AeroMogul Update #2 (v0.0.1)

This post is a copy of what's on the official forums.

Greetings everyone! 

Work has continued on AeroMogul. Visible progress hasn't been as quick as I would like, but I have resolved several quarks and issues behind the scenes.

We now have in-game music and GUI sound effects. For now, I am just reusing GearCity's old assets. Also, MrX has started working on the art assets that will be the menu's background. 

As mentioned in the last update, I am focused on the game's GUI and getting the other little nick-nacks of the client situated. Game mechanics, logic, AI, mechanics, etc will come after I finalize most of the UI assets. The goal is not to work me into a corner with the UX as I did with GearCity.

With that said, we had some vocal complaints about the color schemes used in GearCity's UI. Some found it too dark, and some found it difficult to read because of color blindness. Whatever the reason, I fixed this issue in AeroMogul by allowing custom color schemes.

You can now customize most colors in the game's UI and save and load others' custom colors. I will include the default theme, a light theme, and a dark theme. 

Here is the default theme:

Here is me playing around making custom colors: 

Something you might not notice is the small, little light blue circle button with an 'i' in it. These are equivalent to GearCity's Help buttons, except, unlike GC's help buttons, you can just hover over these to get the information. 

I have completed most of the settings panel. So now it's time to move on to setting up a New Game.  

The first image I have to share with you is Scenario loading. Don't mind the description text. It is a placeholder. 

As you'll notice, unlike GearCity, you'll select Scenarios via the drop-down. In the future, I may split this into two drop-downs, one with a map and one with a Scenario for that map. But for now, one works.

Also, we are no longer using a slider to select the year. Instead, you have a spinner input. Unfortunately, typing in the year doesn't work properly right now. But luckily, I can submit a bug/feature request upstream to the UI author instead of hacking it myself.

This panel is missing the Continue buttons at the top and bottom of the panel.

This next photo is your character's profile. Yes, that's right, you control a character in the game. Originally I intended this as a possible add-on or DLC to the game. But then I said screw it and just implemented it. I needed to play with some features anyway. 

In the game, you'll be hiring managers for various roles in your company. Or other companies will hire you for those positions. 

Because of that, you must have a profile, including your name, starting job, birthday, etc. You might notice the "Immortal" switch. Yes, your character can die from old age. We'll allow you to appoint a successor (IE, make a new character) as you get up there in age.

You also see a man's photo in the picture. That image is machine-generated using Nvidia's StyleGAN. It is not a real person but a computer-generated image. I hope to have every character in the game have a computer-generated profile picture. Because if you're like me, you are awful with names but good with faces. You'll also likely be able to use your own mug, and if there is enough interest from FBS subs, I'll work your faces into the game too.

Finally, just under that, you'll notice Attributes. This section is currently under development. Each character in the game will have skill/talent attributes that have a minor effect on your business. For example, if you have the "Brand Builder" attribute, your company image will increase a little more each month. If your marketing manager has it, they'll add to that effect.

These are mostly placeholders right now. I am currently working on a tentative list of attributes, and I will finish the UI for it Wednesday.

And to cap this update off. Mondays and Tuesdays, I work on GearCity-related stuff. For the last 2-3 weeks, I've been working on the v2.0.0.7 bug fix patch. It should have already been ready for release, but luckily I keep getting bug reports right when I get to the final ticket. I'll keep fixing them as long as they keep coming in. 

I'll probably put out a sneak peeks of the background artwork if MrX turns up anything nice before the next AeroMogul update. I may also show the list of attributes and get your opinions on attribute names. I'm not guaranteeing either, though. I already have enough placeholder attributes to carry on with work on the GUI. 

Until next time!