Hello Islandvillers!


I have been finishing up One Eye'd Billies and thought I would stop to show a few pics of the new machines and also talk about the price increase of the game coming next week. The next update to The Coin Game will feature three new arcade machines, two new shooting galleries and two extra little features. Oh and lots of bugs fixes, a FOV slider and some fixed achievements all coming next week.

After reading through all of the discussions and suggestion threads I came up with these next arcade machines.



It is a game of skill were you must stop the rotating line on the dot to crack the combination 50 times in a row. The increasing speed and rotating angles are a fun challenge to get just right. I really enjoy games at the arcade that are "mostly" skill based. They are also the easiest to code too as there are no algorithms to fandangle and tweak.



Everyone loves Popcorn Pete! This new machine is a "plinko" style ball drop game. Press the button to fire a canon ball from the "SS Popcorn" and land in a treasure chest of tickets. It features a translucent LCD screen overlaid on the cabinets glass to give cool celebration graphics and counting screens. There is a center target that has a increasing bonus to win. Try your luck on the Popcorn Pete's Pirate Plunder game and win a boat load of tickets!



Pile Up is a stacking blocks kind of game. There is a left to right sliding handle on the front of the machine to move the base platform. When the blocks fall from the top you simply need to stack them up to the ticket winning lines. Seems easy right? Just wait until the stack gets a little taller... and then TIMBER!!!!

I really cant wait to see all the new videos and streams of people saying.... "Just one more". Haha. After an update I usually spend a day watching streamers and gathering feedback. I dont know how many times I have heard "If the dev is watching this <insert advice here>" and I think to myself "ok write this down. That's a great idea."

For example... about a month ago I was watching a user play the game on Twitch and he was babysitting. He lost the mop through the wall and could not finish the task. He proceeded to click on the box of floor wipes on the ground next to the mops original position as it was the most logical thing to do to bring the mop back. So after watching this. I have since added that feature to the next update. Because it was a great idea. So thanks to him the game is now better for all of us (Well next week it will be.... but you get what I mean.) This is just one example but I have used many streamers suggestions and really appreciate you sharing your feedback.

As always feel free to give feedback in the discussion areas. I do my best to read them all as well.



When I built One Eye'd Billies I left an area for "Captains Quarters Shootin Gallery" on the right when you come in. At the time of modeling and building it I didnt know what I was going to put in there. I knew I wanted a "roadside" shooting gallery somewhere in the game like you see on the interstates of America but I didnt know if it would fit in the theme of Captains Quarters. Well I just went for it. I started modeling funny things that I remembered from Cedar Point shooting galleries (Google It). I believe they called it Frontier Town or something like that. It was really fun and I remembered it for many years growing up. When I was modeling I found only one single horrible quality video. It worked though. So thank you to that guy that lugged that 10 lbs VHS camera all around the park that day and got that valuable vintage footage for us. :)



The new shooting galleries at One Eye'd Billie's has two sides. On the left is the "Fun" shooting gallery that will issue tickets for hitting the small targets near each "feature". The rifles use a laser light and use no real ammo. There is a spinning water wheel of chance and plenty more silly reactions to shoot at. You get a total of 15 shots for each round and there is no time limit.



The Skeet Shoot on the right is a timed game of shooting skill with fun pellet guns and clay pigeons. You will get a specified amount of time and unlimited shots to hit as many targets as possible. For now all of the pigeons are the same value. If you hit more that 42 targets you get a 500 ticket bonus.

This is a kind of version 1.0 and I have plans to expand on this later in development.


Here are a couple of small extras that I will be releasing next week in the new update.



Added a Quickplay Mode. What is quickplay mode you ask? Quickplay Mode is a simple way to dip into the world quickly and just play the game that you want without venturing to the island and dodging bots and buses. It is just the chosen game in a empty gray room for now.



I have been working on multiplayer mode and need to work on each machine individually. I need to cycle through many machines quickly as I add features to them. Well until now, I didnt have all the machines in one place and needed to do just that for future development work. So I made a simple way for me to play each machine quickly and without having to load the entire island. So when I got done with the system the other day I thought to myself that maybe players would like a way to just play the games without all of the other stuff sometimes. So here it is. Quickplay mode. I think I am going to make a menu that will allow the player to choose to start the mode with 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 bucks. That way users can challenge a friend to see who gets more tickets with X amount of $. I may expand on this in the future but for now it is what it is. A single arcade machine in a room that should load a bit faster and get a little more FPS on some of the lower end computers.

Let me know what you all think.




I have added 20 fun loot crates around the island for the next update coming next week. A kind of challenge to get out in the great outdoors and explore! When you find one....click on it to open it. It will have 3 random prizes in them that are yours to keep.

These will be used in the future for other things and challenges and I wanted to get a little feedback on them.





Here is a picture of the original concept for The Coin Game. It was originally called Push Stuff. Here is the original Steam Greenlight Link from 2015. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=568690459




When the coin game was released in Feb 2019 it featured about a dozen games in one location. Now two years later the game features 3 full arcades, over 50 games and ticket machines, 15 unique locations with multiple money earning jobs. Along with a multiplayer planned for the future.

So my wife and I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the ability to build this title for you. I read all of the comments, suggestions and discussions and seeing some of the folks enjoying the nostalgia and environment of a small town really makes the feels flow. :)

So that's about it for this little teaser. Look out for the update next week.

Kevin

Dec 24th, 2020

Update #022
Version: V0.9941
Build# 6012822

Merry Christmas Islandvillers! I've got a BIG UPDATE for you just in time for the holidays. As always this is a work in progress and it may contain some bugs but I will be doing my best to gather and patch them all week. ;). So I do thank you all for being understanding and helping out. The new arcade will come out in a couple stages.



This is the first version of the new One Eye'd Billie's Adventure and Fun Center. The new arcade comes complete with 10 New machines and an indoor 18 Hole Putt Putt Golf Course. It is located pretty close to the home over by the mountains. You can see it on your watch mini map now as "Billies". If you are taking the bus there, you should get off at the Mountains stop and walk the rest of the way. Remember this arcade is still a WORK IN PROGRESS and not fully complete yet but I really wanted to get this to you all for a little extra holiday cheer.



- 8 new games inspired from modern popular releases and also some good ol'arcade classics.
- New Pirate themed prizes at the prize booth ran by One Eye'd Billie himself.
- New character bots that will "play" the games at One Eye'd Billies. Makes it feel a little more alive.
- New indoor 18 hole putt putt golf course. You can play just the front 9 holes or the back 9 holes... or all 18. You will win tickets when you complete the full golf game. Lower score = More tickets. (Work in progress... still adjusting winning values)



- Pirate pizza snack Bar inside the new arcade so you never have to leave. (Pizza Delivery Job coming later in future.)

- Half the arcade is "closed and under construction". This update is just a "pre grand opening" party. Feel free to look around. Billy wanted to get everyone in for the holidays. He is such a push over. I barely had to even ask him and he was like " Do you think they will even want to come when its only 3/4 of the way complete.?" I told him "We have to try Billy... we have to try."

By popular demand I have added a sitting feature to the character controller. This will let you waste some time and watch a sunset at the beach or even enjoy some "bro/goose time" with Gary watching the TV. Now when you hover on an applicable chair, a cursor will show a sitting image. Left Click or the interact button on controller to sit down. Then when you want to stand up again just hit the the Exit "vehicle" button or the E Key. When you are at home or at the babysitters the TV Remote will be in your right hand. Left click or press the "Interact" button to change the channel. I am still working on more ways to get better TV shows coming... So this is just a tool to make it a little cooler when that stuff is done in the future.



- Added a few new Clothing options to both the characters. I still plan on replacing the main characters someday but I also like to keep it fresh for the new year. ;)
- Added Visual Heath damage queues. The screen will flash red upon hurting yourself and also when you are under water and drowning.
- decreased the amount of health loss when energy is very low.
- Health resets to 99 after a full nights rest in Survivor Mode.
- Added a drowning controller when you are underwater now. you will lose health for being underwater so plan accordingly.
- Added the ability to get paid in babysitting by getting all but one of the dirt spots. Just like the toys now.




Old school ticket ramp game. Play one shot at a time. Go for the thin red slots to win the bonus. TIming is everything.



Ball/Marble Coin Style pusher with bonus wheel and Ice Ball Ramp.



Timing Pinball Style level up game. Make it to the top to get to spin the bonus wheel for big ticket prizes.



As close as you can get to roulette for kids. Place your "wager" and spin it. Not too much involved here.



Coin dropper style game. Timing is everything. Drop it on the wheel at the right time to get the coin in one of the circles on the edges. Easier said than done though. ;)



A classic basket ball shooter game. Last 15 seconds are 3 pointers... all the others are 2. You get paid about 3 tickets per point when all said and done. I am still adjusting all winnings on all games.



All star classic Air Hockey game. There is also some new opponents to play against. Aim and hit one button. I tried to make it very simple but still fun to play. I dont want to turn this game into a Air Hockey sim. I mean that would be fun.... but we have arcades to build.


- Minion Bots may "stick to you" on lower end PC's. Collider issue still getting fixed.
- The new machines and building is NOT OPTIMISED Yet. This is a fun sneak peek at the new arcade and may run about 10-20% slower than normal.
- Wheel Er Up game may skip a tooth due to a physics issue I am still working on.

Thank you for being understanding.





I have been testing some new characters that will travel around, occupy and play some of the arcade games along side of you. This is only at One Eye'd Billies for now. It should make the arcades feel a little more alive until we get the multiplayer done some day. Now there will be a another gamer wandering around One Eye'd Billies playing games with you. Sometimes he is "filming clips" for his day job. The guy is a Arcade legend! ;)

I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know in the comments what you think.

After the Christmas break I will be continuing work on the rest of the machines for One Eye'd Billies, RC Boat game and the Shooting Gallery. Thank you for all the support for The Coin Game!

Happy Holidays!

Kevin

GET MERCH HERE

Hello fellow Islandvillers!

First off... THANK YOU for all the wonderful ideas, reviews and support for The Coin Game. Without all of you this game would not be possible.

I have been quiet.... but in typical devotid "workaholic never sleep" style I have been cranking night and day on the new locations, new features and new games. Here are some sneak peeks of One Eye'd Billie and his new Arcade.

Thank you for being patient and understanding of what it takes to create this game as a solo developer. Its my own personal never ending fun project.... and I LOVE WORKING ON IT.

The Next Update: One Eye'd Billie's new arcade will come in a couple stages. The first stage when finished will have about 9-10 new Machines. It will feature some new school stuff and some old school stuff. New Claw Machines, New Coin Pushers, a wood fired pizza food stand and a 18 hole indoor Putt Putt Golf course to start. There will be new pirate themed prizes at the prize counter and a bunch of pirate themed decorations complete with indoor ponds and waterfalls. One Eye's Billie himself will be working the prize booth as he is a "wheels on the ground" kinda leader.

I'm working as hard as possible to have this first stage of One Eye's Billie's released by this Christmas.

The Second stage of One Eye'd Billie's will feature a Shooting gallery and a Radio Controlled pirate ship game on the indoor pond. These two areas will be under construction and closed off in the first version of One Eye'd Billie's. I am also working on a Pizza Delivery job that will give players another way to make some dough. (see what I did there?) These final pieces of One Eye'd Billie's are going to take a bit longer to finish so I will be adding them as they are completed.

Yes. I am making a multiplayer but it will take time.

During the end of the summer/fall I started "testing and working" on multiplayer for The Coin Game. Its the main reason that One Eye'd Billie's is taking so long. I woke up one day and after reading the community thoughts about multiplayer, I just started to work on it.

A month later I looked up from my keyboard and said to myself "I think I need to finish One Eye'd Billie's first and then come back to this later". As I realized It's going to be MUCH more work than I had anticipated.

So far I have the multiplayer match making, text chatting, room/lobbies, menus and backend stuff almost complete but each game and machine will need to be upgraded and enhanced to function across a network. It is basically redoing part of each machine from scratch again. Lots of work but I know it will be worth it. I also want to add another vehicle or two before I build a system for riding around the island together. I'm guessing multiplayer with limited machines will be ready sometime Q2 2021. I hate to give dates so take these with a big grain of salt....lol.

As you can see I have built a small road side motel (See pics below) that will be a "spawn spot" for you and approx 6 of your friends in the future to pillage the island and reign as the Ticket Conquistadors (Or whatever you want to name your clan.) When you are in multiplayer, you will each have your own room in the motel as a "Home Base" as you will all be on vacation with your friends and not have access to the normal "Home" in Islandville. Don't worry. Uncle Phil said he knows the owner of the motel and will cover the cost. What a guy!

You will be able to just relax and play games with your friends at the arcades at your own speed. In fact, that's the main reason that I see the need for a multiplayer in The Coin Game. I think many people are lacking the ability to just go hang out with our friends at an arcade. Its going to take A LOT OF WORK but I am up for giving it my best shot. I am still in the early stages for multiplayer but I think I want to have a couple competitions and some challenges between vacation goers (players) and maybe even a Ticket Royale of some sort in the far future.

Well that's enough for now. I just wanted you all to know that I am working on it in the background. It is just going to take some more time. I will divulge more info as I am more sure of the direction that I am going in.

Here are some more pics of One Eye'd Billie's coming to Islandville in the next update.






























Another New location coming to the island is a road side Motel. The motel will be in the next update but will not have functioning rooms until the multiplayer comes out in 2021. Here is a couple pics of the outside of Islandville Motel.










Some other small things that will also be in the NEXT UPDATE.
- New sitting feature to sit in any chair or couch. Now you be able to sit and watch tv with Gary or catch a sunset by the water.







- Hidden loot crates hidden around the island to encourage exploring. (More info Later...)
- Visual clues for health warnings and damage.
- Drowning underwater controller for health system.
- A couple more clothing choices for each character. It's not Bettys Boutique yet.... as that is coming later as well.

Again. Thank you for all the support and ideas in the community. Now I get to eat some leftover turkey! (Don't tell Gary...Please I will never hear the end of it)

Also. I designed a few TeeSpring swag items for The Coin Game. You can check them out and support the game at this link The Coin Game Swag. Proceeds go toward future development of The Coin Game. Ill be adding more designs and goodies in the future.



As always. Please let me know what you think. I value all feedback. :)

Kevin

Hello fellow Islandville residents!

I have been pretty quiet and hard at work on the next location. It's coming along nicely so farrrrrgggGGHHHHH! Sorry. My pirate voice slipped out there. ;)

The next arcade/location coming to The Coin Game will be called "One Eye'd Billies". It's a Family Adventure and Indoor Fun Center that was inspired by the old road side fun centers all over the world. Bonus points if you can guess the original building that inspired this very old original Arcades front skull facade.

Billie's is roughly 2 times the size of the UFO arcade. When it is finished, it will be located at the Mountain bus stop on the water near your home. It will have a wooden dock/pier that runs all the way around it on the water that I can expand on in the future if I need to. The coming area will feature a fun pirate theme and another full arcade with about a dozen or more new arcade machines and coin pushers, an 18 Hole indoor Putt Putt Golf Course, a couple of shooting galleries with goofy reactions for scoring a hit, Pizza take out/delivery area, a radio controlled boat pond and a pirate themed prize counter stuffed with all kinds of new treasures and prizes to collect or pawn off to Barry.

I have also been working on a smaller update to Survivor Mode that will be coming before I have this next location complete. Some of the things I am working on for the next update are as follows.

- Sitting down mode: The ability to be able to sit on any chair or bench.
- Another vehicle or customizing the golf cart? Still not sure.... What do you all think?
- Tweaks to the Damage and Health systems.
- Tweaks to current machines
- More bug fixes!


I have the exterior of One Eye'd Billie's almost done. I have the base textures completed but still have to go back and add some more little details here and there.... but the main "feel" of the next location is starting to come together. Here are a few pics of the outside of the next location... REMEMBER THIS IS NOT RELEASED YET!







I have to build and finish the physics for the arcade machines still. Those will take me some time. I do not like to give time lines or dates... so I wont. haha. You can rest assured that I am working on the game if I am not sleeping. ;)

In the next developer blog I will talk more about the contents on the inside of Billies. I am sure that is what you are all waiting for. Things like new machines, putt putt golf, RC Boats and yummy stone fired pizzas. I will be showing more of these coming features as they get closer to completion in other dev blogs.


Here are some early work in progress pics from the interior of Billie's. You can see the mesh is not textured and only contains simple colors to "test" the layout. I like to build locations in a "raw form" like this first and then "test play it" to make sure it feels right. There is nothing like finishing an entire 3D building and then the fist time you play it you realize it sucks. haha. Each location goes through about 2-3 of these "nudge sessions". I sit there and play it. nudge it. Play it some more.... Nudge it. etc. At any given time there is about 4-5 major pieces of software open at one time just to work on one item. Its a crazy workflow nowadays but mainly I am usually just organizing files and folders. I sometimes think that is what most "game devs" do all day is make new folders and organize files for a living. haha. The modeling and coding for me is the easy part and time flies when I am doing that.

Currently, this week I have been working on the Putt Putt Golf Course. You know how hard it is to come up with 18 unique but playable golf holes? Whew. It's harder than I thought. I am still changing and tweaking a few of the holes with additional obstacles. Hole #17 is a "Plinko" inspired hole that will require a bit of luck to get a hole-in-one. Many of the holes are inspired from the old side of the road smaller parks. No big overdone loo-pity loops or 100 foot drop offs here. I like to go for "realism" and things that would exist in a smaller town / population that would be working with a smaller budget.

The arcades owner One Eye'd Billy isn't made of money and he is a simple Bot. He likes Wood Fired Pies (Pizzas) and a nice dockside sunset to charge his solar panels. He is also a heck of a sailor and the original captain of the ship that brought him and Uncle Phil to this wonderful place a long time ago. You can see the original wooden beauty on display in the harbor that he and Uncle Phil built with there own two hands.

He told me in an IslandMail the other day that he may even be into playing a few rounds of Putt Putt against you youngsters to show you who the real pirate is. More news on that later though. ;)

Here are some pics of the inside of One Eye'd Billie's in Unity. WORK IN PROGRESS















And for a little extra teaser..... Here is just a sample of some of the new machines coming to The Coin Game.

I like to work on MANY things at once as it allows me to keep it "fresh" in the office and not get bored working on one thing for too long. It also allows me to stand back and look at things before I make big decisions or direction changes. I kind of go around a big "virtual workroom" and just do a little sculpting on something and then I move to another and sculpt a little more. Currently at this time I am working on about 12 machines and two buildings. haha. Whew. Sounds like a lot when I say it out loud.













These machines are just modeled and have not received their final graphics treatments. Once textured they will get placed in Unity next and given baked lighting, physical colliders and then the scoring systems are put in last. After building more than 60 different machines over the last couple of years I have templates now. Being able to start from a custom built template is allowing me to build machines faster. Machines that would take me three weeks a year ago, are now getting completed in about a week. I am really finding my stride with One Eye'd Billies and cant wait to show you all the new fun stuff coming. That's enough for this blog post. I need to get back to sculpting. ;)

Ill be working hard.... stay tuned for more and stay safe out there.

Side Note: The Coin Game will be increasing in price very soon to about $11.99. So get in now while the price is still low! I am also working on a Supporter Edition with some cool extra cosmetic doo-dads for the characters to show your extra support of the development of The Coin Game. More news on that in the next blog.

Thank you for supporting The Coin Game!

Kevin

Aug 11th 2020

Update #021
Version: V0.994
Build# 5400544



This update mainly addresses the "insta-death" from the bad bots or a random goose food item to the head. I have been watching many of your hilarious streams over the last few weeks and have seen way too many insta-deaths. I have made some changes to the way damage is dealt to the player and also at what times. Now the most damage you can get from an whipping item is about a 1/10th of what it was before. I turned all of the damage down on those items. This should eliminate the insta-deaths from holding items or falling down a hill and receiving a -50 damage. Now you will receive at the most a -10 Damage when falling off of a roof. Getting hit by a car will still kill you... so dont hang out in the road. In one of the future updates I plan on including damage when you are on the bike and Golf Cart. So start getting used to watching out more for traffic.

Congrats to all of you veterans that played and LIVED through these rough and barbaric early times here on Islandville Isle. Well done.

I made the bad bots "Short Circuit and burn up" now when you shoot them 3 times with a rubber band gun or even the Roman Candles. Shooting them 3 times will short circuit the bad bots and make them run to Larry's back door by the lambo to "heal up". This will give you more time to get to Barry's front door and be a little more "in control" around the pawn shop. I still have plans to add more "weapons" to battle them and also better "burning up" animations for the bad guys but that will come at a later date. ;)

I also turned down the "constant declining health" system a bit. Now your health will only drop quickly if you are really low on energy. I am still working on a "low energy and health" visual warning system that will come in the next phase of Survivor Mode beta.

You can also check in to go to bed 2 hours earlier now. 7 PM instead of 9 PM the blankets in your bed will now be open. This should also ease the health drain a bit and allow you to get some rest a little bit earlier and refresh yourself.

I am still working on a Dev blog with some early teasers for the next location. One Eye'd Billies Fun and Adventure Center. I will have the blog post ready very soon with a little road map for some of the coming games and even some ideas for future development. So stay tuned.

That's about all I have for this small patch update. You may notice a couple more small patch updates coming to keep adjusting the new beta Survivor Mode.

Thank you to all of you for all the support. I could not do this without ALL OF YOU!

Kevin



- Turned off the player damage system when using the Karting System and Lazer Tag systems.
- Turned off the player damage system when you are holding an item to stop the killing yourself when trying to feed Gary/Fish or manipulate other things.
- Turned down the health damage received from all items and also the health damage from falling off of higher areas.

Old Values
-50 = High Damage
-25 = Med Damage
-5 = Low Damage)

New Values
-10 = High Damage
-5 = Med Damage
-2 = Low Damage

- Reduced the amount health that will be subtracted throughout the day. Now only when you are really really tired will it start to decrease a drastic amount. Turned down about 25%
- Deactivate the bikes wheel colliders sooner to stop the bikes wheels from interfering with the player controller and sending you to the moon.


- You can now check in 2 hours earlier and go to sleep to get that needed boost of health. The bed "covers" will open at 7 PM instead of 9 PM now.


- Fixed a bug in Barry's that would allow the player to eat an item and still get paid for it. Now the menu and system will auto update when changed.
- Fixed a bug with the Barry's "Hot item" System not displaying the proper names.
- Fixed a bug with Barry's not paying double on some of the "Hot Items".
- Rebuilt the bad bots and how they respond to being shot. You can also now "stop" them with fireworks. Hit them three times to make them "retreat".
- Added more locations for the "bad bots" to randomly visit around Barry's area to help spread out the "presence" of them at the front door of Barry's.
- Fireworks can damage the bad bots and deactivate them for about 30 seconds as they are "burning up". (Work In Progress)
- Rubber bands can damage the bad bots and deactivate them for about 30 seconds as they are "burning up". (Work In Progress)



- Changed the way the Carnie Pool Ducks are loaded at the carnival. Ducks were slowly disappearing after a bunch of plays and locking the player in the game after they were all gone.
- Fixed some Random Items that were not spawning on the Dollar store roof.
- Added the Mountain Bike to the help menu. H Key at anytime will open the help menu.
- Removed and tweaked a bunch of Nanny Bots house hang out destinations. Now she wont be annoying and in the kitchen all the time messing up you and Gary's chow time.
- Removed the manual time simulation "sun mover system" when you are on "Manual Time Mode". Saves a little GPU Load and stops the shadows from flicking and moving as much. When the time is progressing through the day the shadows will move all the time and can get annoying.
- Fixed the "H Key" Help Menu that was not working on all resolutions.

June 8th 2020

Update #016
Version: V0.989





I am so happy to bring this update to The Coin Game! Thank you so much for all the support and patience through all of these crazy times we are all going through. I have been building and updating this game for over a year and a half now and I have loved every second. The community and users here are the best I have ever encountered.... and I am not just saying that. I really love the way people treat and help each other around here. Its nice to see.... So first off I want to say THANK YOU to all that have helped others out, helped me out, bug fixed, suggested ideas, suggested machines, ideas...etc. Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the next stage of The Coin Game as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. I have a long way to go but I am glad that you all make it so easy and pleasant. :)


I am going to be rolling out the new Survivor Mode in a few stages. This first stage includes the new health and energy systems along side of more ways to make money. As this is Survivor mode and not Birthday mode, you will be earning your own way instead of being spoiled by rich Uncle Phil. You must also manage a curfew from Mom and Nanny bot. Nanny bot does not mess around and if she has to come get you, you are "grounded" and it's game over.

This initial release of Survivor Mode "Beta Stage One" is a way for me to gather data and feedback from all of you on the new mode. It is not finished and is in a "Work In Progress" state. I have left features out of this first stage for now that are still getting polished and optimized but the base of the new mode is there. I will be changing things based on the communities feedback and ideas.... So let me hear it. WE ARE BUILDING THIS TOGETHER. I dont know how this is going to play out and I am ready to be nimble and adapt. I want it to be fun but not daunting. Finding the right level of game difficulty in a survivor mode is a fine line and as a single dev its hard to balance so many variables and systems at one time. So what I have done is built all of the needed systems and have inserted base starting points/values. I have been playing and testing in house for months but I am sure we are going to be changing and tuning it more. I am very much excited about this part. Its all new and kind of uncharted waters for myself and this genre. So I am going to be counting on you all to help me out with more of those amazing ideas that you all come up with. Ok... enough babbling.


TLDR: Survivor Mode Curfew Times:
- Day wake up start time = 7:00 AM
- Can check in and go to sleep time = 9:00 PM
- MUST be home or you are grounded time = 11:00 PM

You will now start the day at around 7:00 AM in the morning in your bedroom. For now the day will be a set length but in the future when the XP Points system is finished you will then be able to purchase a later curfew and other small advantages to help you around the island. Again, that will come in a later update. You will begin the initial day with about $2.50 in spending cash, some food in the fridge and some supplies around the home. You can play out the day however you wish as long as you are home by the curfew time that you can track on the onscreen hud or on your smart watch (its the blue ring on the Player hud). There are also some new jobs around the island to earn spending money. You can now babysit the Jones family baby bots, mow Barry's home lawn, deliver newspapers or even take back shopping carts at the Dollar Store.

You must be IN THE HOUSE when the curfew timer hits 0:00 or you are grounded and its Game Over. You will be warned by the curfew timer that will flash in your player HUD in the last hour of time remaining. You can go to sleep anytime after about 9:00 PM to start a new day sooner if you wish. You can tell that its time to go to sleep as the nightlight next to your bed will turn on and the covers on the bed in your room will "open up" and allow you to click the pillows to go to sleep. You will get a health and energy boost for sleeping but your Energy will be a bit lower than your health in the mornings. Make sure to eat something to get your energy up to speed in the morning.

The new Health, Energy and Curfew system in Survivor Mode adds a little more excitement to getting around the island. You must keep your energy level up by eating some junk food throughout the day (or you will move and walk slower) but also must manage your overall health to stay "alive". If you let your energy level drop too low it will start to take away health so make sure to keep them both up and maintained. In the new Survivor Mode you can get injured by vehicles, mean bots yielding bats and Rubber band guns and even falling/jumping off of points that are too high. If your health falls below 0 you will pass out and Nanny bot has to come take care of you. ie; You are Grounded and it's Game Over.

Again... This is still a work in progress and Survivor Mode will be getting tweaked and changed throughout the Early Access stage.



- Survivor Mode Beta
- Player Health and Energy Systems
- Player damage system
- Curfew system
- New HOT 4 ITEMS sign in front of Barrys Pawn Shop that he will pay double for the current day.
- New Battery Power system for anything that takes batteries. (Flashlight, Boom Box, Bike Light, Hoverboard etc...)
- New Mountain Bike
- New Shopping Carts
- New Ragdoll system when you "die" along with Breaking News "ending scene"
- New personal claw machine in your room to play with your own junk or prizes for free.
- New Babysitting Job
- New Lawn Mowing Job
- Play fetch with Barrys Dachshund.
- New Shopping Cart Return Job
- New Survivor Mode leaderboards (These are Beta Leaderboards and may be reset in the future.)
- New Pinball Machine "Islandville The Game"
- New Arcade Cabinet "Snow Ball Battle"
- New Tree house in the woods behinds Jerrys Gas and Go
- New Islandville Market with 7 New items and shopping carts
- Jerrys Gas and Go New Store with 4 new items
- New Bulk candy Machines 4 New flavors of candy all around the island
- TV now has four channels 03, 05, 12 and 66
- .Mp4 video player is built into channel 03. See details below on how to play your own .mp4 videos from a folder in your Documents/devotid/TCG_Videos and watch them with gary.
- New Microwave to cook your tv dinners at home or at the babysitters.
- Fridge in the kitchen to store your stuff at home and at the babysitters.
- Hoverboard can be ridden now. right click it to ride and click any key to jump off. Takes batteries.
- Boom box can now play music by clicking on the center of it once and then right clicking again after the icon changes. Takes batteries. Only plays local radio for now.
- Machine Interference system built into certain machines to stop users from "placing" prizes and items into machines and affecting game play. Now you will get a couple warnings on touching machines with prizes. Do it too many times and the prize will get taken and destroyed. This system is in beta. TLDR: dont stick prizes into a machine or you will loose it. ;)
- You can now save your game while indoors. You will then load the saved game file at that location entrance upon next start.
- Ability to turn off the leaderboards uploading completely. They are now off at default. Turn them on in the Option Menu.
- Ability to sort leaderboards by "Friends" rank, "Global Top 50" rank and "Around Me" rank. (Leaderboards must be turned on in Options Menu)
- New mouse sensitivity slider in the options menu.
- More VIDEO Settings and options to turn off to increase FPS for lower end PC's.
- Bug fixes and other optimizing all over the place.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
June 15th 2020

Update #017
Version: V0.990
Build# 5165495

Just a small patch fix.

- Added bike and cart reset buttons to the survivor mode menu map.
- Turned off damage controllers during the loading and unloading of the Laser Tag and Mountain Bike.
- Turned off damage controllers while you are on the the Bus.
- removed a force on the bike exit that would give you damage when exiting the bike.
- Added menu scaler for the Watch, Loading screens and the Input Menus to look beauty on any resolution.
- Fixed the inverted mouse not working on vehicles. Added more options in the vehicle input settings to also reverse the LookX and LookY axis while on a vehicle.
- Create a check system for the pinball to make sure the autolaunch ball is in play. If not it will reset it in 4 seconds and allow you to relaunch the pinball.
- fixed the loading of objects when you last saved inside and reload a game. Objects are now updated to the correct player position.
- Fixed the golf cart freaking out when you bought it. The Dummy that sits in its place was not turned off early enough.
- Fixed loading of some items into your inventory that would damage you. Boombox
- Made the bike a little slower. Added some "air drag" to slow the top speed but not take any low end "power" away.
- Less energy Usage on the lawn Mower. -25%
- Less health loss through the day. -5%
- Made the baby bots a little easier to grab.

-----------------------------------------------------------------



June 19th 2020

Update #018
Version: V0.991
Build# 5187958

Just a small patch fix.

- Made the baby bots not lose "speed" every time you pick them up when babysitting. This would cause them to not run after you pick them up a couple times.
- Fixed the camera resetting and showing the glasses after filling the golf cart.
- Made the Bike Entry trigger on the handle bars much larger. You will see a bike symbol when you hover over the handlebars. Just right click to enter/get on bike.
- Fixed a bug were the bike would get mixed up in the Babysitter toy rescue system and end up in the chimney. Originally, I made a toy reset system that if a toy goes through the wall in the babysitter house it would fall back through the chimney. Kind of like Ol'Santa Claus.... but the bike was getting caught in it. haha. oops. Fixed. If you ever are looking for the last toy.... make sure to always check the fireplace first. ;)
- Fixed the Amount of completed days info on the Player HUD no showing correctly.
- Fixed the babysitter bots freaking out when they didn't drop a toy properly.
- Fixed a bug were if you were holding the flashlight and used the lawn mower is would instantly kill you. Ouch. Sorry about that one.
- Fixed the bots yelling Happy Birthday when it was not your birthday after a jackpot win.
- Increased the physics resolution on the Skeeballers, Pro Roller and the Just Toss It as they were doing silly things against the colliders and not working correctly.
- Fixed a Bug that would break the Mountain Bike and make it lean and not track/ride straight after a reset.
- Adjusted the timing on the watch opening animation. Still working on the Ghost eyes and glasses appearing on the screen on loading and unloading of vehicles.
- Fixed the 6 Pack of Jolted Sodas were disappearing when you would save the game.
- Fixed a bud that would make the fish freak out when eating. (Still working on this)
- Made the Babysitter bots stay in bed when you have already finished the job for the day. That way you can go eat their parents food in peace and quiet. ;) The job will reset the next day after sleeping now.

That's about it for this patch update. I will be reading the forums and working on new content over the next couple of weeks.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

There is other stuff that I fixed but simply didnt record at the time. There is many times in the morning when I read the bugs section in the community and then just fix it and it never gets recorded. So those too. lol.





A simple 0-100 value of your current health. Eating healthy things and sleeping is the only way to increase your health. You can check your health at any time in the lower right hand corner of the screen in red.





You will now take damage when getting hit by other bots and jumping off of high points. The system is pretty simple right now as I had to remove some features in the first phase of the beta. It will become more precise and sophisticated as development goes on.

Known beta issues and things I am still working on with the damage system:
- Can not take damage yet when riding a bike
- Can not take damage when driving Golf Cart or Race cart
- Sometimes registers light damaged when running up stairs and inclines





A simple 0-100 value of your current energy level. Effects the speed in which you move and when it is low enough it will start to affect your health level. You can check your energy at any time in the lower right hand corner of the screen in orange.





The curfew time is the amount of time that you have left in the day. You must be home at the specified time or you will be grounded and game over.






There is a new pinball machine in the back of the Islandville Market. To play just insert your card as normal. The game is a one time highscore style leaderboard and is a new system that I am still building and learning from.
CONTROLS:
Left Flipper = Left Shift or Left Click
Right Flipper = Right Shift or Right Click
nudge Machine = Spacebar
Ball Shooter Plunger = Right Shift or Right Click

- GATE Bonus Default 15000 at game start available to win.
- Gate/Lane per Pass 1000 and also adds 5000 to the Gate bonus for lighting all three of the lanes
- Thumper Jet Bumpers 1000 per hit and adds 3000 to the Barrys Pawn Shop Ramp bonus Rear Ramp
- Riding the LEFT RAMP is 15000 regular and 50000 when lit. You also get the BARRY BONUS which is accumulated from the Jet Bumpers 3000 per hit. (Max 500,00). This ramp is lit by the 3X B U S targets on the right hand side. The ramp will stay lit for 15 seconds.
- Riding the RIGHT RAMP is 20000 for regular and 100,000 when lit. This ramp is lit by the Drop Target on the left hand side of the game. The ramp will stay lit for 15 seconds.
- Riding the MIDDLE RAMP is 10000 for regular and 50000 when lit. This ramp is lit by the 3x Red G A S targets on the left hand side of the game. The ramp will stay lit for 15 seconds AND During that time you can hit the ramp again to add 8 seconds to the timer and go on a bonus run. You will get 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k and 1 million for hitting the ramp 5 times within the bonus time.
- Frankies Fireworks Drop Target is worth 5000 for opening the door. You will hear Frankie greet you and let you know he is open for business. If you get the ball into the fireworks stand you will receive 50000 points. The door will remain open for 20 seconds.
- Center single round target on the right side of Frankie Fireworks Tent is 10000 points each hit and on the the third hit it will light the EXTRA BALL light on the side exit lanes. Once the EXTRA BALL light is lit you can use flippers to move it from side to side. Th extra ball can pay off to help with those late 4th ball Barry Pawn Shop Bonuses.
- Extra Ball Trigger is on for the first 15 seconds of game play for the 2nd and 3rd ball only. Its a little safety feature if you lose the ball right away.
- 15k for lighting either of the 3 pack of Targets.
- Replay at 1,500,000






The first arcade cabinet to come to The Coin Game is Snow Ball Battle. Its a old school space shooter inspired by the old Space Invaders. You must clear all of the levels and not get hit by falling bombs. Its gets progressively harder per level and each enemy you destroy. Catch the 2X and 3X points multiplier drops (They last 15 seconds) from Connie Kernal riding her snowmobile across the screen. She will also drop extra points along with the points multipliers. You have three lives. The game features a highscore style leaderboard so keep trying for you ultimate score.

In theory the game has 20 Levels.... I have only gotten to level 7. Im not good enough to get any farther. Good Luck. There may need some tweaking so please report any odd findings.
CONTROLS:
Move Left and Right = A and D Key or Left Stick
Throw Snowball = Left Click or Interact button






There is now 4 items a day that Barry has a extra need for and will pay double the money. You can check the items that he needs on the scrolling LED signs in front of his building and at all bus stops. Make sure to take advantage of the specials to get the most for your prizes.






Now anything that requires batteries will need them in order to work. The flashlight, Hoverboard and Boombox are the first items to use the battery power system. The batteries are available at Jerrys gas and go for now.






You now have a mountain bike to ride around the island. You cant carry anything in it and it will use way more energy than cruising in a golf cart.... but hey its free. You cant complain about that.
CONTROLS:
Enter Bike = (Right click (Interact Button) on the handle bars.)
Exit bike = (E Key or Exit Vehicle Button) great for ghost riding into things.
Pedal = (W key or Right Trigger)
Steering = (A and D Key or Left Stick)
Lean Forward and Back = (F and V Keys or Left Stick Y axis)
Reverse = (Hold S Key for 1 second or Rear Brake Button)
Brake_front = (S Key or Left Trigger)
Brake_rear = (Spacebar or Right Shoulder Button)
Bunny hop = (Shift Key or Left Stick Button)
Turn off the headlight to save battery = Num 9 Key






You can now ride the hoverboard around the island. Its not the fastest thing in the world and takes lots of batteries but hey its a hovering and takes no energy to get around.
CONTROLS:
Board the vessel = Right click the board or Interact Button
Forward and Back = W and S Keys or Left Stick Y Axis
Left Right = A and D Keys or Left Stick X Axis
Exit Vehicle = Any Button, E Key or Exit Vehicle Button






You can now cruise the island in style with all of your prizes in a shopping cart. Or you can return them to the side of the Market and get a couple bucks for it.
CONTROLS:
Use Shopping Cart = Right click on the handle
Exit Shopping Cart = Click any key






You can return shopping carts to the side of the Islandville Market to make a little extra cash. Simply grab them and shove them into the rack and the system will automatically pay you for returning them. You will find about 10 carts around the Islandville Market area and they will be available each day for extra loot. It takes a little precision to get them in the rack so be careful. Good Luck and thanks for keeping the Islandville clean.






There is now a personal claw machine in your bedroom to fill with all kinds of junk or toys that you have won or found around town. To fill it up just click the handle on the front glass window (Left Side) and throw the items in. Then just insert your card and play as normal.






You can now babysit the Jones family baby bots at their house for extra loot. Simply go to the front door of the house across from the Lawn mowing job. Its a boot icon on your smartwatch. Its close to the newspaper stand and across from the barking dog.
Go inside the house and you will see a list of items to check off. You must but the bots in their beds. You must put all their toys in the chest up front by the TV and then use the Sweeper (Right click on it to grab) to clean all their "oil" leaks in the carpets. Once you have fulfilled all the tasks you will be paid. You can only do this job once per day.






You can also mow Barrys house lawn for cash. Simply walk into the fenced in yard by clicking on one of the gates or going through his garage. Barrys house is located right across the street from the Jones family babysitting job. It has a white fence all around it. To start mowing just right click on the Handle of the mower and it will start right up. To mow the yard just run all of the grass over and make it short. Not too much too it. Its your basic mower.
Barry is an animal lover and has a small Dachshund in the yard that loves to play fetch. He will sleep on the porch when you are mowing. His ball is on the fence by the garage and he can only get it when it is in the yard. So make sure to keep it in the fence so he can get it. This will change in future versions.






You now can shop at the Islandville Market. A nice little small town market ran by Deb and Skippy. Well more Skippy than deb. She just reads TeenBot all day dreaming of winning the lotto. Skippy will always be cleaning and climbing the latter to upper management. To purchase items just put them on the conveyor belt at the front of the store and then when you are ready just hit the button on the front of the conveyor. If you have enough money in your wallet Skippy and Deb will bag em up. Its pretty simple. You can purchase Goose food, Rubber Bands for your gun, Fish food, TV Dinners, Vitamins and First Aid bandages. More items will come in the future.






You can now buy 4 new items at Jerrys Gas and Go. He sells his own homemade jerky that is really good for you. Whole vitamin D Milk, Batteries and of course no gas station is complete with triangle shaped mini tuna sandwiches. The stuff there is not cheap but Jerry sells only the best stuff. To purchase just put the items on the counter and hit the button. If you have enough money in your wallet, Jerry will bag it all up for you.






Simple penny candy machines for a little sugar high around the island. These will help you to keep up your energy up around the island. Cheap, quick, unhygienic and easy.






You can watch your own movies on the TV at home and at the Babysitters house by placing your own .mp4 files into a folder named TCG_Videos in your my documents folder. Just create a folder named devotid and then put a folder in that called TCG_Videos. The complete path would be C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\devotid\TCG_Videos

It will only play .mp4 videos and will just play through them in whatever order they are in in the folder. This is just a test feature and is not finished in any way. I have not tested the system with large movie files. Just a few 1-2 minute videos and it seems to be working fine. AGAIN this is just a fun feature I added in to test and is not very polished. USE WITH CARE.






Its pretty simple. Put the TV Dinners in the microwave and it will take care of the rest. Make sure to eat the food while it is still steaming as the health and energy values will fall once it is cold. ;)






Machine Interference system built into certain machines to stop users from "placing" prizes and items into machines and affecting game play. Now you will get a couple warnings on touching machines with prizes. Do it too many times and the prize will get taken and destroyed. This system is in beta.
TLDR: dont stick prizes into a machine or you will loose it. ;)





To all the folks not interested in Survivor Mode and are just looking for more machines.... Im listening to you as well and I am on top of it. There is more arcades, locations, machines and even modes coming. I went a lot bigger than I had planned originally on the size of the island (I started this game years ago as just a parking lot and two arcades but thought it needed more after initial testing).... but I am glad that I did because I have been having a blast riding the bike around the island doing odd jobs. The size of the island gives us plenty of room to grow into and now that I am finishing more and more of the base systems I can get more into making more machines and locations. Its not a secret that those are my favorite. ;)

That concludes this update. I will be doing more frequent updates now that I have more systems in place and running. I will be changing and fixing for a bit and then straight into the new locations and "Survivor Mode Beta Phase Two".

Thank you for all the support and as always, if you enjoy the game... please consider giving it a positive review on the Steam store page. Its the best way to help the game grow and reach more users. :)

See you in the next update.

Kevin

I am still putting all of the finishing touches on survivor mode over the next couple of weeks but I thought I would share a little video of the work in progress for the mountain bike that I am working on adding to The Coin Game.

It's a full suspension mountain bike. Its not as fast as the golf cart but it is free from Uncle Phil. Its has some more audio and physics tweaks to go on it but I thought it was to a point that I was comfortable sharing.



In the coming update you will be able to ride wheelies, bunny hops, front wheel stoppies/endo's and even ghost ride it into things around the island. I actually built this bike a year ago and have been saving it on a old dusty hard drive just for this day. I think adding it worked out really well and I am working as fast as I can to bring it all to you very soon.



Here is a small video of it in action.



Its easy to ride with a keyboard WASD setup and even more fun to ride with a Dual Stick controller. I spent way too many hours cruising around the island when I should have been testing. lol.

Survivor Mode is the next update coming to The Coin Game. In this new mode users will be challenged to earn their own money (instead of rich Uncle Phil spoiling you on your birthday) by working odd jobs around the island and being creative to earn money.

Kevin

Dev blog Part 1
The last announcement available here > Dev Blog part 1

In Dev Blog "part 2", I want to give you more insight into what survivor mode is going to look like (in stages) and what other features to look forward too in the development of The Coin Game.

Here is a quick video that I put together of things coming next Survivor Mode update:



Hello everyone,
First off... A HUGE thank you to ALL of you for the continued support of The Coin Game! Also, thank you for your patience with the early access development. As a one man indie dev, its tough to get the time to record, edit, announce and even proof read these write ups. As you can tell by my many spelling errors and bad penmanship.

Since the last update I have decided that the new coming Survivor mode is going to be delivered in a few stages. It will make it easier for me to get this new content out and in your hands sooner. The last update was a while ago.... and in that time the game is running much better and smoother in all of my test builds. Overall general development of the game is going fantastic and I could not be more excited to bring you the next update of The Coin Game. This should be the last "dev blog" before I release the survivor mode beta.

In my test builds... I have added a bunch of new optimizations in the outside world that will turn off a bunch of the stuff in the game much faster and efficiently now. It took me a while to build these systems but in my opinion, they are the best thing to happen to the game yet. I cannot wait to get it out to all of you. I am also adding more options to the Video Settings panel to help users get more frames per second by turning off more lighting features. More Audio optimizations, lighting optimizations, textures.... I could go on and on. But lets get to the meat.




Over the last month or so I have been building the final systems needed for the Survivor mode stage one. Things like the Health system that will have to be maintained to keep a healthy lifestyle. That way you can make that $$$ to blow on more arcade games. Be careful, as you will have to watch your food intake to make sure to keep your energy up. Low energy will result in sluggish slower movement. When your energy is very low it will start to decrease your overall health. So make sure you are eating plenty of junk food to stay energized throughout the day. When survivor mode comes out, you will find different kinds of food that will all affect you in different ways. Get yourself some Jerry's Jerky or a Gourmet Tuna Gas Station Sandwich and bulk candy sweets to wash it down. That should be enough energy to get to the UFO arcade and spend some of that hard earned cash. Or maybe you need the energy to finish the job babysitting or even mowing Barry's lawn.

Babysitting the bots:
One of the new jobs will be babysitting a couple bots and cleaning up after them. Its is pretty simple and plus you can always raid their cupboards to eat. They also have a microwave to heat up your TV dinners.











Mowing Barry's lawn:
Another one of the new jobs is the ability to mow Barry's (the Pawn Owners) home lawn. it takes a little longer to finish than babysitting a couple bots but Barry isnt cheap and is known to pay well. The mower is always by his garage that he keeps his lambo in. Once Survivor mode is out you will be able to mow the yard every couple of days for spending cash. so save wisely.









Survivor mode starts off as the day after your birthday. Birthday was fun with the money machine, Limo, no curfew, golf cart and no worries. Well, survivor mode is a bit different. Its prob someone elses birthday and the limo is treating them and not you. Bummer. Time to dust off your work boots and hit the streets.... literally hit the streets. Because your golf cart is gone and you are walking now. Im seriously considering adding a mountain bike now.... as I have been walking everywhere for the last few months and I think we are going to need it. haha.




In survivor mode you will be required to be home at a certain time each night. You will know that you can "go to sleep" by visual cues around the house. For example Nanny Bot will pull the covers down in your bed and have it all set for you when it is time for you to retire for the evening. You better be home by your curfew. Do not make her come looking for you. Trust me.



When survivor mode comes out there will be more food choices around the island. One of them is Jerrys with Jerrys Jerky, local milk, Jolted Soda, Candy and even Gourmet Tuna Gas Station Sandwiches.....mmmmm. Yummy. :/



New batteries at Jerry's Gas & Go. These will be needed for all your battery operated prizes and tools. They dont cost too much but boy they dont last very long when riding a hoverboard up hill.






New characters will come in Survivor Mode "stage one" as well. Their full "abilities" (and interact able-ness. Dont know if that is a word. Prob not but I'm going with it.) will not be included until stage two. For now I am just adding new characters into the game and will be adding more ways in the future to interact with them. Fun challenges, easter eggs, side tasks, etc. will come later. For now I am still building the entire island and life management systems.

Nanny bot
aka: "The Curfew Enforcer"
She is the one that makes sure that you are home on time while your parents are away. She may look slow..... but the old lady can fly when she has too.


The Junk Man
aka: "Stinky Jimmy"
This guy is all over the place looting dumpsters. Make sure to beat him to the loot or lose out on freebies found in islandvilles best dumpsters.


The Local Paper Boy
aka: "Scoop"
If you are looking to make a buck or two the honest way... Scoop is your guy. He is the towns hardest worker. Well I guess he is second to "Skippy" at the dollar store but you get what I mean. He is never late and always polite. Scoop is proud to be an Eagle Bot of Troop 3377 of Islandville and will do his best to always help you out.



Once we have this stage 1 in place and "tuned in" via all of your feedback.... I will then begin rolling out stage 2 of survivor mode. That will include new arcade locations with a bunch of community requested machines, more jobs, more characters, an XP points system and even some surprises. More on that later though...

That about does it for this Dev blog and I cannot wait for the release of Survivor mode "Beta". I will be finalizing a few more things and finishing up a bunch of odds and ends.... over the next few weeks.

See you then. ;)

Kevin

First off I want to say THANK YOU to all the new supporters of The Coin Game in early access. I have been blown away at the amount of people that are enjoying the arcades and are having fun with the open world design of the game. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that we are just getting started. There is lots going on behind the scenes even though I have been quiet... ;) You have all given me the opportunity to build the game I have always imagined. So Thank you again.

Now I just wanted to take a minute to show all of you the new things that I am working on at the moment. My original plan was to have Survivor mode out by February of this year so I wanted to take a few minutes to explain the reasoning behind postponing the Survivor mode for a bit until I can add the features that it will need.

You see I was going to release the Survivor mode in "stages" but during the testing that I did... it just didnt make enough sense without all of the tools and features in place that I have been building over the last couple of months. I also want to have more of the job locations available on day one of Survivor mode to give the player more options to make money. I am also now building in an XP points system that will give the user a points tallies at the end of each day. That is a big thing that was never planned from day one. You will be able to check up on your points through the ATM machines around the island. You can then spend your XP points on different advantages or even more cosmetic items for your character in the future.

The XP points system will be limited at the beginning of survivor mode release but will be updated with more things to purchase as I finish them. I really needed to get the system in place and working. More news on the XP stuff in Part 2 of this dev blog.

Here is a simple video that I whipped up that shows some of the new things coming. Shopping carts, more consumable items, Islandville Market, Pinball Machines, Health and Energy HUDs and systems, House appliances and Gary thrashing things he doesnt like.

More to come as this is Part 1 of 2










Here are some of the new features that are currently being built for Survivor Mode. AGAIN these items are not released yet and are a WORK IN PROGRESS.

In the coming survivor mode you will have a Health Level and an Energy Level. You must watch and maintain them both as each one can affect the other. When you eat junk food (Jolted colas, Elephant ears, Microwave dinners etc) your Health level will decrease a bit but your energy level will increase depending on the item. Your energy level will affect the speed at which you can do things in the game (work jobs, walk, run etc...) so you want to keep it high. The only problem with trying to keep your Health and Energy high is that good for you "Healthy" food can get expensive and may be harder to find. Junk food is cheap and everywhere. Junk food will take Health away but will give you a boost of energy that wont last as long as say a bag of Jerry's homemade Jerky from the gas station. If you happen to afford the "Healthy" food choices you will notice that it will increase your health a bit AND give you about the same Energy as junk food. So there will be a balance to what you can eat.



If you dont eat anything at all and your Energy becomes very low you will start to lose Health. Besides losing a little bit of Health when your Energy is very low.... You can also lose Health by falling large distances, getting hit by cars and getting roughed up by local bully bots. So be careful. Once all your Health is gone its GAME OVER.

Remember that you are young and all you have to do is get through the day. Once you go to sleep you will wake up with ~80-90% Health again and start the cycle all over again. When you wake up in the morning you will have very low Energy as most youngsters do. Just eat some cheesy poofs for breakfast if Gary hasnt thrashed them all. There will be other places to eat with better food in the future as more locations are added. You can see some of the coming items in the list of New Items below.

The health/energy system is still being tweaked and changed as I add more food and supplement items.








I have been building a new shopping system with a working checkout isle. You will be able to buy perishable items in the store from Deb and Skippy. They are the two loyal employees of the Islandville Market..... Well Skippy is at least. Deb is just there because her parents said she had to get a job.



In the coming new store you will be able to get a bunch of new items to help you survive and also to take care of your loved pets at home. You can mess the place up all you want and Skippy will tidy it all up for you when you leave. There is a shopping cart to use in the store for you bulk shoppers as well.

At the heart of this new system is the new bagging feature. It allows you to add multiple items to a single spot in your inventory. It took me a bit to build this but it will also be used later in the game to carry multiple items in different kinds of "containers"(Back packs. Trunks, etc.) Another great thing about building the new packing system is that the new shopping bags are the first "Smart Items" in the game. I had to build a completely new saving feature to save the data (The contained items). This will also help me in the future when I am building in the save-able condition of each item and other data like that.










- Vitamins: When released these daily vitamins will increase your health a bit while and also give you some energy. If you eat too many in a day you can start to lose Health... so dont go crazy on the Vitamins.


- Rubber Bands in bulk: You will need to purchase bulks rubber bands now to load into your rubber band gun. 15 Rubber bands in a bag. The gun will show a warning on screen when it is empty now.



- Microwave TV dinners: Chicken Strips and Salisbury Steak. These are a simple and cheap way to eat at home. Pop one in the microwave and 30 seconds later you can eat it. It will be more beneficial to eat it when it is still steaming and hot. The items will stay hot for around 3-5 minutes. Once they are cold you can still eat them but they are not as valuable to your Energy and can even take more Health away.


- First Aid Bandages: These bandages will restore your health after getting hurt. They will not add any energy as they are just a little piece of sticky plastic.



- Fish Food: When survivor mode comes out you will have to purchase fish food from the Islandville Market and keep the fish fed. There are visual clues if the fish are hungry. You will notice them start to follow you and then when their food is completely out they will "float" up to the surface and play dead. Once you feed them again they will revive. You need to take care of your pets to get the most XP Points at the end of the day. More on XP Points in the next dev blog.


- Swan Goose Food: You also need to get Garys food at the Islandville Market as well. He will eat quite a bit. His dish holds approx 2 boxes of food for now and he will eat that in about 2 days. Still tweaking and working on him.



- 6 Pack of Jolted Sodas:
Another new item coming is the 6 pack of sodas. It will make it a bit cheaper to buy them in bulk and have them around the house. Once opened they will just be 6 normal sodas. Nothing too fancy.










I have built some shopping carts to play around with. You will be able to grab them and push them around the island wherever you want. When you are done playing with it you will be able to return them to the rack at Islandville Market for .50 cents each. This is another small way to always be earning money for the gaming ticket hunt.










The Islandville Market is not just for shopping junk food and batteries. You will also get to play Pinball in the back for $.50 a play. No tickets, just an old school-one time highest points leaderboard. The Game is called "Islandville The Game" Pinball Edition. Its is inspired by the old popular real life pinball game called "The Cyclone". I used to play this game for hours when my dad would play beer league hockey in town.

The pinball game development has taken me about 2-2.5 weeks to build working full time on it. Getting a small 1" steel ball to fly around the world with Unity physics is a handful to say the least. I had to build a system to increase the FixedUpdate rate (The frequency) of the game while playing this machine. The ball moves so fast that it was going through things. It took some doing.... but I think I got it. I can say that it is one of the best "working and feeling" games that I have built yet. I am still adding a few features and sounds to it. Prob some more lights too. Everybody loves lights. The game also helped me increase the precision of all the Claw machines. Whew knew pinball could teach me so much? No wonder its one of the first projects people build in unity after hello world. haha. I play it a little too much. ;)

The leaderboards for the coming new pinball machines are also for one game only. Your score will only get uploaded and updated if you beat your personal best. Its not an accumulated total like the other leaderboards.







That about does it for this Dev blog (Part 1 of 2). In the next Dev blog I will be covering some of the coming Jobs that will be available and also more about the "Bad Bots" that will not hesitate to take your tickets if you dont have what they want.

Please dont hesitate to let me know what you would like to see in the game. I read every post and always welcome ideas and requests on this long distance journey. I cant wait to share it all with you in the future. Thanks again.

See you in the next Dev Blog.

Kevin

Jan 30 2020

Update #015
Version: V0.988



Over the last month I had to update the whole project to a new version of Unity and it was a nightmare. Approx 4 weeks of my life that are gone to loading screens and little spinning wheels. haha I had to update through 7 or 8 versions of Unity as it has been so many years since I started this project. Every version of Unity had a few things that were deprecated (dropped or changed) and I had to do weeks of work just to get the game to the current state that it was already in. It had to be done though.

Now the project is ready for the long haul and it feels great. :) It even gave me some time to optimize some stuff and redo code that I have wanted to update for a while. I lost at least a month of dev time but in the end I really believe it was worth it. So let me get to the meat and potatoes...

This update brings a new 24 hour day to night Time of Day system. You can let time progress automatically or you can open your watch and opt to adjust the time of day manually to any hour you desire. This new Time of day system also brings a few other small graphical additions with volumetric lighting from the main sunlight/moonlight source and light rays for those extra purdy sunrises and sunsets. The weather as of now, is random between clear sky, cloudy sky and foggy sky. Each one giving its own level of ambient light. The weather will update every 6 "hours" of game time. So make sure to launch those fireworks on a clear night to get your moneys worth. ;) I am still adjusting the total time of one whole "game day" as I am still finishing the survivor mode. The "auto game speed" will change in the future and is just a baseline for now.







Please forgive the Shadow flickering on the ground and on the water for now as I am still building and tweaking the new systems. I think the new lighting system looks better and will give players the choice of how they want to enjoy the game. You can only adjust the "Time of Day" in manual time mode. See your wristwatch (TAB). In the far left menu...All the way at the bottom there is a toggle and a slider where you can turn on Manual Time and adjust it. In Birthday mode the time of day will always be in the lower Right screen corner next to the onscreen player stats. It is also on the top of your smartwatch.

You will also see a new Strip Mall location across from Barrys on the way to the Beach. They are NOT open for business yet. When the strip mall does open it will include a Dollar Store, Credit Union XP Bank and a Clothing Boutique. For now... I just put the buildings in the game so I can adjust and build their lighting. They will be open when Survivor mode is done. More details later on that as I am still deciding on some stuff. Im very picky. haha.



Survivor Mode is almost ready for Beta Testing. I had to finish this 24 hour day/night cycle update first with all the new timing systems in place before I went any further. Updating the whole project has set me back some. Not too much though as the framework for Survivor Mode is done and working but I lost a lot of 3D Modeling time when I had to update the project. I want to finish a couple more 3D models for the new jobs and also have one more surprise that I want to add in with Gary that I think people will love.

That's about it for this dev blog and you can find all the details of this update below. Now I have a couple of tough weeks ahead finishing the Survivor Mode for all of you. Wish me luck and please let me know what you think of the new lighting.


UPDATE DETAILS:

Game Time_ alpha version of the new 24 Hour Day Night Cycle with streetlights, building lights and Vehicle headlights turning on and off around town.
Game Time_ Saves the time of day when you save a Birthday Mode game so you can return back to the same place and time of day. The weather (Cloudy or Clear) will be random upon each game load for now. I am still finishing other rainy days and other weather scenarios.

Game Save: Now saves all piles of used lotto's and cans properly. Before they would get deleted. Dont forget that anything that you can put in your inventory can be sold at Barry's for cash. So no need to throw them in a trash can when you can play more tickets with the loot!

GolfCart: Faster and a little smoother exit from the golf cart.
GolfCart: Removed the "Lean Forward" feature in the golf cart and replaced it with a transparent GPS full screen overlay. Just press TAB or the Map button on controller and hit it again to turn it off. Makes navigating in the cart a little easier. Leaning forward was messing up the cart physics and had to be rebuilt when I updated to the new version of Unity.



Wristwatch: Added camera mini map move buttons for the watch. Top right corner of the mini map on the wrist watch. (Press Tab or stats button for wristwatch). This will allow the player to look around the map a bit and see whats out there.
Wristwatch:Fixed the watch not working for a few seconds after the limo drops you off. Now it will operate as soon as you get out and you cannot teleport again until the bots and limo zap away.
Wristwatch: Added a Manual time slider to the watch in Birthday Mode to control the Time of day. Just turn on the Manual time Toggle and then adjust the time Slider to the desired time. It will auto save the state of the toggle and if you saved the game it will start the next Birthday Mode game at that time. Still a work in progress.

Larrys Arcade: Installed a "curtain open" button behind the stage for all you explorers when you get trapped behind the stage. Just click it and the curtain will open now.
Larrys Arcade: Added more tickets to PrizeMaster. 100 Tickets was not enough for a $5 game. All prize rows are now 1000 tickets! Go get em!

UFO Arcade: Added the multiplay system to Popcorn Petes so you can play more than one credit at a time. I will add more machines as I get to each one.

Player: Added a little speed to the Character walk and run. Not too much though. Still testing.

Video Settings: Added an "Extra Shadows" Toggle to the Video Settings that will turn off extra shadows to get some more FPS.
Video Settings: Added a Volumetric Lighting ON/OFF toggle to turn off the extra mesh that is created on a volumteric light. Should help grab a few more FPS when turned off.

Strip Mall: Added new Islandville Market store, Islandville Credit Union Bank and Bettys Boutique to the island. THEY ARE NOT OPEN FOR BUSINESS YET and are still moving in. In the future you will be able to shop there for random stuff at the Islandville Market. You will also be able to level up with XP at the ATM XP Machines for advantages in the game and lastly (And farther in the future) you will be able to customize your characters by shopping at the boutique and purchasing some fancy clothing and accessories for yourself or your pet ex-champion award winning swan-goose. More news in the future on that...



Mermaids From Space: Fixed the input. Now you can use a controller to aim the coin chute.
Iceburg Bounce: Added some extra tickets to the Iceburg bounce game when you get a bonus round. It will add 3000 points to the game which will result in about ~150 extra tickets.

Carnival: Added a money blower machine to the Carnival. No more having to go all the way back to town for more loot. Uncle Phil makes it happen.



Barry's Pawn Shop: Larger bill denominations. Added a $20 bill and a $100 bill for all the big shooters out there. Barry's will pay out much quicker now on big purchases.
Barry's Pawn Shop: Added a "safety" feature that you can not leave Barry's until the cash machine is done paying out.




Larry's Arcade: Added a fire escape to the back that gives access to the roof hangout area. Will be used in Survivor Mode.
Strip Mall: Added a fire escape to the back that gives access to the roof hangout area. Will be used in Survivor Mode.

I prob forgot some stuff too.... If you see anything different... Its prob new. haha.

Thank you very much for all the help and support!

Kevin