Go-Go Town! News

Hi all!

Super quick update for you this week.

[h3]Minor Update coming Next Week[/h3]
This update will be coming to main branch next week!

Full update notes will be available when this goes live. However, if you are curious to get some background on what is in the update I talked about it last week: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2195120/view/4682144707310764516

[h3]Crossover Update[/h3]
Things are going well here! Do not be worried if we go a bit quiet on this topic - we are working on an official announcement for this!

Lastly, we wanted to say happy belated birthday to Jun. If you are reading this, we are looking into some goggles for you ;)

-Cheryl

Hi all!

Thank you to everyone who has joined us for the Build + Bustle update.

We’ve had fantastic feedback from the community, and we have some updates and bug fixes on the way!

We aim to have our next update into our Preview Branch early next week, and I’ll give you an ETA by the end of next week as to when it will be dropping into Main Game.

Some of the changes you can expect in the update include:

• Moved Water terrain tile from tier 5 to tier 2 EGO Tech.
  
• Fix issues with workers stuck in loops attempting to achieve tasks (what some of you would have reported as 'jugging')
  
• Workers will no longer collect excess maker output (or dropping them on the ground)
  
• This means they will stop dropping these items on the ground
  
• Workers were putting items in makers when the output item wasn't desired
  
• Workers were not checking if they could store maker ingredients
  
• Updates to the eyes and mouth drawing in front of glasses
  
• Updates for performance issues (we heard you Steam Deck players)
  

We also have some plans in place for our next Minor update, which leads us on to….

[h3]Predictability vs Random Chance[/h3]

Based off feedback, and bug reports, we are going to start reworking some of the systems in Go-Go Town!

Some of our systems are based on random chance (weather patterns, what crab pots bring up, foraging, etc) and this random chance can also include number of items received per an attempt. These systems mean that players cannot predict what they, or an NPC, can produce from an action.

So! Over the next few updates, we are going to start working through the systems that have random chance and start allowing more predictability in the gameplay. Updating these systems will also lead to less ground clutter, as you can predict what you are getting with any given action.

We've already adjusted fishing based on player feedback, as it used to be random, but now fishing spots will show you which type of fish are available. Next up, we've decided to split out the Herb N Spice from the Gonut bush and give it its own forage item/action.

In future updates we will work through mining resources (the # generated per node) and crab pots. We will also make forage items deterministic – one forage action produces one item. We’ll also improve how dynamic resources spawn (trees, fishing spots, etc) in zones. This also means we’ll be looking at the weather – for those of you who have flagged your Sakura weather dearth to us!

[h3]Crossover Update[/h3]

Things are going *really* well for this update! When I saw some of the recent content, I had a total squee moment.

We have been having a great time working on this, and we hope when we can finally talk about it, you will be as excited as we are about it.

We do not quite yet have an ETA, however we are still working towards keeping to our original release date. What I can assure you is both sides are working together to make it something special.

Happy weekend, and catch you again next week!

-Cheryl

📢 Calling All Townies

Build and Bustle is out right now, adding heaps of community led content and customisation updates!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

More Space! Zone Customization! Fast Travel! CONTENT! We’re giving returning and new players everything they need to fully immerse themselves in their role as Mayor.

[h2]Bigger Town Map [/h2]

The big one, literally. No longer will grand visions be constrained by small town limits! We’ve massively increased the size of the map, allowing for unfettered creativity and exploration for all budding mayors. Dream of creating sleepy streets, cozy corners and sprawling industrial hubs can all be realised in this expansion. Your local Real Estate Agent, Stanley S. Trollson, can’t wait to give you a great deal on all the new plots of land!



[h2]Zone Customisation [/h2]

Tailor your town like never before, as every single zone can now be fully customised to your liking. Making every town fully unique, you can totally personalise the size, layout AND location of each space to perfectly match your vision. Split the main farm up into micro farms, shrink your fishing zone, expand forestry - whatever you want, you got it!

Did we mention Mining shafts? Yeah, they’re a thing now. So don’t worry about digging too greedily or too deep, go forth and discover the riches right under your feet.



[h2]Fast Travel [/h2]

Rapid expansion of town? Great! Sore legs from covering more distance? Not so great!
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’re super excited to introduce the subway system into the game, giving you the essential boon of fast travel. Mayors, townies, and tourists alike can all hop on to ride from one end of town to the other in a flash.

And with our new user icons, you can easily identify subway stops and different zones. Efficiency meets convenience. Capital!



[h2]Summon Vehicles [/h2]

We’ve all been there, you’re cycling through the grass, get distracted by some rogue extra-terrestrial event in the distance, and the next thing you know you can’t remember where you left your bike. Well, no more! Place vehicle racks and car parks wherever you want them, giving you the ability to summon assigned vehicles at will, or simply tidy up and show off your fleet. No more cluttered streets or rogue tricycles!



[h2]EVEN MORE CONTENT! [/h2]

Yes that’s right, EVEN MORE CONTENT!
🌺Get ready to spice up your town with Roman-style columns, boom gates, road bridges, giant chess pieces, beautiful new flowers, and much, much more!
💎We’ve heard whispers of a new Hedge Maze, perfect for a little adventure alone or with friends, and a lot of loot.
👒6 new townies are moving in! Alongside a whole bunch of new cosmetic options to give yourself a swish new look, from hairstyles and hats to glasses and dresses.



[h2]Go-Go Play! [/h2]

With all the new features and content, there’s really never been a better time to step into Go-Go Town! Whether you're clocking in for your first day as Mayor and just beginning your journey, or a seasoned vet diving into a major rebuild, there's never been more freedom for you to expand, customise and explore.

Thank you so much for being part of our community, and as always, we can’t wait to see the incredible towns you build with these new tools and content! Join our Discord to share town builds, art, get developer updates and see what the locals are saying about that UFO sighting…..

💡Please make sure your base game is fully updated to get all the new content💡

Happy town-building!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2195120/view/6901292342484302942

A New build is up (0.5.56.16968EA)

New Features

• Play space increase: 5 new areas of the map to unlock.
  
  • Visit your Friendly and professional Real Estate Agent to unlock new construction areas throughout
  
  
• Zone Customisation: Players can now modify and create the location and size of industry zones (Fishing, Forestry, Mining, Farming).
  
  • Added 3 new zones for the player to place (Giving a total of 4 of each zone type).
    
  • Added New Zone Border Visuals.
    
  • Added New ‘Zone’ Section in Build Menu.
    
  • Added New Prop “Mining Shafts”: these link to new mining interiors.
    
  • Modified prop spawning rules in zones to fit the new dynamic shapes.
    
  • Player can now freely move props within industry zones (ie, Trees, Shrubs etc).
    
  • Player can give each zone an Icon to help identify them.
    
  • Timeclocks can no longer be placed in interior spaces, any timeclocks that were previously placed inside have been placed on top of your zone sign, ready for you to relocate.
  
  
• Subways: Help get around town!
  
  • Added 4 Subway lines, each with 5 placeable stations.
    
  • Player can give each station an icon to help identify them.
    
  
  
• Car Parks + Vehicle Racks: Store a vehicle for quick and easy access
  
  • Added Car Park for Road Vehicles.
    
  • Added Vehicle Rack for off-road vehicles.
    
• New Exploration Maps
  
  • Added two new explorable maps, each with hidden content to find within.
    
• 3 Mining shafts
  
  • The player can place mining shafts in mine zones, each accessing a unique mining area.
    

New Content

• 6 New Townies
  
• 1 New Vehicle
  
• New Player Cosmetics
  
  • 6 new Hairstyles
    
  • 1 new Glasses
    
  • 2 new Hats
    
  • 1 new Backpack
    
  • 2 new Dresses
    
  • 1 new Legs
    
• New Decorations and Props
  
  • Freeway Set
    
    • Highway Barrier
      
    • Roadworks Barrier
      
    • White Loop Barrier
      
    • Road Sign
      
    • Bridge Road
      
    • Boom Gate
      
    • Signposts x 2
      
  • Gardens Set
    
    • Outdoor Setting
      
    • Garden Arch
      
    • Lamp Post
      
    • Hanging Street Lights
      
    • Swing Set
      
  • Giant Game Pieces Set
    
    • Chess Pieces x 12
      
    • Checker Pieces x 4
      
  • Classical Set
    
    • Classical Statue
      
    • Classical Display Plinth
      
    • Classical Bench
      
    • Classical Brazier
      
    • Classical Column
      
  • Beach Set
    
    • Deck Chair
      
    • Tiki Torch
      
    • Beach Restroom
      
  • Hedge Archway
    
  • Flowers
    
    • Marigolds, Sunflowers, Tulips in various colours
      
• New Terrain Tiles
  
  • Pink Grass
    
  • Checker/Chessboard
    
  • Hedge Maze
    
• 47 New User Icons
  

Bugfixes, Improvements and Fixes

• Import Menu
  
  • Import App has been re-designed to better help you locate items.
    

• Building Menu
  
  • Added Terrain Eyedropper - In build mode you can now press Tab/Y to jump to the terrain tile that is currently under the cursor.  
    
  • Building menu will now wrap back to start upon reaching the end of the list.
    
  • Building menu ‘groups’ are now uniquely styled to increase clarity.
    
  • Items are now all stored in correct groups in the Build Menu
    
  • Fixed prompts in build mode saying you could delete an item when you couldn’t
    
  • Stopped the drone in build mode from triggering an effect when you perform an invalid delete action
    
  • Fixed Coop build mode issues where players could place more props than they were given.
    
  • Fixed flickering when moving the cursor in build mode.
    
  • Shells will now display the name of the Fitout when hovering over the structure in build mode.
    
  • Resolved issue where pressing rotate and move at the same time would teleport a prop to 0,0.
    
  • Resolved an issue where dropping a prop in the same frame as it was deleted could cause issues.
    
• Customisation Menu
  
  • Added Seen/Unseen indicators to Customisation Menu.
    
• Storage
  
  • Allow players to lock items in Storage Area.
    
  • Fixed issues with Storage Area not correctly updating worker preferences when moved.
    
  • Small and Medium storage boxes are now colour-coded based on which zone they are in, and which workers will use it.
    
  • Fixed issue where storage boxes would spit out all items when locks were removed.
    
• Misc UI
  
  • Phone Nag alerts will now dismiss as soon as you open the phone app, instead of having to schedule a challenge, or install an app.
    
  • New icons for townies when their join requirements can be met.
    
  • Import Menu : Alphabetically sort items. This is just a quick update to help you find what you’re looking for to tide you over until we give it a helpful redesign.
    
• Gameplay
  
  • Adjusted small vehicle collision shape to exclude the rear of the vehicle, should stop players being hit by a vehicle as they run up behind it.
    
  • Fixed Pill Bug from being ever-so-slightly off-centre
    
  • Added ‘Unstuck’ Option to pause menu to help you if you get stuck in an area you can’t escape from.
    
• Autosave Improvements
  
  • Added on-screen indicator while Autosaving
    
  • Attempt to not trigger a second autosave on exit when the current save is still valid ( this is to stop churning through autosave slots ).from.
    
• Misc Bugfixes
  
  • Fixed issue where player could get stuck if they were actively using a tool when a cinematic was triggered.
    
  • Fixed issue where Agents were facing the wrong way.
    
  • Resolved issues with Storage Shuffle sorting by size and not type.
    
  • Resolved issue where a second player could invite a townie without paying the join fee.
    
  • Modified seed text on manage menu to say "x Seed Types Available" instead of "x Seeds Available".
    
  • Game should no longer freeze when quitting
    
• Key Rebind Bugfixes
  
  • Fixed issues where using non-QWERTY keyboards could result in incorrect glyphs being displayed
    
  • Fixed issues binding with various input types.
    
• AI and Pathfinding
  
  • Improvements to Maintenance worker pathfinding which should reduce the amount of time they stand idle attempting to navigate to dirty tiles.
    
  • Fixed issue where workers would pick up and drop items if there was absolutely zero storage in a zone.
    
  • Resolved issues where AI Pathfinding could take long times on larger levels.
    
  • Resolved a lot of the worker juggling issues (Note: There are still more to fix, but this should help in the meantime).
    
  • Resolved issues with AI Pathfinding and diagonals.
    
  • Maintenance workers should no longer form conga line and all try to grab the same bubble gun/Garbage
    
  • Maintenance workers will now idle correctly when they have no active tasks
    
  • Resolved some issues with Worker AI and item desirability not being correctly updated when modifying recipes
    
• Design and Balance
  
  • New Recipe for Feed for the Food Processor. Given when the player unlocks the Cow Stall. Currently 1 Wheat = 2 Feed.
    
  • Added Export Missions for Herbs n Spice, Tomatoes, Feed, and Fluff.
    
  • Lowered drop rates for Herbs n Spice
    
  • Adjusted Whispy townie spawn requirement to be when 1 Jack-O'-Lantern is placed instead of 3.
    
  • Increased the amount of farm plots the player can purchase in the import catalogue.
    
  • Various new items added to the import catalogue. Some items must be discovered or unlocked in EGO tech app before they appear in the import catalogue.
    
  • EGO Tech updates to support new content: additions to some unlock packages as well as completely new packages to unlock.
    
  • Added new Townpedia entries for Subway Stations, Zone Editing and Vehicle Parking.
    
  • Recipe for Protein in Feed Maker using Large Mushrooms.
    
  • Added Large mushroom seeds to tech tree.
    
  • Cactus and Rock Piles from the desert can now be ordered via Import after discovery.
    
  • Added a bunch of vehicles to Import which will appear after the player has driven that particular type.
    
• General
  
  • Added New 'Gull' critter type, which will appear near non-desert sand tiles .
    
  • Each fishing spot now has a unique shadow.
    
  • Improved Fog rendering at far distances.
    
  
  
  

Hi all!

This week is going to be a quick one from me. That's because I really only have one bit of news, and it's the news you've been waiting for!

[h3]Build and Bustle (Player Feedback Pack) Releases Next Week![/h3]
We are excited to announce that the Build and Bustle Pack will be releasing into Main Branch on Monday 16th (12.00 AEST, +10 GMT) for us, and Sunday evening for our players in the Americas!

Our friends at Game Rant wrote up this nice little exclusive which includes details on the update, brand new screenshots, updated branding and key imagery, and a handy breakdown of the release time for key regions. You can read the article here.

We want to thank everyone who joined the preview branch to get a sneak peek at what we've been working on! Your feedback and reporting have been invaluable in helping shape this update and turn it into something amazing.

As there is so much in this update, Emily is preparing (with input from our Preview Branch players) a series of 'tips and hints' that will help you get the most out of the new update.

Aside from the update, I wanted to address a couple of missteps in my comms over the past few weeks!

Our aim is to always be transparent with our player base, however, when not properly worded it does create uncertainty and confusion. Which, in seeking feedback from members of the community, I inadvertently did create some confusion.

1. Roadmap is not clear about 'main branch' vs 'preview branch' and my comms are not either. I will ensure going forward that this is better defined and understandable going forward!
   
2. Releases and the impact of team member holidays were not clear. Sorry if this worried people! Updates and the project are important, and the whole team isn't suddenly dropping work to go on holidays. We are continuing to update the game and will be for some time. We are trying to make sure we find a balance here; making sure we continue to support the game, but also making sure each team member gets a chance to step away and recharge batteries.

Just like any other part of Early Access, communications are integral to the process. So, I am always looking for feedback on our comms so that they clear on what we are doing.

We are looking forward to bringing you a HEAP of news on Monday about the update, and if you can't wait until the 16th, you can always have a last peek at the update in our preview branch (your preview branch save will work in the main branch once the update goes live).

As I'll be posting on the 16th, I'm aiming for my next 'weekly' update to land on the 28th.

-Cheryl