Power to the People News

Hello again! It has been a few weeks since we last posted an update, as we have been super busy with some marketing tasks. You'll find out more about it very soon! But we have also been making good progress to make the game even better! Read on in order to find out what we've been working on:

[h2]Glowing power lines[/h2]

Sometimes the simplest modifications to the game can result in a drastic improvement of the user experience. We've made a few changes to the shader we're using for the power lines and now they glow once their maximum power rating is exceeded. In this way, players can find out which parts of their infrastructure are the most stressed and act accordingly. Also, it looks very, very cool (if we may say so ourselves).



[h2]Refunds when bulldozing[/h2]

Yet another small improvement that makes the game a lot more balanced and more aligned to players' expectations. Now you'll get a 50% refund when bulldozing your power buildings. That means you'll be able to reinvest those funds on new infrastructure... Or maybe on desperately trying to repair your exploding substations and overheated power lines!



[h2]Usability improvements[/h2]

Tons of other usability improvements have made it to the latest version of the game! Some of them are:

• Tooltips in the climate charts screen to help players understand what they are looking at.
  
• Allow players to keep the information lenses (power lines load factor and customer satisfaction) active while they are using other game tools, such as placing power lines.
  
• All animations now get paused when the game is paused, in order to convey the message more easily.
  
• Pausing the game when entering any of the "buy new building" screens.
  
• A better system for camera rotation.
  

[h2]Redesigned tutorials[/h2]

We've basically rewritten all texts in the tutorials to make them both more entertaining and more informative. There is also a brand new tutorial character, Hertha, who is going to help you understand how to effectively use energy storage solutions and how to fix broken power lines.



[h2]Updated sound effects[/h2]

We are still hard at work in order to improve the soundscape of the game even further. We've added a few new UI sounds and we've also created a brand new soundscape for cities. Now you'll be able to hear the sounds of traffic, and notice how everything becomes chaotic as your infrastructure fails and customer satisfaction decreases!

Hey, everyone! It has been a couple of weeks since we last posted an update, but we can assure you we are still working hard on making the game better and more exciting! Here are some of the things we have been working on:

[h2]New tutorial character[/h2]

We have a brand new character to guide you through the first two tutorials in the game, and now he's fully animated! There will be soon another addition to the family, who will have the leading role in some of the more advanced tutorials to come. He sure looks surprised in this small preview!



[h2]Skip maintenance! (or maybe not?)[/h2]

Players now have the option to skip maintenance on their power plants. Sometimes you simply cannot afford to have one of your main power generating facilities shut down for a few hours. You should always have a backup plan for those cases, of course... But if you don't, you can simply decide to skip maintenance procedures. You might be lucky and get away with it... Or not!



[h2]A brand new soundscape[/h2]

Our sound designers have been working very hard in order to create an exciting yet nuanced soundscape for the game. They have redesigned all the environment sounds in order to create a fully immersive experience. The camera's zoom level, the weather, the surroundings, the power buildings... all of them will contribute to creating a great audio experience for all our players.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Small usability improvements[/h2]

We have also been working hard at making the gameplay experience better and smoother for our players. Small UI tweaks, a greater zoom out distance and an easier to use Settings window: they all contribute to a better user experience.

Hello again! Today, almost two weeks after our last dev update, we bring you the latest news regarding the development of "Power to the People". We have been hard at work , there is no question about that! This week's update is mostly about polishing the existing content, and not so much about new shiny features!

[h2]Bigger maps[/h2]

We started running some experiments to see how gameplay and performance are affected if we make maps bigger. So far, it looks like we're going to offer levels in different map sizes, as to provide our players with the widest range of experiences we can. Here's a screenshot, showing a "medium" size Salzburg map, featuring almost 50.000 tiles where cities and power grids can be built.



[h2]A new UI element[/h2]

The brand new "power sources" bar on the left hand side of the screen offers you all the important information at a glance. Just by looking at the colours on the bar you can see how your power grid is performing, what percentage of the demand is currently unmet and where the power comes from.



[h2]New animations[/h2]

There are brand new animations in place, so watching cities grow, removing trees and bulldozing buildings is more satisfying than ever before!



[h2]More work on night lighting[/h2]

All night lighting effects for power plants, substations and storage facilities are finished! Last time our work was focused on city buildings, and this week we've brought all those lighting improvements to player placeable facilities. Looking good!

Hello, everyone! Today we are posting our first development update. We'll try our best to keep the community informed about how the game's development is going. We are still in an early stage and there is a lot that needs to be done before release. This is what we have been working on during the past couple of weeks:

[h2]Save/Load game feature[/h2]
This one has been pending for a long time, and we have finally decided to take some time to tackle it. It took us almost an entire week to get the serialization and deserialization process right, but now we are in a very good position. There are still a few minor bugs to iron out but this feature is now 99% functional.



[h2]Advanced tutorial[/h2]
A brand new tutorial, explaining why power lines fail, how to repair them and how to use energy storage facilities such as Li-Ion Battery Farms and Molten Salt Facilities.



[h2]New night lighting effects[/h2]
We've redesigned the shader we use to render buildings in the city, allowing for a much more realistic and satisfying night lighting. And it comes with pretty much no impact on performance!



[h2]New buildings for cities[/h2]
New building types have arrived to cities, including stadiums! These will prove to be tricky, as they have a really high energy usage, but only for a few hours each night. How will you cope with all that extra stress on your power grid?



That is all for today. As you can see, we are still working hard, trying to make the best game we possibly can. Sadly we don't have a release date yet, but stay tuned!

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