[h2]G'day![/h2] It's been a while since 0.7 has been released, and work is well underway for Gym Tycoon 0.8. I waited a bit longer this time before giving you guys a progress update. To make up for that, this time I can include some work-in-progress images! ːsteamhappyː [h2]Small change of plans[/h2] So the goal of last 0.7 update was to improve the game's average play time by adding more furniture & equipment content to the game. While this kind of worked, I wasn't totally satisfied with the result. I had a chat with my brother (he has been pulling me through hard times, I really appreciate him for all the times he is helping me) and took a good critical look at the game to find out what needs most attention. In the original plan for 0.8 I wanted to get started on adding employees to the game, but we both agreed that the current "progression system" is flawed by design and needed improvements. When you start a new game, 80% of the furniture is already unlocked and unlocking the remaining 20% either felt arbitrary or simply weird. This had to be fixed first! [h2]Research[/h2] The biggest problem I want to tackle, is to come up with a better system for unlocking new furniture and features. I looked at existing games for inspiration and concluded that a research tree is the best way to go. Its highly flexible, allowing the player to prioritize what they want to research. Simultaneously, it also gives me, the game developer, a lot of design flexibility like the ability to add new research items later! Here's a WIP image of how it looks like now. If you're wondering what the new stars mean, keep on reading to find out! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38191591/a8226b278855db8b3d1debc1fdaeb1201c7c2a88.png[/img] I hope you guys are as excited about this new system as I am, it feels like a much better way to unlock new things for your gym. [h2]Gym Rating becomes Gym Score[/h2] Now that items get unlocked via research, Gym Rating lost its most important feature which (in its current form) made it a bit meaningless. I took this opportunity to transform Gym Rating into a better system: Instead of 5 star levels, your gym now gets a score. This score is calculated by the number of gym members and how happy they are, plus any bonus score earned from winning contests. This is all shown in a simple overview: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38191591/6936285c7aa0db165a9ee1b3c7d636cb5a19572c.png[/img] [h2]More content![/h2] I changed my plans about introducing new furniture to the game as well. My initial plan was to not introduce new furniture and equipment until I am fully done modelling them. However, I think this will take too long, so instead I will introduce placeholder versions in the next game, these are simple recoloured versions of existing models: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38191591/88f492f6a7f12bdaab94cb5a2cf36557fa04e8d3.png[/img] Over time I will create new models for these placeholders, which will automatically replace them over time. Let me know what you think! That's all the big changes coming up. I hope you're excited for the next update! Cheers, Jasper