Development Roadmap

Development Roadmap for Under Construction: Summer City

Hey everyone!

Since the game is still very much in Early Access, I wanted to express and explain my plans for development progress. Under Construction is getting updates every week, usually on Tuesday. While I don't have set dates for how long each step will take, I have ordered them by priority. Since I am a solo person working on this project, updates may or may not be as big as you would expect from a team of people, however- they will remain consistent. Polishing and bug fixes will happen weekly as progress is made.

1st) Create levels

This is top Priority for me at the moment, since the game is currently pretty short. I am working on creating more length to Under Construction; my goal is to get 20 levels in place. I have been releasing a few levels every week during the update, at this rate it shouldn't take too much longer for me to reach this goal.

2nd) Fix Controller support

Since the UI layout has been somewhat changed in the last few months, I have to refactor my controller support code for the menus. The controller should still work in game, but is likely frustrating to have to switch to mouse to use the menus.

3rd) Add more content

Progression system needs to be put in place with XP being used for "talents," as well as the money system needs to be refined with proper pricing. I will also add: more furniture models, more textures, more music/sounds, animations, and a few new features (like UNDO) need to be added. I want to be constantly adding new furniture models to the game to fill it up with a large variety of objects to allow for proper clutter so house builds do not feel empty.

During this step I will refine my texture list and apply a proper sorting system for it, as well as updating the graphic shaders too.

4th) Custom content, and design sharing

Improvements, fixes, and additions to the custom content system. I will end up making a tool for players to add certain file types to the game: .fbx for models, .mat for textures, .jpg/.gif/.png for wall paintings, and .mp3(or other codecs) for background music.

In addition to the custom content, I also want to add an API for design sharing that allow players to browse other players creations from an in-game-browser, download, and visit them. This may take a bit of time to get it to interact properly with custom added items.

5th)Improve UI

This one will require some time, but it needs a ton of work. The UI is basic and kind of boring. This update would also require a controller Update.

6th) Make a better level select

My plans for the Level Select is going to be a full city map with various properties you can click on. Currently its pretty basic.

Beyond step 6

I'm sure many things will come up during development, whether its: ideas, community suggestions, or a happy accident; I will continue to work hard on Under Construction: Summer City until I am completely satisfied with the game's condition.

Thank you all for your time! I am always happy to answer questions/comments about development. -Raven, CEO of Black Raven Studios, and sole developer of Under Construction: Summer City.