Hi Tycoons,

It is the third month of the year, so I thought that it is time to give you an update. Where should I start?

Whenever I write these posts I have a desire to write about things not directly connected to Computer Tycoon. It can come from my personality and/or from the fact that I have a very restricted number of people I'm talking with IRL. Whatever the reason is, forgive me, please.

Computer Tycoon was uploaded to Steam in 2017 October. It had a moderate start. In 2018 I decided to grow it into something much more than it was planned originally - mostly because of your feedback and interest. Then I had "trouble" with the thing called "LIFE" which kept me back working until the end of the year. During that, I made a few updates and here we are now in 2019.


I'm not satisfied with the progress of the game, and so you either. The scope what I'm shooting for is just huge. If I had a single problem called A in CT what I had to solve with a game design decision, then now this is 10 problems now to solve at once.

I could have known this when I decided to embrace the wishes of the community? Right? Right! So what?

I just realized that other than having the obvious problem that I'm late with the "big update"... The year 2018 was already depressing because of my health and family issues, but now I'm depressed because of THIS even more. And whenever I get a message saying something like "so where it is?" or whenever I get a negative review saying that the game has potential, but it should be already done... I get more and more depressed. Please, give me time!

Simply put, I'm not used to failure in work and I'm not the guy who just gives it up. And I won't. I just never ever give up.

But at the same time, a thin voice tells me in my head that "You are losing money by working on that thing! Man, a cashier earns 2-3 times more than you by doing this. Man, that's the road to poverty."

Do you know what I say to this voice in my head? "Get the #?&! out of here!" I was always poor, I can manage this, it is not the most important thing.

Then what makes me even more depressed is that visibility on Steam lately is just CRAZY LOW (not only to me but to all indies out there with non-top seller games). I'm trying to compensate it with ads, but I'm still not sure if it works accordingly or not. (yeah Steam, don't allow us using Facebook pixel... we love putting money into advertising your site, without even knowing if it works or not).
Experts say that this summer lots of indies will go bankrupt. Yeah, making games is not a good business for small parties.
But most importantly I'm afraid that my financial sacrifice will be pointless because it will be pointless if the game will be unseen by people who could enjoy it. I thought that it is some kind of investment in my future. That slowly by having more games later on it will be fine. Now I seriously doubt that.


Let's call everything that I wrote until this point as "whining".

I can blame Steam or Life or anything, but if I have to write an honest list of the problems in my life, I know that I have to start with myself and only after that can I start "whining".

I am so worried about the future, I'm so worried about not having the chance of continuing what I love, that actually I've just forgotten how much excitement and love was taken into this game when I started. I have to get back to the roots.

Oh, are you still here, reading that? Cool! Now, let me share with you something:

You will have the beta this October.

You know, that "big update". And nothing can stop me in that. It is a MUST. Because I love it. There is no other way around. I have to finish this, I have to put more work into it. I have to get back to that level of workload what made me sick last year if necessary, I just have to.


But how will you do that?
Well, as I did with the very first version. I will glue myself to my desk "until its done".

Couldn't you hire some programmers? Or may I help myself?
Nope guys, it would mean just much more work and expense to me, unfortunately. It could just slow down things. Trust me, in the business sector I was an architect who led projects for long long years. This couldn't work here if you are not Cliffski working for free.

What will be in that beta?
Basically everything from the Roadmap, except localizations and some tiny things.

Where is the Roadmap?
Find the link at the end of this post.

Ummm. so localizations... When do they come?
Before the full release. Find the list of planned languages on the Roadmap. Probably until 2019.02 or 03. which is an estimated full release. (I'm not promising the full release, because it depends on a lot of things, what I'm dedicated for is the beta in October).

Will you update the game in the meanwhile?
Of course, I will upload beta branches, because I will need your help with the balance.

I don't have the time to read that Roadmap... Could you summarize, please?
It is hard. Basically, it is Computer Tycoon 2. Ability to sell hardware separately, tech tree, third parties, different customer behavior and marketing, new map modes (including historical), advanced ai, managers, a few rpg elements.

But I really would like to help! What can I do?
Just give feedback, and leave a review, please.

So is this going to be really cool?
It is going to be as cool as having a Stargate in your garden or having a Yacht. I'm not joking! I could have just written this single sentence instead of this whole post. Because that's the most important thing I have to focus on: It has to be so cool that no YouTubers can avoid covering it!

But man, take care of yourself!
That's what I'm doing. Depression is dangerous. If I cannot make a difference, even tho I try as crazy as I can, I will accept it and move on later on. If I don't do everything that I can do for my dreams... I will face levels of despair which I'm not prepared for. I will work out 3 times a week and I will also schedule some mandatory "life stuff". I will try to be smarter than last time of course. I promise I won't be awake for 3 days without a single hour of sleep again. I'm planning to Deliver, not planning to die.

Your Discord?
Here it is: https://discord.gg/BVB8cje
If you ask more questions, I will answer them here!

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Pictures from the coming, still unreleased stuff:













http://steamcommunity.com/games/686680/announcements/detail/1673520100901557536

Hi Tycoons,

I have a small update for you while you are waiting for the "big update". Here is the update log:

• No more site limit. So from now on, you can create unlimited sites which will provide you a nearly unlimited potential PP. After the 20th site every site costs 2% percent more than the previous one.
  
• I have changed how many digits you see on the department window. (It was pointless to show "output 10.00 PP" as an example, it is "10 PP" now instead.
  
• Since the last patch we had a bug. The autosave files landed in an incorrect directory (next to the game's exe file). Because of that those saves didn't appear in the loading screen. It is fixed now. If you need the autosaves, you will have to manually copy them to their correct place (you will find a thread in the discussions with that question).
  
• There was a bug which added HC compatibility automatically to your hardware after creation even if you haven't checked the HC box. Fixed.
  
• And of course, I've updated the WOG.

I know that's not much, but at least now you can really cannibalize the world and beat the AI during the late game as well.
I was thinking about adding more things, but I'd like to avoid the hassle with that legacy version here on Steam. Instead, I'd like to work as much as I can on the latest (development) version.

The development version's base GUI is 90% replaced, but with only a single GUI, not with an altering/evolving GUI. I tried to prepare the GUI so I will be able to extend it with the other 2 versions as well, but I feel like I should just focus on the gameplay right now. I will attach a screenshot, so you can see how it looks at the moment.

As a side note, I've started to upload gaming content to my youtube channel, what was an old plan of mine. If you like that kind of entertainment, check out my channel, and comment, please. I'm absolutely a beginner creator there, so I need the feedback. Basically, I just record how I play a half hour per day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scUNCepmeBw

Thanks for your support guys, any reviews, bug reports or messages are highly appreciated!

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Below this line you will see things from the upcoming still unreleased dev version.
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So here are some pics from the latest dev version (right from my development environment, so don't worry about bars being not filled up, or values being just placeholders):






Thanks,
Andris


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Pictures from the yet unrleased upcoming development version (0.9.4.0):

Hi Tycoons,

Here is a small new patch for you.

Version 0.9.3.08

• There was a bug which prevented saving the statistics and budget data of past years. Fixed. Unfortunately, your earlier data won't be back by that, but future data will be saved.
  
• I've changed the building cost progression of the building sites. It is way lower than before, what will make it easier to expand. Their price growth slows down as you have more. Currently, the 20th site is still under 1.000.000.000 CTD. This will affect the game's balance a lot.
  Originally the prices were high because the coming changes will affect the game balance wise a lot, but since we still don't have them, this change was important to be done now.
  
• Also, I've updated the WOG, and put an email subscription link into the main menu (look for the monkey). Please subscribe, I won't spam you, but visibility on Steam is getting so bad for indies, that without collecting email addresses being a dev is unsustainable on the long run.

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Below this line you will see things from the upcoming still unreleased dev version.
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It is still a work in progress, but I'd like to know what you about this, any feedback is appreciated:



Thanks,
Andris


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Pictures from the yet unrleased upcoming development version (0.9.4.0):

Hi Tycoons,

As I previously mentioned the 0.9.3.07 is here. It has a bit of bug fixing and performance boost in loading/saving and the 3D scene. I've waited until player levels lowered again after the autumn sale to release it. Because unfortunately, this will break your saved files (you won't even see them on the loading screen), and your game settings will be lost as well. If you haven't read my last announcement, you should check it out for more information.

Earlier I mentioned that I've decided to upgrade the UI visuals, and lately I was trying to implement an earlier idea of mine (which was requested by you as well).
Namely the altering UI. Please check out this little preview how I imagine it so far:







Let me know what you think. If I want to create it, I will have to keep some limits in creativity, because the more different the look of the stages is, the more work it needs in my engine, and this is not a priority task.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I will be able to reduce system requirements because the mentioned solution in my last post seems to work,
it just needs time to implement. I'm very happy because a lot of you have more than 6 years old PCs which are not able to run the game normally.

Lately, I tried to port the game to as many places as I can as I mentioned in my previous post, and so far it didn't really worth it, so despite
Steam has dropped indies' traffic by 50-90% the other stores are still mostly a waste of time, unfortunately. AAA games are not only getting a better revenue share in the future (while indies don't), they also
get more traffic what is possible by decreasing ours. Some think it is just a result of a bug, but I barely think that. You can find a short article about it on PCGamer if you are interested. We indies are worried about our future on the PC platform.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that porting has to be closed very soon because I have a lot of work with the game. (And also because I'm going crazy of those "unknown error" messages from Microsoft and Apple dev kits) And I'm really sorry that yet again I postponed (by around 1.5 months) my main task: developing the game.


Have a nice day or evening or whatever you have :) As soon as I will know if I will be able to post a bigger update still this year I will notify you here!

Andris

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Pictures from the yet unrleased upcoming development version (0.9.4.0):

Hi Tycoons,

Right now I won't post a new version, even tho Version 0.9.3.07 is done. The reason is that currently we have a couple of new players in our community and the new version would break the save files without significant advantages. I'd like to avoid destroying the starters experience right now, so I will wait some days or the end of the sale event on Steam.

I had to rewrite the saving system because of two main reasons. The first is that the development version (0.9.4.0) has much more data than the current one which slows down the loading process. Simply we have to store much more data, so we needed a new system for that (and I'm happy to say that the new solution I've built is around x4 faster than the last one).
The second reason is that I wanted to offer my game in different stores which meant that I have to offer wider compatibility. The new system now supports the Windows Stores even including XBox (as I mentioned earlier I will port the game to consoles eventually as well), but that's the far future.

Offering the game at more places is pretty critical because of changes here in the past months which cut back visibility from "moderately successful" or let's say "indie games" drastically so now I lose more money than before - what I'd like to compensate. Luckily I have wishlisters who are still potentially here (that's how we got some new players) - and as I mentioned I saved up every penny to be here, so still I can afford to work on the game for long. And don't worry, even if I won't be able to finish the game in the next 1 or 1.5 years in full-time, I will continue it in part-time.

The above also means that I've updated the most important components of the game to the latest versions. I've started the development in 2016, so that means years of advancement - providing a bit of performance boost and potentially less trouble on your computers. Also, I've researched for a new solution to show things in the 3D building scene which could offer a great performance boost, but I didn't have time to test it yet.

Another thing that I'd like to mention that some weeks ago I've decided that I will create a new style for the UI. It means that it will change both functionality and visuals and I'd like to put it into the very next bigger update of the game. Even more, maybe I will put it into the current stable version before the bigger update comes out (yeah, I know how long it takes :( ).
I made this decision because of your input. I think the retro goals were not really reached, while a huge percent of the players doesn't like the current style (again, I'm not talking about functionality here which is a different topic). In my "free time" I even participated in UI courses hoping that I gather new skills.

I know how excited you are because of the new features, I am too, and I will do my best to deliver them as soon as possible, without rushing it.
Thanks for asking about my health, again and again, I really feel good lately, I even go to the gym on a regular basis. It is not only a great physical recreation activity but in fact, that's the only occasion when I socialize. Being a solo indie dev in your own place is kind of isolating, but it helps a lot to work more hours per day.

Also, thank you very much for being here, and being supportive!
And special thanks for the kind words in the discussions nominating me for the "Best Developer” Award. I'm not sure if I deserve it because I'm in such a big late, and honestly I'm just very happy that I can afford to be here. Thank you very much, guys! :)

Oh and... I've also tried to improve my general drawing technique. Check out the before and after versions of this character:

and now ->

Thanks again guys,
Andris


*Let me put here the earlier stuff and the link to the RoadMap of the game*

https://steamcommunity.com/games/686680/announcements/detail/1673520100901557536?insideModal=0

Hi guys,

Nope, unfortunately, that's still not the big update I wanted to post. I had a good progress in the last weeks, but still, I'm not done with it. Basically, the tech tree works fine, but I had to re-adjust hardware property points and further polish the hardware design system. I won't lie, it is hard - but I really hope that the result will be a much better, more interesting game.

But I didn't want to give you nothing - yet again. That's why I made a small update for you even if it means double work on my side to migrate it into the development version as well.

Changes are:

• I've rebalanced the RP points depending on difficulty. Many wrote that the game was too challenging, so I worked accordingly. This means that those who didn't like the pace of the research will like this new version a lot. I myself think as well that it is indeed better balanced that way now.
  
• I made it possible to turn off the "CEO Death" feature. Being more accurate I changed what happens if you don't click on the checkbox asking about it, before starting a new game. Now if you say no to that feature, instead of "Game Over" you will just lose half of your current money in the game. That way the game will still punish you for overusing given marketing methods (lies increase stress!), but you won't lose the game. This was also a priority task asked by you.
  
• I've turned off the Auto Steam Cloud feature, what means that you will be able to delete the saved games on your hard drive if you feel that the mess is too big. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE Steam WARNING. You won't lose your saved games.
  
• I've fixed some country names.
  
• And of course, I've updated the "Wall Of Gratitude" because I got a lot of support and feedback in the previous months (especially during my health issues) and I'm very very thankful for those who have/had the patience and the understanding.

Now, let me show you some pictures about the development version - SO AGAIN, NOT FROM THE CURRENTLY available version. Just to show you some progress.

For example here, you can see the tech tree as I've added a line of texts to the queue. Simply by choosing a tech in the future and clicking on the "add to queue" button adds all the required techs in a correct order. Also, if I remove a given tech, it will remove all its dependencies from the queue - making the research planning much easier.
Remember that you can zoom in and out in-game.



Here you can see the new Tech Queue. Do you see how all the techs required are on the bottom list? Earlier it wasn't possible to add techs which were not available right NOW, so you had to wait until its direct requirement is yours. Now from the tech tree, you can plan into the future.

Also, see how the queue got filter options. If you prefer picking the techs one by one, then it is going to be very helpful in selecting the ones you need the most.




And here is a hardware design screen, the CPU. You can see the new heat metric and the other options. In the future you will be able to set the cache, overclocking and frequency separately according to the Roadmap of the game.
Also, now I will include a real production price metric shown in CTD as well, next to the PP value. The algorithm behind the CTD value gets your average cost per PP and multiplies it with the given PP value needed to produce the hardware element.




I hope you will enjoy the small update! I'm sorry that I'm not done with the big update, I'm really trying hard!

THANKS!

*Just got a message from a player and it seems the game is Proton compatible so by using it you can play it on Linux without additional setup.

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And let me just put you here all the other tasty things coming in the future

Hello Tycoons,

Computer Tycoon was put into Early Access exactly 1 year ago this day.

Nothing would feel better but uploading a new version today and celebrating the game's first year on Steam. I'm really sorry that I cannot offer that, but announcements. At least, I have good news for you.

I got a lot of good wishes and understanding from you concerning my father's and my own health issues - and I'm very thankful for that. That was a harsh period to us. There is a Hungarian saying (I'm sure you have a similar one in your own culture) what says "If something doesn't kill you then it will make you stronger." I’m here in that mentality…

And I'm extremely happy to tell you, that my father is alive and his condition is acceptable now. While we are still worried his life is not in direct danger anymore, his first surgery was a success. Also, I feel much better now physically and mentally too! I had no pains in the last month, even more, I can do the exercise again (what I desperately nowadays). My liver is okay now – and hell I’m not a big drinker but I really enjoyed my beer yesterday (after it was forbidden for that long).

Even with this hard period and being unable to work normally for a long time - (and it is kinda devastating for a solo man proejct), Computer Tycoon's first year on Steam was a moderate success. When I left my work as an architect in the IT business sector many was really skeptical about my plans, waves of laughter and dubiety were my constant companies, but against all of that and the “indie apocalypse”, I managed to be here. I tried to play it safe, but I put all of my money into this plan and I got back enough from you to expand the game into more. Now I'm not forced anymore to work on my games after a full-time day job in the nights, that's the only thing I have to focus on.

I have a LOT of work to do. But I’m in! I didn’t work 14 hours for months daily before early access because I wanted to abandon my dream game. In fact, I don’t feel like I’m working when I’m doing this. Marketing, business research, coding, art, organizing things, testing, planning… all of this is fun to me. That’s what can motivate you when the financial return is low – that now I’m really enjoying the thing what I’m doing in most of my day.
But yes… the situation is worse and worse on the PC platform. Even right now changes are coming what touches indies in a frightening way here, but I felt it is coming - and because of that I was thinking about the solution for a while now and I am prepared:

I am going to port Computer Tycoon to Xbox and PlayStation as well - and also in the future, I will create multi-platform games. It is not easy with strategy games, but it is still better than attaching to a single monopoly. The development will be done here, but when I’m done I will expand the controls and the GUI to fit those platforms as well.

With this, I think I’m done with announcing things. Or not? Oh no... not yet.

So yes, I know your next question… when the next version is coming? I really hoped that by now you will have it, but I failed. I'm very thankful for your patience! My last question to the community was about the tech tree and I got a lot of feedback from you what I’d like to build into the game. Let me show you two pictures of the progress.







The default research screen in the next version is going to be the "Research Tree" and the old window is going to be called as the “Research Queue”. The most important task of the Tree is to show your progress visually and help you in long-term planning. You will be able to put the techs in the queue from the tree and in the old way as well (on the Research Queue). Then you will be able to order your researches but you also get more tools to filter and order the coming researches than previously.

I have new techs in the Tree which were not part of the game earlier. Now we have "cooling" as well. The performance calculations are going to be completely different and so the hardware and computer design screens and system as well.
You won’t be able to trade with other companies in the game YET. But that’s another thing that will come soon, we will just need time to see how the game mechanics are changing because of the new features – thus I have to put it out as soon as I can.

Here are the things I want to deliver to you with the very next version of the game:

- New kinds of technology
- Tech tree, new research system
- New base properties for hardware and computer (noise, heat)
- New performance calculations and parameters (base speed, multipliers)
- Fixing some mayor issues with the ending screens, country names and so on
- Ability to turn off permadeath of the CEO and possibility to play after the victory condition is fulfilled.

I think you wanted to see this, although I will just follow the ROADMAP:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/686680/announcements/detail/1673520100901557536

I’m afraid to make promises, but I say maybe I will be able to release it this year – as I know that you REALLY would love to know when it is coming.

And here let me just put here some shots of the coming stuff again, to make you remember how many things I was working on in the meanwhile. (For example the prototype of the manager system is something that was very important to make happen earlier, although I won’t be able to put it into the game for a long time yet).

And… Thanks for your support! Thanks for being here and letting me doing my game! You are the best!

Hi guys,

I made a discussion about the Tech Tree. Please check it out and help me out with your opinion!

Here it is:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/686680/discussions/0/1744469130481124522/

It's been a long time since I wrote to you. I don't wanna bother you with my personal life/struggle, I will be short, but I know some of you are interested. My father has survived his bile duct surgery, although his condition is still life-threatening. We are afraid that he has pancreas cancer, which we will soon know. But I had some time with him in the countryside, and he doesn't have pains.
My health issue is still not diagnosed, I'm still having tests. My headaches are gone, but still, I have spasms, but it is getting better.

I know that some of you are really disappointed that I didn't show much progress lately. The game was updated ages ago, but I'd like to ensure you again, that I have no other job or work, I'm only working on CT. Also, still I have enough budget to work on it for a long time. The game has a tiny but steady customer base each month which keeps me alive.
I'm very thankful for your support and the kind words you gave so far and I will be the happiest man when I will be able to put out a new update to you!

Hello Tycoons,


I haven't made a news post for a very long time and while I'm still lacking some stuff that I'd like to share with you, I've eventually decided to break the silence. It is better to show less than show nothing - I'm sure we can agree on that!
I'm absolutely here, working on the game in full-time, I haven't started any new projects in the meantime. I really wanted to show you a complete tech three in this announcement, but unfortunately, I failed to deliver it so far.
I had some bad directions with it, also it has been expanded as the new features require it on the roadmap. I will talk about it and show the current state in this article - also I will talk about my progress and the lack of progress, new dilemmas and the nice stuff.

Still I'm following the game's Roadmap:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/686680/announcements/detail/1673520100901557536


Next to the fact that I'm working on really ambitious plans and the tasks I'm working on are not splittable and they cannot be published partially, the second reason why I'm not publishing new stuff is the Employee or Manager system that the game will get.
It is something that won't be in the game for months yet, but it included some new technical challenges which had to be prototyped out and also I had to support my outsourced friend in the graphic/animation creation process, I had to test out everything so that later I will be able to use his work alone when it will be he who won't be able to support me (time management in a single dev company lol). He makes nice 2D art but he has no experience in animation and game dev. (Remember, basically I'm alone developing the game and while I'm creating most of the visuals/graphics I needed more help this time - but this creates management tasks as well).

The third reason is that life made it hard for me to keep my deadlines in the last months. First, my landlord asked us to leave the flat where we live and it was hard to find a new rent, while it was also a great financial load on me. And after the move when I felt I can really dig into the work I got sick. I had several tests (and others are still going on) because of the severe pains I have lately, but doctors still couldn't find out what my problem is. Luckily it seems I don't have liver and heart abnormalities (which were the first danger factors) and now it seems that either I have some kind of infection and/or neurological issues.
I won't abandon the game! I just can't work as much as I'd like to and as I used to. Often full days are off because of that. Possibly one of the reasons I'm ill is that I overwhelmed myself last year. But whenever I feel okay, I'm working - and I'm still in love with it. Don't worry, I will carry this out.

And actually, I put together some nice stuff! I know that some of you are really not interested in all of that, but I really felt I should talk about them. Your support means a lot to me! Also, if you miss updates, follow me on twitter (@Progorion) there you will know everything about me and Computer Tycoon in the meantime!


As you remember, when the Manager System (let's call it like that from now on, because those guys will be managers, not simply "employees") will be added to the game you will start in this garage.




Basically here I will introduce the game features one by one eliminating the "crash course". Well, I will keep it as something like "Civilopedia" in the CIV series,
so those who are really interested still will be able to read it, but it won't be a push into your face. I see how many of you hate reading! (oh, thanks for reading that long article!)



After you made your first computer model, and you sold some copies, you will get into your first real office. And look! Now the character animations are done, my assets are ready to go. From here you will work up into bigger and better offices!
Last time I posted the picture of the mini computers, now we added the tablets as well. Why not? It is totally fine to use tablets on a desktop nowadays.



So as you can see, the Manager System has its assets ready (excluding the faces I'm making paralelly) and the challanges are tested, now I won't have to focus on it for long, so I will fully go back to the tech tree and other features which will be in the very next update.
On this screenshot you can see a new version of the tech list. I've got rid of the big icons, because we had to expand the list with new columns, also I wanted to give you filter options here as well. So it will be easier to find out what you'd like to develop. On this pictures, the empty columns will show the RP and manufacturing values, while
you also can see a column for the new heat/cooling parameter.



And here is the tech tree. Remember it is not finished. Even earlier base lines/connections are not finished as you can see, but we will have some longer, wider links as well.
The tech tree screen will have to show you the "research era"-s as well. Research eras will replace the restriction which made it impossible to research something in the game, that
was not invented in real life -7 years compared to the game's current date. Instead, you will have the possibility to go as far as you can immediately, but you will have to pay
an extra cost for jumping too far from the current tech era - simulating the normal progress of technological development.



Also I'm thinking how I will inform the player about technology compatibilities. Here is an example! If you have a keyboard, but no displays... don't you think you should be not able
to create a computer with a keyboard? While sometimes these inventions can be linked in the tech tree - preventing such unreal situations, sometimes they are not connected, so their
invention is still possible separately. Should I show these here somehow or I should expand the computer design screens? Let me know what you think! One of the promises of the roadmap
is a bit more real design system.

Yet another thing that I will have to care about is the option to buy blueprints from others. I think there will be 4 possible states for techs in your tech tree.

1. You just don't have it.
   
2. You invented it yourself (so you can sell the license)
   
3. You bought a specification of a competitor - so you will be able to go forward in the tech tree to other things which need this given bought specification, but still you won't be able to use it in your own products.
   
4. You bought a blueprint/license, so you can actually use it as it was your invention.

I'm trying to figure out a lot of things because all of the other screens are connected to these systems. And well, it is complicated.

What else I have? Well, next to the manager system, new techs and other features, I've made a new company logo, got new songs for the game, but I even made a new loading screen. How do you feel about it? The texts are not finished, but I really wanted to make it happen.
Those of you who used Commodore computers must remember to this or to a similar loading screen. If there is a game where an Easter egg like this is appropriate then it is Computer Tycoon.




As you probably know every summer we have sales on Steam. I'd love to publish a new version before or at least during it, but I'm afraid it won't be possible due to my health issues and simply the amount of remaining work. But I really hope that on the next anniversary of Steve Jobs ( on October 5th) you will have most of the features of the game. That will be also the end of the first year of the game on Steam - so I'd like to make it big.

Until that, please continue sending your ideas and feedback about the current build on Steam. I got some really nice ideas in the forums (I read all of them, I'm sorry if I didn't reply to any of yours - but be sure I saw it!) And please leave a review if you like the game!


Huh, I know, I know! Please understand that I have plenty of things to do and localizations will be possible to include only when the single English version is finished. As I promised earlier the game will have plenty of translations (professional ones and some community based) including:

Chinese, German, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian and maybe a couple more.

Hi guys,

I've posted my last announcement a month ago, so it is really time to talk again! Unfortunately (as you can see), I absolutely failed in my original estimates about when I can give you my very next update. I'm really sorry about that, and I just really hope that the coming things will pay off for this as well.

I'm being late because how closely related are my systems in the game. For example, I've already added noise and heat. Heat is generated by hardware elements, while coolers can reduce it. And yeah... coolers often generate noise. But just imagine how many screens must be modified because of these two things? All of the lists, the hardware screens, the computer screens, research screens etc. And of course, techs are touched and the AI algorithms as well.
So, I just can't modify one of them and release it, I have to modify everything and put it out together.

And these are two smaller changes. The research three, the new research system, the new design system is much bigger than that. But I truly believe that with the modifications you will get a much more interesting and more detailed game core - so it does worth it.

I've learned from it. I won't promise new dates, haha! But I really wanna ensure you, that I'm still around and I'm working on Computer Tycoon in full-time. Okay... at least when I'm not moving to a new flat and I don't miss even my internet connection. In the last week I didn't have internet... guys it feels really bad not being able to communicate with ya!

I think most of you are interested in the visual things right now because everything else is laid out in the game's roadmap (feel free to check it out again) here:

The Game's Roadmap

So here are some pics for you! These are not in the game yet, these are only the assets that I and my friend are creating. Lately, he works a lot on Computer Tycoon. His name is Ede László, he made a lot of illustrations about the hardware elements of the game (follow him here: @ede_laszlo).

But here are the pics, they talk instead of me...

So maybe as you remember, you start here in the garage:



Then later you will move to a normal office as you create your first financially successful computers:



That will be the moment when I will open up you the world map as well... and you will be able to hire some more managers.

And the office will improve by time... as you would expect. But you will end up being here:



Hey, I love sci-fi, how about you? :)

The guys you can hire are really not a focus of mine right now, it is much more a chill out activity of mine, but here is some more work in progress:



Maybe you'd like to see your computers in your offices, right? Well, you will (just as you can see it in the second pic of offices), but here they are:



I think these are some of the more interesting pics I can show you (meanwhile I don't wanna show everything of course, but you can see some more offices in my last post). Remember that my main focus is still the design and feature expansion of the game, but showing the new research list (that is just basically longer, has more content - and actually is not final) seems to be boring and uninspirational for now.

The game sold around 8500 copies in its first 6 months. That puts the game into the 1% of indie games on Steam with similar or better results, that is awesome, thank you, guys! Although still, I would highly count on you in spreading the game. Please mention it on your fav. forums and social media sites, because that means a lot for a solo indie dev like myself.

Feel free to text me on the steam forums or on Twitter! Have a very nice day, and love your computers guys!

Your friend,
Andris