Hello everyone!
Here we go with a massive update that fixes tons of little issues and adds plenty of challenge! An update based on your feedback and experiences. I'll be honest with you, with every City Game Studio update I tell myself: "That's it, this time it's the perfect update, there's nothing left to add." And every time an update is released, you give me new ideas. And I already know what version 1.25.0 will contain!
But before talking about that, it's high time to discuss what v1.24.0 brings.
[h3]Competitors[/h3]
Yeah... So far, competitors in City Game Studio were there to bring some life to the game. You see the games you've released, but you can compare them with your competitors'. Then gradually, competitors evolved. They could buy studios. Then they could use your game engine. After that, I added the ability to crack their games or even spy on them to unlock new game genres. A bit later still, I added the ability to steal their employees and even sign contracts and send them devkits when you create your game console. After that, I gave them the ability to defend themselves and come pirate your games.
And today, this update brings a new facet to competitors. They can now create their own game consoles. By default, they'll only create consoles after 2025. But you can check the option when creating the game that allows them to create consoles as soon as they have the means. And that changes everything. Because they'll create games from the 80s onwards, sometimes they'll even come to dethrone the Wataggi 2600. That's how much these changes bring content to City Game Studio.
But to allow them to create consoles, I had to boost them. From now on, buying out a competitor will be much more complex. They'll buy each other out, and especially become very powerful very quickly. And they'll even snowball. For those who are here to have a good time, competitors will simply make your life easier at the beginning of the game. But for those who want to dominate the market, you now have real competition.
Oh and your actions directly impact your competitors. Publishing a game engine to earn revenue will allow them to grow faster. Working with them by publishing games too. Well it's win-win since you'll also grow faster thanks to these agreements.
[h3]The Interface at Large[/h3]
Some players reported to me that their money wasn't changing. Once they had reached more than $1,000,000 for example, they couldn't see their income changing. So I added your exact money in the financial panel, down to the penny.
But I also added two panels that I'm sure you'll love. The first concerns game engines. You'll be able to see how much a game engine has earned you throughout its life, and how much it cost you too.
Regarding your game catalog. Important information was missing, like game ports. From now on, your game catalog contains all the ports you've made. A small addition that I think will please you.
Among other less important changes, there's the pause animation that's been redesigned to be a bit more readable, and also being able to filter games published by the studio director (right panel).
[h3]The Studio Director[/h3]
Since we're talking about them, might as well list the changes concerning them. Indeed I've added some small features to this position. First of all, it's possible to rename games that are made by the studio director. To do this, just click on the game in development and select the "Rename" button. It's quite simple.
The second change concerns their ability to update games. They can now either update the games they make, or update all games that can be updated, or not update anything at all. This feature was requested, and I think it will considerably reduce micro-management in City Game Studio (I tested it, it's awesome).
And now a limitation appears. You can't have more than 16 studio directors. Knowing that a studio director can manage up to 5 studios, and that a studio can contain more than 200 employees, that makes a total of 16,000 potential employees, which is well beyond the limit of what the game can support without lagging.
[h3]Other Changes[/h3]
I just added an option that allows keeping the game always on top. Some people asked me for it, and it was quite simple to do, so there you go. Along with that I worked on optimization. When you develop several dozen games at the same time, it tends to make the game lag. I took a few days to review how this panel works and now it's much better.
Among other changes, all the cases of consoles you can manufacture have been redesigned. The reason is simple, I optimized the shader that allows you to customize it, which meant I also had to update the cases. And visually, it looks much better. And since I worked on shaders, I took the opportunity to remove a good portion that were no longer used.
I took the opportunity to correct certain consoles, like the Skylight 1.0 and 2.0 as well as the Grantendo Swap, whose end of life is now in 2028.
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
No update goes by without fixes, and without introducing new bugs obviously (sorry about that). I balanced competitor sales, but also their ability to buy each other out. I also fixed the problem that allowed you to buy out a competitor for "free".
Other annoying little things, some Ukrainian characters weren't visible, it was a font problem. And one last bug concerns Twitch connectivity, nothing serious, their API changed behavior slightly, so I had to adjust so everything works at its best.
There you have it, I've listed the vast majority of changes. There are others I haven't talked about. Notably changes concerning the in-game email box, it's more stable and works correctly now. Or a problem with logs that were truncated too often.
Anyway, I invite you to start a new game, turn off "Story" mode and enjoy your brand new gaming experience. Because this update is a game changer!
By the way, the next update will be about Game of the Year awards. I plan to give them a little refresh and maybe also review updates and DLCs in City Game Studio!
Thank you for reading me, thank you also for supporting this project that has existed since 2016 on my computer and since 2019 on Steam, you are more and more numerous and it's thanks to all of you that I was able to make City Game Studio the game it is today.
Ah, City Game Studio 2, I don't have images to show you, but I'm making good progress.
Xavier aka Binogure.
