City Game Studio News

Hello everyone!

I'm glad to see you for this new update, which I hope you'll like as much as I do! There is a lot of content, and good content, let's have a look at it together!

[h2]Mods support[/h2]

You have read correctly, you can create mods for City Game Studio. There are already a lot of them and you can already use them! That's really great.

For those of you who want to create your own mod, I've set up a tool that should make it easy for you. I call it the ModMaker, it allows you to create mods by filling out a form. For those who are more code-oriented, you can also create mods based on the documentation.

Mod support allows you to add and rename consoles, console manufacturers, indie companies and competitors. It also allows you to add new translations, new difficulties, new game speeds, new maps or new themes.

[h2]New consoles[/h2]

It's 2020, this wonderful year brings us a lot of new consoles. You will see appearing the Gamestation 5 of Deny as well as the VBox Series V of Minisoft. The most recent consoles have been adjusted with more recent data (which allows us to have a more balanced market share).

[h2]Other improvements[/h2]

That's not all, I've also added JPG format support for logos, and also a better interface to navigate through the files. The game porting panel now gives you information on platform compatibility, which will help you know if porting will be profitable or not. Other improvements include being able to select all the features of a game engine at the time of its creation or being able to reduce all the details of the games on sale with a single click.

[h2]The final word[/h2]
I haven't detailed all the features, improvements, optimizations and fixes here, but you can find them in the detail of changes (a little below). Be aware that there are many of them and that City Game Studio should better support big games (with more than 1000 employees).

Regarding Mods support, a version v0.32.1 is in preparation, and it will contain interesting features.

In short, I don't say more, I wish you an excellent game, enjoy this update, and see you soon for the next one!

xoxo
Binogure

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Feature[/h3]

• Add Mods uploader
  
• Mod: Add/rename platforms
  
• Mod: Add/rename concurrents
  
• Mod: Add/rename manufacturers
  
• Mod: Add theme
  
• Mod: Add translations
  
• Mod: Add/rename indie companies
  
• Mod: Add custom difficulty
  
• Mod: Add custom game speed
  
• Mod: Add custom map size
  
• Mod tool maker
  
• Mod dependencies
  
• Platforms: Added Gamestation 5 and VBox series V

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Improve UI for file dialog
  
• Add JPG/JPEG format for company logos
  
• Add a hand pointer for the dialogs and clickable texts
  
• Add speed to the game speed list
  
• Game engine: Add a select all button and better tooltips
  
• Reduce all the chart of the release panel with a single button
  
• Platform compatibility feedback

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Design icon was dispayed instead of the development icon
  
• Selling an item was not giving you back the money
  
• Some notifications were not sorted correctly
  
• OSX: Crash when negotiating with competitors
  
• Several minor fixes

[h3]Optimizations[/h3]

• Improved stdout handling (Windows only)
  
• Graphic settings: Add auto adjustement option
  
• Optimizations for very large companies

[h3]Balancing[/h3]

• Coffee machines and vending machines have monthly costs (750$ month)

Hello folks,

Since I haven't published anything for about a month now, I though it would be great to give you an update about the Mod Support! I'm really excited about it! So let's talk about the technical challenges implied by this feature!

[h2]Steam API[/h2]
Sadly, there was no working Godot Engine library that supports the Steam Workshop.
So I forked the most used and implemented the steam workshop.
Feel free to use it, but since it needs a 64 bits supports, you might want to use the custom version of Godot Engine I made. Since Godot Engine is free and open source, everybody has access to its source code, which is really convenient!

[h2]GDScript integration[/h2]
What is GDScript?
Now the Steam API is exposed to GDScript, I started implementing the Steam Workshop in City Game Studio.


I spent several weeks designing a state machine that returns human readable error messages.

func get_error_description(error_code):
  if error_code == E_RESULT_OK:
    return 'Success.'
  if error_code == E_RESULT_FAIL:
    return 'Generic failure.'
  if error_code == E_RESULT_NOCONNECTION:
    return 'Your Steam client doesn\'t have a connection to the back-end.'
  if error_code == E_RESULT_INVALIDPASSWORD:
    return 'Password/ticket is invalid.'
  if error_code == E_RESULT_LOGGEDINELSEWHERE:
    return 'The user is logged in elsewhere.'
  [...]

So far City Game Studio can create, update, delete, validate and download mods.
Since I'm a solo developer I went deeper and I added a Mod API version to City Game Studio. The version number is automatically added when you create a new Mod. In case a mod uses an older version of the Mod API, it will be automatically disabled to avoid data corruption or crashes.
It means that City Game Studio downloads/validates a mod when you create/update one, but also when ou enable one. I think it is more convenient that way, because you won't have to deal with mods compatibility.

[h2]Is it ready yet?[/h2]
Not yet but soon. So far I have integrated 4 of the 10 schemas.


[h2]How do I make a mod?[/h2]
It is not yet implemented A page of https://www.city-game-studio.com/ will be dedicated to that.
Let's take an example. You want to rename a platform. So you open the website, go to the Mod creator, and click on Rename platform.
Then you select the platform, enter its new name (you can also change the manufacturer). Once done, you download a zip file. Then you launch City Game Studio, click on Mod, select the zip file and you are good to go.

Note:
Zip file contains clear text, so if you want to create mod manually you will be able to do so.

[h2]Closing words[/h2]
I'm thrilled about the Mod support, and I think you will be able to make mods manually by the end of October. I wish I could release it sooner, I'm sorry about that delay.
Indeed I had several mandatory appointments that I couldn't skip, plus I wanted to release Sneak In on Steam just after the Steam Game Festival

Thank you for your time
Regards
Binogure

Hello folks!

I've been busy working on the next update, which is the workshop support. Meanwhile you reported few bugs. Oh yes you are great, and Im lucky to have such a loving community!
As a reward, here is a version that fix all the bugs (don't break a man's dream).

The support, is coming along nicely, bug it requires more work. I need time to design it properly then to implement and to test it. I'm gonna post updates on twitter and discord as usual.

Cheers
Binogure


[h2]Balancing[/h2]

• Set a threhsold of 300 000 000$ for exclusive offers
  
• Balance salary raise

[h2]Bugfix[/h2]

• Game engines are not listed in the financial report if they don't make money
  
• Employees stop working when replacing desks
  
• Fix issue with charts (not updating correctly)
  
• Normal difficulty: Salary raise is 198%
  
• When making a sequel, doesn't take the right game engine

[h2]Translations[/h2]Join the community, and come help us improving translations for City Game Studio.

• Improved ru translations (thanks to Riken)

Hello folks,

For this version I focused on stabilizing City Game Studio, while adding some pretty cool features.


Console manufacturers, who are scrambling to sell their machines as well as possible, will come to you to get exclusivities on your games. They will offer you a large sum of money and a little more visibility when it comes to sales. But on the other hand, you will not be able to publish the game exclusively on other platforms than those of this manufacturer.

Independent games don't interest console manufacturers, so you'll have to make a full-size game to start baiting them. Obviously, the bigger the game, the more likely you'll get exclusive offers.

Anyway, if you want to know all the changes, you can either read the Changelog or just launch City Game Studio and start playing.

Cheers
Binogure


[h2]Feature[/h2]

• Publishing offers now implement game engine features and use your default game engine
  
• Manufacturer exclusivity offer

[h2]Bugfix[/h2]

• Steam achievement are not unlocked for advanced games
  
• Game engine: Doesn't select the right game engine when publishing a sequel
  
• Building mode: Cursor shape does not update
  
• Building mode: Cannot drag the camera
  
• World map: Cannot zoom out after buying/renting a studio
  
• Old savegame won't load

[h2]Translations[/h2]Join the community, and come help us improving translations for City Game Studio

Hello folks,

Here comes the v0.31.3, and I think you are going to like it.


Many of you noticed that after a while, employees stop producing particles. It was meant to be like that. Having too many particles may degrade performance.
Instead of having one particle per point produced, a aprticle can contains more than one point!


I wanted to add clouds to the city, but no worries, you can disabled them from the options.
You can also disable autosaving from the options


You don't want to raise the pay of your employees, say no more! however they won't like it, so you better find a way to make your employees happy by buying a lot of coffee machines.

I didn't have time this week to complete the negotiation offers with the console manufacturers, it will be done next week, I'm sorry for the delay.

Anyway, if you want to know all the changes, you can either read the Changelog or just launch City Game Studio and start playing.

Cheers
Binogure


[h2]QOL[/h2]

• Grantendo Swap: Adjusted the unit sold
  
• Delete a game engine button is now red
  
• Game Engine: Notify when a concurrent uses your engine
  
• Game Engine: Rework the concurrent algorithm
  
• Autosave is now optional
  
• Game creation: Turn the producer button to red when a producer is needed
  
• Optimize Studio model (better performances overall)

[h2]Bugfix[/h2]

• Cannot release a gameport if the paltform is discontinued
  
• Platform negotiation always select 96 months
  
• Marketing: Marketing campaign durations are doubled

[h2]Feature[/h2]

• Employee: Set the pay raise
  
• Add clouds to the world map
  
• Refactor particles

[h2]Translations[/h2]Join the community, and come help us improving translations for City Game Studio]