Software Ecosystem [1.6] [UPDATED!] [A10 Compatible]
(Latest update: 1.6!) Please note that the screenshots are pretty out of date. I’m going to play some and then get you some new ones!
THIS MOD IS 100% ALPHA 10 COMPATIBLE.
Welcome to the Software Ecosystem mod. The goal is simply to diversify both products and features through different eras.
Each era also has a "special focus" area of sorts. In the 1980 and 1990s, this is definitely gaming, as the cascade of available features means that constant releases make the market extremely competitive but also very lucrative.
In the 1990s, the internet opens up. In 1991 it becomes possible to begin the development of web servers and web browsers, and if released for free, a guaranteed source of fans to help new startups break into the existing bigger markets.
The 2000s sees the arrival of the phone market. There’s lots of stuff here now too, with phone games especially well represented. It’s easily possible to play beyond 2020, with the addition of futuristic tech like neurohaptics.
But special focus doesn’t mean you can’t still thrive in other markets. The business software ecosystem is much enlarged from vanilla, and has small projects as well as large ones.
And now, from 2020 onwards, you can make holographic software!
Definitely compatible with: Test (CURRENT) (A10/A9? A-OK!)
Changes from the vanilla game:
* Five software "ecosystems" – Business, Enterprise, Home, Internet, Phone – which are potential alternative routes to domination instead of just launching an OS
* Completely reorganised and rebalanced CompanyTypes, intended to match the design of the four software ecosystems
* 14 new types of software: Databases, Task Manager, Text Editor (part of Office Software), File Archiver, File Commander, Inventory Control System, General Ledger, HR Management Software, Project Management Software, SSH, File Transfer, Web Browser, Lightweight Webserver, and Featureful Webserver
* Completely reworked Game/Game Engine system, with game features emergent conceptually from Game Engine features, as well as an expansion of early graphical gaming and an overall expansion of features for games of all types (15+ [maybe even more? I can’t count] new features in Games and Game Engines, plus an entirely new game genre – all game types now have their own specific feature sets)
* Partly reworked Operating System, with features for each decade
* New name generators for all new software
* Complete descriptions for new software types and features, some quite silly at the moment, YMMV on amusement value
* 1 additional base feature (Auto-update) to test the notion a little
* Post-2020 and pre-1980 Features
* all personalites reworked and balanced — FIXED! You can now get higher compatibility scores, as I have honed the new personality system in my mod somewhat as of 1.5.2 (this is partly untested)
LATEST CHANGES:
1.6
NEW:
Many new features in the Games software type. Many new categories, too, including: Tycoon, Racing, Sports Management games… and more. Every new category has new features, and some of the old ones do too. In addition, there are new "default features", like Hardware Optimisation, and the addition of audio as a luxury feature to many pre-existing software types.
BALANCED: Almost everything takes less time to code than it did previously. QA has been increased in potency to reduce bugs overall, although there are still plenty to sort out. OS retention is tweaked. Audio features and audio tool better integrated. AV importance increased in line with realism (AV is actually one of the highest selling types of software globally). Numerous small tweaks. Personalities tweaked further.
Known issues: OS use is very low when starting in 1990, 2000, or 2010. Unsure of why. However, it increases a little while into play for me, so … idk, probably just a thing
1.5.4-6
Fixed personalities balance (ish), more balance work, some name fixes, other minor little stuff I just forgot 😛 Big fix to code time now, as it is MUCH better in the early game than it was.
1.5.3
Price balancing. Every single type of software (and many categories) now have individual ideal prices using the new IdealPrice setting. This makes pricing much more realistic, and also brings down profit margins a touch so that the game should feel less "easy" in terms of making very large sums of money. Maybe. Not tested this extensively yet so feel free to let me know how you feel about the choices made in terms of prices!
1.5.2
Various rebalancing work. Reduced timescales for early game software. Late-game software retains long dev cycle. NEW: extra games categories, extra features, revamped feature balance.
Coming next: LOTS.
1.5.1
Fixed unlock date of pixel manipulation feature (was 1986; now it is unlocked from the start to enable working 2D editors from game start as well). Better integration of audio, 2D, and 3D editors with games. Sneak coming-soon hint: there’s no holography editor yet!
1.5.0
Phone games added. More "phone ecosystem" apps to be added very soon, mostly in pre-existing app categories. This means that they will be fundamentally re-skins of existing apps, but do not despair! This is merely to give me the structure for a bit of a rewrite and rebalance coming in 1.6, since some stuff is a bit out of date versus other stuff and I want to do play testing before doing actual big changes versus "shallow" stuff on the software ecosystem tree.
1.4.4
Some minor text additions. A fairly extensive re-organising of categories and deeper integration of databases as a core concept of the mod. This leads into stuff I want for the next major release. It is however a test release – I have not yet played it at all beyond checking that it loads successfully and plays on its own for a few a years.
1.4.3
Very small changes here: time-to-complete for Games and Game Engines has been reduced significantly post-2010. That is, reduced to much more realistic levels. It was far too long before!
No need to start a new save with this one unless you specifically want to play post-2020 with the new scenario, or you like to start late generally and don’t want long dev times. 🙂
—
1.4.1-1.4.2
Hotfixes; thanks to random failure generator for pointing out some relatively minor bugs, but also enabling me to belatedly realise a relatively important thing that I was entirely unaware we could do. -.-
Expect phone apps in 1.5 or 1.6.
As a bonus, I’ve added an extra start scenario, called "Hi Holo", which is in 2020.
—
1.4.0
NEW: 10+ new features for Games (!!!!); now all game genres have their own specific features (with some crossovers)… note: some balancing work will have to be done on time-to-complete for endgame, so if things take a while, that is why!
FIXED: A few typos here and there, and some reorganising work on Game Engines
—
1.3.0
NEW: Added/modified various Operating System features; new features add detail to multitasking/multithreading
NEW: Random bonus! Added Action Adventure game genre
BETTER: New features add extra unlocks during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s; this should increase the complexity (and therefore difficulty) of getting products to market at the right time to have maximal impact
BETTER: Slightly shorter devtime for some things that were a bit OTT
—
1.2.0
NEW: Holography! Unlocking from 2020 onwards, holography is a new discipline for your workers to learn, as well as providing additional features in Operating Systems, 3D Editors, Game Engines, and Games
NEW: Expanded "3D rendering" into several different features that unlock between 1997 and 2020, culimating in holography; this is due to adding DirectX/OpenGL style graphics APIs as a feature to OSes, as well as creating a path to holography itself
BETTER: Overall time-to-complete should be better balanced across all software now
FIXED: Various logical fixes to categories
