So I am finally coming out of the darkness with an update and a roadmap for the game.

I have been silent on what has been going on for a very long time and for that I apologize. Two major roadblocks were hit and there was no end in sight.

To stop the constant threats/harrassment I was recieving on all avenues of social media from Twitter to Reddit to personal emails, I went dark for there were no concrete updates on the situations.

Here were the two roadblocks that I had over the last many months since the last update:

1. Dispute with Artist.
I had a 3D artist I was working with on the multiple new stores. Right at the end there was a major dispute that had no good end anywhere on the horizon. After months of going back and forth it was decided to cut all ties and remove all models that were going to be used in the updates.

2. Major Bugs
Given the way the game was coded over the longer developement cycle (since it started as a side project) I was running into major bugs that were completely stopping the updates from being released. There ended up being no fix really at all for these, hence today's update.


Again, as there was no update I could possibly give as these two roadblocks were happening, I went dark. I decided to go dark until it was time for a release and there was a concrete plan as to what was happening. I have said many times that this game is a hobby project and I would never stop developing it until it was done. That still hasn't changed. The time for the first update is now. As for the future, I will no longer be giving ETAs until I am 100% certain they will be met. This is to prevent any future disappointments and to hopefully stop the hateful messages I have been getting.

The Roadmap:

1.0
The Backend Update
So as I stated The old coding was causing so many bugs with the new update that it became literally unusable. As I would fix some a hundred more would creep up. This was mainly caused by older versions of Unity and that most of the algorithms used for the simulation were created by myself when I was in my infant stages of programming (In the very beginning it was a project more for myself and was never intended to be released until people showed they wanted to play it).

This is why there was such a long time inbetween updates. I literally went through every piece of coding in the game and optimized/rewrote. At this point I think you can basically say I made the entire game over again from scratch to make sure it would work with all future plans.

The game now runs on the latest version of Unity and is greatly optimized to the point where it even runs smoothly on my older macbook pro, which it never did in the slightest before.

Cliff Notes of what is in the update:

Complete rewrite of all code from the ground up, to stop [most] bugs on all future updates
Upgrade to Unity 5.5
Store displays upgrade choices
Store backroom upgrade choices
Store manager office upgrade choices
Overhaul of economy
Trading Cards(pending Steam Approval, might get pushed to next update)

ETA: Tomorrow (Wednesday the 29th) or the next day (Thursday the 30th). Depends on the review process of the Trading Cards. It will be released as soon as they get approved. If they are not approved by Thursday or if they get rejected I am just going to release the update and push the Trading Cards to the next Update.

1.1
The Customization Update
The next update will be the customization update. It will allow you to choose from 3 store sizes and place all desks/tables/displays where ever you would like around the store. It will also finish out all upgrade selections. If the trading cards were not approved in time, they will be included in this update.

ETA: Given it is basically complete and the overhaul in coding help squash any bugs before they even had a chance to occur, I am confident in saying the release will be in April/May.

1.2
The Multi Store Update
This has been the bane of my existence over the development of this game. With the rewrite I am confident all items of this update will be fully working since it was now all coded with this in mind, where as the original coding didn't account for anything like this. All that is left here is to find a new 3D artist who will work with me.

ETA: TBA (as I said, I will not give ETAs until I am 100% sure I will be able to hit it on time).

1.3
The UI Update
1.2's road block at the moment is finding a 3D artist. I am hoping that same artist will be able to take the task of refreshing the UI. That will be the center for the last major update.

Obviously I don't want to say there won't be any updates after these. Its a hobby project, if there is something to add, I am going to add it, even if nobody is playing anymore. I think this post and the next update is proof of that!

I apologize for going dark for so long, but I hope you guys can understand the reasonings. From this point I will only post when there is something to show and information to pass along.

Thank you.

TL;DR
First update coming by EOD Thursday that is a complete rewrite of all the games code, next update coming April/May, 2 more scheduled updates after that.