Posted April 20, 2020
Hello Everyone,
About two weeks ago, we launched Good Company into Early Access and, while the game still has a few kinks we need to work out, we're super happy about the positive reception. Thank you so much for supporting us! Today, we would like to give you an outlook about the next steps towards version 0.7.0.
Currently, we are actively addressing the most obvious issues that have been pointed out by our community and we have already picked out a few features that can be improved within the upcoming weeks.
Before v0.7.0
Let's give you more details about the features we're going to implement over the next few updates.
Easy Table Upgrades
Crafter tables, such as the Tinker Table, will have an easy upgrade mechanism if a module has been selected, reducing the amount of connections one needs to make when changing production tables.
Advisor System
A first version of an in-game advising system, which analyzes how you play and informs you if there are obvious weak points in your setup so you can improve your efficiency.
Workplace Statistics
We intend to add an initial basic version of workplace statistics for crafters, assembly tables, and possibly logistic workplaces, which will give you an overview on the performance of a specific workplace during the past seven workdays.
Freeplay Modifiers
Many of you have asked for it! You will be able to customize your freeplay experience depending on your playstyle. We will start out with just a few options in the first version and implement more over time.
Sandbox Light
This mode will be included in the Freeplay Modifiers. To enable sandbox play, there will be at least an option to disable the fail conditions that could lead to a Game Over.
Company-wide Production Statistics
An overview of all the produced goods in the company. The basic version will display the produced items per week. However, we would like to expand upon this and will do so if we make good progress through development.
More Conveyor Belt Options
While we won't be able to completely redesign how conveyor belt building and handling works, we intend to add several new segments for improved usability:
- Overhead Segments: 3-6 tile long segments that transport goods on a higher level, so that the
player character and employees can move through below.
- Inventory Sorter: an end piece for a conveyor belt that stores transported items directly in a shelf,
without requiring employees to do this.
- Ratio Placer: this segment can be connected to a shelf. It takes items from its inventory and places
them directly on a conveyor belt in the required ratio. With this, you can avoid your conveyor belts
getting unnecessarily blocked by materials.
Additional Balancing
We are constantly testing and balancing the game, and the community feedback really helps to identify specific issues. The next steps on our re-balancing list are:
- Campaign Level 3
- Challenge: Welfare Survival
- Overall Research & Sampling
Bug Fixes & Crashes
Our new reporting system Bugsplat works very well and helps us identify and fix crash issues. We are also working on regular bug fixes, but this process takes time. We need to organize our capacities so we can keep on fixing problems and adding new features.
With every update you should see bugs being fixed, but please understand that some specific issues may take a while.
And what about v0.7.0?
Our community reflected that the biggest concern about Good Company is the logistics. Already being an important point on our Roadmap, Work Zones will address that by improving a lot of logistic issues that are currently present.
We will update you about the development progress over the coming weeks but, as Work Zones are a bigger change, this feature can't be implemented in the short term. It may take two months, more or less, because the process is very iterative and requires a lot of testing, especially if we want to consider all your feedback.
The core ideas of Work Zones are as following:
- Reduce the need to interact with the logistics, without restricting the current possibilities
- Faster initial setups and changes on products lines
- Better segmenting of production lines into smaller bits
- Improved overview over what actually happens (statistics and such)
- More control over the most important material flows
- Flexibility for future updates and content
So, that's some nice stuff we're aiming for, right? Without you, our community, it would have been a lot harder to properly identify the most pressing issues, so thank you so much for your awesome input throughout all aspects of Good Company! We can't wait to improve and build on the game even further! We have so much more to share and it's awesome that we get to experience this journey with you through conversation and your exciting let's plays. Please keep this up, that's what makes the Good Company community so special!
If you haven't already, come, join the merry band of tinkerers and tycoons on our Discord server, on , or follow us on [url=https://twitter.com/Chasing_Carrots]Twitter and Facebook.
So, once more, because it can't be stretched enough: You rock! ♥
All the best & stay safe,
Your Chasing Carrots
About two weeks ago, we launched Good Company into Early Access and, while the game still has a few kinks we need to work out, we're super happy about the positive reception. Thank you so much for supporting us! Today, we would like to give you an outlook about the next steps towards version 0.7.0.
Currently, we are actively addressing the most obvious issues that have been pointed out by our community and we have already picked out a few features that can be improved within the upcoming weeks.
Before v0.7.0
Let's give you more details about the features we're going to implement over the next few updates.
Easy Table Upgrades
Crafter tables, such as the Tinker Table, will have an easy upgrade mechanism if a module has been selected, reducing the amount of connections one needs to make when changing production tables.
Advisor System
A first version of an in-game advising system, which analyzes how you play and informs you if there are obvious weak points in your setup so you can improve your efficiency.
Workplace Statistics
We intend to add an initial basic version of workplace statistics for crafters, assembly tables, and possibly logistic workplaces, which will give you an overview on the performance of a specific workplace during the past seven workdays.
Freeplay Modifiers
Many of you have asked for it! You will be able to customize your freeplay experience depending on your playstyle. We will start out with just a few options in the first version and implement more over time.
Sandbox Light
This mode will be included in the Freeplay Modifiers. To enable sandbox play, there will be at least an option to disable the fail conditions that could lead to a Game Over.
Company-wide Production Statistics
An overview of all the produced goods in the company. The basic version will display the produced items per week. However, we would like to expand upon this and will do so if we make good progress through development.
More Conveyor Belt Options
While we won't be able to completely redesign how conveyor belt building and handling works, we intend to add several new segments for improved usability:
- Overhead Segments: 3-6 tile long segments that transport goods on a higher level, so that the
player character and employees can move through below.
- Inventory Sorter: an end piece for a conveyor belt that stores transported items directly in a shelf,
without requiring employees to do this.
- Ratio Placer: this segment can be connected to a shelf. It takes items from its inventory and places
them directly on a conveyor belt in the required ratio. With this, you can avoid your conveyor belts
getting unnecessarily blocked by materials.
Additional Balancing
We are constantly testing and balancing the game, and the community feedback really helps to identify specific issues. The next steps on our re-balancing list are:
- Campaign Level 3
- Challenge: Welfare Survival
- Overall Research & Sampling
Bug Fixes & Crashes
Our new reporting system Bugsplat works very well and helps us identify and fix crash issues. We are also working on regular bug fixes, but this process takes time. We need to organize our capacities so we can keep on fixing problems and adding new features.
With every update you should see bugs being fixed, but please understand that some specific issues may take a while.
And what about v0.7.0?
Our community reflected that the biggest concern about Good Company is the logistics. Already being an important point on our Roadmap, Work Zones will address that by improving a lot of logistic issues that are currently present.
We will update you about the development progress over the coming weeks but, as Work Zones are a bigger change, this feature can't be implemented in the short term. It may take two months, more or less, because the process is very iterative and requires a lot of testing, especially if we want to consider all your feedback.
The core ideas of Work Zones are as following:
- Reduce the need to interact with the logistics, without restricting the current possibilities
- Faster initial setups and changes on products lines
- Better segmenting of production lines into smaller bits
- Improved overview over what actually happens (statistics and such)
- More control over the most important material flows
- Flexibility for future updates and content
So, that's some nice stuff we're aiming for, right? Without you, our community, it would have been a lot harder to properly identify the most pressing issues, so thank you so much for your awesome input throughout all aspects of Good Company! We can't wait to improve and build on the game even further! We have so much more to share and it's awesome that we get to experience this journey with you through conversation and your exciting let's plays. Please keep this up, that's what makes the Good Company community so special!
If you haven't already, come, join the merry band of tinkerers and tycoons on our Discord server, on , or follow us on [url=https://twitter.com/Chasing_Carrots]Twitter and Facebook.
So, once more, because it can't be stretched enough: You rock! ♥
All the best & stay safe,
Your Chasing Carrots