Week 13 — The Captain Gets Better Shoes

The captain can now invest in better tools and faster shoes, making the next round of repairs, cleaning, and passenger trouble a little easier to handle.

What changed

• Upgrades for the person doing all the work. The captain now has two levels of equipment upgrades to buy: tools that speed up repairs and cleaning, and shoes that improve movement speed. Their current levels are visible during play, so you can keep track of what you have purchased.
• Furniture upgrades have clearer roles. Better sofas restore comfort faster and last longer. Dining table upgrades focus on durability, while upgraded bunk beds restore sleep faster and take less time to prepare for their next occupant. Paul also causes more wear when using the ship’s facilities. His entertainment career continues to have maintenance costs.
• The upgrade menu shows all applicable choices. Available upgrades no longer disappear simply because the menu runs out of buttons. Trip preparation also received readability improvements, and trip-length tooltips explain how shorter and longer journeys affect passenger payouts.
• There is finally time for a breather. Pressing Esc opens a pause menu with options and a way to resume. If you decide to end your career, a confirmation leads to a retirement screen with your final statistics before returning to the title screen.
• The ship is better at getting your attention. Warnings and emergencies now have distinct notification sounds. Money changes, likes, and equipment upgrades receive visual feedback, and the arrival countdown turns red during the final thirty seconds.

Behind the scenes

This week we held the first playtest of Space Liner 77! It gave us plenty to work on, with a batch of fixes added to the backlog. Seeing someone play is a useful step toward understanding where the game needs more attention, beyond what comes up during development.

A few corrections already made it into the game. Cumulative captain challenges now recognize goals already reached when a trip begins, and generator repairs no longer count toward facility-repair challenges.

The game also now asks before enabling gameplay telemetry, with an option to remember your decision.

Next week

• Create sprites for upgraded stations, so their appearance reflects the improvements you have purchased.
• Work through the fixes raised during the first playtest.
• Hopefully run more playtests and keep learning from how people experience the game.