Go-Go Town! News

Hi all!

Another week in, and another update from me 😊
As promised last week, I’d have some updates for you this week on the following:

• Further details on the Preview branch
  
• Details on what Minor Update 3 will contain
  
• An ETA on when Suggestion Pack is expected to hit Preview Branch (and then main game)
  
• Updates to our Living Roadmap
  

[h3]Preview Branch + AI Updates[/h3] ETA: Discord users 16th – 17th
ETA: Steam users ~22nd – 25th

The updates to the AI system are just about done and we are starting to do some internal testing. Based off our testing, this is *really* helping solve the issues that have been reported.

However, we expect there’s still going to be some user experience issues around this (people standing still) without understanding why. The preview branch is going to be fantastic to help us work through these!

We are also putting the finishing touches on the Preview branch. While spinning up a branch isn’t too hard, the reason we are working through this is for a few reasons

• We want to keep your save intact; should you swap from the ‘game’ branch to the ‘preview branch’ we want to make sure your saves get backed up so you don’t lose your progress or end up with saves being ‘locked’ to this branch so you can’t go back to the normal game branch
  
• Save file updates; this means we need to increment your save file data in a way that makes sure if you use the preview branch and then go back to the game branch your saves won’t load in the game branch. As preview branch has its own data, it could create a lot of weird and wonderful issues if you could load it in the main game!
  
• Reporting tool; we need to make sure that we are getting details of which branch you are on should you report bugs to us, so we need to get this updated to work with multiple branches.
  

We’ll be rolling out this branch as an invite only to Discord users next week to confirm that the branching, save backup, and reporting tools are working as expected.

Once we are happy that this is working as expected, we’ll open this up to Steam users and include a post for how to access the Preview Branch on the Discussion Forum.

[h3]Minor Update 3[/h3] ETA: 15th July

This week we have fixed a couple of potential blocker issues, as well as starting some work on optimising some art assets

• Fixed issue where users can assign a npc to multiple jobs in co-op
  
• Fixes for character getting stuck on load
  
• Mesh optimisations for all heaviest impacting farm items
  

If you are still getting a loss of player controls (especially after co-op play) do please let us know! We want to make sure we aren’t losing any issues that need to be solved here.

[h3]Major Update 1 - Player Suggestion Pack[/h3] ETA: Mid-August

As we are just wrapping up Preview Branch and AI updates over the next week, the team (especially the programming team) haven’t had a chance to roll up their sleeves and start digging into this. This means we’ll be looking to start on this the week of 22nd July.

Once the team has a chance to focus on this, we’ll make sure to let you know how it is going, and we’ll be aiming to post some updates (screenshots, videos, etc) so you can follow along with it and see the progress, as it is in progress 😊

[h3]Updates to the Living Roadmap[/h3] ETA: Week of 22nd July

This one has falling by the wayside this past week. This is on me and I’m sorry for this! I was out for a couple of days not feeling well (I am better now) but that means I had a lot of work to catch up on this week and into next week, so I have this marked for week of 22nd July now. (see note below)

I have a bit of time off booked next week, so the next update will come from someone else on the team. It’ll also be less wordy - I know I overshare :D

We will give you an update on the Preview Branch, and we’ll push out a small update once Minor Update 3 is live.

I’ll be back for the update on July 26th, and I’ll make up for lost words by bringing you a juicy update and my hallmark oversharing, hopefully about Major Update 1! -Cheryl

A New build is up (0.4.48.15829EA)

General Gameplay

• Aliens will now arrive via train after phoning home .
  
• Updated Courier Guide Entry Image to remove 'Hire' Text.
  
• Updated Description on Mana Harvester to mention the Mana Node placement restriction.
  
• Adjusted minimum interaction distance for various storage props to lessen the occurrence of workers being unable to path to destinations.
  

Optimisation

• Slight performance improvements for storage bins with lots of items.
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed Zone Time Clocks so they now show the correct time.
  
• Fixed Weathervane on Farm Time Clock
  
• Fixed rotation issues on Bridges.
  
• Fixed issue when switching a worker to a maintenance worker when their last action at their previous job was a "harvest" action.
  
• Stop Cheesy Fries from generating garbage when it is consumed.
  
• Fixed issue where 'Metro Fountain' was not being counted as part of the 'Build a Fountain' Leaderboard Challenge.
  
• Fixed issue where player could delete props in the sewer .
  
• Various stability fixes.
  

Hi all!

Another week down and another lengthy post from me 😊
There has been a lot going on at Sloth HQ, and I’m just going to dive right into it.

Minor Update 2 ETA: 8th July

This update is a tad smaller, as we are working on a number of bigger changes we want to get out to sooner that we originally planned (see AI, and Preview Branch topics below)
However, we do still have some updates for you this week that we think will make you happy 😊

• Aliens will start arriving on the train; if you have already called them, they are coming back!
  
• We’ve updated some AI pathfinding which should decrease some amount of AI ‘litter’ you are seeing around town
  
• Minor Bug fixes
  
• Minor Stability fixes

Major Update 1 – Player Suggestion Pack is the Winner! ETA: Details next week



After reviewing all the awesome feedback we received from our community, we decided that we wanted to give our community the opportunity to feedback into what our first major update would look like.

Thank you to all of you who voted, but also to those of you who have raised your feedback to us. This really helped inform where you wanted us to focus first.

The Suggestion Pack was voted on by the community, so this is where we’ll focus our attention first.
This pack will include the following updates:

• Expanded Player and Town cosmetics
  
• Open up a new area of the town map
  
• Add in a new tourist ‘teleporter’ that ensures tourists can reach your new building area
  
• Extend some zones to give a bit more space
  
• *Stretch Goal: Zone customisation

We are excited about this pack and think it’ll bring a lot to players!

The team will need a few more days to investigate the details of the workload in this pack and we’ll have an ETA on it next week.


Ongoing AI Updates

In releasing Update 0.4.47.15713EA it uncovered a few bugs with how AI works, as well as some User Experience issues around AI and how it behaves.

I talked a bit last week about how AI is a spider web of systems here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2195120/view/4200250669025535502?l=english

AI is going to be an ongoing bit of work. We will continue to work on solving issues as an ongoing basis. And we’ll likely be featuring updates on a weekly basis about what we are doing, and what issues have been uncovered.

Some of the issues raised from the last update are:

• AI will pick-up and put down an item repeatedly (sometimes looks like it is juggling)
  
  • This issue is related to it knowing it has something to do, but not being able to reach its destination. We have decided to rework the logic around AI’s pathfinding and decision-making to help with this issue.
    
• AI continues to process items even when no storage is available
  
  • Under investigation!
    
• AI not tidying up, or picking up stuff on the ground
  
  • This is an issue around how the AI is processing priorities, so we need to adjust the priority of this
• AI harvesting new materials when items are on the ground
  
  • This is another priority-based issue; we need to adjust the priority of this
    
• AI in Fishing Zone leaving piles of fish around
  
  • We are looking to move Fishing over to fixed fish-type catch spots. This means AI, and you, know exactly what you are getting when you drop a line in 😊 As this changes how fishing works, community feedback on this is going to be useful.

Speaking of community feedback… we are looking to bring forward our plans to adopt a ‘second’ branch. Which leads on to our next topic nicely!


A ‘Preview’ branch

Those of you who play a lot of Early Access games you may already be used to the concept of a second, opt-in, branch. Its name can vary, but you might be familiar with Beta, Unstable, Untested, Feature, Preview...

For us, moving forward, what we want to do is push our updates in this Preview (opt-in) branch and give it some time to percolate with our players before we adopt it into the ‘main game’ branch.

This is great, because it means we will be able to have some early dialogue between us (as developers and community) about what the impact of changes are, before we adopt them into the full game.
I’ll have more details on this next week – however, we are hoping we will have this adopted by Minor Update 3.


Wheels in Motion Pack

There is a bit of a silver lining here :D I know some of you were really excited about what this pack would bring to the table, and we promise it’s not getting scrapped.

What we are going to do with this pack look to split it out into smaller pieces and deliver these items over time.

The other nice thing about this pack is that it’s not all dependant on our Code team, so Art and Design have time to work together on this.

So, you’ll likely see our future Minor Updates containing bits from this.


What is a Minor and Major Update?

Just in case you are curious what these names mean. Here’s something I prepared just for you:

Minor updates are generally going to include following:

• Include ongoing bug fixes
  
• Include ongoing quality of life updates
  
• Include small content updates

Major updates are generally going to include the following:

• New major features! Yay
  
• Large content updates
  
• Gameplay updates

Living Roadmap Updates
We are now at the first juncture where we want to update our Living Roadmap! The winning pack for Major Update 1 will be reflected in this, and I’ll looking at updating with other details where I can.
I am sure there is more I could write, but honestly, I suspect you are just as excited as we are to start diving into the updates – both Minor and Major 😊


Next weeks update from me should be an exciting one:

• Further details on the Preview branch
  
• Details on what Minor Update 3 will contain
  
• An ETA on when Suggestion Pack is expected to hit Preview Branch (and then main game)
  
• Updates to our Living Roadmap

Let me just close this out by saying ‘Thank you’ to everyone who is joining us on this journey! We are a small, but mighty, team and we are working hard to make sure your voice is heard, and you continue to enjoy Go-Go Town! through each and every update.

- Cheryl

A new build is up (0.4.47.15713EA)

General Gameplay

• Added "Ticket Pod" Prop. Allows the player to convert any items they don't want into Import tickets.
  
• Reduced requirements for "I'm Comfortably Well-Off" achievement from 200k to 50k

Accessibility

• Added option for Insect Phobia.
  
• Added option for Weather FX Reduction to reduce motion sickness from falling leaves
  
• Added option for Lighting Sensitivity.
  

Couriers

• Fixed issues where couriers would drop items unnecessarily.
  
• Fixed variety of issues where couriers could get stuck in the Garage
  

Worker AI

• Fixed an issue where workers could get stuck forever if they were knocked over (by a car, or leaf blower etc).
  
  • Any workers that might still be stuck, try knocking them over (with a car or leaf blower) and see if that snaps them out of it.
• Fixed issue where Maintenance workers would stop working if they could not find a valid path to one or more of their bubble guns.
  
• Fixed performance issues that could arise if your town was extremely dirty.
  
• Farm workers will now collect and correctly stock Animal Feed.
  
• Changed priorities of the Blower/Trimmer so that workers will prefer to store held items before using those tools.
  
• After workers have done their priority tasks, they will now attempt to fill all locked storage, even if those items are not actively 'required' by the current town.
  
• Farm workers should no longer attempt to water the same plot forever.
  
• Workers should no longer stand in one location using a tool forever.
  
• Workers should no longer attempt to harvest or collect items they are unable to store.
  
• If a worker is unable to store held items, they will dump them on the ground instead of holding on to them forever.
  

Bug Fixes

• Stopped birds from floating in the air
  
• Fix some articles of clothing not showing for players in customisation menu.
  
• Fix for players who are stuck with Fishing Rods after the previous patch.
  
• Fixed issue where entering the same Jailbreak Code twice could cause an error when trying to load a game.
  
• Fixed issues where tourists would never leave town if they could not find a valid path to the train station.
  
• Player can now knock over tourists who are in their 'wander' state.
  

Hi all!

We are a few hours shy of our 1st week out from Early Access release, and wow has it been a week 😊
Diving right into player bugs and feedback here’s some of the most raised items

• Map Size
  
• Worker AI
  
• Space in Zones (Mining, Forestry, Fishing, Farming)
  
• Did I mention Map Size
  
• Accessibility options for Motion and Visual Sensitivities, as well as phobias
  

What I suspect you really want to know is WHEN these bits of feedback are going to be addressed. So that’s what I’ll cover first, and then we can dive into the topics in a bit more detail.

Minor Update 1

ETA: 1st July (Australia time)
What to expect:

• Bug fixes for Courier AI
  
  • We will provide more details next week on these
  • We are aware of a few issues, so we’re aiming to address as many as possible
• Fishing Rod Fix
  
  Some of you may have a fishing rod attached to you for life 😊 We will be detaching this from you.
• Floating Birds
  
  These birds somehow seem to be able to defy physics and float when they walk. Don’t worry! The birds will still fly correctly.
• Farm AI not using Feed
  
  • TownCo. has assured us that workers are undergoing training to understand the correct procedures for handling of fodder and feeding of animals.
• Worker AI – Locked Storage Edition
  
  • As a low priority task, Worker AI will work to ensure locked storage boxes are full. Even when those items are not considered ‘in demand’ in town.
• Too Much Stuff – The Overflow Chronicles
  
  • You will find a new machine available to you (Tech Tree tier pending)
  • This machine is only usable by Players (for now, see the AI topic below)
  • You can dispose of items in this machine, and in return for X number of items you will receive some Import Tickets
• Additional Bug Fixes that we'll flag next week.
  

Zone/Industry AI feedback

Just to touch on this as a more holistic topic and note that we understand this first update is only touching on some parts of AI feedback.

Worker AI is a bit of a spiderweb, where touching one part can have far-reaching effects. With this in mind, we are trying to chunk up the feedback into manageable topics and starting with a light touch to address a few of the more immediate issues.

We want to avoid trying to provide a slew of solutions in one go! For one, as a team of five people trying to test all the use-cases before we release a big update to AI would take longer than we want to ask you to wait :D We also do not want to end up in a position where we have over engineered AI and end up causing another set of problems. Last thing we need to do is create a waterfall of new issues.

We have broken down the AI worker feedback into is the following issues:

• AI over-producing resources
  
  • Think piles of fish on the ground
  • Without poking at core balance of numbers, what we want to do in the short term, is allow players a way to destroy unwanted goods (not just sell them at the Market Stall and Vending Machines)
• Workers backpacks filling up
  
  • This is an issue unto itself, but it does also come down to the workers not having the space to get rid of their items, as well as over producing of items
• Storage Bins being placed outside of zones
  • This is not clearly signed to players about WHO can access bins based on where they are placed. We need to work on visually communicating this, as there are reasons for a player wanting to place bins outside of their industry zones.
  • However, bins are being placed outside of zones and is creating the illusion of AI being broken, when in fact it’s just that the bin is not accessible by some workers.
• How AI deals with locked storage (and player expectation of this)
  
  • We are aiming to have AI have a lower-level priority of ensuring bins are full, so it doesn’t feel like there’s an overbalance of item A and an under balance of item B.
• Communicating issues/breakdowns in Worker AI
  • Longer term we need to start using notifications as a way to alert the player there are problems happening in their Zones/Industries. We are going to hold off on this for now, as we need to clear some of the ‘backlog’ of other issues.
  • We don’t want to spam you too much here :D However, we might start rolling out some notifications sooner rather than later. Not being able to access storage is a good example of one we can do that shouldn’t create too much ‘notification spam’

Map Size and Zone Expansion

We have heard your requests, and we want to start doing what we can here!

Of all the industry zones, Farm has been your #1 request to expand.

Generally, you are asking for bigger maps!

We had map expansions planned for a future update; however, we acknowledge that this is something we need to prioritise NOW 😊 So, we are! But we also ask that you are patient with us on this – and I aim to have more news next week on this front.

Map expansion has a couple of major knock-on effects that we need to address before we roll this out.

• Performance!
  
  • We have been working hard to keep the game running to a decently low spec, which also means having it run smoothly on Steam Deck. So, we need to do some performance testing before we just dump a whole new area of the map on you.
• Moving tourists around the town
  
  • Right now tourists have a limited set of time they will spend in town, and also a wander distance on them. There’s a WHOLE set of stuff we wanted to do to revamp their AI, but if we move forward with expanding the map sooner, we need to have some quicker solutions in place.
  • We are investigating Tourist path-finding and what it would take to add subways and/or some form of ‘teleportation’ of tourists around the map. If you can build there, we need to make sure that tourists can get there! What we do not want to do is lock away some zones to say ‘this is only for residential’. If you can build there, you can put what you want there, and it should be utilised by the AI.

Minor Updates and Bug Fixes
We are working on an ongoing release process, and Minor Update 1 will form the first of this.

• We want to get weekly updates out to you.
  
• These updates will include minor bug fixes as well as gameplay improvements, and where possible bits of new content 😊
  
• We’ll be aiming to release updates on Mondays (Australia time), pending testing and QA times.
  

If/When Major bugs creep in we will continue to fix this in a timely manner with Hot Fixes!

Major Updates

Our first Major Update is “Wheels in Motion”, is set for release at the end of July. As we get closer to release, we’ll do a unique post about what to expect from this update!

Communication

For the next month or two, as we work through feedback, we’ll be working to do weekly updates with our community. We have a LOT of platforms to reach players on, so we’ll be trying our best to figure out how we do so: Mailing list, Steam, Twitter, Discord, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, B站: / Bilibili, 小红书 / Little Red Book, 微博 / Weibo

In time, we’ll swap over to updates every two weeks. We’ll be checking in, letting you know what is up, and starting to show off new stuff 😊

For our Newsletter subscribers we aim to email out once a month, and when we do, we’ll have some unique content for you in there! Our first newsletter is planned for early July.

We Won an Award!

We attended the Queensland Games Festival on Saturday 22nd June, which is always a highlight for us to show off what we make in our hometown. And we walked away with the 'Best In Show' award!

Here's John (aka Wheels) accepting the award on behalf of the team!

User Created Towns

We have a thriving Discord community and we've been floored by what our community members are sharing with us! We want to show off what our members are creating in each of our updates, so if you want to show us what you are working come join our Discord here.
A new code for you

If you have read this far, and you know what the Jailbreak app is about, we've got a code for you ;)

U R O C K

-Cheryl