HORROR TYCOON News

Greetings, Haunters!

Casey here, the solo developer behind Horror Tycoon, and I wanted to provide you with an update on the games current development as well as the plans for the remainder of 2023 into 2024!

But first, let's address some news regarding Horror Tycoon's publisher. My partnership with Playway S.A. has come to an end, but fear not! The development of Horror Tycoon remains unaffected. I'm on a mission, dedicated to delivering a top notch haunted house building and management experience.

2023 was just the beginning! We've witnessed two major updates and over 10 patches, introducing an arsenal of new scare traps, decor items, gameplay mechanics, quality of life improvements and squashing over 200 bugs! The roadmap for 2024 promises even more heart-pounding updates, bringing you closer to the edge of your sanity.

[h3]Some of the new features that are coming in Major Update 3: [/h3]

• [h3]Power management[/h3]
  Place down power supply items like generators and batteries to generate sufficient power to your haunted house interiors!
  
• [h3]Breakdowns[/h3]
  
  • Items will now breakdown randomly over time, upgrading items will help to reduce the chance of a breakdown, but will not eliminate it.
    
  • Repairs will be needed. I wanted to provide a gameplay experience where the player can accomplish repairs in or out of the guest camera mode and make the first person mode 100% optional if the player does not enjoy the first person/guest mode experience.
    
  • Complete repairs yourself in first person/guest camera mode during an active wave
    
  • Wait for the wave to finish and complete the repair work via the item details UI.
    
  • Repairs will require parts to complete repairs. In a new mini game, you will need to shop and stock up on parts that your attractions need to operate successfully. These items will cost money so you will need to pay even closer attention to your cash spending.
    
• [h3]Scare your guests now in first person/guest camera mode[/h3]
  Scare Stamina recharges over time so you will not be able to consistently scare a guest, however, using it strategically to do a final scare or 2 could make the difference of successfully completing the level or not.
  
• [h3]Lost Lands Amusement Park [/h3]
  Build your haunt on a portion of the old abandoned dinosaur themed amusement park with new obstacles and challenges.
  
• [h3]We're going vertical! [/h3]
  This is still a work in progress and will be further developed in 2024 but you will be able to create multi-story haunts.
  
• [h3]Quality of life improvements [/h3]
  
  • Rotate items on all axis
    
  • Height lock toggle for keeping all items at the same height for vertical building
    
  • Outdoor decorating and more!
    
• [h3]Sinister traps re-worked from the ground up. [/h3]
  Sinister Traps will operate more like Ultimate Abilities that will cost souls to use and should only be used in emergency situations where you need a lot of souls to complete a task or fill the devil's contract requirements.
  
• [h3]Franchise Rights[/h3]
  
  • Earn more income by expanding your Horror Tycoon empire by selling franchise rights in a new regional map. These franchises will help generate income for you and while these are all "legitimate" as in no deal with the devil, there may be some gameplay mechanics that could cause some disasters at those locations and generate some emergency souls for your contract...but at what cost?! You will have to find out when this new feature is ready for you to explore!
    
  • Speaking of exploring, there will be even more to do in first person exploration mode and new secrets to uncover (if you choose to explore)
    

I've heard your feedback and am committed to infusing the game with new and creative tycoon gameplay elements.

Thank you, from the depths of my haunted house-loving heart, for your enduring support. Together, we're crafting the game of our nightmares, and I can't wait to see you on the other side.

Prepare yourselves, Haunters. The nightmare is just beginning.

Greetings Haunters,
A few fixes from the most recent update as well as some new content.

• Fixed a bug where guests would become scared prior to actually entering the trigger sphere.
  
• Added a new sneak peak at the new location coming in the next update: Lost Lands Amusement Park!
  
• Added a new song to the soundtrack.
  
• Fixed an issue where decor item Body Parts were falling through the floor.
  
• Fixed an issue where bones were also falling through floors.
  
• THE LAKE: Added Tiki Torches around the environment.
  
• THE LAKE: Fixed the level grid that was not aligned with the exit and entrance properly.
  
• Sky effects will now scale based on graphic settings. Lower settings will yield better performance.
  
• Fixed decor item Curtains that had an incorrect Phobia tag.
  
• Changed: Reduced the amount of damage and moved the trigger area of the Big Spider scare trap.
  
• Changed: Reduced the size of the trigger area for the Grandfather Clock and moved the trigger area to be more focused in front of the clock.
  
• Changed: Increased the trigger radisu for the blood bath. scare trap.
  
• Added: Water FX 1 - Shoots water up from below.
  

Greeting Haunters,

I have been working on the next update for several months. This update contains bug fixes, changes, a new level and additional new content added. Thank you again for your continued support while I develop and further improve the game. As previously stated there is still a long road ahead and I am happy you are here and coming along on this journey with me as I work towards the final release of the game (date TBA).

Here are the patch notes:

[h2]FIXES[/h2]

• Fixed an issue when loading a normal game, it would load in the sandbox version of the HUD.
  
• SANDBOX - fixed an issue when starting a new level, guests would automatically spawn into the level before pressing GO.
  
• Fixed an issue with the GO button still being enabled on the final wave.
  
• Fixed an issue when displaying tooltips they would sometimes be shown behind a widget and be impossible to read fully.
  
• Fixed an issue when hovering over the early access text, animations would not fade in or out correctly.
  
• Fixed Level selection screen so the level select button can not be spammed which caused an animation and sound effect glitch.
  
• Fixed an issue where players had to press the quick slot button twice for it to activate a player activated trap.
  
• Fixed the FX - Triggered Light to show no color on the lenses, however, when clicked on the light will turn on to see current light color.
  
• Fixed an issue where moving the scare item details panel was impossible.
  
• Fixed an issue where exiting the in-game menu would make the Quick Slot / User Activated traps button to be un-clickable.
  
• Fixed an issue where entering guest camera mode would leave existing guest camera locations visible in the world.
  
• Fixed text formatting issues in end of level stats.
  
• Fixed an issue when clicking on the test guest the guest would slow down.
  
• Fixed an issue where guests were taking too much damage and dying immediately.
  
• Fixed an issue when placing new items after one that can be raised or lowered, the new item regardless if it can be raised or lowered would remain at the same height as the item that was previously placed. Now, when placing multiple items of the same type, the height information will be remembered until a different / new item has been placed.
  
• Fixed an issue where the upgrade progress bar would not show the current upgrade amount correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to select a new level regardless of meeting the player level requirements.
  
• Fixed an issue where Test Guest would get scared by traps, they should no longer be scared by traps when walking through your haunt.
  
• Fixed an issue where the bloody floor decor item could not be selected.
  
• Fixed an issue where the police report (when a crime was detected) would not be able to be clicked on.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the player had 0 fear reputation but enough cash, items that cost 0 fear reputation were unable to be purchased.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Haunted House name would not show correctly on the police report.
  
• Fixed an issue when the timer reaches 0, guests spawn, however the timer does not restart nor did the wave count increase.
  
• THE FOREST - Fixed an issue where the camera was behaving oddly due to tree collisions.
  
• THE ABANDONED FACTORY - Fixed an issue where the police could not reach the haunt entrance.
  
• Fixed an issue where the players level and XP would not be displayed correctly in the next level.
  
• Fixed an issue where guests death particles would not be displayed. Different traps have different effect variations.
  
• Fixed an issue when on the Level Select screen where players were unable to return back to the Backyard Haunt.
  
• Fixed an issue where skeletons had the wrong material setting and would not react to lighting properly.
  
• Fear Reputation Icon no longer visible when playing in Sandbox mode.
  
• Fixed an issue when selecting an item that can be color changed, the changed values are not displayed correctly in the item details window.
  
• Fixed the flashlight sound fx for when turning on/off.
  
• Fixed an issue where selecting the Maybe a Slice of Pie food vendor was impossible.
  
• Fixed an issue where the player could travel through the Maybe a Slice of Pie food vendor when in Guest Camera mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where the top of the grandfather clock was missing.
  
• Fixed an issue when spawning Guest Camera it would sometimes get the player stuck after placing new items near the camera location, the guest camera will now always start at the original starting location to prevent this from happening.
  
• Fixed an issue where having the finance screen open would allow the player to open the main menu and still cause the menu to be visible.
  
• Fixed an issue where having the finance screen open the player could still potentially build items.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Test Guest would activate traps.
  
• Fixed an issue where the police office would receive decals when walking over blood stains.
  
• Fixed on end of level stats when player closes the stat window, player is now taken back to the level select menu.
  
• Fixed bones and teeth accumulated now carry over from level to level.
  
• Fixed a pathing issue related to the body disposal employee, still a work in progress but this should prevent him from getting stuck as often.
  
• Fixed an issue where the body disposal employee would make all guts/blood vanish upon overlap.
  
• Fixed an issue with the TUTORIAL that would not allow players to proceed if they did not have a Number pad keyboard. Additional key bindings have been added (PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN) for increasing / decreasing the grid size.
  
• Fixed an issue with death particles disappearing too quickly.
  
• Fixed an issue related to floor collisions.
  
• Fixed an issue if the player is in guest camera mode at the end of the level in a non-sandbox game, guest mode will now exit to ensure the end of level stats are displayed correctly.
  
  [h2]CHANGES[/h2]
  
  
• SANDBOX - No longer requires a body disposal employee to be hired.
  
• SANDBOX - Finance Button has been disabled
  
• Changed the fear reputation meter look/feel, let me know if you like version 1 or version 2 better on discord.
  
• Traffic in levels has been placed in the repair shop until it is more stable. Police however will still arrive when conditions are met.
  
• The Body Disposal employee now has glowing eyes to show possession.
  
• Changed grass floor tile, removed tall grass to allow player more flexibility for their design.
  
• Tile Flooring can now have it's color changed.
  
• Body Disposal employee will now wait several seconds to clean an area before moving to the garbage bin.
  
• Body guts now has additional particles when cleaning.
  
• Disposal employee cleaning animation not yet implemented.
  
• When in Guest Camera mode holding the LEFT SHIFT key will allow the player to sprint.
  
• Buildable area grids now reflect the actual buildable area shape.
  
• Updated end of level stats close window button style art
  
• THE FOREST - Reduced the amount of waves, increased the amount of souls required.
  
• THE FOREST - Increased level brightness.
  
• SANDBOX - Timer is no longer visible as the player can summon guests whenever they want.
  
• Reduced the amount of damage the barrel crash scare trap caused.
  
• Added the input shortcut to Increase grid/rotation size by pressing the "PAGE UP", "]" or "NUM +" key.
  
• Added the input shortcut to Decrease grid/rotation size by pressing the "PAGE DOWN", "[", "NUM -" Key.
  
• Updated and replaced some UI placeholder artwork.0
  
• When upgrading an item, the upgrade level decal will be shown while the item is selected, once unselected, the decal will not be visible.
  
• ADDED visibility to toggle the current level of all upgraded items to be displayed by pressing SHIFT+U and press SHIFT+U again to hide the upgrade decal.
  
• Game Success / Fail checks in a non-sandbox game will now see if the player has any bodies remaining that need to be disposed of and will check to see if their are any more guests spawned on the map before proceeding to a level pass/fail. The countdown timer on the final wave does not need to reach 0 any longer.
  
• When guests are at their maximum scare amount, but not scared to death, they will walk twice as fast to get to the exit.
  
• Wooden Floor 1, 2 & 3 are color changeable.
  
  [h2]New Content[/h2]
  
  
• Added Body Disposal Employee Animations: Cleaning & Throwing Away.
  
• Added new scare trap: Big Spider
  
• Added new audio for Big Spider
  
• Added new scare trap: Insect Eggs
  
• New Scare Trap Added: Grandfather Clock
  
• New Audio added for Grandfather Clock.
  
• Added 5 new animal fur rugs.
  
• Added custom texture wall. This feature is still in development.
  
• Added new location: The Lake
  
• Added new decor items: Long Railing, Long Railing - Broken, Railing, Railing - Broken
  

[h2]Strategy hides everywhere and helps to bring every single activity to the maximum result 📓[/h2]

[h3]And what's a better way to use your planning skills and cunning nature than scaring your guests to death? 🤔[/h3]

[h3]The strategic aspect of our game got recognized by Steam and we are happy to announce Horror Tycoon takes part in the Steam Strategy Fest! 🔥[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1506680/Horror_Tycoon/



While you’re checking out all the amazing games taking part in the event, our friends from El Dorado: The Golden City Builder are also taking part in this unique event. 🗿 Amazing game taking place on the ancient Yucatan Peninsula that brings you back to the times, when Gods held people’s lives in their hands.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1451470/El_Dorado_The_Golden_City_Builder/


If you’d like to give us your suggestions and feedback after the gameplay, please join our discord where we await all of you and gladly answer all the questions❣️



Have fun!
Horror Tycoon Team

- Fixed an issue where guests would not leave the attraction after exiting on the Abandoned Schoolhouse map.