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Big Ambitions News

Try out Big Ambitions Demo

Hello everyone!

We’re happy to announce that, after two years of hard development, we’re attending Steam Next Festival!

As part of the festival, there’s a free demo of Big Ambitions available right now, which will let you try the early game and check how it feels starting your empire in New York City!



Hope you like it, have fun!

All the best,
Hovgaard Games

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Release of Beta 3

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Beta 3 Release

Steam Next Fest is almost there, and we’ve focused the development towards polishing the game, doing some heavy bug fixing and preparing the demo (which will be available to everyone on June 13th!).

Alright, let’s go!

[h2]Localization/translation support[/h2]
One of the most asked features by our non-English speakers is finally here: using our fancy tool (Localizor), you can now help us translate the game into different languages. There’s a new option in the options menu: “Language”! We still have a looong way to go before having the game fully translated, but some fellow players have already gone ahead and started translating in various languages.

You can suggest or vote for translations at https://www.localizor.com/big-ambitions. We’ll really appreciate any help!


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[h2]City taxis[/h2]
Another widely asked feature: taxis! In New York! Yay! Just find a taxi, click it, and choose the building you want to travel to. Quicker, easier but a bit more expensive.


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[h2]Improved lighting and time of day feeling[/h2]
The natural lighting has been heavily improved, both in interior and exterior. New York has never been more beautiful!


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[h2]External building details[/h2]
The art team has been working hard (as always!) on new decorations for the buildings: scaffoldings, roof details, etc.


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[h2]Reworked employee demands[/h2]
As you may know, all the employees had the “free weekends” demand… And that was all. We’ve removed “exhaustion”, replaced it with “satisfaction”, and added several new demands making it harder than ever to keep your employees happy.


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[h2]New furniture[/h2]
Four new carpets are now available at Ika Bohag, and changing rooms for clothing stores can be bought at AJ Pederson & Son.


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[h2]Neighborhood filter on Voogle Maps[/h2]
Another requested feature: filters on Voogle Maps for the neighborhoods!


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[h2]Character portraits[/h2]
One of the tasks on our “to-do list” was adding character portraits that, in fact, represented the character that you were playing. It’s time to say goodbye to our old (young?), standard, handsome boy with a weird posture that was used on the placeholder portrait (on both save games list and in-game).


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[h2]Other improvements[/h2]
  • ALT + R now does inverse rotation when placing an item
  • Added P as shortcut for placing items
  • Added ESC as shortcut for canceling placement mode
  • Updated vehicle names with community-made ones
  • More sounds and better ambience sounds
  • New subway stations
  • New notifications
  • Added street signs
  • Added lights to all AI buildings
  • Adjusted some food saturation and added energy generation for cups of coffee
  • Added icons to workstations on BizMan Schedule
  • Improved building hider
  • Added age to the player
  • Added remaining distance to guiders
  • Updated tutorial


[h2]12 fixed issues since beta 2 🐛[/h2]
  • #177 - Management courses: One hour too much added when reopening dialog
  • #203 - Building Hiding when standing close, even if not blocking the view
  • #215 - EconoView: Unused business buildings shown as empty lines
  • #788 - Loading a game that was saved while paused will load in a very bright state
  • #856 - Not IKEA: NPC standing on wall
  • #1007 - Ground missing
  • #1050 - Traffic lights on 1st avenue always on
  • #1055 - Fence of forest park at the roundabout / 4th Avenue can be walked into
  • #1080 - Missing description for "OnCounterTop"
  • #1093 - No distance check for grabbing from "Manage cargo"
  • #1094 - Take over new store issues
  • #1095 - after i new mintuer i always need to relaod

147 feedback reports have been successfully handled, and 18 issues have also been fixed and shipped during Beta 2.

[h2]Get access now![/h2]
Beta 3 is available to all our gold and silver supporters. You can get access right now by buying the gold or silver version of Big Ambitions at www.bigambitionsgame.com

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Don't forget to add Big Ambitions to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big_Ambitions/

All the best,
Jonas#1 & David#NaN

Release of Beta 2

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Beta 2 Release

It’s time! The biggest update of Big Ambitions (so big that we had to delay its release) is here. Are you ready to see the changes? Let’s go!

[h2]New neighborhood: Midtown[/h2]
The map has been expanded! A third neighborhood has joined the game: Midtown. Fancy and with unique buildings, it’s really worth it to spend a couple of evenings (in-game, of course!) walking around there. Enjoy the awesome job the art team has done!


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[h2]Market demands[/h2]
Although visually is almost unnoticeable, this is a big change: the way customers look for products has been completely reworked. No more expensive jewelry stores generating several millions a day, sorry!

Products now have a demand value, which depends on the base price of the product and the amount of businesses selling it. This means that expensive stuff is harder to sell and that competition must be contemplated. We’ve also added new random events, like shortages and hypes for specific products, which can modify either the import price of the product or the demand value. Market Insider App has received an update to match the changes, don’t worry!


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[h2]Auto parking on Luxurious Saloon[/h2]
Parking can be tricky sometimes in Big Ambitions. But, for now on, if you’re rich enough to afford a Luxurious Saloon, you’ll be able to auto park it. Fast and easy!


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[h2]New retail building[/h2]
If one of your dreams in Big Ambitions is creating a big supermarket, then this is your moment! M1 building has been added to the game. With a surface of 1000m2, it can have up to 75 customers per hour.


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[h2]New business type: Web Development Agency[/h2]
There’s one new office business type: Web Development Agency. Set up some computers, add a bunch of programmers, and… Voila!


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[h2]New main menu[/h2]
As we get closer to the launch of Big Ambitions, we have to focus on things not directly related to gameplay. One of them is the main menu: it has been completely redesigned and improved with cool features such as the News and Updates panel! Also, saves are now splitted into characters.


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[h2]Autosaving[/h2]
Together with the rework of the main menu, we’ve enabled autosaving. It happens every in-game midnight, and will prevent the loss of progress in case of a crash or power failure. We store up to 3 recovery saves for each character, which can be loaded from the “load menu” by enabling “Show recover saves”.


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[h2]Improved item overlays[/h2]
More fancy stuff! Item overlays have received a redesign. They’re now hidden by default, and appear when hovering the mouse over the item itself. If an item is missing requirements or has low/empty stocks, an icon will appear and will always be visible.


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[h2]Improved schedule[/h2]
One of the most annoying things of setting up a large law firm was managing the employees. We’ve done some changes here and there, like removing the space between different workstations, adding the ability to move employees between workstations by dragging, adding a “Shared schedule” option and adding toggles to all days for changing the open state. The result is something more responsive and clean!


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[h2]Improved cleaning[/h2]
This improvement has been widely asked in the community, with different approaches. We’ve come to a solution that tries to meet all players' demands: cleaning slots now depend on cleaning workstations instead of mops (yay, one new item!), customer service employees come with cleaning skills, aaand… You can freely choose when the cleaning happens throughout the day.


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[h2]Improved customer capacity UI[/h2]
It was a bit confusing how customer capacity was handled, so we have updated how that information is displayed.


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[h2]Added sell buttons to items and vehicles[/h2]
You can now sell any item/vehicle with a simple click! It will refund a 50% of the initial cost, but will let you get rid of old vehicles and furniture.


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[h2]Building preview and more information on BizMan presentation[/h2]
It’s important to know what you’re buying before actually buying it, so… We’ve added a preview button that will let you see the building itself, and customer capacity and traffic index are now displayed on the rent view in BizMan.


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[h2]Desktop workstations set up[/h2]
Some people have tried to set up their own desktop workstations by buying chairs, computers and desks, instead of buying the all-in-one desktop workstations. The thing is… That made more sense! So, desktop workstations are no longer available in stores, and both lawyers and programmers will need a workstation with a computer, a desk and a chair.


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[h2]Other improvements[/h2]
There are a lot of small quality of life improvements and additions. Some of them are:
  • Added current address information on bottom right corner
  • Added warehouses as possible destination for logistics managers
  • Added default lights to buildings
  • Added various objects to rooftops of buildings
  • Added “Static Background Image” option for Phone Apps (fixes whitescreen issue on Intel GPUs)
  • “Business has no employees assigned” hourly message only appears when the business is open and has no employees assigned at all
  • Added more sounds! Including random sounds for NPCs
  • Grouped daily money transactions
  • Improved tables performance and added sorting options
  • Updated tutorial
  • Disabled controllers input


[h2]67 fixed issues since beta 1 🐛[/h2]
  • #251 - Inventory count can be extremely hard to read on bright background
  • #315 - First day rent for business building + first day wage not registered in BizMan
  • #419 - Can't enter car if parked incorrectly
  • #670 - Clipping in park bench
  • #791 - Inconsistent behaviour when sleeping while game is paused
  • #814 - Fridge Door Barricade
  • #825 - Zombie Cars between 6th Str / 8th Str / 1st Ave / 2nd Ave
  • #869 - goal pane tucked away unable to move it
  • #916 - Turning on the sidewalk at 2ND AVENUE / 6TH Street
  • #918 - Car Park for Ika Bohag full even when closed
  • #957 - Phone apps have white background for some users
  • #992 - Selecting an employee in MyEmployees will remove red color for "No task" and "Unassigned"
  • #993 - Warehouse Inventory: "Balance" unreadable
  • #996 - Can not enter office anymore.
  • #998 - Cargo window doesn't close when forklift drives away from pallet shelf
  • #999 - Cant pick up Pallet
  • #1002 - Hide cleaning employees button is too big
  • #1003 - NPC cars can be pushed trough fence
  • #1004 - Help content bugs
  • #1005 - Bridge has no collision
  • #1006 - 4 fourthstreet house is bugged
  • #1008 - if there are no paperbags in the shop, items will be sold for free
  • #1009 - Shopping Basket Reads $0 When Put In Handtruck
  • #1011 - Valuation calculation for Personal Goals incorrect
  • #1012 - Delivery Driver Issues
  • #1013 - When grabbing & packing a cash register, the assigned employees are not removed
  • #1014 - "Empty fridge" causes need to pay for items
  • #1015 - Fridge box can be placed in paper bag
  • #1016 - Unable to complete verification of import mission.
  • #1017 - EconoView: Business Type "Empty" for Warehouses
  • #1018 - Headquarters: Copying the schedule of Saturday or Sunday to all days makes it closed, can't be opened again
  • #1019 - Car can get stuck on tree with fence
  • #1020 - Wrong link in help menu
  • #1022 - Forklift can't load cargo from vehicles
  • #1023 - Small confirm in main menu
  • #1024 - Glitchy floor when looking through building 28 Second Avenue
  • #1025 - Trees Obstructing Road
  • #1026 - Parked vehicles spawning inside each other
  • #1027 - Pressing ALT+Tab while being in citymap breaks everything
  • #1028 - Early game terminate apartment contract issue
  • #1029 - Map scroll freezing
  • #1031 - Rotating logo
  • #1033 - Job board item overlay shown permanently
  • #1034 - El Gato: Queue stuck, player stuck after I finish my shift
  • #1035 - Destination marker showing wrong direction if destination is far away
  • #1036 - Pink post at side entrance from sidewalk to drive-in wholesales
  • #1037 - Bank loan limit: Bank sets limit to $40,000 but doesn't count in interest of new loan
  • #1039 - Pizza oven can't be bought at AJ Pederson
  • #1040 - Adding more of already paid products into car will show them as already paid
  • #1041 - Character order in "Load game" appears random
  • #1043 - Cars become ghosts and drive in the wrong direction
  • #1044 - All lights on traffic lights active
  • #1045 - Player moves when moving an object with WASD
  • #1046 - Warehouse open but no employees
  • #1047 - Pressing the 2nd & 4th computer (from the left) at Mr Scotts doesn't give anything
  • #1048 - Getting stuck when trying to get Officedesk1
  • #1049 - Parked Vehicle on road on 4th street
  • #1052 - Parked car can get spawned inside construction site in front of 3 Third Avenue
  • #1057 - Impression of "looking into the window" broken due to what seems to be a changing picture
  • #1058 - Car Acrobatics possible at the elevated part of 2nd Avenue
  • #1059 - Car can drive through outer railguard on circular road around Central Station, leaving the car stuck at the edge and effectively unusable
  • #1061 - No confirmation anymore when overwriting savegame
  • #1062 - Hand Truck Spawner is Inactive
  • #1063 - Employees aren't automatically assigned to business
  • #1064 - Packing then replacing a drinks fridge fully restocks it.
  • #1065 - Can't deliver soda to coffee shop using warehouse and truck
  • #1070 - Dev Console Opens Automatically When Starting NEW Game

[h2]Get access now![/h2]
Beta 2 is available to all our gold and silver supporters. You can get access right now by buying the gold or silver version of Big Ambitions at www.bigambitionsgame.com

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Don't forget to add Big Ambitions to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big_Ambitions/

All the best,
Jonas#1 & David#NaN

Release of Beta 1

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Beta 1 Release

It’s the end of the month, and that means that is time for an update! After almost a year of alpha releases, we’re now moving the production phase from alpha to beta, releasing the first beta version of the game. Let’s see the new features!

[h2]New car controller & traffic improvements[/h2]
As promised, we’ve changed the car controller to a more responsive one. We’ve also added engine sounds for the different vehicles. And, with this upgrade, we took the opportunity to improve the traffic, removing almost all bottlenecks and making the AI drivers smoother.

[video]https://www.bigambitionsgame.com/assets/beta1/newcarcontroller.mp4[/video]

[h2]Persona App[/h2]
Time to update your phone! One more app is available on Big Ambitions, this time focusing on your character. There’s a lot to add to this app, but right now it has some basic information, plus a bunch of personal goals (similar to achievements) to complete!


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[h2]Acquire competitor businesses[/h2]
You can now buy competitor businesses. It’s expensive, but will let you get that perfectly located building that you wanted! When acquiring it, both the furniture and the stock from that business will remain.


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[h2]New buildings[/h2]
We have two brand new buildings available in the game: a large-sized residential apartment and a small office to build cozy headquarters and law firms.


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[h2]Interior designer improvements[/h2]
The art team has been working on new walls and floors, and we’ve added the possibility to change the colors of them, expanding the interior designer UI. With those additions, there are now available up to 24 floors and 38 walls. Will that be enough?


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[h2]New furniture[/h2]
This version comes with a bunch of new furniture that can be bought from Ika Bohag, like trash bins and product panels, that are smaller and cheaper alternative shelves for the cheap gifts. We’ve also added the option to place furniture on the walls, adding paintings of different sizes, clocks and TVs.


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[h2]Other improvements[/h2]
There are a lot of small quality of life improvements and additions. Some of them are:
  • Added the ability to attach chairs to tables
  • Added signs and reorganized the drive-in wholesale shelves
  • Added sorting filters to the MyEmployees App
  • Added dropdowns to shelves to select the type of product to sell
  • Marketing can now be done for law firms
  • Added “hours until opening” information to buildings resumes
  • Added the option to call the wholesale through the Contacts App
  • Added new objectives
  • Improved cargo on shelves (split items with different sizes and automatically merge boxes)
  • Added BusinessLayoutSets (modding)
  • New sounds: on game save, on writing in a text field, on dragging slider, on pause, on play, on shop enter
  • Added sounds to subway
  • Added ambience sounds to the park


[h2]26 fixed issues since alpha 10 🐛[/h2]
  • #268 - Wrong button label "Empty shelf" for DrinksFridge, no such button at all for SaladBar and MetalShelf
  • #357 - EconoView showing income of 10 sold CheapGifts although in BizMan stock has just reduced by 9.
  • #527 - NPC cars hitting player's car
  • #817 - Market Insider: Click on item closes map if already open
  • #876 - CheapSaloon: Engine idling audio glitch
  • #884 - Car sound doesn't update inside drive-in wholesales
  • #912 - Traffic jam for left turn from 6th Ave to 1st Street
  • #944 - Voogle Maps: Uncle Fred objective icon not visible while indoors
  • #946 - Vehicle brake lights triggered when not braking
  • #955 - Subways can be accessed from vehicle
  • #958 - Graphics issue when entering car while zoomed in
  • #959 - Customer capacity building limit too high for law firm
  • #960 - Price satisfaction unclear
  • #962 - Can't grab fridge with items in it
  • #963 - Savegame can't be loaded
  • #966 - Flipped cars are lost
  • #970 - Van duplicated, flipped and invalidated save
  • #973 - Main menu: When pressing a button, most of the savegame thumbnails will disappear
  • #974 - Illegally parked Merc in front of 22 Fourth Street blocking the road
  • #975 - "Buy a box of soda cans" Objective not checked if fulfilled prematurely
  • #976 - Wrong hand truck spawning position in C2 (and probably other) buildings
  • #979 - Wrong info when shutting down business
  • #980 - Car's cargo dialog stays open when moving using WASD
  • #981 - Camera sometimes off when leaving apartment
  • #986 - Options: Elements extend too far to the right
  • #987 - Jensen Capital only allowing initial loan of $40

[h2]Get access now![/h2]
Beta 1 is available to all our gold and silver supporters. You can get access right now by buying the gold or silver version of Big Ambitions at www.bigambitionsgame.com

Originally posted by The Big Ambitions Team
We use the up-vote count below to measure how many of you read these devlogs. If you enjoyed it, please let us know by hitting the like 👍 button below, thanks! ❤


Don't forget to add Big Ambitions to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big_Ambitions/

All the best,
Jonas#1 & David#NaN

Alpha 10 Video Summary

We have just released a short 6-minute video that will quickly show you all the new exciting stuff in Alpha 10. Now available to all Gold supporters.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

All the best,
Hovgaard Games