that the time was right to address them. There are two new main features coming with this update. The first is Time Control, specifically the first part of it — Pause.

There were two ways that I could've approached this. The first was a traditional pause that completely freezes the game, while the second was a time pause that lets you continue building, customizing, and managing your mall. The second option was the better choice since it aligns with how many other games in the genre work.



The only thing left now is the ability to speed up time, which will be addressed in the future as well!


While not directly tied to time control, this new tool is also related to time—it saves a lot of it! With the Eyedropper Tool, you can easily duplicate objects without much hassle. Previously, if you wanted to create the same object that's already in you mall, you had to search for it in the construction menu, build it, then enter the Material Designer of the original object, and with the Paint Tool paint the new object. Quite a journey!

With the Eyedropper Tool, you just eyedrop the original object, and now you can build as many identical copies of the object as you want, including materials.




While working on Time Control, I also took the opportunity to fix an issue with customers getting stuck on grass and escalators. Moments of euphoria from making progress quickly turned into despair while debugging and fixing these problems :)

Hopefully, most of the edge cases have now been taken care of, and if you ever notice your customers zooming across the map back to the spawner, that’s because they were stuck somewhere and couldn’t navigate back to a walkable area.




In update 0.2.4, I reverted back to Shader Model 5 from Shader Model 6. The technical details are not important, but this switch resulted in great improvements in stability for many people. What I haven't noticed until recently is that this change indroduced some micro stutters and decrease in preformance with large malls - namely 80's Dream and Sunny Skies.

I've made some adjustments, and the performance should now be a lot smoother for huge malls with shadows enabled, especially during camera movement. Depending on the situation and your system, you might see a 10-30% boost in performance.



Thank you, everyone, for your support, and I will see you in the next update! ❤️
- Milan, Developer



[h2]Additions & Improvements[/h2]

• Time control added: Pause Time.
  
• Eyedropper Tool added.
  
• Shadows performance optimized (10 - 30% FPS uplift based on different situations and settings).
  

[h2]Small Changes[/h2]

• Customers get teleported to spawn when stuck on grass or unable to move.
  
• Right mouse button is now used to exit Paint Tool (instead of UI button).
  
• Custom cursors added for Paint and Eyedropper Tools.
  
• Controls UI: right mouse button keybind added for Paint Tool.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed: Customers getting stuck on escalators.
  
• Fixed: Customers getting stuck on grass.
  

[h2]Available Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1223530/

[h3]Hello everyone! 👋[/h3]

Hello everyone! Today I’d like to share with you a quick overview of the first year since the game has released into Early Access. This year has seen steady progress for Mall Craze, and I'm really grateful for the support you've shown along the way.

Whether you've been here since day one or you just recently stumbled upon the game, I welcome you here! We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive in! 🎬

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3718340776839794461
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3716090245652899691
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3720595112950091779
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3814046073264274414
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3878226811989210568
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/3985189839361587179
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/7047640220324167970
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/7353887524191305427
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4110170432158545620
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4173221461866889555
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4170972198135962352
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4177732670872608226
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4607832777555861473
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1223530/view/4593196713093703874

Your feedback has played a key role in shaping the game’s development, and I’m really looking forward to the future!

Thank you everyone, and here’s to another year full of updates!
- Milan, developer


[h2]Available Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1223530/

[h3]Hello everyone! 👋[/h3]

Update 0.3.1 is here! Wait... a new one already? Just one week after a major update?

Yes! 🎵

There’s been one part of the game that I haven’t touched since launch, and that was the soundtrack. Throughout the year, I’ve always wanted to create more music for the game, but somehow I never found the right time to just sit down and compose.
The days following the 0.3.0 release felt like the perfect time to do just that, and that’s exactly what I did.



The Mall Craze soundtrack is now 3.5x bigger than before! Which... wasn’t actually that hard to achieve, considering there were only 2 songs in the game previously...
Let’s just say the music was a bit repetitive.

I hope you’ll enjoy the 5 new tracks, and that they will help you with building, customizing, and running your mall!

Thank you all for your support, and I’ll see you in the next update!
- Milan, developer



[h2]Additions & Improvements[/h2]

• 5 new songs added to the soundtrack
  

[h2]Available Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1223530/