Computer Tycoon’s GUI didn’t have a good start

This article was cross-posted from IndieDB!

Hi guys,

In this article, I’d like to talk about the challenges of Computer Tycoon’s GUI. Computer Tycoon is the first game about Computer Evolution. It is a strategy and management game hybrid in which you see a lot of data. Showing a lot on different sized screens while having a unique style wasn’t easy to plan out.

I didn’t want to create a traditional GUI with rectangular screens. The Computer Designs of 70’s were really interesting. Some like them, some don’t, but they are definitely special and have a strong character. Computer Tycoon starts in this era, so I wanted to follow the shape culture of that era.

Designers always tried to create something fresh and give a feeling of futurism for their creations. This ended up having those rounded screen designs. The angles, the shapes are really strange for our eyes nowadays, but those times those were the future. Just think about sci-fi movies from the 70s and you will know what I’m talking about.
Having a well memorable GUI design is really important. Being influential and having something special is always recommended for indie games, so I took the risk of people don’t like the old-school forms, the unnatural and for some outdated solutions. I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Another problem that this game has to show a lot of data. I mean a lot. This is a tendency for Grand Strategy games and Management games as well, so Computer Tycoon can’t be an exception. Some of these games show even more data… such as this. Simply we have a lot of important data that the user must see. It is already challenging, but showing them in rounded windows is even harder. The rounded edges can reduce the useable are tremendous.

And this and my unfortunate weakness in general GUI planning made itself at the start of Computer Tycoon. Another problem was the close deadline that I had. I had to release the game close to the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ memorial day. This forced me to release the game a bit earlier as I should have done. People had windows not working, having layer issues that banned the user to close some windows in some scenarios, and having some buttons that were not enough straightforward, having menu systems that were tedious.

Lesson learned. I will never ever rush the release date. Especially not because of a marketing event that I didn’t execute myself but a bad small publisher team that fucks it up completely… but this is another story.

The GUI functionality problems are gone of course, for a long time. Also, the menu system is much better right now, but I release today a small style update. So check out the before and after pictures of the GUI. Still, there is a LOT to do, but the game will have so many modifications yet, with new screens and themes, that I don’t wanna get deep into it, yet. It is going to be a long ongoing process! I’ve reduced the angle of the list roundings, so I have more space., Also I gave a bit of shading, stroke, inner shadow/light AND I reorganized the upper information bar.

There were just too much information at the upper section in a single line. People can’t handle it…

I hope you like what you see! Remember checking out the game’s roadmap here:

Steamcommunity.com

I’m currently working on the tech/research updates of the game. You will get a tech tree and and some more!

Also please check out my friends site:

Razorsedgegames.org

He gives an awesome support and promotion for indie games for free on his site. He has a really nice community, so you could get eyeballs on your game if you share it with him!

And here are the before pictures:

Old Research ScreenOld Map ScreenOld Games Screen

And here are the new Screens! The small changes can make the difference, right?

New GUI 20180222New GUI 20180222 australiaNew GUI 20180222 compNew GUI 20180222 new computer liNew GUI 20180222 building siteNew GUI 20180222 resNew GUI 20180222 sitechooser

Roadmap and some news – Razors Edge

This article is crossposted from IndieDB!

Hi guys,

Before talking about the nasty stuff, please let me mention that Computer Tycoon is on sale until the end of the weekend. Now you can get it for 30% off. Don’t wait, because the later you buy the game the more expensive it will become! (You find the link to steam on the right side of this page).

Computer Tycoon had an awesome start. Not because of the millions of buyers, haha… but because it has a real core audience helping its development. The Roadmap is huge. Let me just list the areas where the game will have significant improvement and expansions:

01 – Research System Modifications/Extensions
02 – General GUI, and some small other improvements
03 – Dynamic World, Other Additions
04 – Employee system (+PP, +RP, marketing)
05 – Selling & Designing Hardware
06 – AI & Simulation Improvements
07 – Statistics and Feedback
08 – RPG Elements
09 – Governments & Long-Term Investments
10 – Historical Map
11 – Tutorials & Progressive Feature Introduction
12 – Localizations
13 – Community/Steam Features

Wanna you be LG or ASUS instead of IBM? Wanna you sell your hardware? Or sell your hardware to your competition? License your OS? Maybe support education in countries? Managing employees? In the upcoming versions, all of these will be possible!

Here you can see the full, detailed article about it with all of the crazy things:
The Official Roadmap Of Computer Tycoon

This Roadmap couldn’t be created without the fans. It really means a lot to me! Don’t hesitate to read the article and join the community right now if you are interested in management/strategy games and/or game development.

But I also got a lot of help from streamers and influencers. It is extremely valuable to watch how these people play even if they don’t have a real promotion value. This was one of the number one sources for me to see where and how should I improve the GUI and the texts in the game. Still… I have a lot to do, but I’m on it!

Also, there are some really special guys out there. I mean… the already mentioned guys are already awesome and extremely valuable, but there are just you know… those unbelievable people out there who want to HELP you. If you like indie games or you are an indie game developer, CHECK OUT this site:

Razorsedgegames.org

This site is for indies made by a single guy who was a developer himself earlier. He really knows how hard it is to be an indie and how harsh the market is. He gives free promotion, but this is not all. He helps you to manage your community, tell the things that you can’t, basically, he takes care of you if you leave him to do so. This level of support and enthusiasm is so rare that before finding him I didn’t think it can even exist. I’m sure his site will grow, so really… be sure to contact him if you have a nice game under your belt.

So… I’ve talked about the plans and the support I got. But what happened in the game so far?

Let me show it to you by pictures. I’ve touched the research screen, added a feedback screen, made optimizations, game mechanic changes, balancing, MAC OSX support and so on…

wall of gratitude
copy protection virusBilly

games

internet

power supply

sweden

Hey, here is where I work… just wanted to show you that how looks an indie living room.. oh I mean my office.

Studioban smaller