TVTower

Started by Derron, May 20, 2018, 20:52:19

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Derron



TVTower is a humorous business simulation in which you are in the role of a programming director of a TV channel.
Whether blockbuster or trash-tv - you decide what your audience can watch - but is this what they want?






If I was head of programming, everything would be better

That is something all of us thought some day when feeling annoyed about the current programme. Now you have got the chance to change it.

TVTower is kind of a remake to the ancient but still brilliant game MadTV and therefor the concept of our game is closely based on it.

Within the game multiple players compete in real time against each other. Objective is to manage a tv station. Therefor it is required to place advertisements to finance your programmes and to broadcast movies and news shows to reach a bigger audience. But your rivals never sleep. If you do not pay attention you will rapidly have no great movies, no audience, no money, no future.

The audience is splitted into target groups/jobs and genders. All of them have different needs regarding the broadcasted programmes. Also they have different times to watch tv.

So you have to reconsider if broadcasting "Manager today" monday 11am is preferable to "Having fun being unemployed".

Movies - like already mentioned - are needed to attract audience. But you should be aware what target group you gear towards. So fans of action movies and advertisements for detergents are a rare minority.
Maybe the movie "Sissi" would fit better.
Or are series a way better idea?

Naturally your audience is not interested in watching the same old movies over and over. That is why you need to collect a bigger and bigger getting archive of movies and series. Why? So you can give your programmes a breather. Or is it a better idea to invest in your own productions? And... where to get all the money for this plans?

For sure, your audience has to stop for a pee - so take the chance to send advertisements. But to have advertisements to send you have to sign some contracts in advance. But you are wrong if you believe that advertisements is a source of never ending money.
Because the advertisers have nothing to gift and if you are not able to broadcast all needed ad spots within time or with less audience than needed you will have to pay a big penalty instead of creating a nice income.

One possibility to increase audience is to produce a news show. Theay attract audience and some of them keep watching your channel for the next programme.

But who is interested in things already happened 5 minutes before?!? The most recent news are important and these are only ... like everything in life - available for a higher price.

But how to get more money? Logically with a greater audience. This literally cries for expansion. To increase audience reach it is possible t make new broadcasting areas available. The less players are broadcasting in such an area the less players are sharing that audience. So roll up your sleeves and get to work - before the others approach too...

So, Mister programme director, show us your stuff!






Choose your player



Buy antennas or sign up for cable network and satellites



Broadcast programmes to satisfy your audience



Send news to inform them about important stuff happening in the world!



Buy movies which surely will thrill the people in your broadcast area:







The whole game is FOSS (free open source) so it is available for free. It is written with Blitzmax (vanilla and NG). Releases are provided for Mac, Linux and Windows.

Sources (and releases) can be found at https://www.github.com/TVTower
The project's website is located at https://www.tvtower.org


Have fun and feel free to discuss or give feedback about the game right in this thread.


bye
Ron

Derron

#1
Today I released v0.6 which brings a lot of new stuff:

You can now sign up for cable networks and satellite links (next to your classic antennas). The development of market shares / recepient shares of each of these types is based on the historical data in Germany (from 1980 to 2016).

Weather is now influencing the watching behaviour: sunny weather makes people go out drinking a beer or taking a bath in the near ponds. Stormy weather reduces channel signal strength ("noise") and makes people choose another spare time activity. Storm even makes people pull the plug of their electric devices. Means: you now have to pay attention to the weather news in your news studio (which was already based on a weather simulation for months now).

You can now also choose your starting player and AI improved a bit.


Next version might include a further improved AI as it is for now not capable of using the new features (cable network etc).


The game still lacks a lot of translations (100% German, but way lower percentage of English/Turkish/Spanish...). If you want to help translating stuff - feel free to create pull requests on github or post here in this thread.
If you are experienced in writing stuff with LUA - the AI is written in this language and so you could help in that matters too!


bye
Ron

MagosDomina

Well this is certainly different. I'll give it a try. :)

Qube

I've heard you mention this game a few times but I've never played it. I think that's quite rude of me so today I'll download it and give it a good go :)
Mac Studio M1 Max ( 10 core CPU - 24 core GPU ), 32GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD,
Beelink SER7 Mini Gaming PC, Ryzen 7 7840HS 8-Core 16-Thread 5.1GHz Processor, 32G DDR5 RAM 1T PCIe 4.0 SSD
MSI MEG 342C 34" QD-OLED Monitor

Until the next time.

Derron

#4
Don't be shocked if there is a lot of German text ... it is pretty much stuff still needing proper localization (and it gets more with every movie someone adds).

Also: there _is_ a manual for the game but in German only - and if you never played "Mad TV" before, you will really be at a complete loss. I have watched some "Let's play" of the game by someone who never played it before and saw at how many things he struggled and was just not sure what to do - until he fighted and fiddled out what to do here and there - and recognized all the little things making live convenient ;-)


So here is a short "first things to do":

When you start your new game your figure will use the elevator to travel to "the channel's" floor - with "office", "news", "boss", and "archive".

office: in this room you can plan/rearrange your programme, view financial stats - or clicking on the map in the office, buy new stations to increase broadcast area
news: here you can subscribe to news genres (different genres attract different target groups - children, housewives, ...), and clicking on the pin wall you can plan the news show (send new stuff)
boss: he wants to see you once each day, he is a very kind and friendly person - and if you are doing a good enough job, he is willed to give you some credit (you already have some right at start)
archive: the dude in there keeps an eye on your programme licences - there you can take them into your suitcase so you can go to the "movie dealer" (to sell them).


Ok, so click on the ">" symbol right in the bottom center to lower speed (alternatively use "up/down" cursor keys to cheat-adjust the speed - see top left for raw values). Go to your office and have a look how things work. Right on start you do not own any programme to broadcast, except some advertisements which could be broadcasted either as "infomercial" (programme slot) or "advertisement" (5 minute slot right side  the programme slot).

Leave the room with right click (or long left click if you only have a 1 button mouse or touchscreen - this option can get disabled in the options-screen on game start).
Now either directly click on a room of your choice, or click on the elevator to open up a "room board" where you can click on the desired target.


Targets of base interest:
movie dealer: buy new movies, series, culture documentaries, ... or take part in an licence auction to get things cheaper than normal

ad agency: sign new ad contracts (pay attention to "minimum audience"! only fulfilled broadcasts count and the penalty might be something you do not like to pay).

With these both things, the office and the news studio you will be able to plan your first day without much trouble.



Later on you will recognize that there are "terrorist news"  - they tell you that in the near future some terrorist will come to the building and attack either VR or FR Duban-rooms (there is one of each in the building). In the ground floor there is a room plan, go to there and you can switch room signs, so the terrorists will attack the wrong room - eg. the office of your opponents. The other players will do the same, so maybe your rooms get bombed and you have to pay some renovation costs or maybe even loose a programme licence to the fire.

If you do not like to send normal stuff, you can go to the "script agency", then buy a script for a show or movie there. With a bought script you can visit your own "studio" room and place it there, fetch a shopping list from that dude there and with this list you can visit "supermarket". There you can plan your production (can get complex). Finish the production preparation there and head back to your studio - start the production and wait for the results.


Terrorists might also bomb "other rooms" (useless rooms for now) which then become "rooms to rent" (used as studios then) so you can produce multiple stuff at the same time.

In the supermarket you can also buy presents for "Betty". In the original Mad TV the aim in the game was to marry Betty - for now TVTower is an endless game.
Nonetheless Betty is having her own room - in the topmost room of the building. Visit her if you want to know about your current rank in the "Sammy"-competition (price for best news, most culture, ...). If she is fallen in love with you, you can even can get the general key opening all doors - even the ones of your opponents office...


There is surely some more stuff to explore - and explain, but this should do to make the first days "surviveable".


And IF ALL GOES DOWN: cheat
Enter - chat opens
/dev money 1 10000000
Enter
will give player 1 some money


bye
Ron

Derron

Text wall (thanks to DeepL for the surely not perfect but better-than-nothing translation) of the manual (which is also a work-in-progress):

Quote
Game instructions for the developer version
========================================================================



Author: Själe


Preliminary remark:

Please keep in mind that this is a development version. So not everything is perfect, some things are still missing. Nevertheless, we try to make sure that you always download a playable software.
For this we are dependent on your help. Report mistakes, bring in ideas, discuss the meaning and nonsense of the game with us, or get involved by hand if you have a gaming talent.
Motivating chats in the forum are also nice:

http://www.gamezworld.de/phpforum/

At the moment the game is playable as an endless game.
The AI works, but is not yet in its final version.

At the end of the manual there is a list of shortcuts for this developer version.


========================================================================




Content:
=======

Load Save
Game speed
Movement of the character
Functional features:
programme planning
Archive
film agency
advertising broker
News studio
Station purchase
screenwriting agency
Studio
supermarket
Chief Credit Beggary
Terrorist
Real estate agent
FSK 18 and bailiffs
interface
@Chat and Cheating
Background processes
Changes by the player
Shortcuts for the developer version







Load Save
================

There are two ways to save and load the game.
On the one hand, an appropriate menu can be called up via "Escape". A left click on the respective menu field takes you to the corresponding submenu.
Enter a name when saving, select a score when loading and select the corresponding field.

Furthermore there is the possibility for quick saving or loading.
To do this, simply press the keys:

Quick save - "F5" key
Quick charge - "F8" key





Game speed
=====================

You can change the game speed with the arrow keys "up" and "down". There are also preset speeds. See at the end the "keyboard shortcuts of the
Developer version".
Use the arrow keys "left" and "right" to change the game speed and the movement speed of the game pieces.




Movement of the character
========================

Basically, your avatar always runs to where the cursor fingertip points when you left-click. Of course, if this is possible at all. If you click on a door or other interaction object, the character will try to get there.
move.
If a room is occupied, the avatar will stop in front of it.

In the rooms, the actions are also triggered by left-clicking.
With a click on the right mouse button you leave the current menu or the room in which you are.

The "Esc" key will open a menu that allows you to save, exit or reload the game.


We recommend you before you really get started:
Save the game right at the beginning and stroll through the house. Maybe you'll also discover the wall newspaper with the names of all those who made this free gaming experience possible for you.




Functional features:
==========================

The basic things are explained in a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9reFu18PIJg

Tom.io introduced the game with an (almost) comprehensive explanation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaXdh_o3HA4


For those who prefer to read, want to know the latest news or already have a full flat rate, everything is briefly described here.






programme planning
-----------------

To access the program planning, you must first enter the players' office. Left click on the door or in the elevator planner and your character will move there.
There's a computer in the office. Clicking on it with the left mouse button will present the program planner.

You see the current day first. There are already the opening show and three advertisements placed at the beginning of the game. In addition, an advertisement was filed as a continuous commercial.
These only exist at the beginning of the game and should give you time to explore the game in peace.

As long as the program or commercial blocks are grey, you can move them to other slots. Other colors indicate that they are or have just been sent.
Red-coloured advertising blocks that have already been sent indicate that the required audience rating has not been achieved.

If you move the mouse pointer over a programme or an advertisement, a tooltip appears containing information on the selected programme.

To move the programmes/advertising simply click on it with the left mouse button, then the programme hangs on the mouse pointer. Click left again to put it down.

If you want to place broadcasts/advertisements (even if they have already been sent) elsewhere, press the CTRL key and then left-click on it. The actual broadcast remains in place, the duplicate hangs on your hand and can be placed at the current location by left-clicking again.

If you want to store single sequences of series in their order, press the "Shift"-key and left click on it. As long as you keep the "Shift"-key pressed, a sequence will be saved with every left click.

If you place an advertisement on a transmission place, then it becomes a continuous advertising transmission. This plays in a certain amount of money per spectator. But it also diminishes your image with the audience.
However, if you place a programme on an advertising space, a trailer for the corresponding programme will be created. This trailer ensures that more viewers watch the show. However, the additional viewers depend on how many watched the show before the trailer. Multiple transmissions increase this effect. However, only up to an upper limit. Each additional trailer will then bring no additional spectator gain.

If you want to see or change the program of the next day, the day after next, the day after next or even a day further in the future, then use the small arrows at the top right. Of course you can also go back to the previous page.

Existing advertisements and programs can be viewed by left-clicking on the respective menu items on the right. Here you can get tooltips again, if you move the mouse pointer over the shipment/advertisement. Left-click to raise the programme. With a left click you put it down again. "Shift" and left-click the programme as often as you hold down the "Shift" key.
With a right click you may be given a free hand again.


Also to the right of the program planning you will find the items "Finances", "Statistics" and "Successes". Left click on it, loads appropriate screens, which show you more detailed information.






Archive
--------

In the archive you will meet the archivist. You'll need it if you want to sell films you own.
Click on the archivist and you will get a list of the genres. If your film has a certain genre, it is coloured black, with green lines next to it indicating the number of films in that genre. So click on a genre and select the movie you want to drag for film distribution, click on it and put it in the case.

But be careful! If you put a film in the case, which is currently set in the program planning and leaves the room, it will be deleted from the program planning. You have to fill this gap again later.





movie agency
-------------

It is used for the purchase and sale of films.
On the left you see the agent behind his desk. A shelf on the right. In the middle is your suitcase.
If you have just come out of the archive, you may find the films you have selected for sale. If you want to sell them, left-click on them and click on the film agent with the film. Then the film is gone. It is uncertain whether he will ever appear on the shelf again.

There are two ways to purchase.

Once the films on the shelf. Move the mouse pointer over the slipcases and information about the respective films will appear.
The price, of course. It says if you can afford it. But more important for the ratings are the bars for speed, box office and criticism. And also the topicality. This decreases with each transmission. And with it the monetary value of the film. If the film is not broadcast for a while, the topicality is refreshed to a certain extent.


STARSCrazy described how the film properties are to be evaluated:

"Tempo: How interesting do normal people find the film (corresponds to viewer ratings)
Criticism: How interesting do critics find the film (corresponds to critics' ratings)
Cinema box office: How successful was the film at the box office.

For all three values: the higher the better.

Depending on the genre, some values are more important than others:
Criticism is especially important in culture, live, music, show.
speed is important for eroticism, sports, gossip, pay TV
Box office is important for action, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, love".





Click on a movie, move it over the case and click again, then it lands in the case.
This is only a preliminary selection. The money will be withdrawn immediately, but if you click on the film again and move it to the shelf, click there again, it lands on the shelf and the money is back in your account.
But if you leave the room with the film in the case, then the film inevitably ends up in the archive and is automatically available for your broadcast planning.
If the suitcase is full of movies, leave the room, enter it again and you have enough space to shop again.
By the way: The gaps created by your purchase have been filled in the meantime by the agent.


The second possibility to buy films here is the auction.
Click on the mallet on the agent's desk. A menu with films and the respective minimum bid appears. Moving the mouse over it will show you the information about the movie again.
Click on it and you have made an offer. The money is immediately withdrawn from the account. If no other player bids before midnight, the film will automatically end up in your archive and be available for scheduling.




ad agency
-------------

That's the good man who catches our mice. Well, actually he talks us up things that spoil the movie for the audience or make room to get chips.
In short: Here are the advertising blocks, which are sent hourly to ensure that we get money in.
You can see folders on the table and on the wall and a suitcase on the top right. This case usually already contains folders. These are the advertising contracts already concluded. Three of them are provided by the game right at the start of the game.
The fact that the three folders are in the case and not somewhere in the archive is to point out to you that the space in the case is limited. If the suitcase is full, you cannot conclude a new advertising contract. Making room only works if your advertising is finished. Or if it expires after the deadline, which results in a fine.

Move your mouse over the folders and you will see the advertising-relevant information.
I do not have to explain the premium further. The penalty is due if you do not send the required blocks within the specified time with the requested viewers.
By the way, the tooltip also shows you how often the advertisement has already been scheduled or sent.

Here, too, the torn gaps are filled up again after leaving the room. So let's go back in and see if anything cheap has been added.

At the bottom left of the room screen there is a separate icon. Move the mouse pointer over it and a menu opens with which the advertising contracts can be sorted according to ratings or premiums.

Please do not complain too much that the advertising bonuses are not yet well balanced. That's a wide field and not to be done on the side. But we are working on it.




News studio
-------------------

In the news studio, as expected, the news is produced.

You can see the speaker's booth on the right. I just want it to look good.
On the left are five coloured panels with different symbols. There you can set the subscription levels. The tooltip shows you which symbol belongs to which genre.
The subscription levels differ in the time delay with which you receive the messages. At 0 you don't get any messages for this genre. At 3, you'll get them as soon as they appear. Similarly, subscription level 0 costs nothing, but 3 costs the most.

Gradually, messages are added to the game that are only available from a certain level.

The news can be watched by viewers from other stations, who could then also watch the show on your premises.

Please note that the settlement level that was set as the highest on the day is used as a basis. So it's only worth turning it down shortly before 0 o'clock.
There's nothing to be afraid of when you go through the levels. The change only becomes financially effective after a few seconds.

Click on the pinboard to get to the heart of the game:
The range of news - on the left - and those selected for broadcast - on the right.

As usual, left-click on the programme you want to place and move it to where you want it to go. You will then have the one that was there before by the hand. Place it in the selection list by left-clicking, at another station or dispose of it by right-clicking.
In the latter case, however, it is no longer available.

Since the news have their own ratings calculation, it might be interesting to try out some combinations. It is quite possible to push the message viewing rate higher than that of the previous programme. Which in turn can bring more viewers to the following programme.

In addition, the different audience groups react differently to different news. But find out for yourself.

The order in which messages are sent also has an influence.





Station purchase
------------
Of course, this is one of the most important strategic features.
Will I use the money first for the expansion of the station or for better films?

You can find the menu for buying stations by left-clicking on the map at the far right margin.

If you then click on "Buy transmitter mast", a transmitter mast symbol appears on the mouse hand, which you can move over the map. You will be shown how many viewers you can reach at the respective point. In addition it is always indicated how many new spectators you have in the catchment area. This becomes important if there are several transmission masts in conurbations which could possibly overlap. Of course, every possible spectator only counts once.

Not to forget in the bottom line of the information: The expected purchase price.

Once you have found a suitable place for the mast, fix it by left-clicking and confirm with the button "Buy mast".
If you prefer to look again after placing the mast, you can remove it by right-clicking on it.
If you have already clicked the button "buy", it is of course too late.
You could sell the mast again now. Select it from the list at the bottom right. And then click on the "Sell mast" button.
Meanly, you will get back less money than it cost.

The menu items "Cable network connection" and "Satellite connection" at the bottom indicate the possible access to existing cable networks and satellites. While the available satellites are listed, the available cable networks are displayed by driving over the map.
If you meet the specified conditions, you can rent the connections. A one-year contract period is planned in each case.

The coverage of cable or satellite is based on the real data. Only partial coverage of the areas is therefore to be expected. However, this increases as the game progresses.

For all three transmission modes, the range can be switched on at the next full hour.




screenwriting agency
-----------------

Here you can buy scripts for your own production. They stand on top of and next to the small cupboard at the door.
Moving the mouse pointer over it causes data sheets to appear on which the corresponding information can be read. Click on the desired script and put it into the case by releasing the left mouse button. As soon as you leave the room, the chosen script becomes your own.




Studio
--------

With the selected script we go to the studio. Click on the desired script in the case and place it on the right side of the cabinet.
On the left is the studio manager. Left click on it and a dialog will appear where you can request a shopping list. After left-clicking on "I need a shopping list..." it appears in the middle at the bottom edge. It can get stuck there. And off we go
to the supermarket.

Back from the supermarket, you can release a movie with a complete shopping list for production. Select the desired film and click on the studio manager.




supermarket
--------

Enter the supermarket and a dialogue will be offered leading to the purchase of a Betty gift or the procedure of film production preparation.

Betty presents interest only Betty or not. Try out for yourself if your assessment of their character corresponds to the reality of the game. Here nothing more comes to it.

So choose the film production.
In the next screen the screenplay titles for which shopping lists have already been requested are shown in the upper left corner.
Click the desired one.

In the middle, the different requirements of the actors (director, actress, etc.) appear. Click on them and a list of possible persons will appear. The blue bar roughly symbolizes the corresponding level of experience. This changes with further productions.
Move the mouse pointer finger over the persons and a tooltip with the individual characteristics appears for each person. The greened-in characteristics are particularly useful for the production to be used, the grey ones rather uninteresting.
Select a person for each required actor type.

If you want to undo your choice, you can do so by right-clicking on the person in question.

Next, a production company must be selected in the right part of the screen. They come in three levels. Each level has its price and a number of production points. The former must be paid, the latter can be assigned to the production focuses. Or the production speed.

The production focuses are weighted differently according to genre.
Of course, an action movie needs stunts more than a love movie. But this should not be revealed in detail.
Once all points have been awarded, planning can be completed to the left below the total cost and production time.

Ten percent of the total costs are due immediately. The rest on completion. These are reported via ingame messages. The programme is then available in the programme planner.
Incidentally, the studio is not accessible for the time of production. A tooltip at the studio door informs about the time.





Chief Credit Beggary
----------------------

The executive room is to the right of the elevator on your floor.
He is a boss of the old school, please watch out for the excellently animated cigar smoke.
It doesn't matter, though.

What to do or not to do here is displayed in the speech bubble. Just click on the option that corresponds to your request, which is currently only cash-value options. Pay back or take up new credit.

Lending depends on various factors. For example, non-compliance with advertising contracts or air cuts change the mood of bosses, which currently only has an impact on the credit limit.

From time to time a message appears that the boss wants to see you. He'll give you 2 hours. If you let the time pass, the character will automatically move to the management office. She knows what to do.
By left-clicking on the message you can execute the visit immediately.

Furthermore, the boss will inform you about upcoming Sammy awards. If you win the competition, there are small prizes in cash or bonuses on the ratings.



Terrorist
-----------

This is the man for the rough. It is not without controversy that he ensures that there are always enough free rooms available in the house. Free spaces are scarce and larger studios are needed later in the game. The first, which is your own, has only the size
one.

The terrorist is actually a henchman of the two Cuban embassies, which are in constant conflict with each other. The other side is the actual goal. The threat of terrorism will be announced later on in a message.

Shortly afterwards, the terrorist enters the building and goes to the information board. That's where your participation becomes possible. Because you can swap the signs on the information board. Now hang the sign of the embassy of the country, which was mentioned as a target for a possible attack in the news, in any place and the terrorist will direct his steps there. If you want to see what happens, just ride along.

The AI could also place the respective embassy sign on your offices or studios.




Real estate agent
-------------------

This nice person allows you to rent new and possibly larger studios.

Click on the pinboard on the left and the rooms occupied in the house will appear. The potentially rentable ones are somewhat highlighted. A tooltip contains the current tenants and the studio size. At the moment, the latter has no influence on the company's own production.

How you can convince the tenants to give up their rooms, we will learn later.




FSK 18 and bailiffs
-------------------------------

According to the youth protection laws, films with the reference FSK 18 may not be broadcast in TVTower-Land between 6 am and 10 pm. It is up to you, however, whether you keep to it.
There's a catch, though. Or rather, two. The authorities can already see in the programme planning that you intend to undermine a law. A fine will then be due and the film will be removed from the programme planner. Then you have to fill the gap again.

If you managed to smuggle the film past the censorship unnoticed, there is still a 25% chance that one of the two bailiffs (Mr. Czwink and Mr. Czwank) will appear. Since they are not so well acquainted in the TVTower, they inform themselves quite like the Mr Terrorist at the information board. It would be useful to exchange the archive signs and a film from the competition could be confiscated.

If a film has been confiscated, you will receive a message about it.

Like in real life, FSK18 emissions reduce the image at the wrong time. Currently by 0.5 percentage points.






interface
==========

This means here the lower part of the game screen, which will accompany you through the whole game.
On the left is the television which shows the current programme of the individual channels.
You can turn it off.
Furthermore, you can use the colored buttons to select which channel you want to watch in the current program.

If you move the mouse pointer over the screen or the buttons of the other stations, a tooltip appears with information about the current program.
It is planned to show a different image for each film genre. If you place the mouse hand on the screen, you will see which movie is shown with which viewing rate. In addition, a hint at your own station, if a suitable commercial block is set.

The other ads are for your information.

The right screen should later show the respective target groups that the program preferentially reaches. It is already being hinted at.

The displays in the middle are self-explanatory thanks to the tooltips.




@Chat and Cheating

The InGame Chat is called with the "Enter"-key. The chat can receive different commands in the developer version. The command "/dev help" lists the available commands. For example, a"/dev money 1 1000" would add 1000 euros to the first player's account.




Background processes
=======================

The processes in the background include, for example, the calculation of audience ratings.
Not much is to be explained here at the moment yet. This will certainly make it easier for you to become aware of any inconsistencies and let us know if necessary. Since most of those who find us in the vast expanse of the net are likely to be experienced players, intuition is a factor not to be underestimated in improving the game.

And we don't want to talk the inconsistencies out of the way in advance by means of cunning importance.





Changes by the player
================================

There is a config folder in the games directory. In this file there is a file "settings.xml". This contains a lot of things that can be changed by the editor
can.
If you change something in the "Settings" that differs from the settings, a "settings.user.xml" will be created - this can also be used for manual changes that were previously stored in "settings.xml".

In short: the settings.user.xml contains the deviations to the intended settings from settings.xml




Shortcuts for the developer version
=======================================


Game speed:
---------------------
Cursor up/down: Game speed +/-
Cursor left/right: Running speed and game speed +/-
Ctrl Left + Cursor Right: Fast forward "Level 1
Ctrl Right + Cursor Right: Fast forward "Level 2

5: Play speed 60 minutes/s
6: Play speed 120 minutes/s
7: Play speed 180 minutes/s
8: Play speed 240 minutes/s
9: Game speed 1 minute/s (default)


Rooms:
-------
W: Advertising broker
A: Archive
B: Betty
F: Film agency
O: Office/Office
C: Chief
N: News studio
R: Room rental / broker
Ctrl + R: Roomboard / Room panel "room"
L: Supermarket / Shop
S: Studio (first found)
Reft Ctrl + S: Supermarket
Right Ctrl + S: Screenplay Agency (Scripts)
E: Credits (employees :-))


Load/Save:
----------------
F5: Save game (Quicksave)
F8: Load score (Quickload)


Miscellaneous:
----------
1-4: Switch players (with Observer mode only watch players)
Left Ctrl Left + O: Observer mode on/off
Right Shift + 1-4: Reload player's AI script
Right Shift + 1-4: Set player bankrupt
G: Ghost mode (scroll freely with mouse through skyscraper) on/off
Left Shift + P: Today's broadcast overview (in console)
Right Shift + P: Broadcast overview every day (in console and file "log.broadcastoverview.txt")
Left Ctrl + P: performance overview of all days (in console and file "log.playerperformanceoverview.txt")
P: Schedule overview (in console)

TAB: Show/hide debug info
Ctrl Left + TAB: Schedule Debug View On/Off
K: ALL figures are kicked out of the rooms
T: Sending out terrorists

F1: Show game instructions
F2: Display room/screen-specific help text (if available)
F6: Playing music
F10: Activate/Deactivate All Foreign Figures (Movements)
F11: AI on/off

M: Music/sound output on/off
Shift+M: sound effects on/off
Ctrl+M: Music on/off


Debug output:
--------------
Alt Links + M: Debug modifier view on/off
Q: Odds debug screen on/off
Right Shift + F: Financial overview of all days (also according to "log.financeoverview.txt")
Left Shift + F: Financial overview current day
Shift + W: Overview of advertising contracts in DB




Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Derron

#6
Released v0.7.0 after almost 2.5 years of development.



Changelog (already cut to "commit title" - even for complete dev/feature branches merged into the master trunk) is still 500 entries (including a lot of "fix" entries - of course :D).


The game now uses Brucey's soloud.mod for streamed audio, is compiled with NG only (for 32 and 64 bit), offers a bit more English localization than before, ... I even compiled it on a native Mac (Mini) this time. So yes, I bought one just to be able to compile Mac stuff natively (and Mac OS X ... has issues with samba shares, ACL ... but yeah, story for another thread :D).
I rewrote the bitmap-font rendering system to allow stylized block text (with text alignment, support for sprites, text effects, font styling) all using "structs" for almost no GC-strain (the old one created a lot of GC hassle by generating many new objects each rendered textblock). Development for this was done pretty public in the discord channel of NG.
Since last summer I optimized a lot of my code to reduce GC strain at all, to reduce CPU load. I think it uses 30% less CPU now (or even more - depending on the game scene).
The AI is now running in threads (needed some twirks to make Lua stuff working in threads properly).


Game wise the new version offers a lot new stuff:
- AI does better (hopefully) and takes into consideration existing broadcast permissions when buying new broadcast stations (Antennas in other federal states)
- Custom Production now has a cast gaining XP in various aspects (job, genre, job+genre (you know an "erotic actor" is something different than just having XP as "erotic director" :))
- Custom Production of live programme and other "extras" is now possible
- There are custom "producers" (with individual characteristics, budget..., XP ...) who do their own custom programme productions which you can buy at the movie agency
- All persons in the game can now become actors, directors, ... sportsman, politicians ... so an old football star can choose to retire and to become a host of a sports show.
- The beloved "betty" (love interest) now expects you to bring each present to her instead of just clicking on "buy" in the supermarket :-)
- many new little helpers, indicators, new mouse symbols ...


Get the download - like always, right at https://www.tvtower.org

Feedback - of course - appreciated.


bye
Ron

Qube

Nice one :) Mac version runs great but I needed to do "xattr -cr /Users/qube/Downloads/TVTower_v0.7.0_20210210/TVTower.app" for it to run or else it complained it was corrupt and wanted to move it to the bin.

Will have a proper play when I can ( still not played BahHumbug by Xerra yet, lol )
Mac Studio M1 Max ( 10 core CPU - 24 core GPU ), 32GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD,
Beelink SER7 Mini Gaming PC, Ryzen 7 7840HS 8-Core 16-Thread 5.1GHz Processor, 32G DDR5 RAM 1T PCIe 4.0 SSD
MSI MEG 342C 34" QD-OLED Monitor

Until the next time.

Derron

Quote from: Qube on February 11, 2021, 06:44:06
Will have a proper play when I can ( still not played BahHumbug by Xerra yet, lol )

Thanks for the xattr-hint (might have to add it in the manual or so) - I always remember there was something to do but always forget about it then right before publishing.
The Mini has only the power coord attached but thanks to the included little speaker I was even able to test out audio output. Visuals and Input via Remmina (vnc/rdp), data via wifi. But hey, bought a miniDP->hdmi connector so I could somewhen attach it to one of my KVM-switches which I planned to use with an Android-TV-Box (as firewall) then running up to my second desktop monitor :)


I already see your puzzled view to the screen ... "what should ... what have I to do ... uhmm... yes, where to exit?"


bye
Ron

Xerra

Quote from: Qube on February 11, 2021, 06:44:06
Will have a proper play when I can ( still not played BahHumbug by Xerra yet, lol )

That's a Xmas game, Qube. Kinda ideal to actually play it at Xmas, lol :)

Give it a blast. You can speed run it in around 5 minutes. That is if you created the thing and know where all the items are and how to use them, ha ha.

I'm still proud of that game. Pity nobody plays adventures here much and might have played all the way through it.

Back on topic:
As the app isn't certified by Apple, like my games, I use these simple instructions for people to follow, which can just be pasted as is into the documentation or on the downloads page.


unpack the .app.
use finder to move the .app to /Applications folder
do not start the .app yet, or it will be quarantined!
open terminal and paste this in, but don't press enter yet: sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/
drag the app onto the terminal window so its name appears on the command line after the command then press enter.
You might need to enter your password that you use to login but after that the app will function normally.
M2 Pro Mac mini - 16GB 512 SSD
ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD
Vic 20 - 3.5k 1mhz 6502

Latest game - https://xerra.itch.io/Gridrunner
Blog: http://xerra.co.uk
Itch.IO: https://xerra.itch.io/

Derron

There must be a more "concise" and "short" explanation - still describing the necessary bits. 6 steps to get it working ... uhhh :)


Must it be "applications"? I executed the game right from my samba share - only problem I had was that somehow Mac refused to properly use the samba credentials (it created the files, it owned the files - but refused to overwrite them - "Permission denied". Needed to "chmod 755" on the original drive / Linux - it even removed that WHILE compiling/linking - so I needed to do it over and over again each second). Once it linked/built successfully I was able to execute right from the smb share without much trouble.



@ BahHumbug
You know people here prefer games with dudes having long hair, black trousers and a white shirt - and foes named LeChuck?
In other words: classic point n click adventures. (and in even other words: games requiring many more assets, animations .... more dev time). Will have to try out yours again if I find the time.


bye
Ron

Xerra

Derron, it was a competition game. 6 weeks work - one person. As it was I outsourced the art, if you remember. Some of it was even yours.
M2 Pro Mac mini - 16GB 512 SSD
ACER Nitro 5 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i7, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD
Vic 20 - 3.5k 1mhz 6502

Latest game - https://xerra.itch.io/Gridrunner
Blog: http://xerra.co.uk
Itch.IO: https://xerra.itch.io/

Derron

Quote from: Xerra on February 11, 2021, 16:56:30
Derron, it was a competition game. 6 weeks work - one person. As it was I outsourced the art, if you remember. Some of it was even yours.

Did I say something different? Did not want to offend you - I just wrote what I assumed people "prefer" when it comes to adventures. And of course I never would expect such click n point adventures done in that time frame by a single person (except IWasAdam of course :D).


bye
Ron

Steve Elliott

#13
Quote
You know people here prefer...and in even other words: games requiring many more assets, animations .... more dev time)...Will have to try out yours again if I find the time.

And in even even other words: Your game is shit compaired to classic point n click adventures, people here prefer a game with many more assets, animation, quality and far far more time spent on it than just 6 weeks.  I will try it if I can be bothered, some day.

Derron/Ron that is how a native English speaker would interpret what you just said.   :))

Just messing with ya, there is a certain 'bluntness' to your posts that make some think you're being harsh, but it's just something that gets lost in translation I feel.   :)

But definitely, I'll have to re-try some of the Competition Games again.





Win11 64Gb 12th Gen Intel i9 12900K 3.2Ghz Nvidia RTX 3070Ti 8Gb
Win11 16Gb 12th Gen Intel i5 12450H 2Ghz Nvidia RTX 2050 8Gb
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Win10/Linux Mint 16Gb 4th Gen Intel i5 4570 3.2GHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 2Gb
macOS 32Gb Apple M2Max
pi5 8Gb
Spectrum Next 2Mb

Derron

Quote from: Steve Elliott on February 11, 2021, 18:39:18
And in even even other words: Your game is shit compaired to classic point n click adventures, people here prefer a game with many more assets, animation, quality and far far more time spent on it than just 6 weeks.  I will try it if I can be bothered, some day.

Derron/Ron that is how a native English speaker would interpret what you just said.   :))

Just messing with ya, there is a certain 'bluntness' to your posts that make some think you're being harsh, but it's just something that gets lost in translation I feel.   :)

Might be true - dunno. Excuse my faulty English skill. There is also a language independent difference (humor, the "honesty" in which stuff is expressed - or not). I thought it was pretty "obvious" that my phrase "people prefer... LeChuck" was meant as a kind of joke. Generally the problem of the games here is ... they should somehow reach a larger "audience" so that they find enough people who want to play exactly "this or that" kind of game.
So again: if one felt offended now, excuse me - was not intented.


And "BahHumbug" has some above average quality for a free/compo game already (albeit xerra had to pay for it - literally).
Ok, not to derail my thread any further: I need to play his game once more if time and wife permits :)


bye
Ron