EA 0.8 - Optimization #3: Preview

Hello there!

Spring is in the air, so it's time for us to share our latest experimental build with you!

The team has been working hard to bring you a big new update - another optimization update packed with tons of quality-of-life upgrades, giving you more control over your business empire! Dive in and help us test and refine this new update!

The complete patch notes will be included when EA 0.8 is ready for its full release, but for now, here is a summary of the bigger changes in EA 0.8.

Please notice: This version is unstable, unoptimized and might contain game-breaking bugs which may destroy your savegame. The branch will be updated frequently as we squeeze bugs. Unlike previous experimental builds, however, all progress/savegame will be retained once this testing period is over (assuming no major bugs are found - remember to make back up saves!) and your savegames will continue on through the full 0.8 release! This is an opportunity to help us find bugs and get some early insight into the development of our next update. The experimental/preview version of the game is not simply a way to play the new update earlier. Please don't leave us negative reviews based on your experience with the experimental branch, thank you! ❤️

Box Consolidation

This was a big one! Until now, none of your employees knew how to combine boxes, which was a big problem when your shelves were full of mostly empty boxes! Well, we taught them how to fix this!

If you're already experiencing this problem in a save, we've got you! When you first load into your current savegame, it should automatically merge the partial boxes together for each store / warehouse.

Next, when you ship goods from your warehouse, it will start with the partial boxes and ship those first, making sure it doesn't leave multiple partial boxes behind.

Then, logistics deliveries and wholesale deliveries will start by filling up the display shelves. Once those are full, they will fill any partial boxes, and finally, if there any items left over, they will be stored in new boxes!

Oh, and while we were at it, we realized using a whole box for one mousepad was silly, so now you can pack multiple of the same small products into one box!

Character Generator

You know what's better than only two character heads and two shirts to choose from?

A LOT MORE OPTIONS! We agree, so we present to you the brand new character creator!

With beards and mustaches, several more hair options, more clothing, and customization of each facial feature, our artists have completely redone the character creating experience! It's time for you to look like you...or whoever you want to look like!

Auto-scheduler and Schedule UI Revamp

"Wow, HR did a great job setting up my company's schedule!!" That has probably not been your reaction to the auto-schedule feature in previous versions of the game.

Well, that's about to change! The auto-scheduler now checks employee demands and splits the shifts a lot better to keep them happy. You can even choose to only autofill one day instead of the whole schedule!

And if you want to manually control things, the scheduler UI is much more powerful now. You can copy/paste specific days and rename workstations to quickly search and find things. Plus, the new employee search filters make it much easier to find the exact employees you're looking for!

Placement and Attachment Updates

As the game has gotten more complex, we've realized we needed a whole new placement system.

Some of these big changes in EA 0.8 include:

• General improvements to placing objects on the floors

• A full rewrite on how you can place items on and under desks and tables

• You can now grab and pack display shelves with items in them instead of needing to unpack them first!

• And most exciting, you can rapidly place items directly from the delivery spot or hand truck! Much less clicking now!

Interior Wall Hider

Speaking of placing things, don't you hate when you're trying to put things on the floor, and the walls keep blocking your view? Now you can toggle between walls up, walls down, or an exterior "cut out" mode!

Keep an eye on your store better than ever!

Notification Consolidation

How many times have you missed the IRS notification because it was buried under a wall of other alerts? We fixed that too!

If you receive several notifications of the same type, they will be grouped together:

Instead of seeing 10 individual pop-ups, you'll see "10 Employees messaged you"

This will make the red alerts like the IRS more noticeable!

Additionally, if your Logistics Manager is unable to deliver product to any of its stores, you will get 1 message from that manager, with a summary of anything that was not delivered!

Turn Signals, Dirt and Car Washes

Our vehicles got a few visual updates as well!

Lots of players have requested turn signals and have noted that the reverse lights don't always work, so we fixed those! The angry drivers in the city will still ignore your signals and cut you off, but at least you can be polite!

While you're driving around the city, you'll start to notice the car getting dirty. Don't worry, you can wash it next time you're at the repair shop, or just wait until it rains and let nature help you out!

Plus, the Missam Villian vehicle has been upgraded

• The old model has a lot of issues, so we upgraded it

• It has been replaced with the new vehicle the Lytte L6

• The new vehicle can be found at Manhattan Luxury Vehicles

• If you previously owned the Villain, it has been automatically upgraded to the Lytte!

New Items and Accessories

Job Board

Headhunters and recruiters are great, but what happened to the old-fashion walk-in?

Now you can buy a Job Board and place it in your store to attract some employees. They might not be the highest-skilled workers, but it's the easiest way to recruit!

Be sure to keep an eye on the Employees > Recruits page when these employees pop up!

Umbrellas

We added rain, but forgot to give you an umbrella! Well we fixed that in 0.8! You can carry an umbrella and equip it in the rain to stay dry and avoid any negative happiness from being wet!

In fact - you can now sell umbrellas in your gift shops too! Be sure to pick up a Product Panel and start selling them!

Wearable Headphones and Earbuds

Next, we've heard the requests - you want to wear headphones to listen to your music station whenever you want. Well, now you can! You can equip a pair of headphones or earbuds to your character!

Usable Items

Next up - "I bought this outfit, now what?" Well, you should put it in your wardrobe!

• Both the current Wardrobe and the new Wall-Mounted Wardrobe can now hold clothes

• The new Fruit Bowl can hold your fruit (Apples, Bananas and Pears)

• Your Decorative Bookshelf can now be loaded with books (grab a book from the shelf to read it)

• The new Jewelry Case can protect your Jewelry

• Use the new Umbrella Stand to hold your umbrellas

• Your Headphone or Earbud Stands can hold headphones and earbuds

• Plus, place your gifts and flowers around the house!

Quality of Life / Bugs

This update was filled with many little tweaks and fixes, in addition to everything listed above. Here are some more things to look out for!

General Code Optimization

We did a lot of work with more optimization, especially when it comes to massive lists.

Deliveries, inventory, employees, businesses, store layouts - pretty much anywhere with a massive list or number of items - have all been optimized and refactored to make the game run smoother!

Launching the game has been optimized, which should hopefully help some computers that were struggling to launch!

Quality of Life

• Optimized the time-skip blur effect to avoid GPU spikes

• Add permanent taxi spot to the hospital

• You can now make multiple deliveries from each furniture store per day!

• Gym Customers now use the showers

• Added more information to employee complaints

• Added ability to cancel blueprint orders

• Replaced phone message alert with a less abrasive sound

• Added "Unlock All Contacts" option for custom games

• Income Updates

  • Fixed inconsistent income behavior, so all midnight expenses are charged to the current day instead of some being charged to the next day

  • Adjusted negative interest to be calculated before your Sunday income is added to avoid it being adding to the negative interest fee

  • To avoid more confusion, we changed the end-of-day pop-up to now show how much your bank account changed at midnight. You can still see your store's profitability in the EconoView page, though!

  • Note: If you already have a savegame going, the first day or two might appear to have double charges or no charges due to these changes, but it should all appear properly after that!

• New Options

  • SFX Audio Volume Slider

  • Competitor Store Music Volume Slider

  • Enable / Disable Seasonal decorations

  • Gamma / Brightness

• New Map Filters

  • Map now has a search filter

  • "Enable/Disable All" Toggle

  • "Rented By You" Toggle

  • "Hide Closed businesses" Toggle

Bugs

And tons of bug fixes - the full list will be included with the full changelog!

Please notice: This version is unstable, unoptimized and might contain game-breaking bugs which may destroy your savegame. The branch will be updated frequently as we squeeze bugs. Unlike previous experimental builds, however, all progress/savegame will be retained once this testing period is over (assuming no major bugs are found - remember to make back up saves!) and your savegames will continue on through the full 0.8 release! This is an opportunity to help us find bugs and get some early insight into the development of our next update. The experimental/preview version of the game is not simply a way to play the new update earlier. Please don't leave us negative reviews based on your experience with the experimental branch, thank you! ❤️

Here's how to access the branch:

• Right-click Big Ambitions on Steam

• Select Properties

• Select Betas

• From the dropdown menu, choose "experimental - Use at own risk - Unstable!"

Good luck!

Remember to submit Bug Reports!

If you see something weird while in-game, be sure to hit F2 to submit a bug report so we can fix it! Any information on what you did before the bug occured are greatly appreciated.

If you have additional information to contribute, or need a response, the best option is to create a thread on Steam, Reddit, Big Ambitions Forums, or our Discord, then mention that thread in the Bug Report, so I know it's yours and can reply to you!

As always, huge thanks to all of you for the support you give. Every comment, bug report, feedback and words of encouragement means the world to us. You make this whole thing possible. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

~ Hovgaard Games and the entire Big Ambitions team!