Blooming Business: Casino News

Hello Owners!

We’re back (to school) with a dev update! After all the freedom our last update added, it was time to add some more content and some space! Because it’s great to be able to build huge areas with weird shapes, but it’s better to have some fancy games and decorations to fill them, am I right?



New decorations

Yes, we already added new decorations in the last update, but it's only half of them! We completed our four themes (Tiki, Space, Greek, and Business) with some fancy stuff, among which a lot of new wall decorations and some BIG ones (my personal favorite is the Rocket 🚀) can’t wait to see all the lavish casinos you’ll make with them!



New attractions

Did you start to feel bored by slot machines, craps, and blackjack? I don’t think so as our games are awesome, but still, we added some new ones! There are new classic casino games such as backgammon or Yahtzee. But on those games, you’ll always take the risk of a jackpot and losing all your precious money right? So what about some arcade games, clients love them, and they’re jackpot proof, it’s a win-win! That’s why we added a fortune-telling robot, pinball & darts.

• Yahtzee: A game about making strategic sacrifices, invented by a general to get soon-to-be doomed soldiers to walk in her shoes for a minute.
  
  
• Sssoltar the diviner: This dumb machine won't tell you anything about your future. But you still wanna try it, don't you?
  
  
• Flipper: Named after a heroic coast guard that had no fingers and thus needed a game playable with only flaps.
  
  
• Darts: Since 'nimals don't have opposable thumbs, the game is a lot harder to play.
  

Floors

Some of you complained that you felt kinda cramped in your casino and that you could not fulfill all of your ambitions. Good news, we added floors! With these new floors, you can expand your casino as much as you need. It will be perfect to try all our new attractions & decorations, aren’t we smart? Enjoy fulfilling all of your dreams of greatness!



Bugfix:

• Game save have been re-enabled
  
• Employees can now be grabbed even when working
  
• Fight & chit chat animations have been fixed
  
• Fixed some issues when moving areas
  
• Drinks price modifier is now functional
  
• Fixed some UI issues when events are displayed
  
• Fixed clients reaction when a machine they are playing break
  
• Fixed some movement issues on past out clients
  

And that’s all for this update. As always, do not hesitate to share your thoughts and questions as we make progress to the development of Blooming Business: Casino. We want to share with you how we progress and are always keen for the feedback!

The Homo Ludens team.

Hi Owners!

Nice to meet you, I’m Pierre Mervaillie, Art Director at Homoludens! I’m responsible for all the visual elements and the cute animals! Today we’re gonna talk a bit about what’s cool in a Tycoon game: Customization! We all have the desire to build our own cosy little place that just pleases both the clients and yourself! In Blooming Business: Casino we want to offer cute furniture to play with.

[h2]Inspirations and references[/h2]

Of course, as we are in the 1950’s and 1960’s, we will be careful to keep the very specific look of the era: between 1950 and 1960, american society changed a lot, design liberated itself and focused on producing beautiful products not only for an elite but “for everyone”. At the same time, fashion and new ideas overflowed, producing lots of very memorable objects and themes : Tiki, Space Age etc.

Here is a mood board of pictures from this era. It was our inspiration for the creation of our ingame decorative items.


[h2]Customization themes[/h2]

Most of your decorations are focused on the interior of the Casino, where the clients will be (hopefully) spending most of their time.

Objects will be part of Sets so you can quickly build a mood to go along your attractions (Slot Machines, BlackJack Table,...). Explore the exotic (but oh so fake) Tiki set to give a sense of wilderness, or shoot to the stars with the “Space Age” with its (then) modern and slick look. If you want to have a more classic vibe, get the most recent antiquité that probably comes either from Greece or Minnesota.

Here are the different themes that we already implemented in the game.
And different ways to decorate these little corners.

[h2]Impact on Gameplay[/h2]

Of course, Clients on your Casino will be quick to notice your taste as an interior decorator. The “Beauty” System that we have in Blooming Business: Casino will influence the mood of the animals who will spend more time (and money!) in a beautiful Casino where they feel at ease.

This is the current view you get while using the Beauty System.

Not everyone likes the same things though and some of your clients will prefer a calm and peaceful ambiance and others a more dancing and noisy place, you have to be careful to place and design your zones to fit the traits of the animals. In more details, your Casino will also draw interest from specific types of Client: Tourists, Mobsters or Miners will share the same taste and interest around your Casino. You want to be careful about your decoration to attract or discourage them to come!

As many of you shared their love for the customization opportunities in the game and we know it’s a key element in the GamePlay of a Tycoon game, we want in the future to expand the possibilities in Blooming Business Casino. Here are some of the things we’re considering in our roadmap!

• Of course, we will be adding new customization sets to explore cool themes!
  
• Opportunities to switch the colors of the casino games (slot machines,...)
  
• Customization of the building appearance (from wallpaper colors to carpet colors…)
  
• Finally, modding will be a big part of the game experience, and we expect many awesome things coming from players!
  

And voilà!

Of course, we will be listening to your feedback and we’re happy to gather your thoughts and suggestions. Let us know what you would like the most!

Join our Discord to chat with the dev team, participate in upcoming playtests and community contests!!

See you soon!
Pierre

Hello Owners!

We’re back with a dev update! We had a nice summer and used this time to improve the game usability and add a lot of content! We think this update will make a lot of you happy as it will respond to several of your demands.

New design mode!

Many of you were kinda annoyed by the square areas that felt restrictive and prevented you to make your dream layout. Say goodbye to them! With the new design mode, you’ll finally be able to draw your areas (almost) exactly as you want! Of course, there are still some restrictions such as minimum and maximum area size, but where would be the fun otherwise?

With this mode you can:

• Draw areas in any shape you like
  
• Expand or narrow them later as you wish
  
• Move and rotate areas
  
• Quickly move rotate and delete objects inside an area
  

New decorations

You were waiting for it, we added a lot more decorations for you to make your dream Casino (and there’s more to come in the next update). We worked around 4 common themes in Casino decoration, 50’s ear standard, Tiki, Space & Greek !

• Standard: Keep it classy with our 50’s standard decoration. Some might find it boring, but some clients might prefer it that way, Casino is not only about fun, it is also about business after all.

• Tiki: Invite your clients into an island paradise. The idea of adventure and relaxation combined might invite them to forget their (financial) worries and spend more on your machines.
  

• Space: The future is here! Create elegant spaces for your clients to relax and enjoy a vision of a bright future, full of possibilities.
  

• Greek: A classic in casino theme, but always a win. Who doesn’t like marble columns, fancy fabric, and huge fountains? There’s nothing that invites you to spend your money as much as the souvenir of fallen Empires.
  

Notifications

Tired of missing out on events happening in your casino, and only finding a knock-out client AFTER the fight? We tried to fix that with our notification system. It is still a work in progress and missing some things (such as sound) but it will allow you to keep track of what’s happening in your casino even when your attention is elsewhere.



Bug fix:

• Fixed some issue with button in the main menu where hover didn’t work
  
• Fixed client’s and employee’s inspector panel whose appearance was not reliable
  
• Fixed bug with blackjack table where the number of decks where not properly saved
  
• Fixed the intro sequence where players not able to open the pause menu
  
• Fixed some issues on name sorting in the store
  
• Fixed the tutorial that didn’t update accordingly to player actions
  
• Fixed issue where clients didn’t give back their glass to the bartender
  

And that’s all for this update. As always, do not hesitate to share your thoughts and questions as we make progress to the development of Blooming Business: Casino. We want to share with you how we progress and are always keen for feedback!

The Homo Ludens team.

We're organizing a new playtest to test the latest added features! This version of the game will include improvements and corrections based on players feedback collected during the DreamHack beyond event.





[h3]1) Complete the submission form ▶here ◀[/h3]

We organize playtest at the end of each of our development milestones (every 5 weeks on avg.) to test the latest version of our development build.

Important! Note that we send a game key to a randomize selection of our Beta Testers players. The goal is to gather feedback on our latest added content, new features, and overall game improvement. We'll be make it available for you from the 19th to the 23rd of Aug. After this short period, you won't be able to access the game, until the next playtest (if you are selected then).

[h3]2) Join the Discord ▶ here ◀
[/h3]
Then, we encourage you to join our Community Discord server and select the Playtester Applicant role in the Role Assign channel. You will be informed about specific announcements and you will be able to chat with the dev team. Also, you encourage our beta testers to share their thoughts and screenshots in our Playtest dedicated channels (if you're selected then).

[h3]A small teaser!
[/h3]
Since our last update, we've added new features and content to enrich your management experience as a casino owners: new clients type, new area creation and new customization items!



Thank you!

[h3]Come watch us play!
[/h3]
Pierre, our art director, and Juliette, our community manager, will be showing you the ropes of the demo.

You can come watch them play, and they'll be happy to answer any questions you have about the game, the studio, the art direction and of course the game development... Feel free to ask away!

[h3]Play the demo and complete the feedback survey!
[/h3]
The demo for DreamHack Beyond will be live until the 31st of July, so if you like what you see, download it and play it!
You can access the demo feedback survey here.

You can also wishlist the game so you don't miss its early access release:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388580/Blooming_Business_Casino/

• Join our Discord and be informed about upcoming playtests!
  
• Follow us on Twitter or Instagram