Facility Animations

We've finished the explorer den and added ambient animations for both facilities! Having the ambient animations is really helping museums feel alive and we will be striving to add as many ambient animations as we can going forward. 

In addition to this we've been working on adding a lot of small features and fixing bugs. An example of the things we have fixed/added: 

• Added a balance sheet to see your monthly income and outgoings (thanks community feedback!)
• Optimised the game so that 100+ guests can roam the park with no lag (this may change as we continue to develop though!)
• Added a "Are you sure you want to sell?" When selling objects

In Other News:

Still working on a new guest models, details coming soon!

Research Lab Makeover

Hey Guys,

We've been working on improving some of the most basic placeholder assets so that they're a bit more presentable. We've just finished off the research lab (which was just a blue cube before).

The next step for the lab will be to get scientists moving around inside and get some nice lab animations going!

In terms of the explorer den, we are keeping the dome theme and should have an update soon. 

In Other News:

• Still working on the event system, a few events we've recently added: a cleaner-bot prototype and keeping a safe illegally for a short amount of time. 
• Working on re-modelling the information stands, should have info soon. 
• A BIG re-working of the guest model coming soon. 

The Event System

We’ve been working on one of the most important systems in the game today: the event system. With the event system, the gameplay drastically becomes more varied and interesting for each player. On the same level, one player might end up taking deals from the mafia and striking it rich, while another player might spend most of his time seeking out valuable relics for a famous explorer, while an entirely different player might be battling an army of inspectors after refusing to take a bribe from the mayor. The event system gives players random side objectives that they can choose to accept or ignore, with both having branching consequences.

The Event System Starting To Take Shape

For example, a mob boss might want you to stash a safe full of money for a few months. He will pay you $5000 if you manage to keep it secure. However, when you discover that you can sell the safe for $10,000 a tough choice presents itself. Is antagonising the mafia boss worth $10,000? If you chose ‘yes’, you might be faced with a horde of thieves raiding your museum wanting to recoup their boss’s losses.

Another example might be the museum board calling for the discovery of a specific relic, with a hefty prize given to the first to find it. So instead of finishing off that fossil collection you’ve been working on, your game plan might now change to finding that relic and claiming the prize.

We will be spending a lot of time with this system to ensure that it can feel as unique to each player as possible and never feel like your running the same mission twice. There will already be a wealth of missions in place for when we launch the next alpha.

In Other News:

• We've been working on the voice-over script that we hope to send out to some special people very soon!
• Polished and tweaked the box opening animation from yesterday. 

Crate Smashing!

We've been working on a new animation for opening relic crates. We wanted to add some mystery and excitement to opening a new relic so we've juiced up the crate mechanic.

As you can see, this is a big improvement over what was there previously (there was nothing there previously) and we've tried to channel our Crash-Bandicoot-Stuff-Flying-At-The-Screen-Experiences to make this the best animation we can.

In Other News:
Still working hard to improve the game from the pre-alpha feedback
Will be starting work on a major mechanic (The Event System) tomorrow

Toilets

We've finally got round to implementing a new toilet along with almost all of the toilet mechanics!

Toilets now clog up when they are full and will require a janitor to clean. We've also added a nice 'pump' animation for when guests use the toilet. The last step with the toilets is to get them to explode (which should be coming soon).

Particle Effects Still WIP

In Other News:

• Working on a new drink stand model
• Started work on a new UI system for opening crates 
• Fixed a bug with the janitor patrol system
• More bugs/issues fixed from pre-alpha testing

Pre-Alpha Feedback

We're still here! Theres just not much to show right now as we're responding to feedback and fixing bugs! A few things we've fixed from the initial alpha test:

• Donation stand stats now appear
• Stats for how much money stalls have made appears
• Fixed mouse zoom direction
• Fixed the colour confusion between awe bars and themes
• Fixed the bug where you could not place an object back in it's original spot when moving
• Optimised the game when crowds appear

A sample of the things we're currently working on:

• Keyboard input configuration issues
• UI bugs in different resolutions
• Implementing third mouse wheel ability to move across the map
• Making relic placement more intuitive
• Improving hit-boxes on guests
• Minor UI and game bugs

Again, thank you so much to everybody who played the game and gave us feedback. All the information you've given us has been incredibly detailed and useful and we really appreciate you taking the time to help us out!

Alpha Test (1)

The first alpha test has been sent out! This version is essentially a 'pre-alpha' and is very rough around the edges. We hope to get valuable feedback on gameplay mechanics, exploits and bugs. If you want to get involved, send us an email at mojoboxgames@gmail.com and engage on our subreddit 'Museum Tycoon'

Museum Tycoon Subreddit

Poop Animations

This is something we implemented a while ago but haven't really shown. Guests have unique animations that are triggered by their needs. If they are thirsty they will hold their head, if they are hungry they will rub their stomach and if they need the toilet they will clutch their bowels.

What we've added (which we think is quite neat) is that these animations slowly tween into their full state depending on the severity of the need. So if a guest is at 30 need for toilet, his animation is less intense than if his toilet was at 0. It's a subtle difference, but when museums are busy it helps differentiate guests and make them look unique.

Toilet need at 30

Toilet need at 0

This tween is implemented with every guest need animation in the game. These animations also help with gameplay: if you see a part of your museum where everybody needs the toilet you know you've found a gap in your loo coverage.

In Other News:

• More memory leaks found and plugged. Hopefully no more random crashes!
• Finally got round to making a placeholder Janitor icon.
• Getting everything ready for the first alpha test! Will have a post on this within the next few hours. 

Tutorials

We've been making the first iteration of the tutorial over the past few days. It will teach the player all the basics such as building paths, hiring staff, gathering relics and placing fakes. There are still things that will probably need clarifying (information stands etc) but for now we think it's a good bare bones introduction into the game.

Text is still placeholder; will change before testers'
get their hands on it

In Other News:

• We've also been playing with environment shadows to help give a better perspective in the game:

• We've done an optimisation pass to get the game running faster.
• Improved some of the floor and wall textures.

Thieves

Just an update on how thieves work in the game.

There are two types of thief. The first is your classic 'Mission Impossible' style thief who comes in from the ceiling. If there are no security guards around the thief (or thieves, depending on the size of the relic) he will carry out his heist and pull the relic up through the ceiling.

Ceiling Thieves

The second type of thief is more subtle but just as damaging. Donation stands need to be regularly emptied in order to reap their rewards. However, if there is a full donation stand with no guard nearby, a thief might take the opportunity to steal the stand along with the $250 chunk of cash inside!

Donation Stand Thief (Smoke Bomb Animation Still Needed)

So the message of this post is to always take good care of your security guards and pay close attention to any security gaps in your museum!

Relic Van

Just a quick post about the relic van!

We finished the relic van today which delivers your legal and black-market relics. All relics will stack outside of your museum until you click on them and place them inside.

Next up will be animating the van and having a guy come out to drop off the relic.

Pathways and Patrols

We've been focusing a lot on improving existing systems over the past few days. Firstly, we've improved how paths are made. Before, players had to click each tile individually. Now, you can just drag and drop:

The other major system that needed an overhaul was the security and janitor patrols. Before, you would click and drag out a circle radius which would indicate a guard's patrol route. Now, you can assign and remove specific tiles to give more precision to your patrol routes. The new system is also much easier to understand for new players:

In other news, we've made new walls and added windows to make it feel a bit more museum-y:

Finally, we've also re-made the relic crates. They now have a better style and ambient occlusion:

Buying Land

We've been working on buying land today!

Before we began, we had a debate on which method of land buying would be best for our game. The first option is to allow the player to buy tile-by-tile (like RCT). The second option is to create predefined rooms per level that the player can buy (like Theme Hospital).

We chose to have pre-defined rooms for two reasons. Firstly, it allows us as designers to cram in more challenges (difficult rooms arrangements etc). Secondly, when you look at our game, buying tile by tile isn't really needed: players would just buy small chunks of land when they needed to which is neither compelling gameplay-wise or attractive to look at.

While the way players buy land is now more linear, we've retained some sand-boxy elements with the actual land value itself. The cost of each room is calculated by the number of tiles in the room multiplied by the tile price. This is important because it gives us the freedom to increase or decrease tile price during a scenario. For example, if your museum has a bad reputation and is covered in litter the land value may decrease around you. This acts as a natural elastic band for players who are struggling. However, it can also be used in more threatening and interesting ways. Perhaps you've been lining your pockets with mobster money: this might make the local mayor unhappy and as a punishment he may increase the land-value around your museum. Having land-value as a variable gives us another tool to leverage with the player.

Onto the actual land-buying itself!

We've started work on a fancy animation for when you buy a new room. We've also created a toggle to see where rooms are available to buy (The blueprints on the ground):

We've also created the buttons to view land for sale:

In other news:

• We've replaced all of the floor tiles with textures instead of vertex colours. It looks exactly the same but has saved us a ton of draw calls and optimised the game significantly. 

• We're starting work on improving how security guards patrol. Will have an update on that tomorrow.

• We've also made a few more Egyptian relics, which we will reveal at a later date when we have more to show.