Community Gazette - Issue #3 - What’s Brewing for the Public Test?
Hello! 😊
I think I’m starting to get the hang of this development journaling thing, who would’ve thought?
First and foremost, I wanted to share that the changes and updates that I mentioned in the last weekly gazette have been uploaded to the public test server after some internal testing with my partner hopefully wihout breaking too much. This patch unlocks the entire new hotel and laundry system along with the hotel menu. If you’re someone who enjoys participating in public testing and maybe reporting issues, this is your chance to dive in and explore.
With that said, let’s jump into what we’ve been working on behind the scenes this week.
[h3]The Revamped Vehicle Parking System & UI[/h3]
As mentioned in the last post, where we explored changes to the walkways and transportation systems, this week’s focus has been on completing the remaining transportation mechanics in the public test build, starting with vehicle parking!
To streamline things, all transport systems have been removed from the research tree. This means parking spaces now start unlocked, allowing you to jump right in. However, as your parking needs grow, you’ll still require accounting and HR documents to secure government licenses for expanding your parking capacity.
Another addition is the ability to build parking spots for contractors like builders, delivery drivers, garbage collectors, or police officers. This gives you greater control over how your spaces are utilized and helps optimize the flow of people and services.
I’ve also worked on a new parking menu that doubles as a handy data minimap and a place to buy government licenses. It shows who’s arriving and leaving, the number of licensed spaces you have, how many are in use, and other useful insights.
[h3]The Revamped Public Transportation System & UI[/h3]
Public transportation; taxis, buses, and subways has also received a major overhaul. Like parking spaces and walkways, these systems now start unlocked. However, you’ll need to construct and upgrade a garage to operate these services.
From there, you can purchase vehicles like taxis, shuttles, buses, or subway trains, and schedule their operation. You can run your vehicles 24/7 by contracting drivers to both morning and night shifts, but it will lead to faster wear and tear. Upgrading your garage will also unlock automated vehicle maintenance, helping you keep the operation running smoothly.
Thanks to the revamped transportation systems’ integration with the new service capacity and rating system, you should now have a clearer view of each transportation need to make decisions. This allows you to adapt your operations to meet growing demands efficiently.
[h3]Vending System Changes and Additions[/h3]
In the previous version of the game, vending machines functioned more as room decorations, with customers using them as part of their room interaction modules. Back then, vending options included tobacco machines, cold drink machines, hot drink machines, and snack machines. During Early Access, we expanded the interactivity of bookshelves and newspaper racks, allowing customers to use them as vending-like items that generated income for the player, though these didn’t require inventory items.
With this update, I’ve written a new behavior script dedicated to vending machine usage, making these interactions more accessible throughout the casino hotel.
Bookshelves and newspaper racks now require inventory items to operate. There are four newspaper varieties and six book varieties available for you to stock, enabling customers to choose their favorites. Additionally, candy machines and keychain machines have been reclassified as vending machines. Candy machines now need candy bars as inventory items, while keychain machines require keychains.
We’ve also added two new vending items, pipe vending stands and lighter vending stands, to complement the new cigar shop feature. These vending machines come with corresponding inventory requirements.
[h3]Large Dumpsters and Cigarette Bins[/h3]
Based on valuable feedback from our Discord community, we’ve added large dumpsters and cigarette bins to improve waste management.
Customers who smoke will now look for a cigarette bin after finishing their cigarette. Failing to provide enough bins in smoking-friendly areas will result in more trash accumulation and, with the upcoming Catastrophes update, it could even pose a fire hazard.
On the dumpster side, we’ve introduced a larger dumpster that takes up slightly less space than two standard dumpsters but can hold more waste than both combined.
[h3]Room Signs[/h3]
Previously, closed rooms displayed signs during restricted service hours. We’ve expanded this feature to include a variety of visual indicators.
Thanks to new sign drawings from Nil, rooms now display small signs that you can hover over for important updates. These signs highlight issues like essential item shortage, pathfinding problems, construction status, and low room ratings depending on the room type.
This update adds a clearer, more intuitive layer of management to your casino hotel, ensuring you can address the issues you choose quickly and efficiently.
[h3]Personal Stuff[/h3]
As some of you may already know, we’re a two-person game studio, just my partner and me. Alongside the development work mentioned earlier, this past week has been a bit chaotic as we’ve been in the middle of an international move we’ve been planning for a while.
This is also why this week’s Weekly Gazette is a couple of days late, I just couldn’t find the time to get it out on schedule. Normally, I aim to post updates every week between Saturday and Monday, and I believe we’re back on track to maintain that schedule moving forward.
[h3]What Are the Current Plans?[/h3]
Here’s what’s on the near horizon: First, I’ll be uploading the remaining transportation changes discussed here to the public test server. After that, I plan to dedicate a week to animation and ai behaviour polishing, balancing, bug fixing, and working on tutorials, UI improvements, and data graphs. This will also include merging save files from the default branch with those from the public test branch. Once all that’s done, the Echoes of the Community update will be ready to launch on the default branch.
Looking ahead, I’m aiming to complete testing for the Nightlife update before the New Year. Most of it is already finished, I prefering to not to make promises. I’m trying to avoid unnecessary extra stress if unexpected issues pop up this time. 😊
That about sums it up for this week! Thank you all for your continued support and patience during the development of Casino Resort Tower, it means the world to us. I’ll see you in the next one.
Cheers!
I think I’m starting to get the hang of this development journaling thing, who would’ve thought?
First and foremost, I wanted to share that the changes and updates that I mentioned in the last weekly gazette have been uploaded to the public test server after some internal testing with my partner hopefully wihout breaking too much. This patch unlocks the entire new hotel and laundry system along with the hotel menu. If you’re someone who enjoys participating in public testing and maybe reporting issues, this is your chance to dive in and explore.
With that said, let’s jump into what we’ve been working on behind the scenes this week.
[h3]The Revamped Vehicle Parking System & UI[/h3]
As mentioned in the last post, where we explored changes to the walkways and transportation systems, this week’s focus has been on completing the remaining transportation mechanics in the public test build, starting with vehicle parking!
To streamline things, all transport systems have been removed from the research tree. This means parking spaces now start unlocked, allowing you to jump right in. However, as your parking needs grow, you’ll still require accounting and HR documents to secure government licenses for expanding your parking capacity.
Another addition is the ability to build parking spots for contractors like builders, delivery drivers, garbage collectors, or police officers. This gives you greater control over how your spaces are utilized and helps optimize the flow of people and services.
I’ve also worked on a new parking menu that doubles as a handy data minimap and a place to buy government licenses. It shows who’s arriving and leaving, the number of licensed spaces you have, how many are in use, and other useful insights.
[h3]The Revamped Public Transportation System & UI[/h3]
Public transportation; taxis, buses, and subways has also received a major overhaul. Like parking spaces and walkways, these systems now start unlocked. However, you’ll need to construct and upgrade a garage to operate these services.
From there, you can purchase vehicles like taxis, shuttles, buses, or subway trains, and schedule their operation. You can run your vehicles 24/7 by contracting drivers to both morning and night shifts, but it will lead to faster wear and tear. Upgrading your garage will also unlock automated vehicle maintenance, helping you keep the operation running smoothly.
Thanks to the revamped transportation systems’ integration with the new service capacity and rating system, you should now have a clearer view of each transportation need to make decisions. This allows you to adapt your operations to meet growing demands efficiently.
[h3]Vending System Changes and Additions[/h3]
In the previous version of the game, vending machines functioned more as room decorations, with customers using them as part of their room interaction modules. Back then, vending options included tobacco machines, cold drink machines, hot drink machines, and snack machines. During Early Access, we expanded the interactivity of bookshelves and newspaper racks, allowing customers to use them as vending-like items that generated income for the player, though these didn’t require inventory items.
With this update, I’ve written a new behavior script dedicated to vending machine usage, making these interactions more accessible throughout the casino hotel.
Bookshelves and newspaper racks now require inventory items to operate. There are four newspaper varieties and six book varieties available for you to stock, enabling customers to choose their favorites. Additionally, candy machines and keychain machines have been reclassified as vending machines. Candy machines now need candy bars as inventory items, while keychain machines require keychains.
We’ve also added two new vending items, pipe vending stands and lighter vending stands, to complement the new cigar shop feature. These vending machines come with corresponding inventory requirements.
[h3]Large Dumpsters and Cigarette Bins[/h3]
Based on valuable feedback from our Discord community, we’ve added large dumpsters and cigarette bins to improve waste management.
Customers who smoke will now look for a cigarette bin after finishing their cigarette. Failing to provide enough bins in smoking-friendly areas will result in more trash accumulation and, with the upcoming Catastrophes update, it could even pose a fire hazard.
On the dumpster side, we’ve introduced a larger dumpster that takes up slightly less space than two standard dumpsters but can hold more waste than both combined.
[h3]Room Signs[/h3]
Previously, closed rooms displayed signs during restricted service hours. We’ve expanded this feature to include a variety of visual indicators.
Thanks to new sign drawings from Nil, rooms now display small signs that you can hover over for important updates. These signs highlight issues like essential item shortage, pathfinding problems, construction status, and low room ratings depending on the room type.
This update adds a clearer, more intuitive layer of management to your casino hotel, ensuring you can address the issues you choose quickly and efficiently.
[h3]Personal Stuff[/h3]
As some of you may already know, we’re a two-person game studio, just my partner and me. Alongside the development work mentioned earlier, this past week has been a bit chaotic as we’ve been in the middle of an international move we’ve been planning for a while.
This is also why this week’s Weekly Gazette is a couple of days late, I just couldn’t find the time to get it out on schedule. Normally, I aim to post updates every week between Saturday and Monday, and I believe we’re back on track to maintain that schedule moving forward.
[h3]What Are the Current Plans?[/h3]
Here’s what’s on the near horizon: First, I’ll be uploading the remaining transportation changes discussed here to the public test server. After that, I plan to dedicate a week to animation and ai behaviour polishing, balancing, bug fixing, and working on tutorials, UI improvements, and data graphs. This will also include merging save files from the default branch with those from the public test branch. Once all that’s done, the Echoes of the Community update will be ready to launch on the default branch.
Looking ahead, I’m aiming to complete testing for the Nightlife update before the New Year. Most of it is already finished, I prefering to not to make promises. I’m trying to avoid unnecessary extra stress if unexpected issues pop up this time. 😊
That about sums it up for this week! Thank you all for your continued support and patience during the development of Casino Resort Tower, it means the world to us. I’ll see you in the next one.
Cheers!