Warehouse Automation & Expansion Update

Over the past weeks, I’ve been closely following your feedback about warehouse friction, manual unloading struggles, and the lack of automation in logistics operations.

As a solo indie developer, I knew this area needed serious improvements. This update focuses heavily on making warehouse operations smoother, more scalable, and far less repetitive.

The warehouse is now significantly more automated — and much more efficient.

🚛 Unloaders Are Now Fully Implemented

This is the biggest addition in this update.

Unloaders now:

• Take boxes directly from trucks at the loading docks

• Transport them into the warehouse

• Place them onto the correct labeled pallets in pallet racks

They handle the logistics flow so you don’t have to micromanage every box.

Additionally:

• Unloaders now automatically close the truck door after finishing their job

• In a future update, this will become an optional toggle for players who prefer manual control

Warehouse automation is now a real part of your management strategy. A staff interaction point has been added to the warehouse racks. Previously placed racks must be replaced, as they may be facing the walls.

📦 Department-Based Bulk Order Discounts

Full pallet purchases now grant automatic department-based discounts:

• Grocery – 10%

• Bakery – 12%

• Toy – 15%

• Clothing – 15%

• Electronics – 6%

• Music – 8%

• Sports – 12%

These discounts apply only when purchasing full pallets.

This brings more strategic depth to high-volume ordering.

💲 Pallet Deposit System

A pallet deposit system has been introduced.

• Each pallet now has a $10 deposit cost

• You can:

  • Leave pallets on the truck

  • Close the truck to reclaim the deposit

  • Recycle pallets for a 100% refund

This system adds realism while remaining player-friendly.

🛒 Cart Window Redesign

The cart window has been redesigned to support:

• Bulk discount visibility

• Pallet deposit information

• Discount tiers displayed directly in the UI

This redesign was primarily done to support the new logistics systems and make pricing clearer.

📦 Box-Only Orders to Loading Docks

You can now place box-only orders directly to the loading docks.

This gives you more flexibility in supply strategy.

🏬 Warehouse Expansion

The full-size warehouse is now:

• 50% larger

• Includes 10 new expansions

This gives you far more scaling potential for long-term play.

🎨 Visual Improvements

• Improved lighting

• Expanded color range

• Better overall visual clarity

The megastore should now feel cleaner and more polished.

🎥 Tutorial Screen Added

A video tutorial screen for the pallet deposit system has been added.

More tutorial screens will be introduced over time to improve onboarding and clarity.

🧠 Quality of Life Improvements

• Scanner tooltip window added to show on-shelf and off-shelf stock levels

• Discount tiers visible in cart window

• Pallet deposit info visible in cart window

• Console navigation implemented for new UI screens

🛠 Fixes

• Fixed save files without market names not appearing

• Fixed 4-digit price overflow on self-checkouts

• Fixed end-day report “most sold item” visibility issue

• Fixed camera bug when ending the day while the computer is focused

• Fixed upper floor painting issue

What’s Next?

A few smaller quality-of-life updates and minor fixes will follow shortly.

One of the upcoming updates will introduce:

• A movable mesh pallet cart as an alternative transport tool

  • Especially helpful for players who struggle with forklifts

  • Designed to move pallets up to the third floor racks

After that, the next major update will be:

🎨 Customization Update

Planned features:

• Floors split into smaller paintable tiles

• More detailed painting control

• Paintable walls

• Possibly paintable shelves (if it makes this update)

• Ceiling-placeable decorations

• Expanded decoration system

Your feedback continues to shape this game.

Quality-of-life improvements are extremely important to me. I want the game to remain smooth, cozy, and comfortable to play.

There are also bigger long-term plans that I haven’t revealed yet — not even on the roadmap. I’ll share those in a separate news post soon.

And one thing is certain:

I will not stop updating this game until everything is fully realized.

Thank you for your continued support.