GDM Update 11B - Milestone Mania

Note

You will need to delete previous unzipped files and download the new gdm_v11b.7z file / extract then run gdm.exe to play the newest build.

Older version saves will not work with the new milestone system as there are save structure additions for the new milestones that wont exist in your save file.  You will need to create a fresh game for the milestones to work correctly.

Change Log

The milestone system has been dramatically increased in size / complexity, as well as the milestone hud has had an overhaul.  Many of these new milestones make use of the mail system that has small congratulatory messages as you achieve milestones, some do not where it felt like it didn't make sense.

Complexity

I have created a new expandable scoring system for rating milestones based on completion time.  It is using both the year and the month to calculate scores.  Milestones have tiers of difficulty which is used for base scores then your completion time is used to get the final score.  This leads to more varied scores IE most people make there first game in year 1..  These were scoring the same regardless of what month the game was created in, now these will all be varied slightly in score based on months as well as the year.

The system is also setup to be as expandable as possible.  Any additional milestones either from community feedback or my own design can be added easily.  This includes some milestones I did not add due to the content not being in game yet (AAA stuff), but when ready these will be added to the list.

Hud

The new milestone hud breaks the view into tier lists which can then be scrolled through.  It also lists your running total score based on all milestones.  I felt like a big scroll-able list didn't feel good as a player during testing.  With the new tier system I find it a lot easier to take in the information quickly, as well as in the late game you can just check on say tier 4 or tier 5 knowing your tier 1/2/3 are complete etc.  I think as a player this felt better, which after all I consider myself a gamer before a game dev and this game is designed for me to also enjoy :P

Size

I have increased the current milestone system from 4 milestones to 41 milestones.  I have broken them into tier's and these are the current available milestones for a player to complete.  Note that we can add / remove any milestones based on feedback..

Tier 1

Make First Game  
Make 250k from game
Make First Engine  
1mil in bank      
 Buy Med Room       
Score a 9 / 9 
25k Fans     
Get paid out on long term investment 

Tier 2

Make First Med Game 
Make 1 mil from a game
Attend Convention    
Equip Manager with 2 skills

Hire 3 workers  
Upgrade an office facilities
100k Fans
Make a sequel
Make 10 games

Tier 3

Max a Worker Skill
Have 6 workers  
Update an Engine 
1 mil Fans
Buy Large Room
Have an expert
Make 50 games

Tier 4

Trigger a Trend (topic)  
Trigger a trend (genre)  
Make DLC 
Make a remake 
Make a console Port  
Reach level 20 manager 
Make a large game   
10 mil in bank  
Have 3 experts
Have 6 experts  

Tier 5

Win Best game of the year award
Win Best studio of the year award  
Make 10 mil from a game 
Score a 10 / 10         
Own 51% of an Ai company   
Own 51% of 2 Ai company's  
 

Summation

I think the milestone system is a critical system for scoring a play through.  It is based off surviving mars and generally just involves you progressing through the game and rewarding you based on speed.  That is why I feel it is a good metric for scoring a play through, as well as a key leader-board for bragging rights.

On that same note I am resetting the milestone leader-board so we can collect accurate data from a new play-through.  I am not resetting the other boards yet but as balance shifts and data needs to be collected we will do so.

Also I feel as though all of these milestones on first completion will be represented as steam achieves.  Plus some additional ones that aren't related to progression but more just in game stuff.  People love achieves and I think progression based achieves will work nicely and that's basically what the milestones represent. 

Whats Next

Next up I think I will tackle the character creation system.  Bring in the rest of the models to allow better customization that isn't just forced fem model 1.  Increasing this system will also allow me to increase the random looks for workers you hire adding some diversity to each play-through as well.  My only concern with increasing this system is file size.  itch.io doesn't work well with over 1gig files without special permissions.  Currently the zip is well under 400mb so I believe I have a lot of room to expand systems, but hopefully this issue doesn't come up for a while.  At least until I begin work on visual polish moving towards a steam release.  At that time file size stops mattering and I can use the models / particles and office layouts I have already been working on / planning.

If you have not yet pleas consider wish listing the game on steam:  https://store.steampowered.com/app/1478350/Game_Dev_Masters/

I hope you enjoy the new build or if you are new here I hope you enjoy your first play session for Game Dev Masters.  I am open to any and all feedback just remember this is a WIP build using a lot of place holder elements the focus is on the code / game-play / features / systems.