Update 0.1.24 - Laptops, Books, Phones and a touch of Volumetrics

This update has a wide range of changes with a lot of work done to help complete the overall visual feel we want from Cup and Counter. You should find that customers are a bit more interesting as they no longer just sit there doing nothing the entire time. Additionally, we have worked on some of the graphics, such as implementing a depth-of-field effect, volumetric fog, and more. On top of this, we have continued squashing every bug that we run into, and the game should continue to be less buggy and more stable.

This update also introduces a change to customer behavior once the store closes. They will now accelerate their actions so they finish up significantly faster. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

Additions / Major Changes

• Implement phone, laptop, and book usage for customers. Customers will now use their phones at random. There is also a random chance that a customer will bring in their laptop or a book. They will stay a bit longer and also tend to tip higher if they are using their laptop or book.

• Implemented a dynamic depth-of-field effect. This can be toggled off and on through the settings screen.

• Implemented a vignette visual effect. This can be toggled off and on through the settings screen.

• Implemented volumetric fog for devices that can support it. This helps significantly with outside visuals, especially during dawn.

• Implemented a speed-up mechanic for customers when their day finishes. They will now eat and drink faster to help you end your day much more quickly.

• Critical fix for those trying to run the game on Intel GPUs. GPU Occlusion culling can cause the floor and other parts to completely disappear. We now expose this option in the settings. We also attempt to automatically detect when a problematic GPU is in use and disable it on first launch.

Fixes / Minor Improvements

• Fixed a critical error that could occur when placing lots of plates next to each other, which could lead to an infinite recursion and crash.

• Fixed the teabags not being able to be picked up and put down on bench surfaces

• Fixed a bug that could cause the milk jug tutorial event to never complete.

• Improved tutorial flow by ensuring next drink targets actually fire off

• Improved customer ordering flow to try and ensure you get more varied orders. We will now add weight to items that haven't been bought as much as others.

• Backup saves now only rotate when the day actually changes.

• Fixed a bug that would allow a teabag to be reused forever.

• Removed the motion blur setting in its entirety. This was never connected up to begin with.

• Improved checkout UI to better break down orders so you can see the size surcharge that was applied to an order.

• Fixed a critical issue where newly added food or drink would not have their prices propagated to old saves.

• Added a blocker to stop players from being able to go down an alleyway and escape the world

• Fixed NPC pathing so they actually use the door and not just go through the wall

• Improved the time to interaction when a customer is first in the queue. Sometimes a delay could occur, and the customer would lock up for up to 3 seconds.

• Modified the styling of the tabs within the tablet interface

• Fixed an issue with the checkout counter that would make it harder to place due to a slightly mis-sized collider

• Corrected the placement of menu boards and art boards. They were flipped around the wrong way, causing issues with wall placement

• Stopped the checkout total area from getting squished when you add lots of items to the cart

• Fixed a critical issue when buying a new expansion area and having items on a wall that is removed. Items will now be properly either dropped to the ground or restored to their box form.

• Fixed a bug that would not allow you to use the paint functionality to style multiple counters at the same time.

• Changed the cancel button for the paint mode to be a bit more intuitive on game pads.

• Moved the sun position updating out of our optimized path to make its movement smooth. Removes that jittery effect you get from the shadows only being updated every couple of seconds

• Fixed a save bug where any placed art or menu boards would become small.

• Fixed a bug where if a customer was drinking, they would consume any drinks you put in front of them, regardless of whether it was part of their order.

• Optimize our outline system to reduce memory usage

• Adjusted tutorial pop-up text to be larger and have a better visual hierarchy.

• Fixed the coffee artwork changing to the crossing after reloading a save. This will only fix new items and can't fix the incorrect save.

• Improved placing items on a wall by fixing our overlap check logic

• If your save happens to lose all of its placed items, we will now attempt to automatically get your save out of a bad state by providing you with the funds you spent in the first place. While not a perfect system, it is a better solution than losing a save game entirely.