Week 2: Zones Overhaul
Hey everyone, we're about to enter the second week since release so it's time for a little progress update.
This week, I'm going to overhaul the way zones work.
This has been a much requested upgrade as the current method of placing zones is pretty janky & limited.
For example, it's not really possible to have a zone that functions as a customer swimming pool & a swim class.
It's possible to overlay different zone types on top of each other which can cause many bugs & problems.
But the biggest downside is they are strictly limited to squares/rectangles, this is because they work on a coordinates system. With the current method, each zone uses 4 variables to determine its size & location. 2 variables determine the x/y positions on the map & 2 determine the width & height of the zone. This is why they are forced into rectangles and why it will be no quick, simple task to upgrade it.
So I'm basically going to start from scratch on the whole zone system and make it work based on a single giant grid.
There are huge benefits to this, not only will zones have the possibly to take any shape imaginable, it will be much simpler to expand upon it in the future & be less prone to bugs.
I'm also going to add the ability to give your zones custom names, so they won't all have to be named boring things like Classroom 2.
Zones will also work a little differently, instead of placing a bunch of different zone types, you'll now place a single generic zone type, then customise it how you like.
This won't be a quick update, I'll need to change the way events, classes & anything that uses zones works.
So this coming week probably won't get the same daily bug fix updates as the last 2 weeks since I'll need to change a whole lot of things to accommodate the new zone system.
My aim is to keep current saved games compatible once I roll out this big update however all your current zones will disappear & you'll need to remake them in the new system.
So, short of finding any game-breaking bugs, there won't be 'daily updates' for a little while until this is finished.
If you have any suggestions or requests in regards to the 'zones overhaul', leave a comment on this post & I'll take a look at any ideas.
Here's a mock-up of how the new zone selection may work:
This week, I'm going to overhaul the way zones work.
This has been a much requested upgrade as the current method of placing zones is pretty janky & limited.
For example, it's not really possible to have a zone that functions as a customer swimming pool & a swim class.
It's possible to overlay different zone types on top of each other which can cause many bugs & problems.
But the biggest downside is they are strictly limited to squares/rectangles, this is because they work on a coordinates system. With the current method, each zone uses 4 variables to determine its size & location. 2 variables determine the x/y positions on the map & 2 determine the width & height of the zone. This is why they are forced into rectangles and why it will be no quick, simple task to upgrade it.
So I'm basically going to start from scratch on the whole zone system and make it work based on a single giant grid.
There are huge benefits to this, not only will zones have the possibly to take any shape imaginable, it will be much simpler to expand upon it in the future & be less prone to bugs.
I'm also going to add the ability to give your zones custom names, so they won't all have to be named boring things like Classroom 2.
Zones will also work a little differently, instead of placing a bunch of different zone types, you'll now place a single generic zone type, then customise it how you like.
This won't be a quick update, I'll need to change the way events, classes & anything that uses zones works.
So this coming week probably won't get the same daily bug fix updates as the last 2 weeks since I'll need to change a whole lot of things to accommodate the new zone system.
My aim is to keep current saved games compatible once I roll out this big update however all your current zones will disappear & you'll need to remake them in the new system.
So, short of finding any game-breaking bugs, there won't be 'daily updates' for a little while until this is finished.
If you have any suggestions or requests in regards to the 'zones overhaul', leave a comment on this post & I'll take a look at any ideas.
Here's a mock-up of how the new zone selection may work:
