Freestyle Major Update is out!

Today is the day when all the new features and fixes are finally being rolled out to everybody. Because of this, the game is also discounted for 10 days, so if you were waiting for a moment: it has come! You can find the full changelog in the end of the post, but here is the key new content worth to cover in more details:

Snow parks

You can now try the collection of jumps, rails and boxes which you can build directly into existing trails. Skiers and snowboarders will perform various stunts when passing them. For brave and restless ones this is a new source of satisfaction, so they will actively seek such features in your resort. For others, it might be a source of scare and injuries, and they will try to avoid them. You can try concentrating parks in one area of the resort, or build mixed trails here and there - both approaches will work as long as there's a way for every visitor to enjoy.

So far the game has five unique features, more might be added in the future - let me know if there's some particular one you'd like to see!

Freeride

With a new ungroomed area tool you can now mark areas as reserved for freeride skiing. Same as groomed areas, they need to form a path for visitors to go there, but the rules are much more relaxed: they can have little jumps or go sideways, making connections in places common trails can't. Skiing over them uses physics simulation, producing realistic paths. Visitors will fall if they can't handle the speed, if the turn is too sharp or the jump is too hard, and they will also get lost when slip out of the marked area, so you might want to check how they go and adjust the trail when needed to reduce accidents.

Only some of the experienced skiers will actually go there, but it will make them really happy (considering they can pass it).

Ski schools

If you are tired of planning so many green trails because you have so many newbies visiting your resort, there's a way to improve the situation now. Visitors with low skills can train in the new ski school building now, getting good enough for the blue trails and also making you money in the process. Schools offer two ways of learning: practicing inside, or going out in groups led by an instructor. If there's a nice short green trail nearby, instructors will form groups of up to five skiers and practice wiggles together. Click on a school to see the instructors locations and trails they will use.

Not all the visitors like learning, but the ones who do will likely want to do that again after resting in a hotel.

UI improvements

Some overlays now show additional information, which should help you to notice a problem before it gets serious. There's also a new satisfaction per level chart (which might work for supply/demand analysis when you aren't sure which trail to build next), average income counter for service building to see which ones pay off, and two-way arrows for entrances and exits.

Performance optimizations

Initially, I didn't expect people to build really huge resorts with many thousands of visitors and trails covering entire valleys, so I was really amazed with the saves players sent to me mentioning degraded performance and freezes. Anyway, several key aspects of the simulation were optimized, so you can expect significant improvements for large resorts.

Full changelog:

• new mechanic: physics-based skiing (used for freeride)

• new building & tool: ungroomed areas

• new mechanic & tools: building terrain features directly into the groomed slopes

• new terrain features: mini half-pipe, jump, two rails and rainbow box

• new building: ski school

• new building: large groomer depot

• new building: large helicopter only warehouse

• new map option: configurable rock color (dark cliffs on the sides of the tiles)

• ui: buildings show average income they brought recently

• ui: camera reset button, small improvements to tools buttons

• ui: satisfaction overlay shows average visitors satisfaction/demand per preferred trail level

• Addeduisafety and snow overlays shows counters for respective available jobs & hired vehicles

• ui: safety overlay shows injured visitors locations

• ui: nav overlay now uses double arrows for buildings entrances/exits

• ui: stopped or in construction buildings now have icons in nav overlay

• performance: deeper pathfinder caching (especially noticeable with large marked flat areas)

• performance: faster area building (e.g. large terrain changes, trail estimator application)

• performance: multithreaded trail generation (less delay on terrain changes/placing buildings/etc.)

• fix: trucks cancel jobs if cut off during deconstruction, allowing faster replacement

• fix: helicopters now can return to disconnected bases

• fix: achievement no longer incorrectly unlocked when helicopter pass over bus stop at a wrong moment

• minor fixes and improvements

Most of the ideas for the changes in this update were born or influenced by the players feedback, so huge thanks, without all of you that would not be possible. And special thanks to everybody who tried the beta version!