GearCity News

Hello Everyone,

The full release of the game is about one week away. I've spent quite a bit of time playtesting the game and knocking out issues that you all have reported over the last few weeks. I also did some static and dynamic code analysis and made changes based on those results.

In short, I'm running out of obvious things to fix. So I thought it would be a good time to release version 2.0.0.0, the full release build, to Early Access.

Unless a major issue pops up in the next few days, this will be the build the "Full Release" goes live with on the 14th. (I will probably update translation files and other text files at that time as well.) Any minor issues I'll work into the next minor update or hotfix. In the meantime, I've got a few more loose odds and ends to clean up, particularly with the manual. So that's what I will be doing this week.

I'd like to thank everyone who has played the game, reported issues, debugged the game, offered suggestions, and created content over these last 12 years. I'll have a more fitting thank you with the full release announcement. But I can never say thank you enough. So thanks.


Change log:

-Bugfix: District Factory production panel blank during wars in mega menu.
-GUI: Fixed English font sizing in several locations. (Purple text.)
-Bugfix: Fixed Nations trying to buy factories while they're under construction.
-Bugfix: Fixed 'All Companies' selection not working in Platform Sharing window.

Upon looking into some user-reported bugs, I noticed that I left some map testing debug code in the game. This error resulted in the Autosave function not working properly. Since this is a big enough issue, I decided to release this RC5 update. This update fixes that issue and a couple of other bugs.

Work on the manual continues, and I hope to reach the formula/mechanics sections by the end of the month.

-Bugfix Fixed company acquisition cooldown times not being saved to the save game file in certain situtations.
-Bugfix AutoSave saving every decade to a new file instead of indicated time.
-Bugfix Fixed Autosell not selling licensed or outsourced designs automatically.
-Gameplay Tweaked AI and Autosell initial pricing system.
-Media Increase max values for top reviews clips because of chance of falling outside that range.
-Media Added additional predesigned cars submissions.
-Bugfix Fixed Gearbox weight in contracts window displaying incorrect values.
-Media Increased racing series end dates for any series that reached end game for current maps.

Greetings everyone,

The fourth full release candidate is now available. With this update, all first-party game-related items are considered complete. I have finished the maps that will ship with the game and fixed several bugs in this release candidate.

With the fulfillment of the map data, the game is complete! We're ready to remove the Early Access tag from GearCity and step forward into the post-release phase of the game.

But there is a problem. It's a matter of timing. Q4 is probably the worst time to release a non AA game. This time of the year, major studios are releasing their big-budget games for the holidays. Most games will have weeks of discounts for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years' sales. In short, it's difficult to gain sales and attention when you have to compete with 90% discounts on past blockbusters.

With that in mind, even though I'm ready to remove the Early Access tag from GearCity, I won't be doing it this quarter. However, I am willing to confirm a release date! Assuming it does not conflict with a Lunar Sale, GearCity will be officially out of Early Access on January 14th, 2022.

This is a fitting date, as official work began on GearCity around mid-January 2010. (Work on the engine predates even the idea of making a GearCity.)

I won't be spending the time idle. I plan on continuing to fix bugs as you report them to me. I've also been working on the manual http://wiki.gearcity.info, and it will give me time to work on business, marketing, and community-related tasks that I have put on the backburner. Such as reopening our official forums, setting up an IRC-Discord-Matrix bridge, etc. Then there is the matter of the planned post-release feature bounty system that I need to set up. The small delay will also give time for any remaining translations to finish.

The journey is almost at an end.

You can find the full changelog here.

Sadly a few things slipped through testing:

[h2]Hotfix #1[/h2]
-Bugfix: Fixed Random History New Game Crash.
-Bugfix: Fixed Stock Detail Panel not showing for Player's company.
-Bugfix: Fixed Italian Flag crash on European Test Map.
-Bugfix: Fixed Map Logos not loading on 64-bit builds.
-Translations: Added Japanese Review Text.

Quick hotfix today fixing two typos of mine that prevented the player from buying stock shares if they already owned shares of a company. And another that kept tutorial videos playing after you closed the window in the Office. Easy fixes, so I thought I'd slip them in a hotfix before moving on to more complex stuff.

The third full release candidate is now available. This update fixes several bugs the community and I have found, and it includes a bit of text content that I put off for several years.

Looking forward, we're going to have a Release Candidate 4 to finish the Base Territories, Europe Test Map (name will change to Europe Map), and the Old School Territory map. I hoped to get these done for RC3 but ran into time constraints. In addition to that, work has begun on updating the game manual.

After RC4 is released, I will finalize a release date and begin marketing efforts. I'll address any bugs that pop up after RC4 with a just before-release patch.

Some RC3 highlights:
-160% increase in the review text system.
-200% increase in filler newspaper articles
-A few additional news articles for Base City Map and Classic Map.
-33 Japanese subtitled Tutorial Videos are available here or by clicking "Help, Video Tutorials" in the game.
-30+ bug fixes are minor game tweaks.

You can find the full changelog here.