RIDE YOUR VEHICLE
- The Ride Your Vehicle mode now has its own UI.
- Replaced the overhead view with a 3rd-person-like view.
- Added a special camera view when the vehicle is inside a depot.
- Added an interior for the C17 Class loco (thanks, scailman!).
- Vehicles now tilt.
- Fixed Z-fighting of indicators in orthographic mode.
- Fixed issue where pressing Esc to show the hidden UI would also close the active window.
- Updated Unity to 6000.0.24.
This beta update introduces early support for vehicle interiors/cockpits for the Ride Your Vehicle mode. The update is primarily intended for modders so they can start preparing their mods. However, some Tier 1 vehicles already have interiors implemented (thanks to scailman!) that you can play with and use as examples for modding. Interiors serve only a cosmetic purpose and have no impact on performance during normal gameplay. Note that having an interior is purely optional and is at the modder's discretion. Additionally, setting an interior will not affect older versions of the game, so you can safely update your mods for the beta branch without fear of breaking the default branch. Modding guide by scailman: http://docs.voxeltycoon.xyz/guides/content-mods/creating-vehicle-interior
Hey there, Voxel Tycoon community!
In today's development update, we'll take a detailed look at the recent QoL updates and discuss what's happening with VT development overall.
Many of the improvements and fixes recently implemented were based on direct feedback from players in the #bug-reports and #suggestions channels on our Discord. We encourage you to join and share your thoughts with us and the community!
UI optimization
It's interesting how UI can significantly impact game performance when it starts to hit its limits. While the Voxel Tycoon UI easily handles the content the vanilla game provides, when you start playing with many mods, you can begin to see its weak spots. The most obvious one appeared to be the Buy window. If you play with many vehicle mods, it could take up to a several minutes (!) to open it the first time, and then cause insane FPS drops while it is open (from 200 to 5 FPS in the case below).
This was captured on a developer PC which has enough RAM, GPU, and CPU power to spare. So, we did some optimizations, and here's what we got. You can have as many vehicle mods as you want the Buy vehicle window now opens immediately regardless and consumes a much smaller portion of frame time while it is open.
There were a few other places where playing mod-heavy games caused huge lag spikes and FPS drops: the New game window (specifically the Mods tab) and storage picker popups. Those were optimized as well and now open immediately. One more place where we applied optimization wasn't affected by mod count, but rather by the size of your empire. It's the Fleet window. Now, you can monitor hundreds of vehicles on your company's balance without significant performance drops. As a bonus, after all the optimizations, the game can use up to ~500MB less memory in mod-heavy games. If you want to know more details on what caused such drastic performance drops and how we optimized them out, let us know! We'll do a separate post on this (this one is already quite big). Optimizing performance is an ongoing effort, and there are still many areas where it can be greatly improved. But for now, we want to focus on gameplay features in the next updates.
Camera Bookmarks
You can now set specific camera positions as bookmarks using Ctrl+Shift+0-9 and quickly return to those spots with Shift+0-9. This is incredibly useful for managing your empire, allowing you to jump between key locations with ease, while there's no mini-map (which is planned). We're also going to add dedicated UI for the bookmarks in future updates.
Orthographic (aka isometric) camera received some
Some of you may not even be aware that this camera mode has been in the game from the very beginning! And now it's finally officially fully supported.
It now locks to 45-degree angles and top-down views, and remains consistent between sessions. There's a new HUD button to toggle this mode, though the F9 hotkey is still available for those who prefer keyboard shortcuts.
While making these improvements, we also fixed a few camera-related bugs, like conveyors not being correctly picked in isometric view (699).
Hotkeys to toggle windows
We added hotkeys to toggle some essential windows: F2 for Fleet, F3 for Research; others are not bound by default and can be set to your preferences.
Other minor changes
Vehicle replacement changes
After some time playing with vehicle replacement, it became clear that in most cases, players want to replace only existing vehicles and not the ones bought after a replacement order is issued. If a player decides to buy a vehicle they've set up to be replaced, they probably intend to keep it. So, we made vehicle replacements affect only vehicles that were present at the moment of replacement creation. This also allowed for auto-removal of completed replacements, eliminating the need to manually clean up completed vehicle replacement orders.
Fixing notification log flaws
We noticed that many players (including ourselves) instinctively move the cursor to the top right corner of the notification log to hide it. However, instead of a close button typically found in this location, there is a notification settings button. The notification log can be hidden by clicking on its entire header. This was designed so that when you click on the notification counter to bring up the log, you can hide it again without moving the cursor. As a result, a separate hide button wasn't deemed necessary, and when we needed to add a settings button, we placed it in the corner. However, we didn't account for the power of habit. To address this, we have placed the collapse button where it is expected to be and moved the settings button to the left. You can still hide the log by clicking on its header.
Also, one might expect that hitting Esc while the notification log is expanded will close only it, but instead, a random window (usually the one on top) was closed as well. Now only the notification log will hide on Esc.
What's next?
As many of you know, we are currently working on the Rails and Roads Rework (aka RRR): a new rail and road laying system that will replace the current one and allow for: * Level crossings * Customizable curvature of tracks * Left-hand traffic * Diagonal roads * One-way roads * Horizontally curved bridges and tunnels * Planning mode * Support for blueprints * Support for path signals * Better support for modding and interconnection of different types of tracks * Support for liquids/pipes * Performance optimizations It turned out to be much more complex than we initially anticipated. But it's necessary to complete before adding new content to the game, so we've been dedicating a lot of time to it. As a result, other major updates were, if not put on hold, at least slowed down. As you can imagine, this may create the appearance that no more major updates are coming for the game, and, quote, the game is dead. Some of our most devoted community members may remember that the game was initially supposed to be out in Early Access by the end of 2017. But it came out in 2019 as pre-alpha, and only in 2021 did it hit Steam EA. So, the game isn't dead; this is just how we develop it. And it has always been the case; there's nothing new. We prioritize quality over speed of development, and this isn't going to change. Sometimes updates come one after another; sometimes there's complete radio silence because we're just not ready to show anything. We release new updates only when we feel they're up to the bar we've set. And keep in mind that there are just two of us (we tried to hire more people in the past, but it didn't work out for us, both financially and organization-wise). The good news is, RRR is progressing, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We'll post more on this progress when we're ready. For now, enjoy some of the development artifacts. We occasionally post these in the #dump channel on our #dump channel on our Discord server. If you're interested in early sneak peeks, please join us there!
Updated roadmap
We've moved our roadmap to GitHub, aligning it more closely with our development process. Here you can see what we're working on right now and what will be worked on in the future. We will keep it up to date with our current direction.
The roadmap has two views: Board (like it was before) and Table for a better overview. Notice that you can filter and slice data to your liking.
On modding docs
The final issue we need to address is modding documentation. It's clearly lagging behind, and unfortunately, it's challenging to keep it current while the game is in active development. Don't worry, we'll update it eventually. In the meantime, we encourage you to join the #modding channel on Discord to get assistance and discuss your ideas with our fantastic modding community.
Thank you!
We really appreciate your patience and support. Thank you for being part of the Voxel Tycoon community, and stay tuned for more exciting updates!
While we're still working on the next major update, we wanted to share a little QoL patch with you all to help pass the time. As you will notice, many of these changes are performance optimizations for those who play with a lot of mods. Optimizing performance is an ongoing effort, and there are still many places where it can be greatly improved. In the meantime, for the next update, we want to focus on gameplay features. Thank you, and stay tuned for more! PERFORMANCE
- Buy vehicle window optimized to support as many vehicles as you want. Previously, it could take up to several minutes (!) to open the first time with many mods installed and cause insane frame drops while opened.
- Eliminated huge lag when opening the storage picker for the first time in a mod-heavy game.
- Eliminated huge lag and performance drop when opening the New game window with many mods installed.
- Fleet window optimized to support hundreds of vehicles without performance drop.
- In mod-heavy games, the game could use up to ~500MB less memory.
- Sorting by earnings and costs in the Fleet window is now dynamic and properly reorders rows as values change.
- Added hotkeys to toggle windows: F2 for Fleet, F3 for Research Management; others are not bound by default and can be set to your preferences. Hide UI is now F11, and toggle orthographic view is F9.
- Settings window now resizes with resolution and UI scale changes.
- If Notifications log is open, no other windows will be closed on Esc.
- Fixed various vehicle icon rendering issues where wagons can appear separated, not render some parts (submeshes), overlay one over another, or completely vanish.
- Fixed an issue where, when you followed a vehicle and unfollowed it by toggling in the vehicle UI, using WASD keys, or edge scrolling, the camera jumped back to where following started.
- Fixed Vehicle replacement window often spawning with the Add replacement button hidden below the toolbar.
- Fixed bulldoze hotkey conflicting with Free camera hotkeys.
- Unity updated to 2022.3.37
IMPROVEMENTS
- Orthographic (aka isometric) mode received some love: now locks to 45-degree angles and top-down view, remains consistent between sessions, and features its own HUD button (F3 hotkey is still there)
- Lakes now produce sound
- Depot window: Made the configure and sell buttons more visible
- Added CAD currency
- Fixed renaming vehicle in the reconfigure window had no effect
- Unity updated to 2022.3.20
GAMEPLAY
- Holiday cheer removed
- Vehicle replacement no longer affect new vehicles
- Complete replacement will be automatically removed
- Camera bookmarks: Set bookmark: Ctrl + Shift + 0-9, go to bookmark: Shift + 0-9
- Added explicit close/hide button to notification history popup
- Fixed available money got trimmed in the lab window
- Fixed Info tool worked through UI
- Fixed infinite loop of vehicle replacement can be created
- Fixed error when vehicle was replaced while picking destination
- Fixed wrong speed is reported when vehicle window is just opened
- Unity updated to 2022.3.19
GAMEPLAY - Holiday cheer removed - Vehicle replacement no longer affect new vehicles - Complete replacement will be automatically removed FIXES - Fixed infinite loop of vehicle replacement can be created - Fixed error when vehicle was replaced while picking destination - Fixed wrong speed is reported when vehicle window is just opened How to get on beta branch: https://voxeltycoon.xyz/devlog/beta-branch/
IMPROVEMENTS - Camera bookmarks: Set bookmark: Ctrl + Shift + 0-9, go to bookmark: Shift + 0-9 - Added explicit close/hide button to notification history popup FIXES - Fixed available money got trimmed in the lab window - Fixed Info tool worked through UI How to get on beta branch: https://voxeltycoon.xyz/devlog/beta-branch/
Get ready to sparkle We've added a tool that lets you decorate your buildings with colorful string lights and vibrant neon tubes. Let's brighten up those short winter days!
Bring holiday cheer to your world! Check the top left of your screen for new controls to toggle night and bring in a festive holiday ambiance. It's the perfect way to showcase your holiday decorations!
Share screenshots with the community! We're super excited to see how you bring the holiday spirit into your tycoon empire. Join us on Discord and be a part of our vibrant community!
Happy building and decorating, tycoons! Let's make this season shine bright!
Todays update is twofold: refining the bulldozing process for a smoother workflow and significantly boosting late-game performance. Were keen for you to delve into these enhancements and share your experiences!
Bulldozing Enhancements
We're excited to introduce a more streamlined bulldozing process in this update. Now, upon toggling off the bulldoze tool, the toolbar will automatically revert back to your previously selected tool, saving you from the tedious task of clicking through toolbars to get back to your original tool.
To further ease the bulldozing process, weve transitioned the bulldoze hotkey from / to E making it more accessible. Also, when activated, the bulldoze tool will now be highlighted with a red frame, providing clear visual feedback. Adding a quick-access feature, holding down the E key will temporarily activate the bulldoze tool. Once you release the key, your previous tool selection will be restored, making it a breeze to switch between tools during gameplay.
Late-game performance improvements
This update brings noticeable performance improvements, especially in big late-game scenarios. We've also optimized how UI indicators work, particularly when they are hidden, to help make the game run even smoother. The boost in performance can range from just a few extra frames per second to a significant increase of 10-20 FPS. This is part of our ongoing work to improve performance, and we plan to continue making such improvements in future updates to ensure a better gameplay experience. As always, your feedback is the cornerstone of our development process. Join us in our Discord community to share your experiences, discuss strategies, and connect with fellow gamers. Were committed to continuous improvement and are excited about the journey ahead with our amazing community Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, thank you for being part of this exhilarating adventure!
IMPROVEMENTS - Late game performance improvements: Players with big late-game worlds may experience a noticeable FPS boost. - Reduced performance impact of indicators (labels), especially when they are hidden. - Tuned console error and warning message colors for better screenshot compression and enhanced readability. FIXES - Fixed an issue where vehicle audio would continue playing during forced pauses, such as opening the Settings window. - Save slot cards now support clicking through long world names. MODDING - Unity updated to 2022.3.10.
Today's mini-update is all about enhancing the bulldozing process. Our aim was to make the workflow smoother and less interrupted. We'd love for you to test it out and share your thoughts with us! * After toggling off the bulldozer tool, the toolbar will now automatically revert back to your previously selected tool * You can now temporarily activate the bulldozer tool by holding down the E key. Once you release the key, your previous tool selection will be restored. Please note, we have moved the bulldozer hotkey from / to E for easier access * To provide clear visual feedback, an active bulldozer tool will now be highlighted with a red frame. This makes it easier to know when you're in demolition mode * Zoom default bindings has been moved to Shift+A/D * Fixed the issues where the zoom key bindings were inverted * Improved consistency when placing mines on the edge of the deposit (thanks c0d3ninja for bringing this to our attention!) * Modding: Unity updated to 2022.3.7
This intermediate update introduced color scheme support for vehicles, new Custom Rules to tailor your gameplay experience, and a few improvements and enhancements for both players and modders. If you want to delve into the details, you can check out the full changelog, or embark on a journey with us through this post for an engaging introduction.
Color schemes for vehicles
We're introducing a subtle, yet handy new feature in Voxel Tycoon: color schemes for vehicles. This addition allows for a touch more personalization in your fleet.
From now on, vehicles in Voxel Tycoon can flaunt more than just a single color scheme. When you're about to purchase a vehicle which has alternative color schemes, a new picker will pop up on the vehicle card.
This allows you to select your preferred color scheme right before purchase, adding an extra layer of personalization and differentiation to your fleet. This added touch of customization is yet another step towards making your transportation empire truly unique.
We acknowledge that many mods in the past featured different color schemes for a single vehicle, but they were constrained to present them as separate vehicles. Now, those color schemes can be merged, simplifying the modding process and providing a better overall experience for players. To further enhance the customization of your fleet, we've added company-specific color schemes for passenger buses and wagons. This allows you to unify your fleet with your company colors, contributing to a more cohesive visual identity for your transportation empire.
These new color schemes are designed to enhance your gameplay experience, providing more customization options and adding more flavor to your fleet. We can't wait to see the vibrant and diverse fleets you will create! Oh, and our passenger rail cars will now light up beautifully at night!
New Mail Rail Cars
To augment the transportation of mail, we've added brand new Tier 1 and Tier 2 mail rail cars.
Please note that box cars are no longer suitable for mail.
Introducing Custom Rules
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play with resource deposits that never deplete? We know you have, given that the Infinite Resources mod (which we created simply as a modding example) has become the most subscribed mod of all time. Many players have also expressed interest in a Creative Mode. While we wanted to cater to these requests, it was essential for us to maintain the core essence of the original game. To strike this balance, we are introducing Custom Rules. This new feature provides a streamlined, in-game integrated method for personalizing your gaming experience. With Custom Rules, you can enable specific experiences to play the game your way. At present, the Custom Rules include game-changing options such as Infinite Resources, Unlimited Money, and Everlasting Demands. These modes let you bypass some of the typical constraints of the game, allowing for a unique, personalized gameplay experience. Settings like Allow turn around, All research completed, and Start with semaphores added to the roster of Custom Rules as well.
Enabled rules will be shown on the Win/Lose screen, so you'll always know what parameters were in play. We've also added a Custom Rules badge to the save slot cards, allowing you to view the rules active for each game, ensuring full transparency and control over your gaming experience. Furthermore, mods now have the ability to introduce their own Custom Rules as well. This enables mod creators to further enhance and customize the gameplay experience for their users. You can find an example of how to add your own Custom Rules in a mod here.
0.88.1-0.88.4 minor features recap
Recognizing that not everyone sifts through every detail in our changelogs, we wanted to recap some of the most interesting changes we've rolled out in past minor updates. Each of these changes plays a part in our continued efforts to ensure an enjoyable and hassle-free gaming experience for all our players. We appreciate your feedback and are committed to making Voxel Tycoon the best it can be.
More Room for Creativity
We've expanded the character limit for names across the game. Now, you can have longer names for everything that can be renamed, including your company, cities, vehicles, stations, depots, labs, route names, and even save names. This gives you more room to express your creativity and individuality in your gaming world.
Non-QWERTY keyboard layouts
In a bid to make Voxel Tycoon more accessible, we've enhanced support for non-QWERTY keyboard layouts. This improvement ensures that the game's user interface will now correctly display the hotkeys corresponding to your keyboard layout, such as A instead of Q on AZERTY. We've also added the option to choose from pre-defined QWERTY and AZERTY layouts in the controls settings.
Accessibility
In our commitment to enhancing game accessibility, we introduced a feature in the 0.88.2 update that allows you to reduce the contrast in build mode. This feature aims to ensure a comfortable visual experience for all players. Additionally, we've made it so tooltips no longer disappear when taking a screenshot with Print Screen. We've also added a Copy many vehicles at once with SHIFT hint to the tooltip for the Copy Vehicle button. We recognize there are many hidden places where the SHIFT key can be used, so we are aiming to expose those functions more clearly through our UI.
Better error handling
In order to provide a smoother experience when dealing with script mod errors, we've replaced the generic Failed to load .dll message box with a more detailed error window. This window offers useful actions such as 'Disable and Reload', and 'Go to Workshop'. When encountering a failed patching, the error message is now much clearer and specifies the problematic patch. We've also enhanced how the game handles missing assets cases, now reporting asset Uri over numerical id.
Improved performance on Mac M1/M2
Lastly, update 0.88.3 brought about improvements specifically for players on M1/M2 machines where we've introduced a potential fix for memory leaks, hangs, and crashes. The issues seem to have been completely resolved for now.
Looking Forward
We understand that our pace of development may appear slow to some, but rest assured, this is our deliberate approach to ensure we uphold our vision and maintain the high quality that Voxel Tycoon demands. All of the announced features, including Rails and Roads Rework, Contracts, and vehicle obsolescence, are indeed in active development. We prefer to take our time to polish and perfect these features rather than rushing them. We want to keep you informed and involved every step of the way. That's why we continually update our roadmap, which provides a clear outline of what to expect in the future of Voxel Tycoon. We highly value your thoughts and feedback on these new updates, and we would love to hear about your experiences as you dive into them. Please join us in our Discord community where you can share your ideas, ask questions, discuss strategies, and connect with fellow gamers. It's the perfect place to learn more about Voxel Tycoon and contribute to our vibrant community. Your feedback and support are invaluable to us. You are an integral part of our development process, and your patience and understanding are what enable us to craft Voxel Tycoon into the game we all envision. So, stay tuned for more updates and improvements. And as always, thank you for being with us on this exciting adventure. See you next time
Win/Lose screen will display all the enabled Custom Rules (including CHEATS!) 'Custom Rules' badge has been added to the save slot cards, letting you inspect the Custom Rules that are active for that particular game Fixed store window did not display price changes at non-100% UI scales ( #1044 ) Modding: To add your own Custom Rules, inherit from the newly introduced CustomRulesMod class ( example )
Introducing Custom Rules! When starting a new game, you can apply custom rules to your new world, including Infinite Resources, or even Unlimited Money! "Allow turn around", "All research completed", and "Start with semaphores" are now Custom Rules Handling more cases of missing assets where the game will try to report asset Uri over numerical id Modding: Assembly-CSharp.dll is now VoxelTycoon.dll Modding: storage assets now respect .uribindings, ensuring seamless binding of retired vehicle units to new ones Modding: Unity updated to 2022.3.3
Enhanced support for non-QWERTY keyboard layouts (thanks refreshfr for the heads up!) Added the option to select from pre-defined QWERTY and AZERTY layouts in the controls settings Resolved the issue with corrupted DebugSettings.json file that was previously preventing the game from loading
Added brand new Tier 1 and Tier 2 mail rail cars Box cars are no longer suitable for mail Passenger rail cars are now lit at night Modding: In .*storage assets, ItemGroupUris replaced with ItemGroups, allowing configuration of individual groups in the same manner as Items Modding: Added the ability to hide individual storages (Item or ItemGroup) to maintain backward compatibility for older saves after storage was moved to another unit or building Modding: Added support for recipe-based display names for liveries Unity updated to 2022.2.21
Fixed compatibility with mods that use empty meshes without a .meta file (thanks **stitch up** for the heads up!)
Fixed regression where non-lowercased mesh uri references prevent mods from loading Fixed regression where smoke assets using meshes fails to load Fixed regression where mods using specific configuration of patches with Remove command fails to load
Vehicles can now have more than one color scheme Added a picker to allow selecting the vehicle color scheme before purchase Added company color schemes for passenger buses and wagons Asset Editor: Preserve selected variant when switching models Asset Editor: Show current slider values in the color picker on hover Modding: Implemented custom color schemes (liveries) support for vehicles Modding: Fixed Remove command of the .patch asset was not working in some cases Modding: Updated Unity to 2022.2.20
MacOS (M1) players: This update contains a possible fix for memory leaks, hangs, and crashes! Please give it a try and let us know if you notice any difference Increased name maximum length for everything that can be renamed: company, cities, vehicles, stations, depots, labs Updated appearance of New Save button in the Save Game window Tooltips no longer disappear when taking a screenshot with Print Screen Unity updated to 2022.2.10
IMPROVEMENTS
Added setting allowing to reduce build mode contrast Added "Copy many vehicles at once with SHIFT" hint to the tooltip for the Copy Vehicle button Increased maximum length for route names Increased maximum length for save names Show the detailed error window for script mod errors (the one with Disable and reload and Go to Workshop actions) instead of just generic "Failed to load .dll" message box
FIXES
Fixed some mods relying on patches stopped working after Item Groups were introduced "Improved error message caused by failed patching: now it clearly specifies the problematic patch"
MODDING
Add Workshop tags for corresponding Item Groups Allowed patching of null properties Unity updated to 2022.2.6
Increased maximum length limit for route names Increased maximum length limit for save names Modding: Add Workshop tags for corresponding Item Groups
Show the detailed error window for script mod errors (the one with Disable and reload and Go to Workshop actions) instead of just generic "Failed to load .dll" message box
Added setting allowing to reduce build mode contrast Added "Copy many vehicles at once with SHIFT" hint to the tooltip for the Copy Vehicle button Fixed some mods relying on patches stopped working after Item Groups were introduced Improved error message caused by failed patching: now it clearly specifies the problematic patch Modding: allowed patching of null properties Unity updated to 2022.2.6
Fixed an issue where passengers do not board vehicle in some cases Fixed disabled and in-depot vehicles falsely report their running costs at 30% Fixed passenger and mail labels overlap station label on non-100% UI scales Fixed mouse buttons can be bound in settings to various actions resulting in unexpected behavior Updated wording of Passengers and mail budget item Modding: a new .itemgroup asset introduced to improve mods compatibility: https://docs.voxeltycoon.xyz/guides/migration-guides/item-groups/
Fixed an issue where passengers do not board vehicle in some cases Fixed disabled and in-depot vehicles falsely report their running costs at 30% Fixed passenger and mail labels overlap station label on non-100% UI scales Fixed mouse buttons can be bound in settings to various actions resulting in unexpected behavior Updated wording of Passengers and mail budget item Modding: a new .itemgroup asset introduced: http://docs.voxeltycoon.xyz/guides/migration-guides/item-groups/
Todays update brings you smarter passengers, mail, GeForce NOW support, and other improvements. Plus, we are happy to announce that we are taking part in the Steam Event, first ever in our history!
Smarter passengers
Passengers were introduced with the Early Access release, and their behavior since then has been pretty simple: they waiting for a bus or train to take them directly to their destination. They dont want to switch stations, not to mention transport modes (e.g. from bus to train or vice versa).
With this update, passengers are much more smart they are now aware of concept of switching stations, and even transport modes. And they can do it more than once! Passengers can take a bus, then switch it to a train, then switch again to another bus in order to get where they need. This should unlock you a new level of flexibility when planning your routes.
New kind of freight: Mail
First time since the Steam Early Access release, were introducing a new kind of cargo to deliver: mail! Collect it at passenger stations to deliver it to recipients, using intermediate stations to transfer between modes of transport.
Passenger UI improvements
To let you better understand whats going on with passengers and mail on your transport network, weve made several improvements to UI. First, weve updated the passenger and mail popups to be more readable and compact. It now groups passengers by destination, and also highlights unreachable directions, for example, due to lack of transport on a route.
Second, passenger stations now have new labels indicating amount of passenger and mail awaiting on this station.
Last but not least, current passenger coverage is now shown when placing passenger stations. This makes it easier to distribute them and achieve 100% coverage more efficiently.
There is always room for improvement, so we will continue to work on both the gameplay and user interface aspects of passengers and mail in future updates.
Base Builder Fest
Were thrilled to announce that well be taking part in the Base Builder Fest, starting on January 23! This is the first Steam Event for us and we are really looking forward to see how it will go. Also, we understand that some of you who don't have the game yet were affected by the recent regional price changes. During the Fest, you (or your friends) will have a great opportunity to get the game for a lower price. Oh, and by the way, if you like our game and havent wrote a review yet: please do that! It helps a lot
GeForce NOW
We are happy to announce that Voxel Tycoon will be available to stream through GeForce NOW later this month! Play anywhere from almost any device: GeForce NOW instantly transforms your laptop, desktop, Mac, TV, Android device, iPhone, or iPad into the powerful PC gaming rig youve always dreamed of. One important thing though: to get your saves available on GFN, you should have them in the Cloud. To make this process a bit easier, weve added a new toggle to the save dialog, allowing you explicitly put the new save to Cloud.
Of course, you can always toggle Cloud sync from the list of saved games by clicking the cloud icon.
Other improvements
Add buildings to favorites
Building upon the work made in the Minor Update, we continue to make building palette more easy to use when you have a lot buildings from mods. This time, weve added Favorites functionality. Buildings added to favorites will be always displayed on top.
Better trailers behavior
Weve improved the visual appearance of trucks with trailers in tight turns. This should be especially noticeable on road-trains, such is the
Software cursor
The game always used the so-called hardware cursor (rendered by the OS, not the game). It rendered independently of the game and doesnt get affected by the game performance so it always moves fluidly even in case of FPS drops. However, it doesn't respect the game's UI scale (only the OS scale). In some cases this might be a problem. As a workaround for such situations, we've added support for software cursor (rendered by the game). It might be least responsive at times, but it scales with the UI properly. You can toggle it in Settings General Use software cursor.
Expand the base game with mods
A friendly reminder: therere over 200 mods waiting for you in the Workshop, made by talented and creative members of our amazing community. You will find dozens of new trains, cars, buildings, entire supply chains, and even game mechanics which will give you a new perspective on the Voxel Tycoon experience. Give it a try!
Whats next
We continue our work on the rails and roads rework (also known as RRR) which will bring rail crossings, better tools for laying roads and rails, and many other related improvements. We dont have the timeframe to share yet, but we steadily moving towards it. Meanwhile, the next updates will bring some interesting features, such as vehicle obsolescence and Contracts mechanics, which will add some new twists to the game. Thanks for reading, and see you next time, folks
Added support for software cursor (#1000)
Fixed an issue where passengers won't board a vehicle at first run after visiting a depot Translations updated
You can now add buildings to favorites in the builder palette to keep them always on top Passengers/mail popup: Fixed vehicles could show red items indicating there's no vehicles for them Passengers/mail popup: Added red highlight to removed stations, wording changed from 'Unknown station' to 'Station removed' for improved clarity
Increased passengers/mail transfer fee by 25%
Made more clear which passengers/mail are available on a station: no more redundant items from nearby stations
Fixed regression in passenger/mail caused by previous build Fixed more cases where valid destinations were shown as red
Passengers now will skip boarding a vehicle when it's going away from their desired destination Fixed some cases where passenger/mail tooltip shows valid routes as red Station label and station window now should be more consistent in displaying passenger/mail numbers Fixed items displayed in the wrong locations on semi-trailers Fixed creating a new vehicle replacement can cause an error in some cases Translations updated
Updated passenger/mail tooltip layout: now it groups items by destination and highlights if a destination could not be reached Improved station passenger/mail indicators behavior Fixed internal recipes shown in the tech tree
Fixed NullReferenceException introduced with the previous update Mail lifetime increased, as well as delivery reward
Passengers now can switch transport and even transport modes on their way to the desired destination! The passenger switching feature is still a work in progress, and it will require some fine-tuning. Please share any feedback with us! Along with passengers, there's a new kind of cargo: mail! Passenger coverage is now highlighted when placing passenger stations Improved the visual appearance of trucks with trailers in tight turns Added an explicit toggle allowing users to enable Cloud sync for a new save Autosaves now show the name of the world or the original save name Fixed replacing some vehicles in the vehicle editor window wouldn't allow you to select a vehicle to replace Fixed the camera would go wild after following a vehicle very closely Modding: Added Coupling1Offset and Coupling2Offset properties to the .carunit asset, allowing you to fine-tune the trailers' visual behavior Modding: Added the Height property to the .carcoupling asset, allowing you to fine-tune the trailers' visual behavior Unity updated to 2021.3.16
This is an intermediate update mostly focused on modding improvements, but also has some fixes inside. Check the full changelog if you are really curious.
Support for devices with multiple outputs
The recent lock of device inputs/output directions made possible the new feature that was requested by modders for quite some time already. This update introduces support for devices capable of producing more than one product. Even more, products now can have different probabilities of yield. For example, it is now possible to create a device that will process raw coal and output charcoal every time, but also - with a very small probability - it can output a shiny pricey diamond. Or, there could be a uranium ore processing device that will yield the regular uranium 99.99% of the time, but also there's a 0.01% chance of outputting some rare isotope. The main intended usage of this feature is devices yielding byproducts, but we are sure that our awesome community will find many creative ways to (ab)use it!
UI changes
To accommodate the new feature we had to redesign how product recipes are displayed in the device and recipe picker windows.
The new design allows displaying more than one output product, output probabilities, as well as exact inputs and outputs assignments. There're also new device indicators that show input and output directions and locations in the world, as well as the items expected to come in and out. And they are not just here to inform, they are also interactive: clicking on it allows you to configure item assignments.
Languages, city and people names, and currencies modding support
Our intention was always to make Voxel Tycoon as moddable as possible. But not every type of asset easily supports this. For example, the currently selected language is loaded just as the game starts. If this language comes from a mod and the player decided to unsubscribe from this mod, from the game perspective an asset required to even show the main menu is just missing, and the game won't be able to start. The same applies to currencies and city names assets, since they are also used in the main menu. Thanks to the new error handling system, the game is now able to gracefully handle such situations. So, we've implemented the missing parts and now the modding of languages, currencies, and city and people names is finally possible.
It's time to reticulate some splines for some serious
A few fixes
Items no longer got vaporized inside devices between sessions
In the process of reworking the device window, we have also touched the devices' internals a bit. Besides other changes intended to streamline devices' logic flow, we have fixed the issue that was in the game from the very beginning: previously, items inside devices were not saved between sessions, and effectively they just got vaporized when you load your game. While it wasn't such a big problem in most cases, it's always better to know that your hard-earned products are safe now.
Double conveyor fix
Continuing efforts on improving conveyor building, we got the bug squashed where the conveyor builder tool was placing double overlapping conveyor pieces in some cases. These double pieces produced weird issues where items cant pass through otherwise looking alright conveyor junctions.
That's it for now
This is probably the last minor update for the 0.87 version. Stay tuned for what's coming next!
Devices now can output more than one product Devices UI updated to support complex recipes with more than one output Fixed electric locos keep playing engine sound on non-electrified rails Fixed electrification tool highlight may stay after tool deactivation Fixed custom category icons are rendered blue Modding: recipe asset changed to support more than one output, also output probabilities can be set Modding: Added support for modding locales, names, and currencies Modding: Fixed error when generating palette for empty.obj
The 0.87.2 update has just landed! It brings plenty of quality-of-life improvements and fixes to the table. But before we will dive into what's inside, please welcome our new full-time team member: @DarkMajesty He joined us just two months ago and actually made this update real! While we continue working on long-term tasks like Rails and Roads Rework (also known as RRR) and Contracts Update, we finally have someone who can back us up and help to fill the void between those major milestones. Alright, now let's get back to business!
Gameplay changes
Devices now have predefined input and output directions
Device inputs and output directions are now predefined and can't be changed. This should help new players, as well as raise some challenges to experience players when planning their setups. Let us know what you think!
Get creative!
We are still getting amazed by the creative ways you use decorations to build your beautiful worlds. To free your creativity even further, this update unlocks new degrees of freedom when placing your decorations. The rotation is no longer fixed to 90 angles.
You can now scale decorations both up and down.
To help you properly align your creations, you can now change the world grid step in settings (10 by default):
Grid step set to 3
City rename price
Many of you complained that option to rename cities was a bit pricy. We wanted to make renaming a city an achievement, but it become clear that many of you just want to name a city, not a big deal after all! Also, our algorithm for deciding the price goes a bit crazy over time:
The exact amount of 'game dead' comments we receive every day So, prices were greatly reduced and made more predictable. But dont get too comfortable: one of the future updates will bring a company rating, and we plan to tie the ability to rename cities to the level of approval of your company in that exact settlement.
Mixed trains
The game now properly supports trains consisting of both electric and steam/diesel engines. Before, such trains could not pass the non-electrified part of the tracks.
Builder palette rework
When you play with many mods, navigating the builder palette quickly become a complicated task. This is especially true for decorations:
To help you with that, we've completely reworked the builder palette. Now, buildings are split into categories, which you can navigate on the left of the window.
Modders can use built-in categories or create their own. Buildings now can be sorted: alphabetically, by price, or by size.
Or you can choose to display buildings only from specific mods.
The new compact view option allows fitting the maximum amount of buildings into view for a quick glance.
The palette also now features text search.
All of these features are available not only for decorations but for any type of building. And the last thing: to help you keep track of where you've left the window now opens already scrolled to the last built object.
Conveyor improvements
In this update, we've addressed the issue with misdirected conveyors. It was easy to mess it up and make conveyors face each other, blocking the flow of items. It was especially annoying when this happened just inside device inputs and outputs, because it's really hard to stop, making players scratch their heads over why items not going in or out of the device.
We've addressed this in two ways. First, we've greatly improved the direction auto-detection algorithm which decides in which direction the conveyor belt should move after build.
Second, we've added the easy-to-spot indicator that will pop up in the exact place of misdirection. Even more, just click on it and directions will be fixed automatically.
These changes should greatly reduce the amount of confusion and tedious work manually switching conveyor directions. Another improvement allows you to build devices closer to each other without the need to demolish conveyors.
Other QoL updates
Search and toggle all mods when creating a new game
Sometimes you want to play a different set of mods or create a vanilla game with no mods at all. Its already possible by toggling individual mods in the New game window. However, if you have a really big amount of mods installed, toggling mods back and forth starts to be cumbersome. So we updated the Mods tab with a search bar and Toggle all options.
Configure displayed budget totals
One-time money spending like laying out a long railroad or building a factory may affect the understanding of your current month-to-month balance. Now you can tune the total display for your needs by choosing what exact budget items should count in total numbers.
Distance to nearby signals
When placing signals, there's a new option that will allow you to enable displaying a distance to the closest signal or intersection. Along with the already existing auto-placing feature, this should help to distribute your signals as desired.
Non-electrified parts highlight
When using the electrification tool, non-electrified parts of the track will be highlighted in red. No more trains stuck because of 1 tile missing wires!
Fleet window
Besides the ability to mass send vehicles to depots and mass assign vehicles to a route, theres a new action to mass-release vehicles from depots. To accommodate more actions added, weve redesigned the actions area - and not only in a visual way. Now send and release actions behave as toggles and can be canceled if required.
Also, we've fixed how vehicles are sorted by their names. Now it should look like a human would expect.
This also applies to route names.
Mass replacement
Replacements now can be paused - each separately, or all at once, for more precise control over your spendings. Also, replacements now will preserve the vehicles cargo where possible, and weve fixed annoying notifications spam happening when a vehicle cant find a depot for replacement.
Error handling
Previously, if a mod breaks the game while it loads to the main menu, the game will just be stuck forever, until you unsubscribe from the problematic mod. And you are left to wonder which of your 100 mods collection is the bad one. Now the game will detect such problems, and then show you a detailed dialog, letting you know what was happen, and suggesting actions based on context.
For example, it will allow you to just disable the problematic mod and restart the game, or go to the Workshop page to let the mod author know that there's a problem. By the way, the in-game bug icon got a promotion! Now, if an unexpected error will occur during play, the red banner will be displayed. Click on it will open a new developer console.
Yes, the game now has a developer console, which could be toggled at any point with Ctrl + `. It displays game logs in real-time and also will accept user commands in the future.
You can also disable the bug banner reappearing from there for the current play session.
Modding updates
Categories
There's a new `.categories` asset that is used to organize buildings in the builder palette. Feel free to assign built-in categories to your assets, or even add your own categories. Also, let us know if you think some new categories should be added to the base game.
Important device asset change
The direction of device inputs and outputs now should be explicitly set in assets. Please update your mods or they wont work as expected.
Load only needed assets in Asset Editor
You can now choose what pack to load in Asset Editor to significantly improve load times.
Decorations animation support
`.decoration` assets now can be animated in the same manner as devices or mines.
Spotlight direction
Previously, buildings technically could have not only point lights, but also spotlights. However, there was no way to set the direction where a spotlight is pointed, which made them pretty useless. Now, this is fixed.
Cars smoke support
Joining trains, road vehicles can emit smoke now.
Wrapping up
This update is the minor one, but it brings a lot of useful improvements and fixes. We've covered the most important changes here, and if you want more, check the full changelog for this update. In the meantime, we keep working on new gameplay features, and we hope to present them to all of you soon. Thank you and see you next time!
Fixed stations appear as destroyed in UI in some cases (https://github.com/voxeltycoon/issues/issues/983) Fixed incorrect signal distance calculations Fixed vehicle stats are no longer displayed when hovering over a vehicle preview in the tech tree window (https://github.com/voxeltycoon/issues/issues/982) Fixed UI displays incorrect stats and console spamming warnings for electrified trains Routes now sorted by name in human-like manner Set correct default currency and names assets for es, pl, sv, and tr locales Added Clear button to console Modding: Building liveries now can have different displayed names: use uri#livery_name:DisplayName format Modding: Added backward compatibility for Liveries2 property of the .conveyorconnector asset
GAMEPLAY You can now rotate and scale decorations it's time to get creative! Inputs and outputs in devices are now fixed Made renaming cities significantly more affordable Trains that have both electric and diesel/steam engines now able to move on non-electrified rails IMPROVEMENTS Builder window: Improved with categories, search, filtering, sorting, and view options Builder window: Scroll to last placed building on open Conveyors: Improved conveyor direction prediction logic now it should require much less manual direction changes Conveyors: Mismatching directions will be highlighted with special indicator, clicking on it will automatically fix direction Conveyors: Devices now can be build closer to each other without need to demolish conveyors You can now choose what budget items should contribute to displayed total Fleet window: Added ability to mass release vehicles from depot Fleet window: Added ability to mass cancel send to depot Fleet window: Vehicles are sorted by name in the way human would expect New game window: Added search by mods New game window: Added ability to toggle all mods Mass replacement: Added ability to pause/resume and remove all current replacements Mass replacement: Added ability to pause a replacement Mass replacement: Replacement will preserve cargo if possible Mass replacement: Reduced notification spam if vehicle can't find a depot for replacement When placing a signal, distance to closest neighbors will be shown Added highlight of non-electrified parts of the track when using electrification tool Added option to configure world grid step Added possibility to rename depots and labs Added hint for supporter (yellow) drivers, mayors, etc. Hitting F1 now will leave indicators on screen and hide other UI, to hide indicators too hit F1 again Clicking on the current research name in the Lab window will reveal the research in the tech tree Vehicle units which is not compatible with the current consist won't be hidden but instead grayed out with informative message You can now teleport to the passengers destination by clicking on their icon in the station window Passengers weight reduced from 1t to 150kg Hotkeys on loading screens are now reflect user changes to bindings Loading screens now show arbitrary messages instead of listing loaded assets If game fails to load to main menu because of a mod, the mod will be automatically disabled, and game will be restarted New asset load error window added providing extended info and actions based on context (like Verify files integrity or Go to Workshop page) Added debug console ( Ctrl + `) New red banner will be shown at the top of the screen on critical errors, clicking on it will open the console Improved windows auto-layout to prevent them from being partially obscured by other UI as much as possible FIXES Fixed coupling issues with DB ICE 3 and other MUs Fixed flipped engine with tender are displaying incorrectly Fixed task units can't be changed after other units were removed and task became locked to unexistant unit Fixed Plant trees tool always places only the first possible decoration for this biome Fixed game freezes when selling huge amount of vehicles at the same time Fixed modern vehicles can be sent or copied to tier 1 depots Fixed vehicles can be replaced to modern ones in tier 1 depots via mass replacement Fixed 0-sized buildings can be placed in closed regions M1 players: please give this build a try and let us know if there're memory leak problems or crashes MODDING You can now choose what pack to load in Asset Editor to significantly improve load times Added .category asset which is used by builder to categorize builings Decorations now can be animated Spot lights now can be rotated Added smokes support for trucks and buses Conveyor max length now can be set in asset Direction of devices inputs and outputs are now strictly set in assets Asset URIs are no longer case sensitive Fixed rare case where StorageNetworkBuilding siblings not marked dirty on built (thanks Nebruzias!) 0Harmony.dll updated to 2.2.2 Added Font Awesome 6 Unity updated to 2021.3.9
Just in case you wonder, the next update is just around the corner.
Progress on the update so far
Actually, the main issue that is blocking its release is an annoying bug in the version of Unity engine we are currently using. This bug completely breaks UI and there's no easy workaround known, so we have to wait until Unity guys fix it.
Good news are that they are aware of this issue and already working on a fix. We expected it to land during next two weeks.
Just as the fixed version of the engine become available, we'll be able to push the next update to the beta branch. Of course, we will let you know about it with a separate announcement. Stay tuned!
It's been a whole year already since the Voxel Tycoon arrived to the Steam Early Access. Wow! We remember that mix of excitement and fear boiling inside our souls on the day when we hit the Release button like it was yesterday. And we are not sure what of those feelings were prevailing at that moment! Fortunately, you liked what we've created. You gave us amazing reviews, bringing the Voxel Tycoon to the Very Positive overall review level. You wrote a ton of helpful feedback on our bug and suggestion trackers. You made guides and videos to help other players. You created lots of creative mods, expanding the game with new content and gameplay. You helped to make the Voxel Tycoon what it is today. Thank you very much for that However, our ride is far from over. There're a lot of things yet to be done on the way to the full release (aka 1.0). And we hope you will find it joyful to experience this adventure together with us.
The first year in numbers
Not bad, but not enough. We want to do more in the Year 2.
What's next
The second year of the Voxel Tycoon Early Access promises to be more feature-rich and productive. Hopefully, over time we gain a better understanding of how to properly manage the development process. The hustle and bustle of the release have settled down, and now we can speed up our work without compromising quality. In the coming months, you can expect the release of features that were discussed in the previous post: the demands rework (aka Contracts) and the vehicle obsolesence. And later this year we expect to introduce the long-awaited rails and roads rework, including level crossings. Of course, this is not everything that we've prepared for you in the Year 2, so stay tuned!
Bonus: the first image of Voxel Tycoon ever known
Hello World!
M1 players: This build includes native M1 build - please let us know if it has memory problems or if it works at all
M1 players: please check this build and let us know if memory leak is still here Modding: Unity updated to 2021.3.0
M1 players: please check this build and let us know if memory leak is still here Modding: Unity updated to 2021.3.0
Starting from now, we'll go back to writing regular posts on what's going on with the Voxel Tycoon development. We hope this will make the development process more transparent for you. Thank you! At the moment, we are working on several things that will find their way to Voxel Tycoon over the next several updates.
Vehicle wear and obsolescence
With the previous major update, we've introduced mass vehicle replacement. That feature finally prepared the grounds for something we wanted to add for some time already: the aging of vehicles. Vehicles will wear over time depending on their usage. As they become more old, they will start require more often maintenances, resulting in increasing costs and idling times. Besides that, vehicle obsolescence will be introduced. When you progress through the game and unlock newer vehicles, using older ones will become more disadvantageous than it is now. We'll talk about how it will work closer to the release of that feature. Of course, both wear and obsolescence could be turned off in gameplay settings for more relaxed gameplay.
Demands rework
Another thing that requires some attention is how demands work. Demands are part of the core mechanic of the game, and it's pretty important to have them entertaining: not shallow, but not too complex at the same time. Demands already have several mechanics: their economy is based on the demand/supply balance, they grow if you supply them well, or degrade if you don't. Also, they go bankrupt if you don't supply them at all for some time. The last bit became a source of frustration for players. Initially, the idea was that saving a business from bankruptcy will serve as a motivation to extend your transport network. However, players quickly get overwhelmed with a lot of businesses here and there, all demanding to be saved. A bankruptcy of a business currently has no direct effect on your company and it's actually often expected: for example, you have no access to required resource yet and plan to gain it later. Still, it gives players feeling of failing to keep up with the game. To improve this situation, we are working on something we call Contracts. With contracts, you are not obligated to deliver everything everywhere by default. Instead, you explicitly decide if you want to supply a specific business. By signing a contract with a business you're committing to satisfying its needs long-term. This way, you may no longer care about other businesses until you are actually ready to supply them. Another related change is that now you're in control of when to upgrade your contract to the next level of demand, so you can do it only when you're sure you want to increase goods flow. On another side, violating a contract ie. not supplying a business for a long time will result in a penalty. We'll talk about it in one of the next posts. Also, with this rework (or shortly after) we want to introduce a window where you'll be able to see all your demands and corresponding information at a glance.
Addressing community issues
While many of you love the game in its current state thank you ! we hear those voices who expected to get more in a shorter periods of time. We keep working to make the rate of updates more frequent and consistent. Our team consists of just 2 guys, and right now we are in the process of hiring more people. This has a delayed effect since new members need some time to get comfortable with the development flow. We'll make everything possible to speed up this process. Another major issue is the lack of new information from us between updates, resulting in the feeling that the game has gone dead. First, we want to assure you, that Voxel Tycoon by no means is going to become abandoned. This game is the project of our lives. We have a big roadmap that reflects what we want to see in the finished game. As mentioned in the intro to this post, we'll do regular posts on the current state of things from now on, to make the development clear and transparent for you, our beloved players. Oh, and one more thing that bothers many of you: when the level crossings will appear in the game. We are working on it! As we mentioned in previous posts, level crossings depends on the rails and roads rework which is currently in active development in parallel with the features described above.
That being said, this is our first game, and it's pretty complex in both technical and management ways. We are constantly learning the better approaches on how to handle all the things. There's a lot to do, and we are committed to making it real. Thanks for taking this journey together with us! Please Join our Discord and share your thoughts.
Possible fix for the Mac M1 memory leak Modding: Unity updated to 2020.3.31
Possible fix for the Mac M1 memory leak - please let us know if it's fixed! Modding: Unity updated to 2020.3.31
An intermediate update has arrived, featuring some quality of life improvements, modding updates, and fixes!
Full changelog
Update 0.87 is finally here! Read the detailed introduction into whats new, or hop directly into the full changelog.
Improved replacement conflict resolution to cover more cases, like creating B->C replacement in addition to A->B will result in A->C, B->C replacements instead of just removing A->B Simplified replacements conflict dialog Fixed an error where infinite replace loop still could be created Reopen previously opened vehicle window after a vehicle was auto replaced Updated translations
Creating conflicting replacements is no longer possible - the dialog will be shown asking if the player wants to continue and automatically resolve conflicts Fixed trying to sell a vehicle which was replaced while sell dialog was still presented results in an error Updated translations
Reworked how vehicles are sent for replacement so please try to break it again, we believe in you! Replacement should now happen even faster and in a more reliable fashion Wrecked vehicles no longer count as pending replacement Disabled editing of already added replacements Vehicles stuck in very long traffic jams will not block replacement flow completely Cars and trains are now sent for replacement independently Modern vehicles no longer can be replaced in old depots Disabled vehicles horn while passing through a depot in the free roam mode Fixed rare case when train pathfinder ignores a one-way signal and then the train blocks the way at the signal Fixed vehicle replacement window cards flashing Updated translations
Added 75, 144, and 240 Target FPS options to settings Display amount of enabled mods in the mods tab text in the New game window Fixed translation % value takes strings from mods into account in-game Fixed scroll not working when the cursor is in-between cards in the City window on the Demands tab Updated translations
Replacement should go a bit faster now Fixed various errors when there's more than one replacement with the same consist and route Select all routes by default when creating a new replacement Fixed cargo stay visible after a vehicle enters a depot Updated translations Modding: Unity updated to 2020.3.24
Update 0.87 which brings mass vehicle replacement is now available on the beta branch!
Changelog:
Added mass vehicle replacement! Choose what kind of vehicles on what routes should be replaced, and let the game do the rest
Vehicles are properly going to depots now instead of just teleporting
Vehicle can be sent to the closest depot or to a depot of your choice
Also, there's an option to tow (teleport) a vehicle to a depot for a fee
City growth slowed down by 25 percent
Added Steam Cloud saves support
Space button now pauses the game by default (existing players might need to reset their key bindings)
Added a separate horn volume slider to the Settings
Analytics: Added button to Settings which opens personal data management page to see what data are collected or opt-out from collection
Fleet window: Added multi-select support with Shift or drag
Fixed wrong required population for industrial cities
Fixed Plant Trees Tool plants only one kind of biome trees
Fixed game fails to start if one of the saves is corrupted
Fixed Vehicle station window doesn't properly reflect when a serviced vehicle's route changed
Fixed invalid calculation of velocity on slopes in some cases
Fixed refitting a vehicle causes a "cash paid" sound, even though it's free
Fixed rare issue where storage buildings keep interacting even if they are disconnected in UI
Modding: Fixed .road assets ignore Hidden flag
Modding: Added WorldGeneratorManager which allows swapping the vanilla worldgen with custom IWorldGenerator implementation
Modding: Fixed AssetHandlerImportCompleted callback was not called for the last asset handler
Modding: Fixed mods do not always load in the alphabetical order
Modding: 0Harmony.dll updated to the latest version
Modding: Unity updated to 2020.3.23
Spooky sneak peek of what's coming in the next update
We are aware that many of you wonder if the next update is still in the works. And it is!
We dont have the date for it yet, but it should not take too long at this point. The update will be focused on the mass vehicle replacement, and this feature already took more time than it was originally expected - thats why we avoid giving any dates until we are completely sure we can meet them.
Partially, the delay is caused by our work in direction of expanding our team. This process is not easy (who would have thought!), and it grabs some of our resources from the development. Essentially, the current update is longer in development because we want to make a foundation for quicker development of future updates.
Anyways, the update will hit the beta branch soon, and you can actually see part of its functionality in the video above.
And of course, its the perfect time to resurrect the FREE official Voxel Tycoon spin-off called Railroad to Hell 3. Take a death ride and share your top scores!
Happy Halloween and see you next time
Hello fellow tycoons! If you wonder how things are going on with the development of the game right now, this post is for you.
The next big feature we are working on is the rework of rail and road systems. It is a huge task and its results wont be available to testers for a few more updates. Please be patient on that, we want to make everything right this time so we dont need to remake it for the 5th time
Of course, it would be too long time to wait before this update will be released. So, we continue to work on other updates and plan to release them on regular basis. For example, the next update adds - and many of you already guessed it - the highly requested vehicle auto-replacement functionality.
However, those of you who follow the development closely (like our beta testers) might have noticed that the update pace has slowed down a bit. Some of you might even think that the game is abandoned but not so fast!
We just took a little summer vacation after 5 years of work on the game. This mostly involved not laying on the beach but finally completing some overdue personal business.
Remember this incident? The time has come to remove the plate from Andrews shoulder, and now its done! It had to be removed earlier, but we couldnt just take our dedication from the Early Access release.
Another thing we did is moving to other cities. It was planned some time ago and it finally happened. Its still two different cities, so we continue to work remotely.
Now, as we finished these real-life things, we are ready to get back to work. The pace of updates will speed up soon. Also, we are looking for a possibility of expanding our team with more developers to speed up the development even further. Cant share anything on that at the moment, but hopefully, everything will work out.
What we know for sure is that we are not going anywhere, and the future of Voxel Tycoon is bright. At the moment of writing, the game has 85% of positive reviews on Steam. We cant stop thank you people for such a warm welcome of Voxel Tycoon. It means a lot to us
And its worth mentioning that by no means do we think Voxel Tycoon is close to being done. Theres a ton of work ahead, and we absolutely inspired to make these plans a reality, together with you!
While we keep working on new features - such as mass vehicle replacement - there's a new intermediate update featuring a bunch of quality-of-life improvements and fixes.
Full changelog
A new update is already available!
Full release notes
A new update is already available!
Full release notes
We invite you to join the new Beta Branch! If you want to be on the edge of the Voxel Tycoon development, and be able to provide feedback quickly directly to the devs, then thats for you.
Learn how to join!
First of all, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts Without you, our little project wouldnt be possible. You supported us in the pre-alpha stage, you support us now with the Early Access, and we hope to see you later with the full release in the coming years.
Thank you! And we really mean it.
Of course, the development is nowhere stops with the Early Acess release, and were already working on the next update.
In the meantime, weve been a bit overwhelmed with the amount of feedback that poured on us on every channel, from Discord to Steam Discussions. It was literally impossible for us to answer every question and suggestion, so we decided to compile the most frequent issues into one FAQ, which you can read below.
We also want to thank anyone who spent their time answering questions and helping people here and there. Special thanks go to scailman, refreshfr, Elvis Cooper, and UGH Dany.
General
If I bought the pre-alpha on Itch previously, should I buy it again on Steam?
No, you dont need to buy the game twice, its already yours. Follow this instruction to claim your Steam key.
The price is too steep for me. Will the game be on sale?
We have no plans to participate in sales. We believe that the current price properly reflects our intention for long-term support and development of the game. If you having trouble deciding if the game is worth your money, please look for some videos on YouTube, read reviews, or even ask other players for opinions directly on our Discord!
The game is not loading or theres another technical issue
Check the Troubleshooting page.
Where can I get help with gameplay?
The best place to get help is our official Discord server. In the meantime, you can check the community guides.
How can I help?
- Leave a review. We are getting many nice words about the game on mail, Discord, etc. We encourage you to leave reviews on Steam if you didnt yet, it helps a lot!
- Answer questions. Help other people on Discord, Steam Discussions, etc.
- Write guides on Steam. If you are pretty familiar with the game, your insight knowledge may be very helpful for newcomers.
- Proofread and improve translations. To do so, join our Discord, then go to our translation portal and suggest changes. You can even translate to a completely new language. If you need help, use #translation channel.
- Spread the word. Tell your friends that could be interested in the game. If youre a content creator and want to request a press key, please fill out the form on this page.
Development
How many people on the team?
The game is developed by just two guys. But we cant fail to mention the important role of our community volunteers helping us with content for the game, translations, moderations, writing guides, and more!
Can you say if some feature is planned?
Please take a look at our roadmap to get the idea of what major features are planned and in what order we plan to implement them.
Can I participate in the early beta of the next updates?
Sure! Well set up a beta branch on Steam soon, so everyone interested can receive future updates early and give us immediate feedback.
Where to report bugs or suggest ideas?
Before posting, please check the roadmap if the feature you want to suggest already planned and check on GitHub if its already posted.
Gameplay
I have hard times building bridges, connecting roads, etc.
We feel you! The current system - which is responsible for roads, rails, bridges, conveyors, etc - was originally introduced in the early days of the pre-alpha, and it was 3rd attempt on building tracks already from the moment development begins. While it was time-proven as a working solution for handling most of the tasks, it obviously has its limitations and can be cumbersome to use at times. To address that, we are working on a new system, that eventually will replace the current one. Not only it should make building a much more pleasant experience, but introduce many new interesting features, like so:
- Level crossings
- Customizable curvature of tracks
- Left-hand traffic
- Diagonal roads
- One-way roads
- Horizontally curved bridges and tunnels
- Planning mode
- Support for blueprints
- Performance optimizations
Why are there no level crossings?
See the answer above.
I think the signals are working wrong!
Signals are battle-tested for a couple of years already, so we are pretty confident there are no major bugs. The Voxel Tycoon using an implementation called block signals, which may the source of confusion for players who are more familiar with other implementations. Therere two common issues that unprepared player might face:
- A train cant find the way to its destination. Usually, this caused by a one-way signal facing the opposite direction. You should have a second signal on the opposite side of the rail if you want to allow a train to pass the track in both directions.
- A signal is red, even that it seems theres no other train blocking the way. Usually, this happens when two parallel rails built too close to each other. Even if they do not intersect visually, the system detects a possible collision and blocks a train from passing. This behavior will be improved with the track system upgrade described above.
Mass replacing of vehicles is a hassle
Well introduce mass replacing of vehicles in one of the next updates
Cities build impossible to connect roads
This will be worked on after the track system rework described earlier.
Is the current gameplay loop is final?
Not even close! We have plans for a lot of new gameplay mechanics that will greatly diversify the gameplay. Please check our roadmap.
My trucks get loaded with cargo that is not supposed for them!
By default, trucks (or railcars) get loaded with any available cargo they can handle. However, you can force them to load only specific cargo by doing one of these:
- When buying a vehicle, click the magic wand icon above the truck or railcar and choose a specific cargo
- Send the vehicle to a depot, open the depot window, and click on the small cog icon on the bottom right corner of the vehicle card to reconfigure the vehicle. Then youll be able to choose a specific cargo by clicking the magic wand icon as described above
- Storage will be not chosen by default, youll have to choose either Auto or exact cargo type explicitly (as it already working with storages)
- Youll be able to manually refit a vehicle by clicking on the cargo icon in the Details tab of the Vehicle window, without the need to send a vehicle to a depot
Will passengers able to switch stations in the future?
Absolutely! The current implementation is just a beginning.
Will passengers travel to factories?
Yes, we have plans for that.
Can I set a schedule that way that my bus traverse stations like 1-2-3-2-1, without the need to add all five stops?
Sure! Go to edit schedule mode, then click on the icon on the left of the route name.
Are there any more hidden features related to setting up a schedule?
Check these posts:
Where is a creative mode?
Theres no separate creative mode at the moment, but you can use some cheats if you just want to play with all available stuff right now, ignoring game rules. To activate cheats, press Ctrl+Alt+C while in-game (not the main menu). The game will ask you if you really want to do that. After the cheats activated therere some secret menus will be added here and there, for example:
- Right-click on the money indicator at the bottom left corner and set any amount of money you need
- Right-click on the research button at the bottom right corner to unlock all research
- Right-click on the research name on the left of the research tree window to unlock any specific research
- Right-click on the button at the bottom of the warehouse window to fill the storage with selected items
- Right-click on the vehicle unit card in the Details tab of the Vehicle window to fill the unit with selected items
When the multiplayer is coming?
No timeframe at this point, this is a pretty major task that is at its early stages currently. Wed say dont expect it arrives this year. If youre looking exclusively for a multiplayer experience, we advise you to hold your purchase until it will be implemented.
Thats it for now
If you have any more questions, feel free to join our Discord and ask them there! https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
We still can't believe this but the game is really coming to Steam Early Access on April 15th. And here's the full - pretty huge - changelog for this update (compared to the Itch version aka 0.84.1).
Enjoy!
https://voxeltycoon.xyz/changelog
Voxel Tycoon is coming to Steam Early Access on April 15. For real. And it includes the 0.85 update, which brings passengers, logistic improvements, and more. Yay! Check the new trailer: [previewyoutube=4nRBNl_jACw;full][/previewyoutube]
This is the third installment of the series of posts where we cover the new features and changes the upcoming 0.85 (aka Steam Early Access) update delivers to Voxel Tycoon:
Passengers are arriving to Voxel Tycoon
[url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/3.png]
In every house in the city, there are people living! And they dont just sit tight in their flats but have a desire to commute to other places and eventually get back. Now, its your responsibility to enable them to reach their destinations. And theres a whole new fleet of vehicles specific to transferring passengers ready to help, from buses to passenger rail cars to hi-end multiple-unit shuttle trains! After you build a station in a city, hop into its window to see passengers that would like to take a ride from that station and where they want to go. [url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/4.png]
Back and forth traverse mode
A usual passenger route often goes through many stops in one city where a bus collects all the available passengers, and then they are transferred to many stops in the other city. Then the same has to be repeated backward. This results in massive schedules with many stops repeated which is a bit cumbersome to set up and maintain. To address this, weve introduced alternative schedule traverse order, called Back and Forth. [url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/6.png]
When its enabled, a vehicle will traverse from the top of the schedule to the bottom and then back, resulting in a much more compact list of orders with the same functionality. Same schedule with default traverse order vs Back and forth: [url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/5.png]
Shuttle trains
Shuttle trains are trains that have driving cabs on both sides, and that allows them to move on both sides at full speed without changing their direction on stations. This feature was already introduced in one of the previous updates, but it didnt have many applications before. Now, with passenger trains added, and especially in conjunction with back and forth schedules, shuttle trains allow to build more clean and effective designs.
City Window update
Weve completely reworked the city window for 0.85. You can now see the state of all aspects of the citys well-being, including the new passenger card. [url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/1.png]
Not to mention, it has a new look which is in line with other game windows now.
City specialization
Another thing that you can notice from the City Window is the city type. From 0.85, each city will have one of these types: industrial, tourist, or mixed. Industrial cities depend more on supplying stores and industries for rapid growth, with passenger transportation still contributing but to a lesser extent. Tourist cities, in contradiction, more dependent on the coverage by passenger transport and passenger satisfaction. Mixed cities depend on both of these aspects equally.
Auto-demolish and auto-level
To make placing stations easier in the dense city environment, weve enabled auto-demolish when youre building them. Keep in mind that demolishing city buildings still costs money (a lot), so plan carefully! Another feature is auto-level - it will help you to place a building in a bumpy environment - but again, for your
Community spotlight
An amazing design of a non-blocking intersection by refreshfr:
Mountain branch line by Fredrik Leftin: [url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/posts/passengers/2.png]
Cant wait for your feedback
Thats just our first attempt at how we see passengers. We plan to iterate on them during the Early Access: for example, in the short-term, we want to teach passengers to switch vehicles and even modes so you could build more sophisticated and interesting routes. We cant wait to get your hands on the 0.85 update and hear your thoughts. Oh, and we have something to announce soon, so stick around! https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
With 0.85, the Vehicle Window receives a huge facelift.
Some changes are already obvious, but lets switch to Edit mode and see what it reveals.
Stops and orders
From 0.85, you can set multiple orders per one stop. It helps to group related orders and manipulate them as one piece.
After a stop has been added to the schedule, you can add as many orders as you want. A vehicle will execute all of them after arriving at this stop. There are also a few useful presets, allowing you quickly add common orders to the schedule.
Additionally, you can now change the order of stops or orders just by dragging them around.
Therere some other improvements too:
- Hold Shift to add many stops to the schedule at once
- Added Wait for N seconds order
- Option to force a vehicle to turn around at the stop
- When you pick exact cars to apply an order to, you can see what kind of cargo they are moving
Waypoints
Sometimes the automatic pathfinding doesnt suit your needs, and you might want to direct your vehicles through the exact locations of your network. Previously, this involved building expensive and space-consuming intermediate stations. Now, theres a new kind of station at your disposal, the only purpose of which is to serve as a waypoint. Its cheap and takes no extra space!
Also, previously, a vehicle arriving at a station always performed a complete stop even its intended to just pass through it. A lot of precious time and power were wasted as a result. But no more! When adding a stop to your schedule, just choose a preset called Waypoint. This way, a vehicle will pass the destination without any delay. You can also force this behavior manually in the new picker at the interface of the stop.
Both special waypoint stations and regular stations could be set up as waypoints.
Route management improvements
While we dont have a full-featured route management window yet, weve made some improvements to the current route picker.
The first thing youll notice is that the color of the route is now more readable, but theres more. From the new three-dots menu, you can now see a list of all the vehicles attached to the exact route. Also, removing the last vehicle from a route no longer automatically removes a route, so you can be sure your precisely set orders wont be lost. To remove the routes no longer needed, use the three-dots menu in the route picker. And the last related improvement allows you to remove a vehicle from a route, but keep its schedule. Cloning routes now will be a bit easier.
Vehicle Details tab facelift
The Details tab of the Vehicle Window received a facelift too, and now has a more modern look that is in line with the other windows in the game.
Bonus
Wagon sorting yard by Fredrik Leftin
Thats it for today!
Stay tuned for the next post to discover what to expect from the next major milestone for Voxel Tycoon and the whole community! https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
With the 0.85 update (aka Steam Early Access release) coming real soon, we want to introduce to you what it brings to the table. This devlog entry will be the first in a series where we cover the new features and changes this update delivers to Voxel Tycoon.
Logistics overhaul
In this update, we completely revamp how buildings and vehicles interact with each other. Mines, stations, labs, and warehouses are now part of the brand new logistics network that enables an interchange of items between these buildings in a similar manner. The new system provides a fair and controllable distribution of cargo between these buildings. In addition, it also introduces new ways of interaction between them. For example, any of said buildings now can be connected to conveyors, so, for example, a mine can output resources directly to a conveyor belt. The same applies to any station, a lab, etc. Or, they can even exchange cargo directly (in some range) without any intermediate warehouses. This enables cases that were not possible previously, like moving cargo between a train and a truck without any intermediate storage.
Another building that greatly benefits from this is the lab: it can now accept goods directly from stations or conveyors without the need to build warehouses around them.
Logistics UI
A new Logistics tab was added to all buildings that are part of the logistics network. On this tab, you can see at a glance what cargo is available or requested by the network of connected buildings. Also, it enables an overlay where all the connections are shown visually.
No more wondering if a new customer that just opened falls into the range of your station or not!
Mine, warehouse, and device windows
All the buildings that historically were missing windows finally got them! Mine window:
Device window:
Warehouse window:
Thats it for today!
Stay tuned for the next post to discover what to expect from the next major milestone for Voxel Tycoon and the whole community! https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
Hello fellow tycoons! The time for a new state-of-things report has come.
Do you remember that pretty unreadable changelog we shared a month ago in the previous post? It summarizes all the changes from 0.84 (Itch version) to the point when closed beta started:
Since then, weve added a few more changes to it:
As you can see, its still unreadable (on purpose, as usual). However, theres one thing we cant hide from you:
Yep, weve reached a new milestone: Steam Workshop integration is fully completed! We cant wait to get you all on board so you can explore the community-made content in a convenient way, and even share your own creations with ease.
This also means that we have only one major task left before going to Steam EA - the tutorial. Of course, theres a bunch of fixes, tweaks, and balance tuning still required here and there, but we finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And thats good.
Thats it for today. Well keep you informed about hows progress is going, and see you next time!
[url=https://voxeltycoon.xyz/assets/oof/2020-12-20_14-53-28.png]
Courtesy of meinroman, featuring custom modded rails and cars
Not only for the whole world experiencing a global pandemic but also for us - an indie team of two guys doing our best to ship our precious game to the broader audience.
Since we made Pre-Alpha available for everyone interested we have released 14 free major updates, improving the game in every aspect. Then, we took a pause to work on the biggest update weve ever made - an update that will bring the game into Steam Early Access.
You know how this major milestone is important for Voxel Tycoons future development. We just cant afford to rush it - but at the same time, we still cant work in a relaxed manner since we know how bad you want to play it. Believe us, theres no such day when we go to sleep without thinking of what well do tomorrow to bring Voxel Tycoon closer to the EA release.
Even those of you who bought the Pre-Alpha access (thank you!) still patiently waiting for the new update, which - by the way - will bring:
- Passengers!
- Tutorial
- Steam Workshop
- Logistics improvements
[/expand] We cant thank you enough for believing in us and being with us in such important moments, and in return, we work really hard to not disappoint you. That being said, we wish you happy holidays with your family and friends, and we hope to see you soon! Cheers!
Bonus
Our regular in-game photograph Fredrik Leftin cant help but surprise us and the community every time he prepares stunning shots from the carefully crafted sceneries. This time, he prepared something special - an entire scenery of a railway terminal from different points of view and even from different epochs! Enjoy.
Modern age
Steam age
List of mods used:
- ScailMan -> [SCM oil industry, station deco pack, american pack, adobe buildings, building pack, decorative pack]
- Golden Arrow -> [base mods pack, Netherlands mods, UK mods, Germany mods]
- Refresh -> [decorative ballast, modular decorative stations]
- DrKirk & SpaceCossaX -> [1520 railwork system]
- LuckyCrab -> [extended industry]
- Mezign -> [Mezcorp industrial B]
- Arc18 -> [era of industries, technologies ext.]
- inf1nite_v0id -> [fences mod]
- Jace Twice -> [retaining walls]
- SuhEugene -> [industrial pack]
- meinroman -> [custom rails and depot]
Before getting you straight to beautiful shots of the heavily modded game made by our community members playing Pre-Alpha, there's a quick state of development report:
[quote]No ETA on the Steam EA yet, but we are working hard to deliver as soon as possible. A lot of things should be done right, such as a tutorial, Steam Workshop integration, and passenger transportation. We can't fail with the Steam EA launch, so we take our time.[/quote]
Now, enjoy the awesome community work!
Bullet train from Japan by Fredrik Leftin
Po Valley by Fredrik Leftin
Alpine viaducts by Fredrik Leftin
Shot by fevtin
LArrive dun train en gare de la Ciotat by fevtin
Sulfur mine by Fredrik Leftin
Shot by lui
Shot by lui
.png)
The Nevada desert by Fredrik Leftin
Canyon Valley by Fredrik Leftin
Scottish line by Fredrik Leftin
Egyptian settlement by Fredrik Leftin
Transalpine line by Fredrik Leftin
Meanwhile in Alaska... by Fredrik Leftin
Country freight yard by Fredrik Leftin
Coal mine yard by Fredrik Leftin
That's it for today!
Join our Discord Server, follow us on your favorite social media to keep up to date, and don't forget to add the game to wishlist on Steam!
Also, you can donate to Voxel Tycoon and get into the game credits!
As you may already know, Voxel Tycoon is just one update away from hitting Steam Early Access. And this time, we mean it!
This will differ quite a bit from our usual updates, though. A successful Steam launch is crucial for VTs future development, so we cant afford to rush it.
Besides many quality of life improvements in preparation for Steam, VT will now feature a brand new game mechanic - passenger transportation! This involves many changes and lots of new content, like the new vehicles and stations that will be unlocked with research.
Therere some other things up our sleeves as well, such as Steam Workshop integration, and some other unannounced changes and improvements. All of this is bringing the update far past its original scale.
Radio silence
With all of that said, and as you can probably imagine, a large amount of work is required to make such an important update. A lot of it is already done, but a lot is still in the works, too. And given the amount of things changing all at once, we cant realistically predict how much more time we need (it should at least be this year!). Like any complex mechanism, we cant say it works as intended - i.e. playing the game is fun enough - until all of the parts are done and connected together. And thats why you dont hear from us very often these days. Were busy! This is probably one of the most important times in Voxel Tycoons life, and our own lives, too.
Just a beginning
We really cant thank you enough for taking this journey with us through VTs development. But this is just the start - we are committed to bringing even more content to Voxel Tycoon after the game reaches Early Access! Also, big thanks to our beloved modders, bringing new content to the game almost every day. They are so cool and talented, and some of their creations so creative and clever that we cant help but be amazed. Keep up the great work! If you havent yet, join our Discord Server, and follow us on your favorite social media to keep up to date! Don't forget to wishlist Voxel Tycoon on Steam! Also, you can support the development by donating and get into the credits!
Its hard to believe that - after four years of development - we are finally standing at the gate of Steam Early Access. But its true!
Our focus is now shifted from updating the current version that is available on Itch (called Pre-Alpha) to finishing features that separate us from bringing the game to Steam Early Access (we call that stage the Alpha).
We already briefly announced our plans with the release of 0.80 version of the game, stating that was the last update before the game is available on Steam.
However, we dont want to completely exclude you - our beloved players and modders - from getting your hands on the new features for the whole period while well be busy working on bringing the Alpha to Steam.
Modding and Steam Workshop
The Alpha will feature Steam Workshop integration, so sharing your work with the community never been more streamlined. We encourage you to start making your mods today so theyll be ready for the Alpha release. For those who dont know where to start, the new guide just has been published (thanks scailman!): Creating your first content mod. Also, check out our new home for modding documentation: Voxel Tycoon modding documentation.
Follow the roadmap
You can always get an idea of what features are still needed to be done before Steam Early Access on our roadmap. Check the column Before Steam EA and look for [DONE] tags on cards.
Stay tuned!
We are so glad to see you guys taking this journey together with us. Dont forget, that the Alpha is just a beginning for our little project, and we have so much to bring to Voxel Tycoon after the game reaches Steam Early Access. If you didnt yet, join our Discord server, and follow us on your favorite social media to keep up to date! See ya!
Hey!
You may have noticed that the pace of updates has declined recently. Just after the release of pre-alpha, we worked on eliminating the most critical shortcomings that significantly interfered with playing. But now we are ready to deal with bigger updates and adding more and more new content.
For example, we are currently working on passenger transportation and mass vehicle management. Of course, the larger the update, the more time it takes to prepare it.
Initially, we planned to release a new update with mass vehicle management at the end of this month. But, unfortunately, the plan did not work - one of the developers seriously injured his hand and therefore underwent surgery. He is already recovering, but the update release had to be postponed.
It hurts
But dont worry! This is a temporary hitch that will not interfere with our long-term development plans for Voxel Tycoon.
Sadly, we had no time to prepare something special for this Halloween. Anyways, please take a look at how we celebrated it in previous years especially 2018, where weve introduced the official spinoff to Voxel Tycoon, which is available to play now!
In order to keep you always informed about our both short-term and long-term plans, we're publishing the new Voxel Tycoon Roadmap.
Great news everyone! Official wiki is finally here: voxeltycoon.gamepedia.com
Feel free to start editing or add new articles right now! Any help will be really appreciated.
This is a last round of testing before the game reaches Steam Early Access later this year.
Don't forget that you'll receive a Steam key for free if you participate in the Pre-Alpha.
Thank you!
GET PRE-ALPHA NOW!
We have exciting news to share: Voxel Tycoon Pre-Alpha will be available on itch.io on June 28th, this year for $19.99!
Steam key included after the game hits Early Access, as well as a special place in the credits for the most active pre-alpha players.
Hurray!
Get a sneak peek of how is the preparation for open pre-alpha going on this secret page where we post info about each game update and changes: voxeltycoon.xyz/changelog
Bonus: a fly-by recorded with newly added Cinematic Camera.
Last time, we covered the games economy. Today we will be looking at another core building block of Voxel Tycoon: Factories!
Go to the post
Its been a while since the last blog we posted, and thats because we have been working very hard and simply couldnt find a time to write any posts. The reason we have been working so hard is that the first public pre-alpha is very close and we are making sure everything is ready. So we thought we would walk you through the different core features of the game, so you are ready when it launches. And thats what we will be doing in the upcoming blog posts.
First off, well take a brief look at the economic system, which has undergone quite a few changes since we last mentioned it.
Go to the post
Quite a lot of stuff has happened since our last post. Heres a quick recap of recent events.
Go to the post
Voxel Tycoon team proudly presents - first ever in history - an official release of the spin-off to an unreleased game.
Please welcome Voxel Tycoon: Railroad to Hell 3! Defend the train on its road to redemption in the beautiful world that survived the devastating war and now filled with monsters who have the only one purpose: to kill!
http://voxeltycoon.xyz/railroad-to-hell
New post on the site, please check: http://voxeltycoon.xyz/railway-electrification
Hey guys! We've just posted a new episode from the most anticipated series called "Our progress so far". Please check it out: http://voxeltycoon.xyz/saturday-night
If youve been following the development of VT for some time, you may notice that our estimated release date has changed several times. It was never an exact date, but regardless, we didnt meet them. From that, a reasonable question arises - why is that? And whats taking so long? [quote] An estimated alpha release date is 2018 at the moment. [/quote]
The bright side of Indie
We are an independent developer. This means we are free to work on the game in the way we feel will be better for Voxel Tycoon and our future players. This also means we have no strict deadlines, and thus can continue polishing things without sacrificing quality. This exact method resulted in all the stuff weve done already and you found interesting when joining our ever-growing community. When we see something not quite fit our level of quality, we may return to that feature and work more on it until were satisfied with it. This is the main reason why our estimated deadlines are not met. With all of that aside, we do have a strong motivation to release Voxel Tycoon alpha as soon as possible. The day when you can finally play the game, and when we find out what we did right and wrong, is the most important day for us. In the end, we are just balancing these aspects quality, and release.
A few words about the team
As some of you may know, there are just two guys working on the game, full time, 7 days per week without holidays. In the beginning, we worked remotely, but in April we gathered our equipment in one room where we set up an improvised office.
Whats left to do?
The most important things that arent done yet are as follows: Under active development
- Final tools
- Modular stations / Hubs
- Electricity
- Pipes / Liquids
- Finalized UI
- Geological surveying
- Tech Tree / Research and Development
Whats already done?
Everything that needed to make the game basically playable except listed above. Of course, theres a lot of things will be tuned here and there, but nothing that major that can move release for months.
Whats in development right now?
Maxim is improving the user experience of laying out roads, rails, and conveyors as we feel previous implementations were too hard to use without outbursts of rage. Andrew is working on the final implementation of the modular stations (or hubs) concept, which defines how stations, cities, storage facilities, and factories interact with each other. If you havent yet, we invite you to join our Discord community where you can talk to us, or just see what were up to.
Why are there so few gameplay videos out at the moment?
There are two reasons for this. First, as the game is in a very active state of development, it gets broken over and over again as we change features. And second, even more important as you read before, many parts of the game go through many iterations. Anything we show in a video could (and probably would) change before the game makes it to alpha release. We simply dont want to misinform you.
Release flow
A month or so before the release, we will run a closed beta test with some trusted community members. [quote] You shouldnt ask to be a beta tester, we will choose it ourselves. Whether or not you have donated will have no effect on this. Dont feel left out if you arent picked - the real, open beta test will be Early Access. Remember that the alpha, when its out, will still be in early stages of life - as such, it will probably still be buggy enough to give the full range beta-testing experience! [/quote] Around the same time, well start to publish a lot more gameplay footage, as well as sending the game to our press contacts. Youll definitely get a final idea of what to expect from the game before buying it. Its at that moment when we will probably post a final, solid release date.
Thank you!
Big thanks for your support, guys. Special appreciation goes to the kind folks who donate their money to us, not expecting anything in exchange. Especially our Patrons you rock! This is an incredible journey for us, and we hope were making it fun enough for you as well.
Voxel Tycoon
Voxel Tycoon
Voxel Tycoon
2021-04-15
Strategy Simulation EA
Game News Posts 93
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Very Positive
(1377 reviews)
http://voxeltycoon.xyz
https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050
Voxel Tycoon Linux [476.18 M]
Inspired by the most notable transport games in history, expanded with all-new features never before seen in the genre.
Trains and Rail Networks
Rent or buy rail equipment, choosing from dozens of available locomotives and railcars. Couple up consists in any combination, just the way you like, with no limits - provided the locomotives can pull it!
Plan detailed, sophisticated rail networks with vast modular terminals and flexible scheduling. Free-form bridging and tunneling, along with a full signaling system, allow you complete freedom to build and expand your business.
Not By Rail Alone
Use trucks and buses to move passengers and cargo short distances. Take commuters around busy city streets, making connections at train stations for long distance travel, or deliver goods by truck from a rail terminal directly to consumers for extra profit.
More to Come!
We are committed to adding more features and modes of transport during Early Access, such as ships and aircraft, and infrastructure to accommodate them. Other features will also be added for existing modes, including something never seen before in a tycoon game: fully functional railway shunting yards!
Mining and Processing
Automate surface and underground mining with open pits or mine shafts, then process the raw materials using crushers, furnaces, refineries and other machinery.
Renewable resources, like forestry and water, are also subjects of interest.
Manage Local Logistics
Complex production chains require complex logistics! Design unique factories of your very own by connecting machinery, buildings and storage facilities with conveyor belts and pipe networks.
Don't forget that your factories will need energy to operate, too! This can be supplied by building generating stations and power lines, or simply connecting to local utilities and purchasing electricity.
Research New Technologies
Fund and supply research of new technologies, unlocking new buildings, blueprints and vehicles, or upgrades for existing ones.
Infinite World
Explore an unlimited, procedurally-generated world filled with unique biomes and stunning vistas. Prospect for rare resources and opportunities, and find new cities to develop.
The world is endless, so you’ll never run out of space. And space isn't just on the surface - you can explore, dig through (or just blow up) every single voxel, all the way down to bedrock.
For the most successful tycoons, we include full-featured terraforming: turn the world into exactly what you want, all according to your perfect plan!
Supply Cities' Needs
Every city has its own needs, which you can fulfill to kick-start growth. The bigger a city gets, the more consumers and passengers move in, meaning more potential profit!
Growth of a city doesn't simply increase the quantity of goods required - higher stages of development will move away from the basics, requiring more complex and expensive products.
Passengers are Important, Too!
Don’t just focus all of your efforts on freight - people have destinations to get to as well! Manage passenger flow between cities, and don't forget to treat them with care - different passengers are all heading to different places, and have different comfort preferences.
Moddable from Day One
Voxel Tycoon is developed with rich extensibility in mind. A lot of aspects can be modded: from changing existing config files to adding new vehicles and buildings, to writing custom logic using our C# API.
Workshop Support
We support Steam Workshop as the easiest way to deliver plenty of community made mods to you.
- OS: Ubuntu 16.04
- Processor: Dual Core 2GHzMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 512MB VRAM
- Storage: 500 MB available space
- OS: Ubuntu 18.04
- Processor: Quad Core 3GHzMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: 2GB VRAM
- Storage: 500 MB available space
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