GearCity News

Greetings everyone,

I have just another minor update this time. It fixes several smaller and medium-sized bugs with the game.

This update superseded work on the manual, so I am a little behind on the Game Mechanics portion. I do not plan on delaying work on the Feature Bounty system because of it. So I will begin setting everything up for that starting tomorrow. I hope to get it ready to go by the end of the month.

Change Log:
-Engine: Rebuilt Freetype on 64-bit Windows to enable legacy scaling which will hopefully fix some font resizing issues. (I will post in the manual some optional libraries for Linux users to override their system's freetype libraries. Mac users probably won't get this change.)
-GUI: Restricted warning message in Outsourced Contracts Management window when supplier's HQ nations are at war.
-Gameplay: Fixed incorrect sign in chassis length slider that caused longer chassis to be weaker.
-Gameplay: Now allowing restart production of licensed designs.
-GUI: Added fuel type to showroom Marque Catalog and Model Compare fuel consumption information.
-Gameplay: Fixed Hybrid fuel type end date.
-GUI: Fixed chassis name not appearing in Refit information window.
-Gameplay: Fixed possible condition that could cause double taxation in Q4. The IRS isn't too happy to close this loophole.
-GUI: Displayed additional tax rebate info next to Monthly Expenses in the reports when you get a rebate.
-GUI: Fixed typos in the supplemental texts (newspapers, map events, reviews)
-Engine: Enabling borderless window with the In-game settings will toggle off fullscreen. And enabling fullscreen will toggle off borderless window.
-Translations: Updated translations from the website.

Hello Everyone,

Another bug-fix update for GearCity. With the release hype dying down some, the next bug fix will be in a couple of weeks unless someone comes across a major issue.

-Media: Normalize tutorial audio speaking, sound fx, and music.
-Bugfix: Changing sound effects vol from off to on doesn't change tutorial audio volume.
-Bugfix: Fixed auto-production not producing enough components for contracts when multiple contracts use the same engine for different types of contracts.
-Bugfix: Apply to all not working when merge trims is enabled.
-Bugfix: Merge Trim not showing all models on the world map.
-Bugfix: Non-English language causes a innocent sqlite error on player creation table.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible issues in the reviews system that could cause no reviews for a design. This issue is probably impossible to duplicate playing the game.
-Gameplay: Reduced wage demand/strikes during economic downturns.
-GUI: Fixed some GUI scaling issues. (Some more work needs to be done here.)
-GUI: Added commas to Breached Contract memos.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible exploit that allows for loans to be taken twice in a month by reloading a save game.
-Bugfix: Fixed inversed engine manufacturer requirement stars and stuck chassis manufacturer requirement stars in the Licensing window.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with custom district factory upgrades that could result in a free, small upgrade to your factory.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue in the standalone car designer that duplicated accessory buttons.
-Bugfix: Monthly report page will now scroll back to the top after you end a turn in 64-bit builds.
-Bugfix: Fixed HiDPI Auto-Scaling issues on Apple.
-Translations: Updated to latest translation files and fixed some translated tutorial audio.

Hello everyone,

A small bug-fix patch this week. I wanted to get it to you all yesterday, but my week was very heavy with greater than expected release traffic and some offline headaches. Then I was going to release the update Saturday morning, but at the last minute caught some vandalism in our translation system. So an evening update, which I hate doing.

With that said, the translation system is locked down. You need to email me to register an account and tell me what language you want to work on. I will also be locking translators to a single language. This is for damage limitation in case anyone goes rouge again. In advance, I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience. I think it's better to inconvenience a handful of people than to break the game for a few hundred to a couple of thousand people.

I will be working on another bug-fix patch. I'm aiming for next weekend, but it might be a little longer if I deem nothing large enough to build a patch. I'll also start work on the manual again starting tomorrow.


-Bugfix: Fixed issue causing orphaned save games from not being deleted when exiting the game on the Select HQ Location screen.
-Bugfix: Fixed Research Teams RnD window not showing gain amount when skills are over 99.
-Engine: Initial support for the Korean language. If you're interested in translating to Korean, please let us know.
-Bugfix: Fixed several off screening and off window issues when users are running low resolutions (1080p and less) with high GUI scaling.
-Engine: Updated software OpenAL implementation for improved support of newer sound cards. Knock on wood, it doesn't cause issues for anyone running the game fine before.
-Bugfix: Fixed side panel disappearing when another window overlaps the panel and the player hits escape.
-Engine: Reports should work when characters that require URI encoding are in the file path.
-Bugfix: Fixed chassis size requirements for contracts having badly rounded data with SAE when referring to minimum requirements.
-Media: Added some Italian tutorial audio, added all missing Portuguese tutorial audio, and added all German and Japanese tutorial audio.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue causing memos not to pop up when priorities are hit.
-Gameplay: Reduced negotiation times for critical strike events from 3-6 months to 1-2 months.
-Bugfix: Possible fix to a crash issue on Linux that involved decal placement, body resize, decal placement again, and a dangling pointer.

[h2]It is my pleasure to announce the completion of GearCity.[/h2]

I welcome everyone stepping into the game for the first time. I hope you have an enjoyable and profitable experience. Be sure to do the tutorials, and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

For everyone that has been with me for some time, I would like to say thank you.

When I started making this game twelve years ago, I had limited expectations that anyone would play it. I thought it was bound to be an unfinished open source game rotting in a repo somewhere, but the game did find a small but dedicated audience. Through your feedback and suggestions, GearCity's development continued well past its anticipated expiration date.

During 12 years of evolution together, we handwrote 431,941 lines of code, 416,733 lines of GUI script, and 225,771 words of content (a 650-page paperback book). Many of you helped translate that into several languages. We also recorded 2.5 hours of interactive audio tutorials and 4.5 hours of video tutorials that have been watched and listened to by countless people over the years. The user manual is about 100,000 words and still growing.

The community has posted 1,689 threads and made 7,193 posts on the official forums. On Steam, you all made 3680 threads. Sadly, Steam's forum system is very limited, so I can't pull up the post numbers. However, I can say that I have replied to you all 13,587 times via both forums. You all sent me 13,874 emails, but by keeping my email account public and clickable, I got 57,533 spam emails. Even with all that typing, I continue to look forward to communications with you all.

The game has seen 186 updates: 6 in Alpha, 15 in Open Beta, and 165 in Early Access. While I can't guarantee future updates, I imagine that number will grow, although more slowly, post-release.

[h2]That brings me to our future plans.[/h2] While GearCity has reached an important milestone that markets the end of continuous development, computer software is rarely ever truly completed. I will continue to provide customer support and bug fixes for as long as I am humanly (or contractually) able. I also plan on launching a Development as a Service system to raise funds for additional features in the game. It is called the "Feature Bounty" program. There will be no Steam Announcement when I launch this system, so please follow us on other platforms.

I will reopen the official forums with the launch of the Feature Bounty system. I hope that many of you will join us there.

[h2]So, what am I doing next? [/h2]After I get the user manual completed, I'm taking a few days off. I haven't had a good vacation in a few decades. After that, as you may have seen in GearCity's magazine, the next game is called AeroMogul. It is an airline business simulator, that should have as much depth, if not more, than GearCity. If everything works out as planned, it could revolutionize the spreadsheet tycoon genre.

I anticipate development to speed up substantially by retiring Beardgine (our engine) as a front-end engine. However, it will still power the backend of the new game.

Please join the community for this game on our official forums when it reopens in the coming months. I'll be sure to make an announcement here when the Steam store page is ready in a few years.

[h2]Finally[/h2] There are so many people I want to thank for helping me make this game. The list is way too numerous to publish. Thank you to the people who worked on the game, whose names are in the About window. Thank you to the folks who worked endlessly to translate the game. I did not give you as much love and appreciation as you deserve for your hard work. (If I didn't have to change the translation system so many times, I would enter your names into the game.) Thank you to everyone who showed friends and peers the game. And thank you to those who bought the game as gifts for other people. Thank you to those that posted the game in various forums and communities for discussion. And thank you to everyone who chatted about our game on our forums. My heart-filled thanks to everyone who offered suggestions and gave bug reports. Without you, the game wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is today. A tiny thanks to everyone who has pirated the game. And a pat on the back to those that bought it after pirating it. I thank everyone who has bought the game and enjoyed it. And my apologies to those who hated the game after they purchased it.

And last but not least, thank you to everyone that has had to put up with me non-professionally in the real world and the virtual one.

In short, thank you.
Good luck and enjoy the game!
ːEricBː