Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great start to this new week. Here is our 7th Monday update and I am very happy to say that we are moving at a very good pace toward the release date. This past week was intense with a lot of programming and designing/planning. In the end I have finally put in the product creation process from product design to product manufacturing and shipping. All that is left to do in this regard is to add the other products in and then all the product related functionality will be entirely in the game. This is a huge milestone for the game and it is paving the way for the final stretches of development. As before, I want to be as transparent as possible about where I am and what I am doing week by week on the game. In that regard, the biggest aspects of the game that I have left to tackle is of course the AI, more game assets, UI/HUD design and other game-play aspects in the game. It is going to be an intensive final stretch, hopefully free of any setbacks and hiccups. I’m very excited and can’t wait until I can show you more game-play. Now let’s get to this week’s plans.
This week will be a fine tuning week just like last week because we have put so many things into the game this month. We now have to test all the new things and make sure that it is working as intended throughout. In addition, there are some UI efficiency and design issues I want to work out. Lastly, this week I plan to start adding the opening screens where you set up your company and choose your avatar. This will be fairly simple and shouldn’t take up much time. So, now I will speak about exactly what the plans are in that area of the game.
When you begin the game, there will be options you can choose from regarding your player character and most importantly, your company. Of course you will be able to choose the name of the company, but in addition to this you will be able to select from different logos for your company, which you will see in the game. You will also be able to write the mission statement and bio for your company. You will select which city you will start in. Throughout the game, you will be able to own property wherever you like. So you will be able to purchase (or lease) other offices, factories, research facilities, call centers and more. Each of these buildings will have their own functionality and interfaces. You will not be able to visit these other locations in the game visually, but you will be able to as your avatar. You will be able to send your avatar CEO to all of your locations. There is an entire game-play element to this which I want to get into really quickly.
You will be able to give yourself (your avatar) an office in the game. You will have some interesting options for your character. You can send him/her on “little” missions in the game which can bring a positive or a negative impact to you and your company. For example, one thing you can do is go to provide hands-on “guidance” and “direction” to any of your satellite offices. By travelling to these locations, you achieve multiple things. On one hand you give a boost to productivity, and this happens because of your expertise (RPG elements chosen when you create your avatar). Projects that are underway when you go on visits become more efficient. So if visiting a call center, whatever products are being services at that location will benefit from more efficiency and productivity than if your avatar wasn’t there. The only downside to doing this is that stress levels increase as well which can cause other problems. The temporary boost to productivity will eventually give away to stress and it can become increasingly negative the longer you stay. So there will be a balancing act.
In addition to those things, you will be able to do many other things like giving public statements, which can alleviate negative publicity if you choose the right options. Of course it can backfire as well. I don’t want to give away everything, so I will save the rest for when we are closer to release and you start to see game-play of the process in action.
So these are some of the things I hope to have in the game this week and into next week while simultaneously testing and fine tuning what we have already put in. So with that, I will continue working on these things and I hope you enjoyed this update! Please feel free to send more questions for the Q&A. This week I have decided not to do one and instead just compile the current ones I have for the next update.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week.
