Summer Islands News

we have worked hard in the last months and are very excited about the new update.
We have integrated an incredible amount of new features, changed a lot of things and made some places ready for next updates.

Even if it doesn't look like it here in the changelog, the game has been completely reworked from the user interface. Therefore, almost everywhere the code was revised. This has many advantages and especially we can now focus on some exciting new features.

The biggest innovation besides the UserInterface is the BlurEffect at the edge. We have added the option to turn it off under Options>Graphics. But there is also under ..\Steam\steamapps\common\Summer Islands\Data\settings.json the option to set the blur strength individually:

• NOT_BLUR_AREA: "radial-gradient(ellipse 91% 92% at 50% 50%, black 30%, transparent 80%)"
  
• BLUR_FILTER: "blur(3px)"
  

we include this in the game using these lines:

• $("#Canvas1").css("-webkit-mask-image", SETTINGS.NOT_BLUR_AREA);
  
• $("#Canvas0").css("filter", SETTINGS.BLUR_FILTER);
  

Anyone who wants can feel free to mess around with the CSS attributes and customize them.

Have fun with the new update.

[h2]FEATURES[/h2]

• Complete revision of the UI/UX
  
• Added new menu textures
  
• Added new icons/font
  
• Added new terraforming tool
  
• Added new Tooltips on Mouse
  
• Added new minimap interaction
  
• Added new Blur-effect
  
• Added InfoBubble on Mouse
  
• MapEditor temporarily disabled
  
• load local map or from Workshop temporarily disabled
  

[h2]USABILITY IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• FIX After clicking on the ESC Menu the arrow keys didn't work anymore
  
• FIX Tutorial with new GUI
  
• FIX Menu Scaling
  
• FIX Movement with mouse
  
• FIX Scrollspeed with mousewheel
  

Trelloboard:
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

Hello everyone,

I am very happy to write you this announcement on this day. Today is the 2 year anniversary of Summer Islands Early Access on Steam.
I didn't think that Summer Islands would be so popular. At the beginning we didn't think that Summer Islands would create a worldwide hype. With the number of daily new games I find it rather surprising that there are already some who have bought the game and have written us feedback and wishes.
I think that's really great and I can't thank you enough for that.
As you know I develop Summer Islands only in my spare time and with your support/feedback/wishes you carry the game 1000%. There were many who thanked me for a childhood memory and there are also some, as I read in the forum/reviews who would rather have a polygon 3D game :D. Yes, that's life. You can't please everyone. But i try the best and who knows what will come in the future.

We were able to implement, improve and fix a lot of things in the last years with your help. Our update cycles we could always keep to a large extent. So there are no fixed times. But in the period of 2-6 weeks we should be able to create something new. We also learned a lot about the general release of a game and marketing. Whereby the marketing always comes too short, with most Indiegames, I would claim. Most of the time we don't have the time and experience for it.
I think our engine is great, especially in agile development, where you want to quickly develop at least small parts of the software. But looking at the big picture, I've invested a lot of time in problem cases like MacOS, Linux or the problem that laptops with external GPU tend to run the game with the CPU instead of the GPU. These are problems that I think you could work around with an engine like Unity or Unreal Engine. But you also need a longer learning curve for that. It all has advantages and disadvantages.

For future planning, we always look at our todo board. There are some bigger items there, e.g. special buildings, auctions, sabotages. But also such things as improved bridges, reputation or other gamemodes, with which one could change the game principle somewhat. The next step is a new edition of the UI/UX.
As you can see there is still some work to do. But the biggest part is already integrated (at least as basic). I now assume that we will be 1 more year or shorter in Early Access, so as a snapshot / rough planning. Maybe there are still some good new ideas or one or the other feature does not fit with the gameplay anymore.
I am always happy about ideas/wishes/criticism (with reasons) to exchange and to increase the fun for you.

In this sense I thank you very much.
Without you this would not have been possible.

Best regards
Matt

and thank you for your interest in Summer Islands.
I am pleased to present you the demo of Summer Islands.

[h3]In the demo you have the following options to test Summer Islands:[/h3]

• You can play the manager certificate (tutorial). (3 attempts)
  
• You can start a normal match. (3 attempts)
  

[h3]The limitations of the demo are the following:[/h3]

• Each match starts in 1990 and each day lasts 1 second. You can play each match until 1995 (~30min),
  
• No map editor,
  
• No multiplayer,
  
• no savegames loading
  

If you like Summer Islands, we recommend you to purchase Summer Islands to experience all the fun.

If you have any problems, questions or requests write us an email or contact us on Twitter:
Email: [email protected],
Twitter: @SummerIslandsQA

Have Fun!

🏝✈Summer Islands⛵🏝

🏝Website: www.SummerIslands.de 🚗🏖🏝
🏝Twitter: www.twitter.de/SummerIslandsQA 🏖🚲🏝
🏝Trello: https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands 🚤🏝

attached the new features:

[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

• Added DEMO (3xTutorial + 3x Normal game till 1995 (~30min),
  
• Added Water Movement,
  
• Added building copy function (mousewheel click),
  
• Added STEAM CLOUD
  

[h2]USABILITY IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]

• FIX deleted extra Flatmode button,
  
• FIX no Music was played sometimes,
  
• FIX Editor Position at event could not be selected
  
• FIX Error when no battery can be detected in the computer
  

Have fun with the new update.
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

[h2]Hello together,[/h2]

attached the new features:

• Added Quest Menu refinement,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition Tourists per Category,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition RealEstate per Category,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition Consultants over time,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition No Advertising over time,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition High Insurance over time,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition No Credits over time,
  
• Added new Questtypes: Condition No Sabotage over time,
  
• Added new Changelog Window,
  
• Added new iconbar to MainMenu,
  
• Added mousewheel Scrolling for all Scrollcontainer in MainMenu
  
• 
  

• FIX some Quests never finished,
  
• FIX some ports does not show the construction fields,
  
• FIX You could not do terraforming with bridges torn off
  

Have fun with the new update. https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands