Official Release Announcement (Entrepreneur V1.2)

[Pepsi Ranger]

For those of you who missed it in last night's post to "Entrepreneur Central," the latest update for Entrepreneur: The Beginning is now online, just in time for the end of the 8-bit contest (though, this is not an entry, so don't count it as one).

Download the game here:

http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?t=2555

You can view the release notes here:

http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtop ... 186#102186

The download includes updated instructions that cover much of the game's features, the original introduction screenplay, the Entrepreneur Design Journal (huge document), and four short stories ("Coffee Grande" and "Corporate Irony" were part of the last package; "Shell Out" and "Amusement" are newly added and are part of my Tales of Economic Survival collection).

I also wanted to thank the people who helped me make this game great:

-James Paige for playtesting, script support, and engine changes to help me make this better.

-The Mad Cacti (TMC) for detailed playtesting, script support, and engine changes (increasing the string count to 99 and the global variable limit to 16000 was very much needed).

-Mr. 8-Bit for conducting the original soundtrack (minus the two unlicensed songs that I'd really like to replace someday soon).

-The Wobbler for lending his voice talents to the Announcer Radio feature (the device that announces the names of customers who approach the line).

-Mewmew for additional playtesting and feedback, and for starting a new game every few weeks to keep the tests fresh.

-BMR for testing the prerelease of Version 1.2.

-To James Paige, Meatballsub, and Mogri for the reviews and comments that helped me identify the game's shortcomings so that I could address them for this version. I've since responded to those review threads to reiterate my thanks.

-To all of you who download and play past the first day because you guys are rock stars.

Please give it a try. I've put four years of improvements into this game, but I'm still putting work into it to make it an even richer experience, and will have Version 1.3 out sometime in the near future, so your latest round of opinions is appreciated.

Note: Even though I've got a lot more to put into this game, what I have here is very much complete and you will get a complete game's experience in spite of the fact that I've got plenty more to offer you in the next few releases. Think of the future versions as add-ons or expansion packs, not second halves, or anything that makes this version seem incomplete. It's not. You've got five ways to complete the game, and they're all great, fun ways of getting there.

Oh, and if any of you musically inclined people would like to record two songs to replace the commercial ones from the intro, send me a private message. It doesn't have to have lyrics, but it should sound like it came from the 80s, and it should be of MP3 quality, not midi or chiptune.

Enjoy.

[Mogri]

I'm curious to know if the town has a closed economy -- that is, no money ever leaves or enters the system. I'm guessing it doesn't, since that would require you to track each citizen's bank account and tie everyone to a specific place of employment, but it'd be interesting if that were the case.

[Meatballsub]

Holy crap.

I will be playing this soon

[charbile]

I really like the concept of this game. The idea is so solid and it's awesome to see it going this far. Will give it a spin, but I know from last time it's the gui or way you have to interact to get things going that brought the experience down for me. Like, less walking around or going through text boxes, and more getting into the juicy sim center.

[Pepsi Ranger]

I'm curious to know if the town has a closed economy -- that is, no money ever leaves or enters the system. I'm guessing it doesn't, since that would require you to track each citizen's bank account and tie everyone to a specific place of employment, but it'd be interesting if that were the case.

Yeah, it's closed for now, but this would be a quick and easy addition to include. I probably won't do it until I get actual NPCs wandering around town (fingers crossed for Version 1.3 seeing the presence of townsfolk), but I do like the idea and could feasibly implement it.

I really like the concept of this game. The idea is so solid and it's awesome to see it going this far. Will give it a spin, but I know from last time it's the gui or way you have to interact to get things going that brought the experience down for me. Like, less walking around or going through text boxes, and more getting into the juicy sim center.

When I had first envisioned this game (as a noncontest, full-color, present-day game), I had wanted to keep it a simple mouse-based game in the tradition of most sims. But somehow between conceptualization and execution (and the limitations of the contest it was designed for), I went with the business RPG approach. I admit there are things in the town design I would've done differently in retrospect, but I think changing it now would mess up a lot of my scripting, and if you ever see the plotscript file, you'll see that I don't want to do that.

The new chores system wouldn't work on anything but the current system anyway.

I think if you approach this with the mentality that this is an OHR game and not a flash game or Tycoon game, the current design works. Also, when you consider that the town will eventually have NPCs wandering around for social and marketing purposes (and maybe some side quests), you'll see that the sim approach would actually make it too limited and difficult to achieve my vision.

(Also, if I move forward on the planned trilogy I have in mind, I'm gonna want to build on the existing game, so the open spaces will be necessary at some point.)

As I said in another thread, this is supposed to play somewhat like a Sid Meier game.

But give it a try. I think you'll have fun with it.

[TMC]

Shoops, I meant to say: Awesome.

This really is a huge update to the previous version. And there are many different ways to play it; I'd like to try a "no coffee" playthrough. In fact Pepsi has added a lot of things that many players won't encounter in a single playthrough... or that even as playtester I haven't seen. I don't really deserve all the credit he gave; I've been a pretty poor playtester. I still haven't played it recently (nor have time to right now).

Pepsi has made efforts to address the things Charbile complained about, though he knows I'll always offer more complaints.

[Pepsi Ranger]

So, it's been a week. Anyone get a chance to play this yet? If so, how far have you gotten? What money-making strategies have you employed, and how has that affected your virtual wallet? Have any of you gotten one of the endings yet?

I appreciate your feedback.