It breaks up the terrain quite nicely. As with the old trees, they are procedurally generated, which basically means randomly rotated pyramids are stacked on top of each other.
There is now a larger emphasis on licenses. Some of the product profits will come from other companies using them in their own products. This also prompted me add a window that presents more details on each product.
All employees now get abilities. Before, only leaders would level up, some abilities are therefore specific to an employee role.
One of the abilities is for leaders to take over their own software production cycle. You can set some parameters for what kind of software should be developed, and the leader will make sure to delegate tasks to teams, which you’ve chosen. These teams will then develop and release the software, until you cancel it.
And I made a new teaser trailer, which you can watch right here. Please tell me what you think!
The early access release of Software Inc. is closing in, I’m currently waiting for an approval of my application for a bank account. Soon after, I will release the Windows and Linux version of Software Inc. I haven’t tested the Mac build yet, since I don’t own one, so I’m holding off on the Mac release for now.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of work not related to the actual game mechanics of Software Inc., so I’ve not been progressing directly towards the alpha release, but just polishing what I have. I can now begin finishing up the missing mechanics to officially promote Software Inc. to alpha, this will happen during these next two months.
During the alpha, I expect to implement all the game mechanics and add some more content. I will promote Software Inc. to beta once this is done. The alpha should last somewhere between a year to two years. The beta phase will consist of balancing, optimization, bug fixing and adding more content. I have no idea how long the beta phase will take, the important thing for me is that I release a finished and polished experience in the end.
Bottom picture: Software Inc. now. Top picture: Software Inc. six months ago.
So how do you know this is not just vaporware? I’m financing it myself for one. I have a job and I don’t want to risk the development of Software Inc., my first official game, on early-access or Kickstarter funding that might not happen. I’m committed to finishing this game, and I will do that in my apartment, on my own, with my own money, if I have to. I’m not going to run out of money because I rented an office space or hired too many people. The reason I’m releasing Software Inc. in early access is because I want to spend money on making Software Inc. better than what I can by myself and with my limited financial resources.
I will do a video blog during this month to demonstrate the game in action and talk a bit about the mechanics. As always, you can find the web demo here.
