Early Experimental Preview of Career Concept

Here I am!

I'm currently working on the art side of WCUSA to improve ai pathing around the container yard in preparation for the final delivery gameplay while others are working on the delivery backend and UI.

Large trucks and trailers will primarily be using the crane area and shipping container areas, and medium and small trailers and vehicles will be using the warehouse side of things. The issue I'm solving was related to the road layout and trying to separate large trucks from small vehicles and making sure their entrance/exit routes are specific to the type of deliveries! You've probably noticed that the AI is driving around inside of the container yard - that's not intended - so there are other issues being addressed as well.

After this, I'll be jumping on to the Shuffleboard Logistics outside of the commercial garage for proper large truck and trailer loaning, pickup, and drop-off, as well as new areas for drifting, police gameplay, and more.

.. I don't think I've blinked for the past 7 hours, this was a nice break, but back to it!

BTW, sneak peak of new layout:



This picture shows small vehicles coming in to pickup or drop off with the blue lines, and large vehicles coming in to pickup and drop off with the orange/yellow lines.

Small vehicles shouldn't be driving around the container area ever, and with the new road layout, they won't be guided there. There have been significantly opened up areas for turning large vehicles, and some improved road markings to really help guide players where to go.

Working concept here is:
Small vehicle drives in, stops at the blue X and selects a parcel or parcels to pick up then is instructed to pick them up in the warehouse at a given location, then exits the area and delivers. Or, they simply pull in with a delivery and drop off at the appropriate location in the warehouse
Large vehicle drives in, stops at the office, selects a container trailer to pickup, and goes and retrieves it at one of the locations marked with the orange x. Or, they pull in to deliver their large trailer underneath one of the large cranes, and can then decide to loop back and pickup another one in the container yard if they like.

Still in progress, but wanted to share improvements since I'm in the middle of'm! If you compare this shot to the current Steam version you'll see there are quite a few differences to the road network, especially on the crane side of things!

 

Thanks for bringing up the topic of difficulty settings again! We've actually discussed this earlier in the thread, and I’d encourage you to check out those details for a deeper understanding buuuut, to clarify briefly; we’ve decided not to implement a traditional difficulty setting by adjusting the game's physics or merely changing the cost of in-game items. I strongly believe these changes would compromise the game's integrity, and we aim to offer a far richer experience than typical your run of the mill cheap tricks. Instead, Career Mode is designed to cater to a variety of play styles and preferences. Whether you enjoy the high-speed chases and smashes, the laborious control of transporting heavy loads, or edge-of-your-seat rally racing, there’s something here for everyone. The challenges vary, but each is crafted to provide both fun and a sense of accomplishment, allowing you to find the gameplay that resonates most with you, essentially creating a balanced "difficulty" for players. I hope this helps, and I’m here if you have any more questions!

Haha It's barely been 2 weeks, but I admit that's longer than I thought! We're all work work workin' away, though June did manage to vanish without a trace this year! Glad to hear the progress update gave you an update on the progress

 

Good stuff, Spiderman looks really great from what I've seen!

Always lovely to hear the excitement, and glad these updates are right up your alley, thanks a lot for sharing!
Regarding the other, older, docks area, it received a few important tweaks last release - I went in and really simplified the collision for performance reasons, removed a few interior poles for drifting gameplay, and have it setup to start to become a properly usable area for deliveries by redoing the curbs and driveways etc. The core concept is: Smaller vehicles and deliveries will first be operating out of this location, once the player levels up they'll be dropping off/picking up at the newer Spearleaf Marine Logistics (container yard) and eventually unlock full truck and trailer gameplay to use the main container yard, and continue from there!

I've actually just finished up the container yard lanes for now for how/where smaller vehicles will operate, can't wait for people to start using the area as intended!

 

Hey just to let you know, I've forwarded this through to the vehicle team and to the folks who built the current version of the inventory system to see what they think! The vehicles are working as expected outside of career, so we think it's a Career Mode system issue at the moment - thanks for the report we're looking into it!

 

Hey I missed these somehow I think, apologies!

The first one, ordering a car new similar to Test Drive is something we've all expressed wanting within the team, it requires a heck of a lot of work to do well and right now the folks who would implement that are working on and finishing up other priorities - I don't think there's anyone in the company that doesn't want this, we're all excited about the idea, it's just a matter of timing! Fingers crossed, annnnd seeing more people talking about it and asking for it in public will only help push it along!

Regarding the other two points, the roof rack on the cab is a vehicle-specific thing that I'll pass to the vehicle team and keep my fingers crossed with, and regarding the stunt mission; I can't wait to get started on the stunt gameplay development and when we do, I'll be sure to draw inspiration from that as it was a heck of a lot of fun wasn't it?!

Thanks for bringing the posts to my attention, sorry that they slipped through unanswered until now!