Steam News1 November 20258mo ago

Developer Update - A Real Game Soon

Howdy Everyone. (I'm in Texas now y'all). It's been awhile! About time I post an update.

In this update5

Full notes

Full Metropolis 1998 update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes5 additions8 changes0 removals

Maps
Gameplay
Performance

changedFirst off, there's two major bugs in the demo for some people:Textures are black when starting or loading a map What happened: shaders are not compiling for AMD hardware. Solution: The next build will fix this issue

addedThe next demo update will be awhileI've reached the point in development where I'm adding simulation gameplay

addedWhat have you been working on?Terrain height, generation, and manipulation. Note: Roads and buildings cannot be placed on elevated terrain, this is coming after launch. Most other objects can be placed though.

addedWhat have you been working on?Lots of new assets/objects

addedWhat have you been working on?New buildings (Bakery, Dentist, Optometrist, Arcade, Utility Buildings)

changedWhat have you been working on?Utilities: Electricity, telecoms, cable, water, and sewage

Metropolis 1998 changes

changedTextures are black when starting or loading a map What happened: shaders are not compiling for AMD hardware. Solution: The next build will fix this issue

addedI've reached the point in development where I'm adding simulation gameplay

addedTerrain height, generation, and manipulation. Note: Roads and buildings cannot be placed on elevated terrain, this is coming after launch. Most other objects can be placed though.

addedLots of new assets/objects

addedNew buildings (Bakery, Dentist, Optometrist, Arcade, Utility Buildings)

Howdy Everyone. (I'm in Texas now y'all). It's been awhile! About time I post an update.

First off, there's two major bugs in the demo for some people:

Textures are black when starting or loading a map
What happened: shaders are not compiling for AMD hardware.
Solution: The next build will fix this issue
The game wont stop zooming in
What happened: I forgot to comment out controller/joystick code (for media creation)
Solution: Unplug all joysticks/controllers. I'll comment out the code in the next build

The next demo update will be awhile

I've reached the point in development where I'm adding simulation gameplay
These features are strongly interconnected
Thus: Pushing out an update is not feasible until all the parts are working together
This might be the final push to alphaːsteamhappyː

What have you been working on?

[Only major features are listed] -- Gifs are below!

Terrain height, generation, and manipulation. Note: Roads and buildings cannot be placed on elevated terrain, this is coming after launch. Most other objects can be placed though.
Tutorial for the mayor house
Lots of new assets/objects
Custom roofs
New buildings (Bakery, Dentist, Optometrist, Arcade, Utility Buildings)
Utilities: Electricity, telecoms, cable, water, and sewage
Overlays, view modes, and warning icons
Inability to place businesses unless there's enough demand
High density residential auto zones (aka classic zone->growth placement)
A lot more included blueprints
Municipal service simulation (police, fire, hospital)

Personal Stuff

While working on the terrain, I burnt out and stopped working on the game in August and September. I decided to move out of Vermont cause there's no game development industry up here, and the isolation sucked. So in September, I traveled around the US, was (pleasantly) reminded how friggen big and diverse this country is, and ended up choosing Austin, TX as my new home (the industry is pretty big down here).

I'm now feeling much better and productive, and I'm excited that I'm entering the development phase of "putting it all together".

Fun: Simulating, Pathing, and Rendering 100,000 units at 30 FPS.