Dev Log Update: AI Overhaul & Fix List

This week we’ve been continuing work on the security system, overhauling the AI system and working on the fix list.

Firstly, we’ve completely re-worked the minion AI from the ground up to be more efficient and easier to expand. A lot of the improvements are hard to see at face value, but it allows us to be able to change aspects of the minion AI much quicker and be able to easily ‘slot in’ new components.

It’s so efficient to implement that we managed to quickly replace the janitor’s AI. He is now just as smart as the guards and will actively look for trash and toilets to clean. While the new AI system hasn’t revolutionised what we already have in terms of mechanics, it’s going to speed up the workflow of the guest AI significantly, and allow us to be able to add more features to them quickly. 

We’ve also been spending a lot of time attacking the fix list. Just a few examples of things we’ve fixed:

•       Improving when money is spent on object placement

•       Money getting added in the CancelAll Function

•       Add a prompt to the quit button!

•       Quit button should go to main menu

•       Remove ready to donate graphics when laying tour paths

•       Add arrows to tour guide direction on tours:

Still WIP

•       Disable laying path underneath buttons being clicked

•       Turn off pathway placement when any other button is clicked

•       Patrol footstep colours not showing exactly who is selected:

•       Build arrows should move at constant speed regardless of game speed

•       Pathway tool cannot be deselected while other tools are open and creates unwanted roads.

•       Objects being placed in unwanted spaces while having it selected and trying to click through HUD to see different tabs at the same time.

•       Adding an indicator to show when something has been stolen:

Finally, we’ve also added a new curse to the relics called the Trashplosion: when viewing the relic the guest has a small random chance of exploding into trash. This not only makes more work for your janitors but also removes a paying customer from your museum!

Next Week:

• Continue Security System
• Improve Thief Mechanics
• Continue Fix List

Dev Log Update: Feedback and Security Guards

This week we released alpha version 3.0 and we've been collecting feedback ever since! Thank you to everyone who took the time to play and give feedback it's been incredibly useful! We're compiling a large fix list that we will be working on over the coming weeks to make sure that the next alpha is a much smoother, engaging and funny experience.

Just a small segment of the fix list

We've also been working on making the security system much deeper and giving the player more control over it. This will be quite a large undertaking so we thought it would be best to start with something we already have: the security guard. 

Security guards are now much smarter: they have a cone of vision and will react to any illegal activities they find in that cone. They also run when they see a crime being committed instead of casually sauntering to the perpetrator:

Other guards who see the crime will also run to assist

In addition to this, guards will now also path-find to their patrol route if it's set in a different location to themselves. 

And finally, if a guard sees a full donation stand that is just outside of their patrol route, they will go out of their way to collect the money and then return to their patrol. This makes the guards not only look smarter but also stops the frustration of seeing guards ignoring donation stands:

There are still improvements to be made to the security guards which will be explored next week. 

Next Week:

• Continuing with the Fix List
• Improving Security System
• Beginning Work on New Character Models

Alpha Version 3.0 Released!

Just a screenshot to celebrate the alpha version 3.0 being launched!

Dev Log Update: Progress & Bug Fixing

The Easter holiday took a fair chunk of our work week this week but we keep on truckin' with the next build. Lots of great little bugs have been fixed this week such as relic crates appearing above one another and appearing off the map & making sure UI pieces stay flush with the screen when the camera moves. We're very close to whittling down the fix list getting everything ready for you guys to test.

Left & Right not shown due to size of the GIF, but watch how
the UI piece moves up and down with the camera

We've also been working on filling out the History Before History relic roster and hope to have them ready by next week. Lots of interesting, cool and funny relics await players in the next build!

We also found an old placeholder asset and compared to the current art, it's been over 6 months since we started Museum Tycoon and it's always nice to look back and see how far certain things have come:

From placeholder to current

Next Week:

• Hopefully finishing off the fix list and getting the finishing touches done for Alpha Build 3!
• Finishing off the History Before History relics

Dev Log Update: New Fakes, Relics and Improvements

We've spent a lot of this week working on more models for the next build. A fake that we've been wanting to implement for a long time is the DinoBot. On the surface, the DinoBot is a fake disguised as a basic dinosaur skeleton. However, when it spots a thief, it has a small percentage chance of firing a rocket into the air and destroying the thief. We want more fakes to have important uses such as the DinoBot. (The GIF version is overpowered to show you how it works)

We've removed the floor to improve the GIF

We've also been working on filling out the skeleton roster of the History Before History theme. We've been saving the skeletons until last and, now that they're in, they really complete the theme and make a museum look great.

On a more technical side, we've also spent a lot of time refining and polishing the game. For example, we now have a tooltip system that describes buttons when hovered over.

We've also made many more improvements such as adding placeholder animations for the tour guides, being able to reset and cancel a tour's path, UI improvements and a complete revamp of the research system to allow us to implement the save/load system with ease.

Next Week:

• Continuing work on relics and fakes
• Continuing polish and bug fixing

In Other News:

Due to the bank holiday next Monday we will be recording and releasing the next dev update video on Tuesday. 

Relic Showcase