Progress Update & 0.6.0 beta access
Hey everyone, it's been a good while!
I want to update you all on the progress of the upcoming engine port & answer some questions.
Although I've been mostly silent recently on these forums, I've been very hard at work in order to get this latest patch ready. It's by far the largest patch to date in terms of development hours. And due to being ported to the updated game engine, this patch makes changes, however big or small, to almost every part of the game.
So many changes in fact, that I felt the need to do this short beta test so any owners can jump in & test it before the patch is fully released.
So if you're interested in trying the new patch a little early (it's live right now), you can read about how to do that at the bottom of this post.
But for now, I'll do my best to answer some questions about how development has been progressing.
[h3]What's been taking so long?[/h3]
So, if you've read any previous patch updates you may remember that I've been working on porting the entire game to the updated 'version 2' of the engine the game uses. This ended up taking a long time because the game relied heavily on features that were removed from the updated engine meaning I had to basically recode them from scratch.
Along with needing to rebuild large parts of the game, another big reason for the delay is that I became a dad a few months ago which definitely took a toll on my work flow. However the hardest part is over, things have settled & I've been making a huge amount of progress in recent weeks.
[h3]Why port is this engine port happening?[/h3]
This port is something that I couldn't put off as support for the previous game engine version ended in late 2018, meaning if Steam were to change their SDK or API in a way that broke compatibility with the engine, I could have completely lost the ability to release any new updates, which for an early-access game, is a pretty huge deal.
So rather than tempt fate by sticking with the old engine, I chose to port it over, get it done & out of the way so I can focus on adding new gameplay features again.
[h3]Hows the port progressing?[/h3]
The good news is that it's finished!
That being said, due to the port AND the huge amount of other changes in this new 0.6.0 update, I'm going to hold off releasing it just in case there are any yet discovered game-breaking bugs.
Instead, I've uploaded the latest development build to the steam beta channel so anyone who owns the game can try it out.
All saves new & old should be fully compatible with the 0.6.0 beta so you shouldn't have any concerns about losing your save (Although it can never hurt to back up your save folder just in case). Also any saves made while playing the 0.6.0 beta will carry over & be fully functional when the patch fully releases.
[h3]What else is new in 0.6.0?[/h3]
A lot actually!
Since I had to rewrite many core functions of the game, I made significant improvements to many of them. I won't go into too much detail here as I'll save that for when I post the actual 0.6.0 update soon, (You can see the full changelog if you jump in now & try it on the beta anyway) but I'll share a couple of new features & improvements coming.
- The way ceilings work has been rebuilt from scratch & now uses a grid system instead of those awkward squares.
- When looking through the buy/build menus, you now get a handy tooltip that shows more info about what you're buying.
- I've added a much requested construction planner that allows players to plan out their building designs before committing to actually building anything.
This certainly isn't all that's coming in 0.6.0, but I'll save those details for the actual update post.
If all goes to plan I'll hopefully release the update properly in a week or so (assuming no major game breaking issues are discovered).
There are a huge number of changes & improvements that have been made to the game that you can read about in the in-game changelog, otherwise I'll post the full patch notes when I release the update fully.
[h3]How to opt into the beta[/h3]
The 0.6.0 beta patch is live right now for anyone who wants to try it.
To opt into the Rec Center Tycoon beta all you need to do is right click the game in your Steam Library, click Properties > Betas, then select Development Builds from the menu.
It should download immediately.
As shown here:
Existing save data should be fully compatible with this update, although it's never a bad idea to make a backup just in case.
I'm definitely expecting a few new bugs since this patch changes so much, and if you encounter any, feel free to make a post on this forum or (preferably) send an email to [email protected].
And hopefully if all goes well, I'll give the update its full release in a week or so.
Thank you for your patience & understanding!
I want to update you all on the progress of the upcoming engine port & answer some questions.
Although I've been mostly silent recently on these forums, I've been very hard at work in order to get this latest patch ready. It's by far the largest patch to date in terms of development hours. And due to being ported to the updated game engine, this patch makes changes, however big or small, to almost every part of the game.
So many changes in fact, that I felt the need to do this short beta test so any owners can jump in & test it before the patch is fully released.
So if you're interested in trying the new patch a little early (it's live right now), you can read about how to do that at the bottom of this post.
But for now, I'll do my best to answer some questions about how development has been progressing.
[h3]What's been taking so long?[/h3]
So, if you've read any previous patch updates you may remember that I've been working on porting the entire game to the updated 'version 2' of the engine the game uses. This ended up taking a long time because the game relied heavily on features that were removed from the updated engine meaning I had to basically recode them from scratch.
Along with needing to rebuild large parts of the game, another big reason for the delay is that I became a dad a few months ago which definitely took a toll on my work flow. However the hardest part is over, things have settled & I've been making a huge amount of progress in recent weeks.
[h3]Why port is this engine port happening?[/h3]
This port is something that I couldn't put off as support for the previous game engine version ended in late 2018, meaning if Steam were to change their SDK or API in a way that broke compatibility with the engine, I could have completely lost the ability to release any new updates, which for an early-access game, is a pretty huge deal.
So rather than tempt fate by sticking with the old engine, I chose to port it over, get it done & out of the way so I can focus on adding new gameplay features again.
[h3]Hows the port progressing?[/h3]
The good news is that it's finished!
That being said, due to the port AND the huge amount of other changes in this new 0.6.0 update, I'm going to hold off releasing it just in case there are any yet discovered game-breaking bugs.
Instead, I've uploaded the latest development build to the steam beta channel so anyone who owns the game can try it out.
All saves new & old should be fully compatible with the 0.6.0 beta so you shouldn't have any concerns about losing your save (Although it can never hurt to back up your save folder just in case). Also any saves made while playing the 0.6.0 beta will carry over & be fully functional when the patch fully releases.
[h3]What else is new in 0.6.0?[/h3]
A lot actually!
Since I had to rewrite many core functions of the game, I made significant improvements to many of them. I won't go into too much detail here as I'll save that for when I post the actual 0.6.0 update soon, (You can see the full changelog if you jump in now & try it on the beta anyway) but I'll share a couple of new features & improvements coming.
- The way ceilings work has been rebuilt from scratch & now uses a grid system instead of those awkward squares.
- When looking through the buy/build menus, you now get a handy tooltip that shows more info about what you're buying.
- I've added a much requested construction planner that allows players to plan out their building designs before committing to actually building anything.
This certainly isn't all that's coming in 0.6.0, but I'll save those details for the actual update post.
If all goes to plan I'll hopefully release the update properly in a week or so (assuming no major game breaking issues are discovered).
There are a huge number of changes & improvements that have been made to the game that you can read about in the in-game changelog, otherwise I'll post the full patch notes when I release the update fully.
[h3]How to opt into the beta[/h3]
The 0.6.0 beta patch is live right now for anyone who wants to try it.
To opt into the Rec Center Tycoon beta all you need to do is right click the game in your Steam Library, click Properties > Betas, then select Development Builds from the menu.
It should download immediately.
As shown here:
Existing save data should be fully compatible with this update, although it's never a bad idea to make a backup just in case.
I'm definitely expecting a few new bugs since this patch changes so much, and if you encounter any, feel free to make a post on this forum or (preferably) send an email to [email protected].
And hopefully if all goes well, I'll give the update its full release in a week or so.
Thank you for your patience & understanding!