Summer Islands News

It's finally time. The update 0.1.9 is here, after a long wait. We needed a long time for the bigger feature of this update. There were some setbacks because we couldn't do some things because of our architecture. So we had to change some things and start again. But in the end we managed it.



In detail it is about the feature of levelling larger terrain areas. This makes it much easier to create a surface without many clicks. The preview option to display and calculate the possible costs was the difficult part. Unfortunately we ran into a few dead ends due to our architecture.
We go through a recursive method in which we look which heights do not yet have the desired height. Thus the map is adapted to the new height. If you want to do this several times for a larger area, you have to be careful that the recursion does not cause large FPS breaks. Also you have to pay special attention to the demolition conditions. In the end we have integrated a second map which is preferably displayed when a surface is levelled. Also the recursion is limited to certain areas only. Each part is only responsible for one direction. This does not result in overlaps.
With this we have implemented a feature which is still important for the editor.



A few more features are also available in this update.

We have integrated an de/encryption for the savegames with an additional verification number. So you can exclude in the multiplayer that someone has spent more money after loading and is shown wrong in the statistics. That doesn't bring any big changes now. But in the future we can still expand this.

The SoundFX build effects have also been improved. Next we want to adjust them so that they are only heard when they are really visible on the screen. This has unfortunately turned out to be more difficult than expected. Because our engine doesn't have something like this by default and therefore we have to develop an algorithm first that confirms with little effort whether the object is displayed or not.

Finally we have changed the main menu of the design a bit. That wasn't much effort. The goal was to create a more lively main menu.
And of course we have some bugs fixed!

For the next weeks until the XMAS holidays we want to concentrate on stability and atmosphere.
Have fun with the new update!
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


Update log:
-CLIENT/SERVER: Terraforming Field integrated
-CLIENT: Planes Layer BUG FIX
-CLIENT: Javascript efficiency improved
-SERVER/CLIENT: SoundFX Buildings improved
-SERVER: Savegames De/Encoding
-CLIENT: Mainmenu improved

I'd say we were on summer break. But unfortunately we were so busy with everyday tasks like looking for a flat, moving etc. You know that this is always time consuming.
Now that everything is back to normal we want to release new updates for you.

I think right at the beginning I would like to mention that we made a stupid mistake. The victory conditions weren't counted individually for each player, they were counted all together. That's why you could quickly end the game with a few BOTS. We fixed that right away.
We would be happy to see a few victory pictures from you. How you cut off so after a certain time. So feel free to post some pictures.

As a bigger feature we have added the money send function. You now have the possibility to send money to every player. Via the star menu and the tab player. Therefore we had to trick something with the HTML DOM elements to get a good input window. I don't think the result is perfect yet. But you can already work with it.



We made some small changes to the options menu. This gives you the possibility to remove moving objects depending on the hardware. Now all corresponding layers are removed from the game and no longer displayed. This might help some people to increase the FPS. Also we could improve the sometimes jerky clicking behavior. We switched to the HTML MouseEvents. These always have the highest priority during execution. So in the future we can integrate much better mouse interactions e.g. the wish to activate street with mouseDown and to build with mousePressUp.

Finally, we also implemented the architecture for the supply buildings. This adds two more buildings: The garbage dump and the sewage plant. These can currently be built easily and are calculated like normal buildings. Of course, other buildings don't want them next door. In further updates the supply buildings will play a bigger role so that the other buildings will work at all. But I have to tell you right now that Summer Islands won't be an economic simulation like ANNO etc.. We want to increase the difficulty and the realism with the utility buildings. There will be more such buildings coming. But at the moment we don't plan with every building what you would need to live. Rather an abstraction for the vacation.



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


Update Log:

• CLIENT: Send money to fellow players
  
• CLIENT: MouseEvents improved
  
• CLIENT: Javascript efficiency improved
  
• SERVER/CLIENT: Supply building integrated
  
• SERVER: Victory calculation BUG FIX
  
• CLIENT: Options menu improved
  
• CLIENT: OptionsMenu Switch Layer On/Off
  

Hello, together,

finally it's time. We present you the new victory conditions menu.
So it finally makes sense to play Summer Islands :)
At least you've got a clear goal you can work towards or get yourself compared to.

It was very stressful last weeks. Not because of Summer Islands. But you always have in mind that you have to create a new Summer Islands update.
No, the stress came more from a partition error. Which destroyed a few days of programming. Also the important programming laptop had been sent in because of a hardware defect. So you had to set everything up again and that costs time with the little free time you have in the evening. I don't want to complain too much. Everyone has his problems :D

But for you it means now: Set victory conditions at the start of the game:



As you can see in the picture you can currently set 4 different victory conditions. For each goal the player gets a star. Additionally you can set how many stars a player needs to win.
The current 4 categories are:

• Time (this category is always activated)
  
• Money
  
• Number of tourists
  
• Shareholders' equity (sum of all construction costs of existing buildings)
  

You can set these 4 categories as targets and change them.
When you have started the game you will see a new button with a star icon in the bottom left corner.



If you click on it you will get to the MatchMenu. This shows you some details about the current match via the tabs. At the very beginning you can see the stars. Here you can see who already got how many stars. In the tab game settings you get an overview of the created match and the victory conditions. This helps you to bring the goals back into consciousness.



When you give it 110% and it comes to an end. So a player who has reached the required stars, you will see the winner window with the facts about the match. Who wins based on the total score or the money or stars. This can all be seen at a glance.



We will try to integrate such statistics into Steam in the future so that you can see how your friends have performed with similar game conditions. Or a big chart with all points at what time what happened. For this we have implemented the basic architecture with version 0.1.7.

A disadvantage of version 0.1.7 is: The old savegames don't work anymore, for now. In the future we will try to integrate a more complex savegame correction system so that old savegames will continue to work and will be corrected when loaded. But until then I have released version 0.1.6 as beta for every player out there. Just right click on Summer Islands > Properties. Then select the version 0.1.6 in the dropdown menu under the tab Betas and have fun with the old savegames. :D

On request we have also integrated a switch in the start menu to switch off the catastrophes. For everyone who doesn't want to be restricted by nature. ;)

Furthermore we could fix the bugs that occurred on bigger screens (bigger than 1080p). It is now possible to use the whole screen. There is only one limitation. The zoom function with mouse wheel does not work here unfortunately. But we already have that in mind and take care of it. Give us some more patience and we'll be able to fix it. :)

In the next weeks we try not to implement such big changes but to improve the gameplay and atmosphere. We were thinking about improvements to the SoundFX or maybe music or or or or. There is still a lot to do and the roadmap looks promising that we won't get bored. :D

If you like Summer Islands and you think the two/three weekly updates are great, give us a positive review. We read every review and write the improvements into the roadmap and we don't want to be satisfied with a balanced one. So thumbs up! ;)

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

Hello together,

In recent weeks we have focused on new consultants in the area of security and sabotage.



As you can see, there is now a separate tab for the advisors in the Finance menu. This was planned from the beginning. But for the Early Access release we have chosen the previous display to keep things simple.
But now in detail:

• The security consultant and the sabotage consultant, like the other consultants, also have a notice period of 180 days.
  
• Both have a basic salary and additional bonus payments.
  
• Both consultants are promoted. Up to level 15.
  
• The sabotage advisor unlocks further sabotage options at Level 6 and Level 11.
  
• Furthermore, sabotage becomes cheaper for you with every level of him.
  
• On the other hand, every player can hire a security advisor. This makes it more expensive for every other player if someone wants to sabotage his buildings.
  
• In the future, the Security Advisor will have even more advantages for the reputation of the players. But that's yet to come.
  

So much for the two new advisors. The BOTS are not yet able to strike back with sabotage. But they will hire one or the other security advisor.

On the BOT side, we have made a few changes in the reconstruction of after a natural disaster or sabotage. The BOTs should now be able to rebuild themselves over time. Of course this can go wrong one or the other time. Because such a recalculation of the situation is not easy for us sometimes :D.

In this direction we now see the potential to expand further consultants and existing consultants in the future. Because with the two additional consultants we have laid the system architecture to simplify this in the future.
When I write these lines, it doesn't see much of what we have implemented. But appearances are deceptive.
Because as I have already mentioned X times Summer Islands is created in our spare time in addition to our day job.
We continue to work and have new ideas for Summer Islands every day. We are currently working on some soundtracks and SoundFX as well, as this has been requested several times and we had planned this from the beginning.

I hope you have fun with the new update. We are looking forward to every screenshot and mail from you. Recommend Summer Islands to others. Until the next update.

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



-SERVER/CLIENT: Security Consultant added
-SERVER/CLIENT: Sabotage Consultant added
-SERVER/CLIENT: Money Calculation Consultant changed
-CLIENT: Sabotage Consultant activates different sabotages
-SERVER: BOTs rebuild after destruction
-CLIENT: BUG FIX Earthfield after destruction
-SERVER/CLIENT: Javascript stability/efficiency

Hello together,

it's been 3 weeks since the last update. Sometimes the "day job" is holding you up longer and lately in Germany also the weather. At 40° Celsius one would rather not switch on any heat-producing devices in the apartment.
But don't worry. We are constantly working on Summer Islands and would like to present you version 0.1.5 today.

So what's new for you in version 0.1.5:
First of all we were extremely happy about the pictures that some of you uploaded to Steam. We think it's really great to see your holiday paradises and how you earn your money. But we were also a bit surprised how you could earn so much money in such a short time. We know that we have to implement some goals in Summer Islands, like a highscore list that you can share with friends or some missions.

The first step was to improve the finetuning building a bit. This only happened slightly. But I guess you will notice an effect during the game.
In detail, we have reduced the advertising boost and the neighboring buildings flow more into the buildings popular.
The bots also build more densely than before. This way you don't get so often the chance to place your buildings in another player's city.

To increase the player ergonomics we have added the possibility to select your desired position from the icon menu bar.
Moving the mouse to every edge of the screen is fun but time consuming. But everyone as he wants it to be.



Furthermore we fixed some smaller bugs. The construction crane animation didn't run through properly or even the creation of airplanes, cars or ships is now calculated differently based on: Popularity of the building + number of already created objects + a bit of chance.
But what we only noticed now: The demolition and the sabotage explosions animation were no longer visible. Unfortunately two lines of code were missing. In some Let's Plays that was a good laugh. Because you tore something down and suddenly the house was gone, just with one click.



A propro Let's plays. The requests for free CD-Keys have fortunately decreased. Also some negative reviews were preceded by unanswered requests.
Nevertheless, we can say as a conclusion:
Also Let's Plays that were clicked more than 100.000 times didn't give us any change in the purchase statistics. We as a 3-person developer team, which operates Summer Islands only as a sideline, it's relative whether a marketing strategy is successful or not. But I personally prefer to play a game myself rather than have it pretend. Everyone sees it differently, of course. I just wanted to address the issue of influence and doubt the marketing strategy, at least in the gaming industry. Probably it depends also strongly on the Influencer and their Community. Nevermind.

We are looking forward to providing you with new Summer Islands updates and hope you have fun with Summer Islands.

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



-SERVER: reduce advertising Boost
-SERVER: neighbor buildings Boost
-CLIENT: Build field/Sabotage/Destruction Animation Bug Fix
-CLIENT: Moveable Objects depending on: Popularity of the building + number of already created objects + a bit of chance
-CLIENT: flexible MenuIcons position
-SERVER/CLIENT: Javascript stability/efficiency