In this update I’ll talk about end-game statistics, achievements, some new expensive items and other miscellaneous changes. The process of adding Steam achievements had the unexpected issue of not being able to test them unless they were officially published to the Steam page. As a result I’ve had to focus on releasing the achievements this time, and Amsterdam has been pushed back to the next update.
End-game Statistics and Steam Achievements
When you win or lose a game, you will be able to see some statistics about your current play-through like amount of taxes owed, time worked, collections completed, etc. There are a variety of statistics that can be displayed here, and they will only appear once you’ve triggered whatever is being counted at least once.
Steam achievements are something that Steam keeps telling me to implement, and so here they are. They aren’t overly difficult to complete, and I think the average player who enjoys the game should be able to get most of them without feeling like they are “achievement grinding” too much. Achievements also help me as the developer see what percentage of players are using the stock market, playing with real estate, or even completing the tutorial!
Expensive Items
There are a few additional high-end items to purchase at the Shopping Mall and Appliance Store. Don’t buy them if you live in cheaper housing though, as they are very expensive and it would be traumatic if stolen. The TreadRunner Max increases your health at a greater rate, while the Gigantic Television lets you Watch Huge TV at home.
There’s also a Mineral Detector, which adds the Search For Treasure action at the Park and Exchange. It lets you earn money while increasing Fun. Not exactly realistic, but I thought it was a cool demonstration of the possibilities of the game’s mechanics for what modders could eventually do.
Miscellaneous Changes
There are some other bits and pieces like an updated Payables/Receivables window, ability to rename employees and another mortgage exploit fix. The death spiral has also been updated to give some hints on how to bring happiness up and avoid unhappiness. It should help remind players how this mechanic works in case they haven’t played in a while.
Here is the full change list for Alpha 2.2:
- Added end of game statistics display and tracking
- Added Steam achievement triggers (in real life)
- Added TreadRunner Max to Shopping Mall
- Added Gigantic Television to Appliances Megastore
- Added Mineral Detector to Shopping Mall
- Extended Receivables/Payables item display to 52 weeks
- Fixed Receivables/Payables window not refreshing properly when open
- Added ability to rename your employees
- Tweaked lose game description to be more useful
- Reduced time to repay unsuccessful mortgage to one week
- Moved lots of hard-coded English to data files
- Moved WinState processing to the end of the end of week
