Fortune Avenue News

Hello everyone!

It is with great pleasure that I return today to tell you about this new version of Fortune Avenue.
I know the game isn't out yet, but over 2,000 of you have played the demo, so I've gathered quite a bit of feedback.

[h3]Local Multiplayer[/h3]

This is a feature almost all of you requested: the ability to play with multiple people on the same machine. And it wasn't easy to implement. I had to rewrite a large part of the network code to ensure the game could work offline while managing multiple players.

Managing the offline mode was the most difficult part since the local multiplayer was already handled by Fortune Avenue. Indeed, before adding the network layer that allows online play, I made a prototype that allowed me to play with multiple people on the same machine. And honestly, it works wonderfully. But there were still some things I wanted to improve, including the fluidity of game creation.

In a local game, you all play on the same controller, you can choose your piece, but you can't play the same piece. In online multiplayer, this restriction only exists in local mode. So, to make it work, I named each of the pieces, so you'll find Gunter and others like Van Diesel (a touch of humor doesn't hurt anyone).

So to summarize, you can play offline, but also online, and even play co-op if you want!

[h3]More Content[/h3]

I got the message loud and clear: you wanted more content. So I added 5 new rules that spice up the game. One rule at the beginning of the game distributes hotels to all players, another adds a carbon tax. In short, there's something for everyone, and above all, it makes the game even more chaotic!

But you also asked for more cards. And here I'm going to make you happy, because I've added many cards. Including one that allows you to move another player, or send them to jail, or even remove festivals. I won't reveal everything, but know that these cards give you control and once again add chaos to your game.

[h3]Balancing[/h3]
Some of you reported that the ice floe doesn't cost enough, or that the airplane ticket is practically given away. Rest assured, I've doubled the price to get out of the ice floe and tripled the price of the airplane ticket. And if we combine this with the possibility of melting the ice floe or adding a carbon tax, believe me, the game board won't recover, and neither will you!

[h3]Game Release[/h3]
This was a very big update and it will definitely change the game.
I still have plenty of things to add to Fortune Avenue before its release, I have a few weeks ahead of me, but I also need your help.

To be completely transparent with you, Fortune Avenue has accumulated just under 3,000 wishlists. This is a very respectable number, and I thank everyone who took the time to wishlist the game. However, in the eyes of Steam's algorithm, this number is not big enough. In fact, we would need to reach at least 6,000 wishlists for Steam's algorithm to kick in and start promoting the game.

To put things in perspective, it took 1 year for Fortune Avenue to reach 3,000 wishlists, and it has less than a month to gain 3,000 more.
To reach this goal, I've implemented many strategies: emails, YouTube videos, social media posts, but I don't think I can reach 6,000 wishlists alone. Maybe Fortune Avenue will reach 3,500 wishlists if I'm lucky. But honestly, every wishlist counts, every share counts, and each of you can choose whether or not to wishlist Fortune Avenue.

At launch, Fortune Avenue will have a flash sale of 40%, and I don't think you'll want to miss it. So by wishlisting the game, you'll be informed by Steam about the game's release, and you definitely won't miss the sale.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support!
Have a great day
Xavier aka Binogure

Hello everyone!

Thank you for reading and especially for growing in numbers!

I've gone through your feedback and it's excellent. Now I'm working directly on the complete game, adding new rules, implementing local multiplayer, among other things.

Before getting there, I wanted to tell you that Fortune Avenue is made with Godot Engine. An Open Source and free game engine. I really like the idea behind this engine which is collaborative and allows me to make quality games without having to worry too much about the technical aspects.

In short, Fortune Avenue uses the latest version of this engine, and an even more stable version has just been released. So that's what this morning's small update was about. After testing the multiplayer for several hours, I decided to publish this new version with the latest version of Godot Engine.

I hope you're enjoying Fortune Avenue, and if so, please don't hesitate to leave a review or wishlist the game directly on Steam.

Thank you for reading.
Take care and have a good day.
Xavier aka Binogure

Hello everyone!

First of all, thank you for being so numerous in testing the demo, and especially thank you for your feedback and reviews on Steam. Not only does it help me make a better game, but it also gives Fortune Avenue a bit more visibility. Nothing but good things, you're awesome, keep it up!

[h3]Synchronization Issues[/h3]
Some network games may experience synchronization problems. This happens particularly during your first game, after which it shouldn't occur again. To prevent this from happening, I had to revise the algorithm managing the game's internal state machine so it only synchronizes when necessary.

[h3]Visibility Problems[/h3]

Many of you reported that it was difficult to find your token on the board. Well, I tried several approaches, some of which I won't mention, but I managed to find a pretty effective solution. From now on, a small arrow in the center of the board indicates each player's position. It's super convenient, and you no longer lose sight of your token.

[h3]Game Speed[/h3]
I want Fortune Avenue to be a party game with matches lasting no longer than 30 minutes. So I had to revise quite a few things to make the game a bit more fast-paced. The first change concerns the default game speed. Instead of normal speed, the game will start directly at fast speed. I've verified that it remains playable and that you can still understand what's happening on the board.

The second change concerns voting for new rules. In fact, when you play a 4-player game and 2 players are eliminated during the first round, it significantly slows down the game. Yes, rules actually speed up the game. So fewer players means fewer rules and therefore a longer game. So I had to adjust the voting for new rules accordingly. You'll actually vote more often, but not too often either.

So, these are the changes in this new version.
I hope you're as hyped as I am!
That's all from me. I hope you're enjoying Fortune Avenue.
Don't forget to add the game to your wishlist if you plan to buy it to be notified when it releases!

In the meantime, have a great day,
Xavier aka Binogure

Hello everyone!

One update per day even though Fortune Avenue isn't even out yet.
Actually, I've been watching you play Fortune Avenue and noticed a few bugs here and there.

The first one involves the hotel sales panel. Instead of displaying as a tiny window in the middle of the screen, it now takes a comfortable space and no longer hides the game board. Plus, the buttons had tooltips that made no sense. I couldn't leave it like that, so I added some style to the panel and implemented coherent tooltips.
With these changes, you can already feel the difference.

Another bug concerns players who disconnect and then reconnect a bit later. There was a problem with character display synchronization. You see, if you were playing with 4 people and one player lost, everything was fine, especially if you weren't the one who lost. But if you got disconnected from the game (it can happen, Steam servers aren't infallible), and then you reconnected, the players who had lost would reappear but remain frozen on the board. This cemetery atmosphere wasn't great, so I fixed this bug so they change into tombstones.

And there you go, much better right away!

These are just small changes, but they're necessary to give you a good gaming experience.
That's all from me. I hope you're enjoying Fortune Avenue.
Don't forget to wishlist the game if you plan to buy it so you'll be notified when it launches!

Until then, have a great day,
Xavier aka Binogure

Hello everyone!

It's great to see so many players enjoying Fortune Avenue! It's really fantastic, I've already received valuable feedback that will be incorporated for the game's release, while other suggestions have already been implemented!



[h2]STEAM DECK VERIFIED[/h2]
I've been working for months to ensure the best possible gaming experience on the Steam Deck. Valve gave me tremendous help showing what needed improvement. And now, this latest demo version makes Fortune Avenue a Steam Deck Verified game. So grab your Steam Decks and enjoy playing!

[h2]Dice Physics[/h2]
In Fortune Avenue, you roll the dice with your mouse, so the dice throw depends on your movements. The game was quite forgiving, allowing you to make very small dice throws. But some players managed to exploit this feature to cheat. I've completely revised the algorithm that manages the dice, and believe me, it's now impossible to rig the dice. This is great news for everyone who wants to play without worrying about unfair advantages.

[h2]The World Cup[/h2]
The World Cup significantly increases the rent of the space it occupies. Some players weren't fans of this feature. So I've revised how it works - now instead of multiplying the rent by 10, it will multiply it by 3. And each time you organize the World Cup, its effectiveness increases. The first time it's x3, then x6, then x9, and so on. I think you understand how it works now. Games remain fast-paced, but this makes the World Cup less dangerous in the early rounds.

[h2]Voting for New Rules[/h2]
In Fortune Avenue, you vote for rules that change the course of the game. Some rules are connected to each other. I'm thinking of the rule that makes all players move forward or backward one space. From now on, rules like this will be linked, and you'll have to choose between moving forward one space or moving backward one space.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
Two tricky bugs were present in this demo. The first one involved the voting rules. If you took too long to vote and voted at the last moment, it would disrupt the game and put it in a "weird" state. I managed to reproduce the problem on my machine, and now it's fixed.

The second bug was more annoying. When buying a hotel, some options were grayed out without any explanation given. Now when you hover your mouse over them, you'll know exactly why the button is disabled.

That's all from me. I hope you're enjoying Fortune Avenue.
Don't forget to wishlist the game if you plan to buy it, so you'll be notified when it launches!

Until then, have a great day!
Xavier aka Binogure