Enjoy:
I’m glad you did this diary as I reallly want to play with the new changes, but can’t as I’m stuck in hospital for now. Glad to see the increased cost for slots. 20% seems reasonable.
Btw, when I was trying to do a custom factory floor design, when I’d try to make rooms on the left side of the screen it didn’t work. It would just add some red vertical lines and blank. But the bottom and right side of the screen worked just fine. Could make everything like normal.
I would like to see a people carrier body style before vans or anything like that. Even if its a specialist production line. Is it worth doing 3,5 door and hatchback sedan variants?
Overall being greedy eventually I would like to see all that you mention added to the game. Are there any possibilities that the type of factory you have can play a bigger role in the game with its own building research section.
The research screen should be tabbed for type and specialisation as it gets bigger?
Phil
Some quick thoughts on blog #61
New Features:
- The new layout for ‘Prices’ looks good. You did mention that the prices were high on average as you had been playing the game for a while. Does this mean that the prices incrementally increase with time?
- The ‘Upgrades’ tab will be much better and easier to use with its new auto-sized layout. Just remember to remove that scroll bar.
- The ‘Pop’ in the the ‘Achievements’ graphics does look good. I am looking forward to seeing which new achievements there will be as well as whether or not there will be any additional vehicle colour options.
- Now you did not mention this, but I observed that the layout of the ‘Car Showroom’ is improved as it shows all the vehicles in a cluster format instead of that annoying left/right scroll.
- The volume fix will be great, just hope that I can still hear that killer soundtrack, its a good one. High energy and not repetitive sounding at all.
- I really do like the ‘Start of Line’ notification which shows which car is currently in production at that station (or is it slot?). Perhaps in a future build you could include the information in a hover state over other stations? Or, perhaps have the ability to lock the camera viewpoint onto a vehicle and follow the vehicle through the production cycle?
- The colour change to dark blue for the ‘Tutorial’ windows is a great idea. In terms of colour psychology it is perceived as a calming colour as well as having an association with wisdom. Not sure if you thought about it that much tough. Maybe just a ‘it looks good’.
- Loving the new ‘Logo’ and ‘Company Name’ feature and i am looking forward to seeing more HD logos soon. Small issue that I picked up though is that the game does not pause in the background, which means that you are loosing time and money while choosing the best loga and company name.
- The idea that the relevant ports or areas should flash while being selected was a stroke of genius. A very nice way to show unfamiliar players where the suggested placements are.
Bugs:
I am glad to see that you mentioned working on the bug, wherein the ‘Car Design’ tab is not showing the ‘New Feature’ notification.
Potential GUI/UX updates:
- The ‘Production Schedule’ does need a bit of a update. Possible through including the Expand/Contract option to scale it better?
- The ‘Research and Development’ screen could also do with a mild tweak. I would not suggest a pure black background as you did, but perhaps rather a darker texture in the background? I do agree that the white background is a bit jarring, especially on the larger format monitors.
- The ability to ‘Pause’ and ‘Resume’ a station/slot is most welcome. It will certainly assist in holding back production while re-tooling is taking place further down the line without having to loose/delete a vehicle in production that may be on the soon to be removed slot.
Research:
- You asked if the ‘Research Queue’ should be larger. I say yes! Emphatically so. Some players may enjoy playing without research, and yet I find that in the late (late) game, once the research has concluded and all upgrades achieved, there is not much to do.
My Suggestions:
- Yes, there is a suggestions forum, but this thought came in while watching the blog. How difficult would it be for the game to automatically optimise resolution? I ask as some other games do this and while it may be a ‘game engine’ specific tool, it would certainly help us noobs who know very little about graphics settings.
Questions asked:
- Does a player run out of things to do in the late game?
Yes. I would certainly suggest that research options be extended so that this occurs later and not sooner. - Adding more Research was a low priority and people wanted more car bodies. Is this still the case?
While it would be fun to have different types of car body, such as the suggested minivan or ambulance (oh the anticipation), more research
will always be fun. I personally suspect that the ingame suggestions option does not really give a person clarity on what it is they are
suggesting. - Should the ‘Design Studio’ have additional research options to customise a vehicles look via cosmetic restyling?
Yes, the studio is in need of being kept relevant and again, I fully support the idea of more research. - Should current research include current technology, including such things as Gull Wing doors, Parking Assist and Self-driving technology?
Yes, yes and yes. - Should the next video blog be about programming stuff?
Now I am biased in my answer to this. I like the cake, I do not want to know how it was made. And yet, I am curious? So it’s kind of up in the
air. I will take a wait and see approach.
Suggested Process Updates:
- The suggestion of improving the ‘Resource Importers’ with a bigger faster option is fantastic. It should not only take more time to research but also cost more money.
- Manufacturing has been the critical weakness in the game for me personally. I have found the management of the production cycle to be a bit lack luster in its ability to produce what I need as I need it, but the suggestion of ramping the production volumes up (such as the sensors manufacturing having enhanced lasers) is Awesome!
Bigger is better (ask your friends):
You asked if bigger factories are needed. You suggested 4x. I say the bigger it is the better the game. Especially since it will extend the play time on the game as well as allow for a fully fledged slot/station placement with adjacent manufacturing slots. Now call me a dullard if you will, but I would love to see a huge square factory floor. I know that you (Cliff) have always enjoyed the random layout (Big Pharma ring a bell?), but in reality those are fine for scenarios such as the ‘Small Factory’ scenario. When I play a game on a lazy Saturday, I have visions of a massive, well organised and highly efficient production floor. This makes me feel like a true Tycoon.
Game Price:
Should the price of the game go up? Keep, get and grow the Production line footprint.
I love the game, its fun, has good graphics (other than the resolution issue) and it keeps me away from the TV for hours. So should the price go up? Well yes, I already own a copy.
Of course, pricing will honestly be your choice alone Cliffsky.
Ever thought of a charity option? Players who enjoy the game and have the resources could possibly buy the game for those players who cant buy it?
I saw something similar with the recent steam sale when the a game I purchased asked if I wanted to buy an extra copy for a friend.
That said. Keep the chin up mate. You are doing a good job!
Awesome stuff on Interim Patch 1.45a. Loving the new windows above each production line start.
Without wanting to just repeat whats already been said I’ll chuck my ideas in too.
I think there are definitely some car features, upgrades which have been missed that could be added but I think Cliffski is already working on identifying those.
In terms of the car designs it would be nice to have more shapes/styles to research. Most car manufacturers these days have quite a range of vehicles, I’m going to use Skoda as an example here just because I have one and did a fair bit of research on them. I’ve coloured blue below for something that is in the game and red for something that isn’t
If we start at the small end you have,
Citigo 3dr - which is like the current Compact
Citigo 5dr - not something which is currently included
Fabia - not currently an option, this is you’re more reasonable sized hatchback
Fabia - estate, the same hatchback with an extra ft or so on the back
Rapid - again slightly bigger, probably not quite the sedan size yet though but the same kind of shape
Rapid Spaceback - same as the rapid with a more squared off rear to give you boot space
Octavia - this is the current sedan type size
Octavia Estate - Sedan size but with a boot
Octavia Scout - A 4x4 version of the estate car, for those that want some off road features
Superb - An even bigger sedan
Superb Estate - An even bigger sedan with a boot
Karoq - Baby sized SUV
Kodiaq - Proper sized SUV which is something the game has
Kodiaq Scout - Which is know isn’t quite the Jeep-esq Offroad vehicle in the game but for the purposes of this I’m going to class it as one
Now the game obviously has the sports car and Pickup aswell which is something Skoda make but is you look at that range of vehicles we have 6 available when a manufacturer like Skoda has 14 from the list i made, plus there’s probably others.
Now I know there’s 3 in the middle there that are all basically the sedan but if you break it down it could look more like,
Compact 3dr --> Compact 5dr
Hatchback --> Hatchback Estate
Sedan --> Sedan Estate
Large SUV --> Small Suv
Sports --> Sports Open Top
Offroad --> Offroad Open Top
Pickup 2dr --> Pickup 4dr
That now give you a new category, plus at least 1 development option for each vehicle.
This could then be expanded further into Vans which could be
SWB Van --> MWB Van --> LWB Van --> ELWB Van --> High Top Extension
Hatchback Van
Sedan Estate Van
This could go on for a while but I’m guessing you see where I’m going.