today there is another small important update with the following changes:

• BUG FIX at Terrainforming: When selecting the Terrainforming Tool only water was displayed.
  
• BUG FIX for player colors: Array Index out of Range Error when displaying a player color in the menu.
  
• BUG FIX at saving with BOTS: variable undefined if you want to save in a match with bots.
  
• Changes of the NW.js library on Windows & Linux back to version v0.33.3

I think for the bug fixes there is no further explanation needed. We are very sorry that we did not find and fix them before. We have a testing workflow. But unfortunately this was not 100% adhered to this time due to time constraints. We are trying to improve!

For the change of the compiler libraby I have to go back a bit further.
As already mentioned Summer Islands is a HTML5 game with CreateJS as frontend library (https://createjs.com/) and NodeJS as backend (https://nodejs.org). For compilation as executable we use the perfect tool Web2Executable from jyapayne (https://github.com/jyapayne/Web2Executable). Basically it is a simple interface to use the NW.js library (https://nwjs.io/blog/).
This is the simple framework of software we use. Since we have published Summer Islands on Steam we need a library to integrate the Steam functions. For example Archievments, Steamcloud and so on. There we use the library Greenworks (https://github.com/greenheartgames/greenworks)

And that's where the problem starts. The Greenworks version runs with a certain version of NW.js.
The last Greenworks version v0.14.0 (18 Nov 2018) needs the NW.js version v0.33.3.
With this combination we have managed to get the stable FPS in the last months.

For MacOS we had to change NW.js version and took the latest version, NW.js version v0.43.6.
We had found a site that compiles the Greenworks library with the latest NW.js version (https://greenworks-prebuilds.armaldio.xyz).

This way we had no more startup problems with the MacOS version and could focus on internal client-server errors. We were able to fix all of them. Unfortunately this resulted in new bugs that we fixed today.

But the much bigger problem arose with the use of the new NW.js version. Because this had the consequence that the game ran very unstable. So we are talking about FPS drops below 10 FPS. If you opened the finance menu and moved the mouse, the game was unplayable under Windows. So we decided to switch back to NW.js version v0.33.3 for Linux and Windows.
The MacOS version must remain on NW.js version v0.43.6, because otherwise the game won't start. I am afraid that on MacOS the FPS are not stable and cause unpleasant gameplay problems.

We wish we could solve the problem immediately. But this is the problem when you depend on other libraries. We will try to ensure stability with the latest possible libraries in the future.
But for now we hope that there will be a new Version in the near future.

We wish you a lot of fun with the new version.

in the last weeks we could not integrate big new features due to time constraints. Especially at the beginning of the year there are always some things from life that you have to do first. Also the review 2019 I could not write in the scope I had hoped for. Therefore I try to summarize some information of the last year in this update.



The year 2019 started with a disappointment. Because we did not manage to start the Early Access at the end of 2018. But it was really still necessary. In the first months of 2019 we were able to fix some bugs and integrate new textures. You could see from update to update how the game became fuller and the atmosphere increased. In the middle of the year we had finally made it. At the beginning of summer, the 21.06.2019 we could start the Early Access.
If you want to know more about these stressful days before and after, you should read our update, here: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791461530243/announcements/detail/1593627410379279953
I can only say this much. It was close and some bugs had to be fixed right afterwards. We had only managed this with your help. A big thank you to all of you!

The following months in Early Access were characterized by a larger expenditure of time with the forum. All your suggestions for improvement were added to our todo list and we are slowly but surely working our way through everything. Unfortunately, there were also some criticism we had to deal with. With unconstructive feedback it was also often very time consuming. But on a marketplace that is open to the whole world you get in contact with all kinds of people.

We appeal to all critics of Summer Islands to give us some more time. Our todo list is far from empty ;)

At the end of 2019 we have integrated some more features, e.g. the advisor menu, the victory window menu, sending money to other players, first architecture for supply buildings, the extended terraforming, savegamemanagement and of course the music. We even managed to create a trailer for Xmas.
I must admit that we are satisfied with the progress. Unfortunately this does not reflect our evaluation at Steam. Therefore we would like to motivate all Summer Islands players to give a review. Preferably a positive :D

Here are also some interesting charts from our Git repository from 10.2016 - 01.2020:





What you can see from them:

• We usually commit in the evening
  
• We've never committed at 5am
  
• Most commits come in on Sunday
  
• In the month we are continuously committing.
  
• Im Monat sind wir kontinuierlich am commiten.
  
• Commits make no statement about the quality of the new/changed code ;)

At the beginning of the year 2020 we took a closer look at your feedback on constant small freezes.
We took apart the complete architecture. Especially at the places that are called every second. We have optimized them and made them more efficient. There were also a few comments which did not understand the movement (one press per field) or found it too jerky. So we changed the movement on the map and made it smoother. Pressing the button immediately moves the field of view in one direction and only releasing the button stops the movement. Also there is now no longer jumping but moving. The result, we think, looks much better and also gives the computer more time to render the new fields. So basically a win-win situation :D :D

We are happy to release the support for MacOS today (finally). As a Windows/Linux user I must admit it was very interesting. Due to the fact that Summer Islands is a HTML5 game and we compile it executable file with a Nodejs server, we had to integrate some complicated functions to allow for example saving files. As you probably know it is forbidden for a HTML with JS file to manipulate files on your computer (except temporary files). So we had to look at MacOS how to implement these functions correctly. We hope that it works for all Mac users out there and wish you a lot of fun with Summer Islands. In case of problems: Support@SummerIslands.de

Last but not least we are constantly working on the BOTS. Last month we played the Settlers 3 & 4 again and were horrified to see how primitive the game principle was, which had captivated us for so long :D
Also the opponents were after some time no longer so active. That gives us enough motivation to improve the bots in Summer Islands so that they will really challenge you. In this update we have integrated approaches to the bots, which allow the reconstruction of the buildings after a natural disaster. We are also trying to implement a second city of the bots. I don't want to guarantee 100% that the bots will always be able to do this. But be warned they are getting smarter and smarter. :D

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

I wish you a lot of fun with the new update.

we are happy to announce that a new version has been released. This version has the goal to make the game more complete. No big features were implemented, but rather many bugs were fixed and fine-tuned.

For example, you and we noticed that the building history was reloaded every time you reloaded a game or the charts were sometimes deleted or the star menu did not show the correct number of stars.
We would like to thank you very much for the feedback via the Steam Forum or via email, from all our loyal fans out there.

Through the fine-tuning by us we have reduced the probability of catastrophes a bit. There are now fewer disasters.
Also the default victory conditions are easier to reach and you can adjust them with the buttons. In the victory menu, when a player has reached the number of stars, the victory points are calculated better. Every 100 tourists count as 1 point and one star is already worth 1000 points. The money is the same, 1.000.000 € is 1 point.

The consultants have no longer 15 levels but only 6 levels. So it is not so expensive and time consuming to upgrade them to the highest level. With every 2nd level of Saboteur you unlock new Sabotage. In the future more sabotage possibilities will follow.

The biggest change is the software architecture of the buildings. We have now also integrated the age of the buildings into the popularity function. Older buildings also get a bonus of popularity.
This means that the building popularity is based on the demand of the road network, i.e. the number of holidaymakers and how many buildings of the same category exist. In addition, bonuses are added to this. So the surrounding buildings, the rent, health, how much advertising and now also the age of the building. so from about 5-10 years the bonus for the age increases. This gives the possibility to increase the rent again by a few monetary units. You must always look individually how high one can set the rent.

Of course we have adapted the savegames so that old savegames are automatically converted into the new format.
In case of problems you can of course send us an email:
support@SummerIslands.de
Or play with an older version in advance. We have released every version as beta since the release in Steam. Under Properties>Betas>Select Beta.

That was it for this update with the big innovations.
We wish you a good Summer Islands start into the New Year 2020. Of course we want to thank you very much. Without you the game wouldn't have come this far. Thank you a lot!!!
There will be a more detailed review of Summer Islands for 2019.

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

Until then, have fun
Your Summer Islands team.

yes, for the christmas holidays we wanted to release an update for your pleasure.
SUMMER ISLANDS WITH SNOW TEXTURES.......JOKE!

Here's our new trailer at the beginning:


We thought we would bring a really good improvement of the game atmosphere and release the music! WWUUUUHHHUUU (Finally, it was time).

For the music we worked together with Fabian @ FarBeyond Studio.
You can find his social media accounts here:

• Website: http://www.farbeyondstudio.com
  
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJYhp8FkgxdttAb2lPjBHKA
  
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FarbeyondS
  
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/309880915804605

We can look forward to more songs in the future. We will be able to integrate them again and again. Half of the songs have been made by myself, by the guy who always writes to you here.
We think the songs are really great. Not every song you like 100% but it's a great compilation. Currently the songs always have a break of 2-3 minutes in between. With the 10 songs we get about one hour running time. That's a good start. We hope you like the songs too.

Furthermore we have added some new textures for the buttons. So that clickable fields are also well visible. We are currently only at the beginning to revise them all and consider how we can find a suitable programmed way without creating new textures. Also, it makes the game fell more alive.

With the BOTS we have also improved a lot. The BOTS now fill their space much better and try to use every building. Of course it is still a long way to go to create the perfect opponents. But with a little patience and more work on our side we are confident.
At Terraforming, we've gone up a bit with the cost. Before that we were much too cheap. It could be that now the balance is a bit confused.

We also fixed the support for Linux. For this bug we want to apologize to the Linux community.
We try to fix smaller bugs over the holidays and restore the finetuning.

I hope you have a lot of fun with the new update and the MUUUUUSSSSSSIIIIIIIIKKKKKK.

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

in the last few weeks we've been able to work a little bit more on little things. This way we tried to improve the feel of the game.

First of all I want to talk about the SoundFX. We managed to add another component to our engine. So the SoundFX is only played when the object is visible on the screen. With cars you often heard the horn even though you were on the water and hadn't seen any. In addition, we added much more pleasant natural sounds and e.g. a little victory music in the victory window. We will also try to extend the SoundFX in the future.



We have integrated some feedback points from you. For example, if you wanted to go back to the main menu or desktop, an additional window will appear with an additional confirmation. We also improved the savegames. You now have the possibility to give each savegame a personal name. We have separated the storage of the data and the temporary information for the display in the loading screen. This way we can show you the savegames much faster and additionally show you more information. Which version, the playing time or how many players were there. Of course we made sure that the older savegames still work. They don't have a detailed display. But if you load and save them they are up to date.
If you want to copy them you only have to copy 2 files now. Under

../Steam/steamapps/common/Summer Islands/savegames

you can now always find a .data and a .info file. Both should be copied. But loading without the .info file is also possible.



We have much better news to the size of the scores. Unfortunately we noticed that in the last version the encryption of a 2000 map crashed the game. Therefore we took a closer look and made the space consumption more efficient. We could reduce the savegames by 20x. This means that the loading is much faster and that we now have much better possibilities to move the savegames to the Steamcloud.
We have already tested the Steamcloud with success. But not really integrated yet.



There is also a new little thing in the NewsHistory. This shows now always at which building type there is new building, with the new building name. Here and there we have also improved the scrolling or extended the time of the tourists in the sand.
And of course some more bugs fixed!

We are already looking forward to the XMAS holidays and you should also :D
Have fun with the new update!
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


Update log:

• CLIENT/SERVER: Savegame Management
  
• SERVER: Savegame size reduzing
  
• CLIENT: SoundFX extended/improved
  
• CLIENT: OK/CANCEL check window
  
• CLIENT: NewsHistory improved
  
• CLIENT/SERVER: BUG FIXED
  
• CLIENT/SERVER: Javascript efficiency improved

It's finally time. The update 0.1.9 is here, after a long wait. We needed a long time for the bigger feature of this update. There were some setbacks because we couldn't do some things because of our architecture. So we had to change some things and start again. But in the end we managed it.



In detail it is about the feature of levelling larger terrain areas. This makes it much easier to create a surface without many clicks. The preview option to display and calculate the possible costs was the difficult part. Unfortunately we ran into a few dead ends due to our architecture.
We go through a recursive method in which we look which heights do not yet have the desired height. Thus the map is adapted to the new height. If you want to do this several times for a larger area, you have to be careful that the recursion does not cause large FPS breaks. Also you have to pay special attention to the demolition conditions. In the end we have integrated a second map which is preferably displayed when a surface is levelled. Also the recursion is limited to certain areas only. Each part is only responsible for one direction. This does not result in overlaps.
With this we have implemented a feature which is still important for the editor.



A few more features are also available in this update.

We have integrated an de/encryption for the savegames with an additional verification number. So you can exclude in the multiplayer that someone has spent more money after loading and is shown wrong in the statistics. That doesn't bring any big changes now. But in the future we can still expand this.

The SoundFX build effects have also been improved. Next we want to adjust them so that they are only heard when they are really visible on the screen. This has unfortunately turned out to be more difficult than expected. Because our engine doesn't have something like this by default and therefore we have to develop an algorithm first that confirms with little effort whether the object is displayed or not.

Finally we have changed the main menu of the design a bit. That wasn't much effort. The goal was to create a more lively main menu.
And of course we have some bugs fixed!

For the next weeks until the XMAS holidays we want to concentrate on stability and atmosphere.
Have fun with the new update!
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


Update log:
-CLIENT/SERVER: Terraforming Field integrated
-CLIENT: Planes Layer BUG FIX
-CLIENT: Javascript efficiency improved
-SERVER/CLIENT: SoundFX Buildings improved
-SERVER: Savegames De/Encoding
-CLIENT: Mainmenu improved

I'd say we were on summer break. But unfortunately we were so busy with everyday tasks like looking for a flat, moving etc. You know that this is always time consuming.
Now that everything is back to normal we want to release new updates for you.

I think right at the beginning I would like to mention that we made a stupid mistake. The victory conditions weren't counted individually for each player, they were counted all together. That's why you could quickly end the game with a few BOTS. We fixed that right away.
We would be happy to see a few victory pictures from you. How you cut off so after a certain time. So feel free to post some pictures.

As a bigger feature we have added the money send function. You now have the possibility to send money to every player. Via the star menu and the tab player. Therefore we had to trick something with the HTML DOM elements to get a good input window. I don't think the result is perfect yet. But you can already work with it.



We made some small changes to the options menu. This gives you the possibility to remove moving objects depending on the hardware. Now all corresponding layers are removed from the game and no longer displayed. This might help some people to increase the FPS. Also we could improve the sometimes jerky clicking behavior. We switched to the HTML MouseEvents. These always have the highest priority during execution. So in the future we can integrate much better mouse interactions e.g. the wish to activate street with mouseDown and to build with mousePressUp.

Finally, we also implemented the architecture for the supply buildings. This adds two more buildings: The garbage dump and the sewage plant. These can currently be built easily and are calculated like normal buildings. Of course, other buildings don't want them next door. In further updates the supply buildings will play a bigger role so that the other buildings will work at all. But I have to tell you right now that Summer Islands won't be an economic simulation like ANNO etc.. We want to increase the difficulty and the realism with the utility buildings. There will be more such buildings coming. But at the moment we don't plan with every building what you would need to live. Rather an abstraction for the vacation.



Have fun with the new update!
https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


Update Log:

• CLIENT: Send money to fellow players
  
• CLIENT: MouseEvents improved
  
• CLIENT: Javascript efficiency improved
  
• SERVER/CLIENT: Supply building integrated
  
• SERVER: Victory calculation BUG FIX
  
• CLIENT: Options menu improved
  
• CLIENT: OptionsMenu Switch Layer On/Off

Hello, together,

finally it's time. We present you the new victory conditions menu.
So it finally makes sense to play Summer Islands :)
At least you've got a clear goal you can work towards or get yourself compared to.

It was very stressful last weeks. Not because of Summer Islands. But you always have in mind that you have to create a new Summer Islands update.
No, the stress came more from a partition error. Which destroyed a few days of programming. Also the important programming laptop had been sent in because of a hardware defect. So you had to set everything up again and that costs time with the little free time you have in the evening. I don't want to complain too much. Everyone has his problems :D

But for you it means now: Set victory conditions at the start of the game:



As you can see in the picture you can currently set 4 different victory conditions. For each goal the player gets a star. Additionally you can set how many stars a player needs to win.
The current 4 categories are:

• Time (this category is always activated)
  
• Money
  
• Number of tourists
  
• Shareholders' equity (sum of all construction costs of existing buildings)

You can set these 4 categories as targets and change them.
When you have started the game you will see a new button with a star icon in the bottom left corner.



If you click on it you will get to the MatchMenu. This shows you some details about the current match via the tabs. At the very beginning you can see the stars. Here you can see who already got how many stars. In the tab game settings you get an overview of the created match and the victory conditions. This helps you to bring the goals back into consciousness.



When you give it 110% and it comes to an end. So a player who has reached the required stars, you will see the winner window with the facts about the match. Who wins based on the total score or the money or stars. This can all be seen at a glance.



We will try to integrate such statistics into Steam in the future so that you can see how your friends have performed with similar game conditions. Or a big chart with all points at what time what happened. For this we have implemented the basic architecture with version 0.1.7.

A disadvantage of version 0.1.7 is: The old savegames don't work anymore, for now. In the future we will try to integrate a more complex savegame correction system so that old savegames will continue to work and will be corrected when loaded. But until then I have released version 0.1.6 as beta for every player out there. Just right click on Summer Islands > Properties. Then select the version 0.1.6 in the dropdown menu under the tab Betas and have fun with the old savegames. :D

On request we have also integrated a switch in the start menu to switch off the catastrophes. For everyone who doesn't want to be restricted by nature. ;)

Furthermore we could fix the bugs that occurred on bigger screens (bigger than 1080p). It is now possible to use the whole screen. There is only one limitation. The zoom function with mouse wheel does not work here unfortunately. But we already have that in mind and take care of it. Give us some more patience and we'll be able to fix it. :)

In the next weeks we try not to implement such big changes but to improve the gameplay and atmosphere. We were thinking about improvements to the SoundFX or maybe music or or or or. There is still a lot to do and the roadmap looks promising that we won't get bored. :D

If you like Summer Islands and you think the two/three weekly updates are great, give us a positive review. We read every review and write the improvements into the roadmap and we don't want to be satisfied with a balanced one. So thumbs up! ;)

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands

Hello together,

In recent weeks we have focused on new consultants in the area of security and sabotage.



As you can see, there is now a separate tab for the advisors in the Finance menu. This was planned from the beginning. But for the Early Access release we have chosen the previous display to keep things simple.
But now in detail:

• The security consultant and the sabotage consultant, like the other consultants, also have a notice period of 180 days.
  
• Both have a basic salary and additional bonus payments.
  
• Both consultants are promoted. Up to level 15.
  
• The sabotage advisor unlocks further sabotage options at Level 6 and Level 11.
  
• Furthermore, sabotage becomes cheaper for you with every level of him.
  
• On the other hand, every player can hire a security advisor. This makes it more expensive for every other player if someone wants to sabotage his buildings.
  
• In the future, the Security Advisor will have even more advantages for the reputation of the players. But that's yet to come.

So much for the two new advisors. The BOTS are not yet able to strike back with sabotage. But they will hire one or the other security advisor.

On the BOT side, we have made a few changes in the reconstruction of after a natural disaster or sabotage. The BOTs should now be able to rebuild themselves over time. Of course this can go wrong one or the other time. Because such a recalculation of the situation is not easy for us sometimes :D.

In this direction we now see the potential to expand further consultants and existing consultants in the future. Because with the two additional consultants we have laid the system architecture to simplify this in the future.
When I write these lines, it doesn't see much of what we have implemented. But appearances are deceptive.
Because as I have already mentioned X times Summer Islands is created in our spare time in addition to our day job.
We continue to work and have new ideas for Summer Islands every day. We are currently working on some soundtracks and SoundFX as well, as this has been requested several times and we had planned this from the beginning.

I hope you have fun with the new update. We are looking forward to every screenshot and mail from you. Recommend Summer Islands to others. Until the next update.

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


-SERVER/CLIENT: Security Consultant added
-SERVER/CLIENT: Sabotage Consultant added
-SERVER/CLIENT: Money Calculation Consultant changed
-CLIENT: Sabotage Consultant activates different sabotages
-SERVER: BOTs rebuild after destruction
-CLIENT: BUG FIX Earthfield after destruction
-SERVER/CLIENT: Javascript stability/efficiency

Hello together,

it's been 3 weeks since the last update. Sometimes the "day job" is holding you up longer and lately in Germany also the weather. At 40° Celsius one would rather not switch on any heat-producing devices in the apartment.
But don't worry. We are constantly working on Summer Islands and would like to present you version 0.1.5 today.

So what's new for you in version 0.1.5:
First of all we were extremely happy about the pictures that some of you uploaded to Steam. We think it's really great to see your holiday paradises and how you earn your money. But we were also a bit surprised how you could earn so much money in such a short time. We know that we have to implement some goals in Summer Islands, like a highscore list that you can share with friends or some missions.

The first step was to improve the finetuning building a bit. This only happened slightly. But I guess you will notice an effect during the game.
In detail, we have reduced the advertising boost and the neighboring buildings flow more into the buildings popular.
The bots also build more densely than before. This way you don't get so often the chance to place your buildings in another player's city.

To increase the player ergonomics we have added the possibility to select your desired position from the icon menu bar.
Moving the mouse to every edge of the screen is fun but time consuming. But everyone as he wants it to be.






Furthermore we fixed some smaller bugs. The construction crane animation didn't run through properly or even the creation of airplanes, cars or ships is now calculated differently based on: Popularity of the building + number of already created objects + a bit of chance.
But what we only noticed now: The demolition and the sabotage explosions animation were no longer visible. Unfortunately two lines of code were missing. In some Let's Plays that was a good laugh. Because you tore something down and suddenly the house was gone, just with one click.



A propro Let's plays. The requests for free CD-Keys have fortunately decreased. Also some negative reviews were preceded by unanswered requests.
Nevertheless, we can say as a conclusion:
Also Let's Plays that were clicked more than 100.000 times didn't give us any change in the purchase statistics. We as a 3-person developer team, which operates Summer Islands only as a sideline, it's relative whether a marketing strategy is successful or not. But I personally prefer to play a game myself rather than have it pretend. Everyone sees it differently, of course. I just wanted to address the issue of influence and doubt the marketing strategy, at least in the gaming industry. Probably it depends also strongly on the Influencer and their Community. Nevermind.

We are looking forward to providing you with new Summer Islands updates and hope you have fun with Summer Islands.

https://trello.com/b/FbC1a19w/devboard-summer-islands


-SERVER: reduce advertising Boost
-SERVER: neighbor buildings Boost
-CLIENT: Build field/Sabotage/Destruction Animation Bug Fix
-CLIENT: Moveable Objects depending on: Popularity of the building + number of already created objects + a bit of chance
-CLIENT: flexible MenuIcons position
-SERVER/CLIENT: Javascript stability/efficiency