Mall Craze News

For the past couple of weeks, I've been very busy with preparations for this big milestone in Mall Craze's development. Now, after almost 2 months, I'm happy to announce that Mall Craze is officially coming to Kickstarter in March this year!

[h2]But WHY KICKSTARTER?[/h2]
There are actually 4 main reasons for this:

[h3]Because now is the best time to do it[/h3]
Mall Craze has been in development for nearly 16 months. It’s in a stage where the game is starting to take shape. Not too soon to be just a prototype, but also not too late to be just around the corner of a full release.

[h3]Because it will make the game even better[/h3]
Developing a game in a vacuum is not the best idea. I might be able to develop the game but not every idea might be great. That’s why Mall Craze needs feedback from you, the community. By giving you access to closed alpha/beta and gathering feedback and ideas, the game will be better in the end.

[h3]Because the game will be finished sooner[/h3]
As a part-time solo developer, the amount of time that I can spend developing Mall Craze is limited. With the help of additional funding via Kickstarter, I will be able to become a full-time developer and focus 100% of my time on Mall Craze.

[h3]Because I might need additional help[/h3]
There's a lot of things when it comes to game development. Art, assets creation, coding, music, sound design, QA, and a lot more…
Even though I’m fairly experienced in a majority of these areas, there’s a possibility I might need to hire additional talent to help me.



[h2]Rewards[/h2]
The following rewards will be included in various tiers based on pledge amount:

[h3]Discount of up to 50%[/h3]
If you secure your place as an early backer, you'll be able to get a copy of Mall Craze for $15.

[h3]Early Access - alpha/beta[/h3]
The tier above the basic one will also include continuous early access to Mall Craze.

[h3]Soundtrack and Discord badge[/h3]
Besides the game itself and early access, you'll also be able to get Mall Craze's soundtrack in high quality and special Discord titles.



[h2]How to become an Early Bird and don't miss the launch?[/h2]
There are 2 main ways to receive a notification as soon as the campaign launches:

[h3]Join Mall Craze with E-mail[/h3]
You can join Mall Craze on its website and receive an email (the form is at the bottom of the page).

[h3]Join Mall Craze on Discord[/h3]
Join us on Discord and become part of our community. Just recently, we hit a nice milestone of 100 members and everyone is welcome!



At the end of this announcement, I would like to thank everyone who supported me and the game throughout the internet, be it Discord or other social media! It's amazing to see so many people being interested in the game. For all of this, I owe you one big
[h2]Thank You![/h2]

Would you like to be closer to the development and get the newest information first hand?
Or perhaps you have some neat idea that you want to share?

Join us and become part of a growing community. Join the server! discord.gg/TaAHvX6

Hey everyone and welcome to Mall Craze's first written Devlog!

Thank you for stopping by and before we dive in, let me quickly summarize the purpose of this (and future) Devlogs.
If you've been following the game closely on Twitter or Discord, you probably noticed that updates and news are scattered all over the place, and sometimes,
you may have even missed some important news. 
That's the main reason why I decided to start this Devlog here on Steam,
as it provides all the necessary tools.
These Devlogs were also originally made on YouTube as videos, but currently, I have less time available to produce them, and this serves as a great replacement. 

Let's get to the main topics of today:

1. Last 5 months of development
   
2. Beta testing
   
3. Kickstarter
   
4. Release date
   
5. Near future
   

[h2]Where have I been for the last 5 months?[/h2]
As some of you may have noticed, after the last Devlog on YouTube, I took a big break from the game and went almost radio-silent. I won't go into many details, but let's just say that life happened and I had way less time for the game. That situation is now thankfully resolved and I can finally focus on the development again. 

[h3]So, how's the game? [/h3]
Actually, for the past month, I was slowly getting back into development and made some improvements. 
The big news is, I implemented the necessary back-end, and customers are now finally shopping inside shops. That also means that hiring staff is now possible. Currently only in the form of cashiers, but more will be added later. 

Customers now pick a random shop and product. Everything is shown in the game. Customers walk up to the product, examine it for a while, then make a purchase in the near cashier table. Again, deeper mechanics will be added later, but even this simple buying mechanic allowed me to finally start working on management aspects of the game. 



[h2]Will there be Beta testing soon?
[/h2]
The first half of the answer: Yes, there will be beta testing for Mall Craze.
Second half: It probably won't be in the next couple of weeks/months. 

As much as I would love to show the game itself to more people and gather feedback, you'll have to believe me when I say that there is currently not much to test. Almost every aspect of the game still has many game-breaking bugs. And yeah, of course, beta testing is here to find them, but the game in its current form has virtually zero content, and most of the features are implemented in their most basic form. 
Even though it's only a beta test, I still would like it for the game to have a certain level of polish, and at least some content to enjoy while testing - I'm slowly getting there :)



[h2]Kickstarter[/h2]
We all know that this year is different in everything, and changes and delays hit Mall Craze as well. The initial plan was to put Mall Craze on Kickstarter, and with a bit of luck, focus on development full-time. 
The current plan is still the same, just instead of Spring 2020, the project will probably launch on Kickstarter in Spring 2021.

[h2]Delays, delays, delays[/h2]
Some of you might know that the initial plan was to release the game next year (2021). I would probably still be able to finish and release the game in Q3 - Q4 2021, but because this is the window when all the big titles are released, I decided to postpone the release date to Q1 - Q2 2022. In turn, this will have a possible positive effect on Mall Craze, as I will have an additional 6 months to improve the game. I have a certain philosophy when it comes to game development and I'm trying to stand by it. When I see that the game needs some more time before it's ready, I'm willing to delay the release. The last thing that I want is to give you a broken game.



[h2]So, what comes next?[/h2]
We're at the very end of this first Devlog and if you read all of it and ended all the way down here, Thank you very much! :)
I can't wait to show you the game's progress in the upcoming weeks.
Right now, as I'm writing this Devlog (okay, maybe not exactly this very minute), I'm finishing the work on the new Management UI window and the next thing on my list is to work on customers - their stats, needs, textures, behavior, and more... Stay tuned!


Thank you and see ya next time! 
Milan Timčenko - Developer