The Coin Game News

Dev blog Part 1
The last announcement available here > Dev Blog part 1

In Dev Blog "part 2", I want to give you more insight into what survivor mode is going to look like (in stages) and what other features to look forward too in the development of The Coin Game.

Here is a quick video that I put together of things coming next Survivor Mode update:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Hello everyone,
First off... A HUGE thank you to ALL of you for the continued support of The Coin Game! Also, thank you for your patience with the early access development. As a one man indie dev, its tough to get the time to record, edit, announce and even proof read these write ups. As you can tell by my many spelling errors and bad penmanship.

Since the last update I have decided that the new coming Survivor mode is going to be delivered in a few stages. It will make it easier for me to get this new content out and in your hands sooner. The last update was a while ago.... and in that time the game is running much better and smoother in all of my test builds. Overall general development of the game is going fantastic and I could not be more excited to bring you the next update of The Coin Game. This should be the last "dev blog" before I release the survivor mode beta.

In my test builds... I have added a bunch of new optimizations in the outside world that will turn off a bunch of the stuff in the game much faster and efficiently now. It took me a while to build these systems but in my opinion, they are the best thing to happen to the game yet. I cannot wait to get it out to all of you. I am also adding more options to the Video Settings panel to help users get more frames per second by turning off more lighting features. More Audio optimizations, lighting optimizations, textures.... I could go on and on. But lets get to the meat.





Over the last month or so I have been building the final systems needed for the Survivor mode stage one. Things like the Health system that will have to be maintained to keep a healthy lifestyle. That way you can make that $$$ to blow on more arcade games. Be careful, as you will have to watch your food intake to make sure to keep your energy up. Low energy will result in sluggish slower movement. When your energy is very low it will start to decrease your overall health. So make sure you are eating plenty of junk food to stay energized throughout the day. When survivor mode comes out, you will find different kinds of food that will all affect you in different ways. Get yourself some Jerry's Jerky or a Gourmet Tuna Gas Station Sandwich and bulk candy sweets to wash it down. That should be enough energy to get to the UFO arcade and spend some of that hard earned cash. Or maybe you need the energy to finish the job babysitting or even mowing Barry's lawn.

Babysitting the bots:
One of the new jobs will be babysitting a couple bots and cleaning up after them. Its is pretty simple and plus you can always raid their cupboards to eat. They also have a microwave to heat up your TV dinners.











Mowing Barry's lawn:
Another one of the new jobs is the ability to mow Barry's (the Pawn Owners) home lawn. it takes a little longer to finish than babysitting a couple bots but Barry isnt cheap and is known to pay well. The mower is always by his garage that he keeps his lambo in. Once Survivor mode is out you will be able to mow the yard every couple of days for spending cash. so save wisely.









Survivor mode starts off as the day after your birthday. Birthday was fun with the money machine, Limo, no curfew, golf cart and no worries. Well, survivor mode is a bit different. Its prob someone elses birthday and the limo is treating them and not you. Bummer. Time to dust off your work boots and hit the streets.... literally hit the streets. Because your golf cart is gone and you are walking now. Im seriously considering adding a mountain bike now.... as I have been walking everywhere for the last few months and I think we are going to need it. haha.




In survivor mode you will be required to be home at a certain time each night. You will know that you can "go to sleep" by visual cues around the house. For example Nanny Bot will pull the covers down in your bed and have it all set for you when it is time for you to retire for the evening. You better be home by your curfew. Do not make her come looking for you. Trust me.



When survivor mode comes out there will be more food choices around the island. One of them is Jerrys with Jerrys Jerky, local milk, Jolted Soda, Candy and even Gourmet Tuna Gas Station Sandwiches.....mmmmm. Yummy. :/



New batteries at Jerry's Gas & Go. These will be needed for all your battery operated prizes and tools. They dont cost too much but boy they dont last very long when riding a hoverboard up hill.







New characters will come in Survivor Mode "stage one" as well. Their full "abilities" (and interact able-ness. Dont know if that is a word. Prob not but I'm going with it.) will not be included until stage two. For now I am just adding new characters into the game and will be adding more ways in the future to interact with them. Fun challenges, easter eggs, side tasks, etc. will come later. For now I am still building the entire island and life management systems.

Nanny bot
aka: "The Curfew Enforcer"
She is the one that makes sure that you are home on time while your parents are away. She may look slow..... but the old lady can fly when she has too.


The Junk Man
aka: "Stinky Jimmy"
This guy is all over the place looting dumpsters. Make sure to beat him to the loot or lose out on freebies found in islandvilles best dumpsters.


The Local Paper Boy
aka: "Scoop"
If you are looking to make a buck or two the honest way... Scoop is your guy. He is the towns hardest worker. Well I guess he is second to "Skippy" at the dollar store but you get what I mean. He is never late and always polite. Scoop is proud to be an Eagle Bot of Troop 3377 of Islandville and will do his best to always help you out.



Once we have this stage 1 in place and "tuned in" via all of your feedback.... I will then begin rolling out stage 2 of survivor mode. That will include new arcade locations with a bunch of community requested machines, more jobs, more characters, an XP points system and even some surprises. More on that later though...

That about does it for this Dev blog and I cannot wait for the release of Survivor mode "Beta". I will be finalizing a few more things and finishing up a bunch of odds and ends.... over the next few weeks.

See you then. ;)

Kevin

First off I want to say THANK YOU to all the new supporters of The Coin Game in early access. I have been blown away at the amount of people that are enjoying the arcades and are having fun with the open world design of the game. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that we are just getting started. There is lots going on behind the scenes even though I have been quiet... ;) You have all given me the opportunity to build the game I have always imagined. So Thank you again.

Now I just wanted to take a minute to show all of you the new things that I am working on at the moment. My original plan was to have Survivor mode out by February of this year so I wanted to take a few minutes to explain the reasoning behind postponing the Survivor mode for a bit until I can add the features that it will need.

You see I was going to release the Survivor mode in "stages" but during the testing that I did... it just didnt make enough sense without all of the tools and features in place that I have been building over the last couple of months. I also want to have more of the job locations available on day one of Survivor mode to give the player more options to make money. I am also now building in an XP points system that will give the user a points tallies at the end of each day. That is a big thing that was never planned from day one. You will be able to check up on your points through the ATM machines around the island. You can then spend your XP points on different advantages or even more cosmetic items for your character in the future.

The XP points system will be limited at the beginning of survivor mode release but will be updated with more things to purchase as I finish them. I really needed to get the system in place and working. More news on the XP stuff in Part 2 of this dev blog.

Here is a simple video that I whipped up that shows some of the new things coming. Shopping carts, more consumable items, Islandville Market, Pinball Machines, Health and Energy HUDs and systems, House appliances and Gary thrashing things he doesnt like.

More to come as this is Part 1 of 2

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]






[h2]Health and Energy systems: [/h2]


Here are some of the new features that are currently being built for Survivor Mode. AGAIN these items are not released yet and are a WORK IN PROGRESS.

In the coming survivor mode you will have a Health Level and an Energy Level. You must watch and maintain them both as each one can affect the other. When you eat junk food (Jolted colas, Elephant ears, Microwave dinners etc) your Health level will decrease a bit but your energy level will increase depending on the item. Your energy level will affect the speed at which you can do things in the game (work jobs, walk, run etc...) so you want to keep it high. The only problem with trying to keep your Health and Energy high is that good for you "Healthy" food can get expensive and may be harder to find. Junk food is cheap and everywhere. Junk food will take Health away but will give you a boost of energy that wont last as long as say a bag of Jerry's homemade Jerky from the gas station. If you happen to afford the "Healthy" food choices you will notice that it will increase your health a bit AND give you about the same Energy as junk food. So there will be a balance to what you can eat.



If you dont eat anything at all and your Energy becomes very low you will start to lose Health. Besides losing a little bit of Health when your Energy is very low.... You can also lose Health by falling large distances, getting hit by cars and getting roughed up by local bully bots. So be careful. Once all your Health is gone its GAME OVER.

Remember that you are young and all you have to do is get through the day. Once you go to sleep you will wake up with ~80-90% Health again and start the cycle all over again. When you wake up in the morning you will have very low Energy as most youngsters do. Just eat some cheesy poofs for breakfast if Gary hasnt thrashed them all. There will be other places to eat with better food in the future as more locations are added. You can see some of the coming items in the list of New Items below.

The health/energy system is still being tweaked and changed as I add more food and supplement items.






[h2]Shopping System [/h2]


I have been building a new shopping system with a working checkout isle. You will be able to buy perishable items in the store from Deb and Skippy. They are the two loyal employees of the Islandville Market..... Well Skippy is at least. Deb is just there because her parents said she had to get a job.



In the coming new store you will be able to get a bunch of new items to help you survive and also to take care of your loved pets at home. You can mess the place up all you want and Skippy will tidy it all up for you when you leave. There is a shopping cart to use in the store for you bulk shoppers as well.

At the heart of this new system is the new bagging feature. It allows you to add multiple items to a single spot in your inventory. It took me a bit to build this but it will also be used later in the game to carry multiple items in different kinds of "containers"(Back packs. Trunks, etc.) Another great thing about building the new packing system is that the new shopping bags are the first "Smart Items" in the game. I had to build a completely new saving feature to save the data (The contained items). This will also help me in the future when I am building in the save-able condition of each item and other data like that.






[h2]New Consumable Items: [/h2]




- Vitamins: When released these daily vitamins will increase your health a bit while and also give you some energy. If you eat too many in a day you can start to lose Health... so dont go crazy on the Vitamins.


- Rubber Bands in bulk: You will need to purchase bulks rubber bands now to load into your rubber band gun. 15 Rubber bands in a bag. The gun will show a warning on screen when it is empty now.


- Microwave TV dinners: Chicken Strips and Salisbury Steak. These are a simple and cheap way to eat at home. Pop one in the microwave and 30 seconds later you can eat it. It will be more beneficial to eat it when it is still steaming and hot. The items will stay hot for around 3-5 minutes. Once they are cold you can still eat them but they are not as valuable to your Energy and can even take more Health away.


- First Aid Bandages: These bandages will restore your health after getting hurt. They will not add any energy as they are just a little piece of sticky plastic.


- Fish Food: When survivor mode comes out you will have to purchase fish food from the Islandville Market and keep the fish fed. There are visual clues if the fish are hungry. You will notice them start to follow you and then when their food is completely out they will "float" up to the surface and play dead. Once you feed them again they will revive. You need to take care of your pets to get the most XP Points at the end of the day. More on XP Points in the next dev blog.


- Swan Goose Food: You also need to get Garys food at the Islandville Market as well. He will eat quite a bit. His dish holds approx 2 boxes of food for now and he will eat that in about 2 days. Still tweaking and working on him.



- 6 Pack of Jolted Sodas:
Another new item coming is the 6 pack of sodas. It will make it a bit cheaper to buy them in bulk and have them around the house. Once opened they will just be 6 normal sodas. Nothing too fancy.






[h2]Shopping Carts: [/h2]



I have built some shopping carts to play around with. You will be able to grab them and push them around the island wherever you want. When you are done playing with it you will be able to return them to the rack at Islandville Market for .50 cents each. This is another small way to always be earning money for the gaming ticket hunt.





[h2]Pinball Machine: [/h2]



The Islandville Market is not just for shopping junk food and batteries. You will also get to play Pinball in the back for $.50 a play. No tickets, just an old school-one time highest points leaderboard. The Game is called "Islandville The Game" Pinball Edition. Its is inspired by the old popular real life pinball game called "The Cyclone". I used to play this game for hours when my dad would play beer league hockey in town.

The pinball game development has taken me about 2-2.5 weeks to build working full time on it. Getting a small 1" steel ball to fly around the world with Unity physics is a handful to say the least. I had to build a system to increase the FixedUpdate rate (The frequency) of the game while playing this machine. The ball moves so fast that it was going through things. It took some doing.... but I think I got it. I can say that it is one of the best "working and feeling" games that I have built yet. I am still adding a few features and sounds to it. Prob some more lights too. Everybody loves lights. The game also helped me increase the precision of all the Claw machines. Whew knew pinball could teach me so much? No wonder its one of the first projects people build in unity after hello world. haha. I play it a little too much. ;)

The leaderboards for the coming new pinball machines are also for one game only. Your score will only get uploaded and updated if you beat your personal best. Its not an accumulated total like the other leaderboards.






[h2]Wrap up:[/h2]

That about does it for this Dev blog (Part 1 of 2). In the next Dev blog I will be covering some of the coming Jobs that will be available and also more about the "Bad Bots" that will not hesitate to take your tickets if you dont have what they want.

Please dont hesitate to let me know what you would like to see in the game. I read every post and always welcome ideas and requests on this long distance journey. I cant wait to share it all with you in the future. Thanks again.

See you in the next Dev Blog.

Kevin

Jan 30 2020

Update #015
Version: V0.988



Over the last month I had to update the whole project to a new version of Unity and it was a nightmare. Approx 4 weeks of my life that are gone to loading screens and little spinning wheels. haha I had to update through 7 or 8 versions of Unity as it has been so many years since I started this project. Every version of Unity had a few things that were deprecated (dropped or changed) and I had to do weeks of work just to get the game to the current state that it was already in. It had to be done though.

Now the project is ready for the long haul and it feels great. :) It even gave me some time to optimize some stuff and redo code that I have wanted to update for a while. I lost at least a month of dev time but in the end I really believe it was worth it. So let me get to the meat and potatoes...

This update brings a new 24 hour day to night Time of Day system. You can let time progress automatically or you can open your watch and opt to adjust the time of day manually to any hour you desire. This new Time of day system also brings a few other small graphical additions with volumetric lighting from the main sunlight/moonlight source and light rays for those extra purdy sunrises and sunsets. The weather as of now, is random between clear sky, cloudy sky and foggy sky. Each one giving its own level of ambient light. The weather will update every 6 "hours" of game time. So make sure to launch those fireworks on a clear night to get your moneys worth. ;) I am still adjusting the total time of one whole "game day" as I am still finishing the survivor mode. The "auto game speed" will change in the future and is just a baseline for now.







Please forgive the Shadow flickering on the ground and on the water for now as I am still building and tweaking the new systems. I think the new lighting system looks better and will give players the choice of how they want to enjoy the game. You can only adjust the "Time of Day" in manual time mode. See your wristwatch (TAB). In the far left menu...All the way at the bottom there is a toggle and a slider where you can turn on Manual Time and adjust it. In Birthday mode the time of day will always be in the lower Right screen corner next to the onscreen player stats. It is also on the top of your smartwatch.

You will also see a new Strip Mall location across from Barrys on the way to the Beach. They are NOT open for business yet. When the strip mall does open it will include a Dollar Store, Credit Union XP Bank and a Clothing Boutique. For now... I just put the buildings in the game so I can adjust and build their lighting. They will be open when Survivor mode is done. More details later on that as I am still deciding on some stuff. Im very picky. haha.



Survivor Mode is almost ready for Beta Testing. I had to finish this 24 hour day/night cycle update first with all the new timing systems in place before I went any further. Updating the whole project has set me back some. Not too much though as the framework for Survivor Mode is done and working but I lost a lot of 3D Modeling time when I had to update the project. I want to finish a couple more 3D models for the new jobs and also have one more surprise that I want to add in with Gary that I think people will love.

That's about it for this dev blog and you can find all the details of this update below. Now I have a couple of tough weeks ahead finishing the Survivor Mode for all of you. Wish me luck and please let me know what you think of the new lighting.


UPDATE DETAILS:

Game Time_ alpha version of the new 24 Hour Day Night Cycle with streetlights, building lights and Vehicle headlights turning on and off around town.
Game Time_ Saves the time of day when you save a Birthday Mode game so you can return back to the same place and time of day. The weather (Cloudy or Clear) will be random upon each game load for now. I am still finishing other rainy days and other weather scenarios.

Game Save: Now saves all piles of used lotto's and cans properly. Before they would get deleted. Dont forget that anything that you can put in your inventory can be sold at Barry's for cash. So no need to throw them in a trash can when you can play more tickets with the loot!

GolfCart: Faster and a little smoother exit from the golf cart.
GolfCart: Removed the "Lean Forward" feature in the golf cart and replaced it with a transparent GPS full screen overlay. Just press TAB or the Map button on controller and hit it again to turn it off. Makes navigating in the cart a little easier. Leaning forward was messing up the cart physics and had to be rebuilt when I updated to the new version of Unity.



Wristwatch: Added camera mini map move buttons for the watch. Top right corner of the mini map on the wrist watch. (Press Tab or stats button for wristwatch). This will allow the player to look around the map a bit and see whats out there.
Wristwatch:Fixed the watch not working for a few seconds after the limo drops you off. Now it will operate as soon as you get out and you cannot teleport again until the bots and limo zap away.
Wristwatch: Added a Manual time slider to the watch in Birthday Mode to control the Time of day. Just turn on the Manual time Toggle and then adjust the time Slider to the desired time. It will auto save the state of the toggle and if you saved the game it will start the next Birthday Mode game at that time. Still a work in progress.

Larrys Arcade: Installed a "curtain open" button behind the stage for all you explorers when you get trapped behind the stage. Just click it and the curtain will open now.
Larrys Arcade: Added more tickets to PrizeMaster. 100 Tickets was not enough for a $5 game. All prize rows are now 1000 tickets! Go get em!

UFO Arcade: Added the multiplay system to Popcorn Petes so you can play more than one credit at a time. I will add more machines as I get to each one.

Player: Added a little speed to the Character walk and run. Not too much though. Still testing.

Video Settings: Added an "Extra Shadows" Toggle to the Video Settings that will turn off extra shadows to get some more FPS.
Video Settings: Added a Volumetric Lighting ON/OFF toggle to turn off the extra mesh that is created on a volumteric light. Should help grab a few more FPS when turned off.

Strip Mall: Added new Islandville Market store, Islandville Credit Union Bank and Bettys Boutique to the island. THEY ARE NOT OPEN FOR BUSINESS YET and are still moving in. In the future you will be able to shop there for random stuff at the Islandville Market. You will also be able to level up with XP at the ATM XP Machines for advantages in the game and lastly (And farther in the future) you will be able to customize your characters by shopping at the boutique and purchasing some fancy clothing and accessories for yourself or your pet ex-champion award winning swan-goose. More news in the future on that...



Mermaids From Space: Fixed the input. Now you can use a controller to aim the coin chute.
Iceburg Bounce: Added some extra tickets to the Iceburg bounce game when you get a bonus round. It will add 3000 points to the game which will result in about ~150 extra tickets.

Carnival: Added a money blower machine to the Carnival. No more having to go all the way back to town for more loot. Uncle Phil makes it happen.



Barry's Pawn Shop: Larger bill denominations. Added a $20 bill and a $100 bill for all the big shooters out there. Barry's will pay out much quicker now on big purchases.
Barry's Pawn Shop: Added a "safety" feature that you can not leave Barry's until the cash machine is done paying out.




Larry's Arcade: Added a fire escape to the back that gives access to the roof hangout area. Will be used in Survivor Mode.
Strip Mall: Added a fire escape to the back that gives access to the roof hangout area. Will be used in Survivor Mode.

I prob forgot some stuff too.... If you see anything different... Its prob new. haha.

Thank you very much for all the help and support!

Kevin

Update #014
Version: V0.983

Hey fellow arcaders! This update brings one new coin pusher, video optimizations, and a bunch of new hand animations for the carnival rides and all throwing games.


- Coin Pushers: Added the ability to play multiple credits on all of the coin pushers. Now when you insert your card you can move left or right with the A and D Keys (or Left Joystick) to add more "swipes" (Not including the carnival yet). If you chose more swipes than you can afford it will just not let you purchase them and it will spit out your players card automatically.


- UFO Arcade: New Mermaids from Space Coin Pusher. The newest coin pusher in The Coin Game is a more modern style of coin pusher. It features 5 different chips with 5 different values and a bonus LED wheel. The object is to get the chips over the edge and for every point that you get the wheel will move the same amount of spots. Every full turn of the "wheel" is 60 points and will grant you 3 free tokens. If you land the "wheel" on the stop (12 oclock position) you win the bonus amount. The machine is still being "tweaked" and the winning amounts may change in the future.

- Player: Added hand animations to all of the throwing games and all carnival games as well. Now when you are playing any game that involves throwing the player hands will be visible on the screen.



Carnival: Added hand animations on all of the Carnival rides so you dont look like you are not having fun. No one wants to sit next to the weirdo thats going to puke.
- Player: Fixed the mini map player icon getting messed up on some of the Carnival Rides.
- All Machines: Made player card insert/remove triggers bigger on machines to help in exiting out of some machines. Mainly the prize counters.
- All Machines: Added Q Exit Keys to more machines if you change your mind and dont want to play anymore. You will lose your credits. I mean... what better things is there to be doing other than blowing virtual coin on worthless prizes?
- System: Removed a bunch of stuff from the initial loading world to aide in loading time and also help people with smaller GPU's loading the huge world. This should help to not get a time out crash from too little texture memory.
- Video Settings: Set the Super Vsync back to where it was. oops. It actually does something now. I was testing something and totally forgot to turn off the testing stuff. Its working now. Now when you change the video settings the changes will be instant. Before it would have to restart the game. I am still finishing all the optimization stuff and this will all be re-done later.
- Input: Added the ability to map multiple keys/buttons to the same action. the input mapper will ask you if you want to map multiple keys(Elements) to one action.
- UFO Arcade: Turned the bonus down a little bit on the Wormhole Game. It got a little out of hand.
- LazerTag: Added an EXIT button to the Laser Tag Arena for the folks who like to explore and run into the laser tag area after a game. I guess some folks got caught and couldnt get out.

Well that's about it on this one. I want to take this time again to say thank you for all the wonderful ideas, support, comments and help testing and tweaking The Coin Game.

Have a Merry Christmas from devotid.

Kevin

Update #012
Version: V0.981

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0M2xVrEpmA&feature=youtu.be

I finished up the new "Dude Where's My Cow?" Claw Machine at UFO Arcade and also rebuilt the two claw machines from Larry's Arcade. No more freak outs and claws stuck through the glass anymore. They are more fun to play now. More consistent too. (Not the winning of course as they are Claw Machines. lol) I also added new themes to Larry's Claw machines as they were in dire need of a texture redo too. Claw Madness? Who even makes this stuff up? (Wait a minute....)

This is Kyle the Cow. He is a good cow. He is from the Alsace Region of France and he needs your help. "Dem Aliens" are trying to take him home for some studying. Hurry and throw your loot at the machine to try and save him.... he would do it for you. Then if you win him, you can show him you love him by selling him for lotto ticket money at Barry's Pawn shop.





Another thing that I have been working on is all new hand animations for all of the machines that have joysticks or push buttons. Now when you put your card in the machines you will see your hands doing stuff instead of dangling by your side like a weirdo using telepathy. For now the animations are only on the machines with a joystick or push button. I am still building the throwing animations for UFO, the carnival games and Larry's Skee ball.





Other Changes and Bug Fixes:
- Race Karts: Added new colors and adjustments to the Kart Race on screen race menus.
- Player: Tickets in hand will be hidden when a card is inserted into any machine now.
- Lazer Tag: Updated and adjusted the vest loading animation. Before it was so close to your head you didn't even see it loading on the screen. Now it comes right at you and on more horizontally.
- Video Settings: a couple small adjustments on the Quality settings for shadow distances. (Still finishing a new VIDEO Settings menu for later optimizations.)




Don't forget to pop into the PINNED thread about "what you would like to see in The Coin Game." I read them ALL and use many of the ideas I read. I do thank you all for the wonderful help on finding bugs. I am very grateful for the time and effort you put into it.

Have a wonderful day. That's about it for this update. Keep and eye out for more updates throughout this holiday season.

Kevin