Welcome to the 'final' (more or less!) update to the Demo Build for Hydro...

I really debated on whether I should release this one, however in hindsight I think you will enjoy it. There's no real game play changes with this update. The focus instead has been on 'atmosphere'...the sky atmosphere to be exact :-)

With this update, you may now notice that the sky will transition to periods of 'haze' and have a gloomy almost overcast feel to it at times. The bright blue sky is still retained from before and this will continue to make an appearance in between all the gloom. I won't go into specifics, but there is randomness on (1) the duration and (2) the time it takes before the 'weather' transitions, so you won't always have the same experience day in and day out.

Note that these changes *may* set the foundation for potentially a full dynamic (or close to) weather system that I am experimenting with at present; this is currently planned to include rain and wind effects. If I go one step further (still, without promising anything!) I could envision the weather actually affecting game play in a variety of ways. E.g. day shifts (or even night shifts) where you could encounter stormy weather conditions and the Township Demands you receive may reflect these weather conditions, too (e.g. imagine: "Township coal power plant flooded-out, we need 100 units of power!").

If I manage to get proficient enough with weather effects, I'd love to have a scene where ships passing in the night could burst through thick fog and require a hefty accumulator charge and bright marker light(s) in order for the ship passage to succeed!

In any case weather systems and fidelity on that lofty level will be reserved for the Full Release of Hydro (if anything), but nonetheless I thought I'd give a little 'taste' of what has been in development around this lately within the Demo build, by including some elementary sky effects in this update.

Below are some screenshots of the atmospheric 'gloom' / haze effects that are gracing the Demo with this v0.28c update:

As always, my YouTube channel (linked below) is THE place to visit for more news, information and game play regarding Hydro. Look-out for Dev Logs and the like around the continued development of Hydro in future!

For now, I look forward to getting properly head-down and developing the full release version of Hydro.

As the weeks (and perhaps months) continue on, I hope to have an announcement for the official release date as well.

Once again, thank you so much for your ongoing support!

Until next time...happy power-generating! :-)

Hi all,

The focus of this update has been more 'balance' related changes not so much monetary-wise, but more towards adding more linkages to the Reputation system (this, indirectly can affect your funds income though!). Now, more of the events, actions and behaviors you exhibit in the game will tie-back to affecting your Reputation rating!

Your Reputation rating is important because it will inevitably control the types of Township Demands you receive; if your rep is too low - you can only receive 'low prestige' Township Demands...this means you'll work harder to produce more units of power for less reward.

Fear not, as continued success in achieving Township Demands will gradually raise-up your rep value again. But it won't happen overnight...

Aside from changes to the Reputation system, a slew of other updates and bug fixes have also been made. Here is the full changelog for v0.28b:

Reputation system changes:

• Failing audit checks for certain items (not saying which ones!) will now slightly negatively affect your Rep rating - so make sure you keep the place in top-shape for when the auditor comes around...
  
• Slightly reduced the Rep rating increase value range when successfully completing a Township Demand
  
• Conversely, slightly increased the Rep decrement value range when failing a Township Demand
  
• Slightly (just slightly!) increased the amount of Rep decrement when you receive a Noise Complaint
  
• Added text and notations to the Demo Help screens accordingly to advise of these Reputation changes
  
• Be careful when willingly 'rejecting' (Q key) a Township Demand...

Other updates:

• Reduced the rate at which the Generator Air Filter gets dirty by around 50% - you won't have to climb that ladder as often...
  
• Bug fix: with the recent Sync changes introduced in v0.28, the Generator no longer had a 'spark show' when running at 62hz grid frequency. This has now been restored!
  
• Further reduced window dirt accumulation speeds across the board by around 50%
  
• Slightly reduced the amount of Fatigue you will get from cleaning windows
  
• Fixed the Generator Grid Fuse explosion sound effect; previously it was playing way too loudly and wasn't playing from the correct source location. This is now fixed
  
• Generator Grid Fuse explosion events now contribute towards a possibility of receiving Noise Complaints!
  
• Improved the cleaning logic for the Generator Air Filter. Now you should be able to get it a bit cleaner and it won't sometimes jump back up to 7% dirty randomly when you try to clean it....
  
• Increased the volume of the auditor's footstep sound effects by 50%
  
• Imported a 3d model prop for the Generator's internal coil windings as well as back-plate props for the backs of some of the gauge stands (purely cosmetic changes)
  
• Some minor changes to improve performance (may or may not be noticeable - was just good code house-keeping)

Thanks to the mountain of feedback I've received on the Steam forums since Demo release, a lot of updates have been made (just like this update) to better the game. I'm now happy to announce we are coming to the conclusion of updates for the Demo, as I need to resume more of my development efforts on the full release of the game,

I appreciate all your support in helping me get this far with Hydro and I look forward to bringing you more news on Hydro soon!

In the meantime, I hope you continue to enjoy the Demo.

P.S. Please remember to Subscribe and 'hit the bell' on my YouTube channel for further news and updates on the development of this game!