New Name, UI & Starting a Company!

It's been a while since I've made a post but that doesn't mean there hasn't been progress! 

The biggest milestone lately has been setting up the base UI elements. I wanted to keep the original UI design in mind when designing the new layout. Building items/structures is now possible through the UI including playground equipment, food/drinks, washrooms, guest use items and decorations. So far there are about 50 buildable objects with plans for the final game to have around 100 or more. Other UI elements including building tooltips and extruded menus are still in progress. 

You might notice from the screenshot that it says "My Tiny Park" instead of "My Pixel Playground". The scope of the project goes beyond the original playground building concept. Instead the focus will be on park creation, which will also included elements such as conservation and biodiversity. 

With the new name comes a new logo! The old one was thrown together quite quickly for the jam, but I wanted something a lot more professional. Graphic design is not my strong suit so this may change again someday, but for the moment I'm pretty happy with it. 

Another focus of my time has been starting a "real studio". I'm in the process of incorporating so I can then look for funding options. Most grant options in Canada require you to have a registered business so I want to open myself up for opportunities. Hopefully I'll have some concrete (and good) news about that process soon! 

Eventually I'll create a new itch page under the studio name because I'd like to keep this version of "My Pixel Playground" for posterity. Plus I need to look into the implications of having a demo and a paid version on the same itch page, as that's the intent for the final product. 

Other small development updates:

• Time speed can be increased/decreased
• Localization/text boxes working
• Guests may make "wishes" at fountain for player profit
• NPCs now exit park at end of day
• UI design underway
• Company Logo in progress
• End of day "cutscenes"
• Stats including biodiversity, attractiveness, excitement, and park rating all functioning and tracking

The game is extremely close to having a complete loop, albeit far from feature complete. The immediate goal is to complete the UI elements so that meaningful information can be tracked. As it stands, the NPCS do things and park stats increase/decrease as a result, however there's currently no way for the player to see or use this information. 

Remaining UI Elements:

• Park Goals or "Missions" which will be the set of goals for the player to achieve to complete each scenario.
• Build Tooltip: Information about the type of item being purchased including cost and stats.
• Item Menu: "Click on an object to see information about it.
• Park Stats: The important statistics (number of guests, biodiversity, park rating etc)
• Speed Up/Slow Down/Pause time
• Staff Menu: Manage Staff

It feels like a never ending to do list, but it's slowly creeping forward! Thanks for reading and I'll make sure to make dev updates more often! 

<3