Very interested! I will likely look into porting to other platforms (switch/iOS etc.) once I'm done with the desktop release. So in the second half of the year.
About lane merging, it doesn't make sense to have an arrow pointing straight (out of the road). I feel like it would be better to have something line this:
Maybe even include an arrow pointing at 45 degrees to the left or right depending where we want to merge (not the usual 90deg arrow).
This is what the sign looks like and on the road there are usually multiple arrows pointing in the same direction (45deg angle) before you can't go any further. (could also be a blue sign in Europe).
And since the game only shows what's on the road, then I think it would be better to just have the 45deg angled arrow.
I agree that the sign makes more sense. But the issue I have is incorporating the extra signs into the current control scheme. I'm looking into changes/improvements to the merge system to give the player more control and I'll hopefully have an update with these changes coming within a month,
It says existing purchasers will be given a steam key, but i can find it anywhere. I checked email and looked through itch but i didn't see anything. I'm not sure where to look.
Dude, I returned the game from Steam because I didn't understand it. But I noticed something. When I went to the file location of the game, I saw that it was still playable (but it cannot be opened from Steam.) I registered here to write about this situation :)
That's a little odd. The game has no DRM so perhaps that has something to do with it but I would've assumed Steam would uninstall the game first. Thanks for letting me know though ;)
If you have time, could you let me know what parts I did a bad job of explaining/teaching? Is the tutorial not good enough?
a. GridRoad will be taking advantage of Steam specific features such as steam leaderboards, so I can't continue with a non-steam version, which is why I have provided keys to everyone who purchased it.
b. Steam has a policy where I cannot undersell the game on any other storefront
c. Steam's prices are inclusive of any sales tax (if it says 4.99 you're going to pay 4.99)
d. Itch's prices are exclusive of sales tax (if it says 4.99 then you pay 4.99 PLUS any sales taxes from your country)
What this means is that the only way for me to have GridRoad Steam keys available for sale on itch is to overcharge them, deliberately charging a higher price so I don't violate Steams terms by undercutting their price. I don't want to overcharge anyone so I removed the game from sale. I think the only way to do this is to remove the builds from itch (they're still there but hidden).
Those of us who claimed the game for free on Itch should be able to download - from Itch - whatever builds were published before the move to Steam, full stop.
It doesn't matter that we didn't pay anything - we took advantage of an offer to have access to the game as it existed at the time (early access, pre-release, whatever). Taking away access now comes over as mean-spirited at best. I wouldn't have expected a Steam key, but I do expect to be able to download what I've claimed.
I don't really get your "I won't sell on Itch" standpoint either, tbh. Plenty of devs sell on both platforms, accepting that Itch adds sales tax. I live somewhere with 20% sales tax and I've bought several games/dev-specific bundles from Itch which included Steam keys, albeit on sale (Agelvik's Black Friday '23 sale being the most recent). I don't care about leaderboards either, so offering a version without this feature wouldn't bother me.
I do not care if you "get" my standpoint. Steam's terms are Steam's terms. I'm not going to violate those terms because it makes you personally unhappy.
If you think I have misinterpreted the terms by all means correct me.
I will try to see if there's some way to keep the old itch builds available for owners, but I don't think there's a way I can do this without the issues you claim are irrelevant cropping up.
It probably just depends on your location if Steam adds sales tax to your purchase. Steam has always added additional sales tax at checkout for me in addition to the game price. Different regions charge different tax so to base the game price on the tax is ridiculous.
I don't know why you're arguing from a place of complete ignorance. Read the section on rules, number 4 and then please tell me the magic spell I can cast to make the world you want a reality.
Oh ok, I see. Thanks for mentioning it! You should probably pin your reply or put this as a note in the downloads page of the game in itch.io/in this product page at the top, because I am sure a lot got it for free XD
Hi again. Some more ideas for you. Hope they're helpful:
1. Gridlocked cars obscure the coloured traffic light arrows. Maybe the coloured arrows could be overlaid "on top" of the cars so they are always visible?
2. The "Final Report" window obscures the final scene, showing which cars/junctions are having problems. I wish I could move it out of the way.
3. With the saved maps/layouts slots, it would be useful if they were labelled with the score they achieved (if any).
4. I really want to know if anyone can beat my scores! It would be great if users could upload their best score, so the "Final Report" could say: "The highest score so far is 21,320."
5. Regarding AI/game logic, a user below said below that the cars aren't "crashy" enough in the latest (v0.21) release. As you said, it's a delicate balance to get right. I think the most important thing is that the best solutions make logical sense, and don't rely too heavily on random trial-and-error. For example:
In the screenshot below, no cars are routed via the circled traffic light. I can set that light to all red, or all green; or remove the light, or even remove the road square it's on. I always get exactly the same score of 20,000, which makes sense.
But, if I set that traffic light to 1-on/1-off (x6), to match the lights above and below, I get a score of 20,900. If I set that light out of phase (by rotating the wheel once), I get a score of 20,700. That doesn't seem logical.
Then again, the restricted budget limits these "hacks", so maybe the possibility of discovering these illogical "Easter eggs" is intentional? Or maybe I've misunderstood how the cars could stray into (and immediately out of) that lane, and how that might affect collisions...? In any case, it's a very minor quirk that probably doesn't matter, but I thought I'd mention it.
1. I'm not sure what you mean by "coloured traffic lights arrows"? Do you mean you can't tell if the traffic light is green or red when cars are under the traffic light?
If so, I'll try to come up with something to make it more obvious.
2. Good point, I'll try to add an option to minimise the final report window soon.
3. I'll be redoing the map save system soon, I'll try to include scores where appropriate.
4. Coming very soon in the Steam version! (either in the first steam release or the first steam update depending on how quickly I can work)
5. Regarding the traffic light weirdness: That's an extremely strange circumstance that I haven't heard of/seen before. I'll look into it and try to fix it asap. Thank you for the report.
In regards to the general crashiness of the cars I am very conflicted at the moment. For me, I find it very odd that people are requesting the cars should be more crashy as it's the opposite of what I expected. I'm kind've stuck between what I think should be done to make the game more fun and what players are telling me.
5. I also noticed you can point that traffic light in the opposite direction, and still get the same scores.
Another thought:
It's really hard to see the differernce in colour between the red and purple cars/flags (on my monitor, at least).
---
ON CRASHY-NESS:
People don't like change, and crashy-ness is a fundamental part of gameplay. When I played v0.21, I initially thought the cars weren't crashy enough, but only because I was used to v0.15. After playing all the levels I changed my mind.
So, I think crashy-ness should be set at whatever level allows for the most interesting/varied/challenging maps. For example, I love TANGLE because there's no single obvious solution, and lots of layouts get scores without gridlock. :-D
I'm very interested by what you might find! How does the text file help? Surely you can't just feed the file to the machine learning algorithm and expect it to learn?
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Can you not require phone number on the discord? I don't have one to provide but would like to say a few words there...
This game looks like it would be great on an iPad. Do you have any plans for (or interest in) porting this to iOS?
Very interested! I will likely look into porting to other platforms (switch/iOS etc.) once I'm done with the desktop release. So in the second half of the year.
About lane merging, it doesn't make sense to have an arrow pointing straight (out of the road). I feel like it would be better to have something line this:
Maybe even include an arrow pointing at 45 degrees to the left or right depending where we want to merge (not the usual 90deg arrow).
This is what the sign looks like and on the road there are usually multiple arrows pointing in the same direction (45deg angle) before you can't go any further. (could also be a blue sign in Europe).
And since the game only shows what's on the road, then I think it would be better to just have the 45deg angled arrow.
I agree that the sign makes more sense. But the issue I have is incorporating the extra signs into the current control scheme. I'm looking into changes/improvements to the merge system to give the player more control and I'll hopefully have an update with these changes coming within a month,
It says existing purchasers will be given a steam key, but i can find it anywhere. I checked email and looked through itch but i didn't see anything. I'm not sure where to look.
Get in touch with me somewhere: Discord, email etc. (I don't think there a way to dm on itch).
also, I'd suggest making a forum post or sending an email to itch.io support as well.
Dude, I returned the game from Steam because I didn't understand it. But I noticed something. When I went to the file location of the game, I saw that it was still playable (but it cannot be opened from Steam.) I registered here to write about this situation :)
That's a little odd. The game has no DRM so perhaps that has something to do with it but I would've assumed Steam would uninstall the game first. Thanks for letting me know though ;)
If you have time, could you let me know what parts I did a bad job of explaining/teaching? Is the tutorial not good enough?
I gave it a second chance. I bought it again. But since there was no update for a long time, I returned it again. I am sorry
Older builds should now be downloadable again for everyone who has already owns it.
Can you please just leave a copy of the old version (pre-Steam) up on itch for those who already got it?
Trying to figure out a way to do this currently ;)
So, now you've moved the game to Steam, you've deleted all builds from Itch?
Those of us who claimed the game for free are now left with nothing?
It's complicated:
a. GridRoad will be taking advantage of Steam specific features such as steam leaderboards, so I can't continue with a non-steam version, which is why I have provided keys to everyone who purchased it.
b. Steam has a policy where I cannot undersell the game on any other storefront
c. Steam's prices are inclusive of any sales tax (if it says 4.99 you're going to pay 4.99)
d. Itch's prices are exclusive of sales tax (if it says 4.99 then you pay 4.99 PLUS any sales taxes from your country)
What this means is that the only way for me to have GridRoad Steam keys available for sale on itch is to overcharge them, deliberately charging a higher price so I don't violate Steams terms by undercutting their price. I don't want to overcharge anyone so I removed the game from sale. I think the only way to do this is to remove the builds from itch (they're still there but hidden).
None of that's relevant, though.
Those of us who claimed the game for free on Itch should be able to download - from Itch - whatever builds were published before the move to Steam, full stop.
It doesn't matter that we didn't pay anything - we took advantage of an offer to have access to the game as it existed at the time (early access, pre-release, whatever). Taking away access now comes over as mean-spirited at best. I wouldn't have expected a Steam key, but I do expect to be able to download what I've claimed.
I don't really get your "I won't sell on Itch" standpoint either, tbh. Plenty of devs sell on both platforms, accepting that Itch adds sales tax. I live somewhere with 20% sales tax and I've bought several games/dev-specific bundles from Itch which included Steam keys, albeit on sale (Agelvik's Black Friday '23 sale being the most recent). I don't care about leaderboards either, so offering a version without this feature wouldn't bother me.
Please reconsider your decision!
I do not care if you "get" my standpoint. Steam's terms are Steam's terms. I'm not going to violate those terms because it makes you personally unhappy.
If you think I have misinterpreted the terms by all means correct me.
I will try to see if there's some way to keep the old itch builds available for owners, but I don't think there's a way I can do this without the issues you claim are irrelevant cropping up.
It probably just depends on your location if Steam adds sales tax to your purchase. Steam has always added additional sales tax at checkout for me in addition to the game price. Different regions charge different tax so to base the game price on the tax is ridiculous.
I don't know who you're complaining about. Me, Steam or Itch.
This is what Steam says on checkout for most of the EU and as far as I can tell, every country with VAT outside of the US.
So your logic for not being allowed to charge the same price on itch and steam is invalid. VAT is not applicable to most customers.
I don't know why you're arguing from a place of complete ignorance. Read the section on rules, number 4 and then please tell me the magic spell I can cast to make the world you want a reality.
You can claim it from your library page.
You sent me an email:
"As you have purchased GridRoad on itch, you are entitled to a free Steam Key. To claim:
I checked 'my purchases' and all it says is :
"Nothing is available for download yet."
Below that line I had:
"Claim Steam Key"
and a Steam Sign In button. Do you have those?
This is my fault as I did not word the email properly (and I'm hesitant to send out another one as clarification because it's a little bit spammy)
You can only claim the Steam key if you purchased the game. Not if you got it for free.
Seems like a missed opportunity not give everyone a key. It would have been a great way to market the game upon launch.
Will the Steam Release get Achievements aswell?
Yes! It's early access so it's being updated constantly. I expect to have achievements in the game within a month.
Hello, where can I get the key of Steam? I have already bought it here.
Same question.
if you bought GridRoad, it'll be in the same place you download the game from on itch.io
If you got it for free you unfortunately don't get the Steam key.
and me too (^人^)
if you bought GridRoad, it'll be in the same place you download the game from on itch.io
If you got it for free you unfortunately don't get the Steam key.
Oh ok, I see. Thanks for mentioning it! You should probably pin your reply or put this as a note in the downloads page of the game in itch.io/in this product page at the top, because I am sure a lot got it for free XD
Go to your purchases (https://itch.io/my-purchases)
Click GridRoad (Not Download!)
Claim Steam key
Hi again. Some more ideas for you. Hope they're helpful:
1. Gridlocked cars obscure the coloured traffic light arrows. Maybe the coloured arrows could be overlaid "on top" of the cars so they are always visible?
2. The "Final Report" window obscures the final scene, showing which cars/junctions are having problems. I wish I could move it out of the way.
3. With the saved maps/layouts slots, it would be useful if they were labelled with the score they achieved (if any).
4. I really want to know if anyone can beat my scores! It would be great if users could upload their best score, so the "Final Report" could say: "The highest score so far is 21,320."
5. Regarding AI/game logic, a user below said below that the cars aren't "crashy" enough in the latest (v0.21) release. As you said, it's a delicate balance to get right. I think the most important thing is that the best solutions make logical sense, and don't rely too heavily on random trial-and-error. For example:
In the screenshot below, no cars are routed via the circled traffic light. I can set that light to all red, or all green; or remove the light, or even remove the road square it's on. I always get exactly the same score of 20,000, which makes sense.
But, if I set that traffic light to 1-on/1-off (x6), to match the lights above and below, I get a score of 20,900. If I set that light out of phase (by rotating the wheel once), I get a score of 20,700. That doesn't seem logical.
Then again, the restricted budget limits these "hacks", so maybe the possibility of discovering these illogical "Easter eggs" is intentional? Or maybe I've misunderstood how the cars could stray into (and immediately out of) that lane, and how that might affect collisions...? In any case, it's a very minor quirk that probably doesn't matter, but I thought I'd mention it.
Best wishes :-D
I always appreciate feedback thanks!
1. I'm not sure what you mean by "coloured traffic lights arrows"? Do you mean you can't tell if the traffic light is green or red when cars are under the traffic light?
If so, I'll try to come up with something to make it more obvious.
2. Good point, I'll try to add an option to minimise the final report window soon.
3. I'll be redoing the map save system soon, I'll try to include scores where appropriate.
4. Coming very soon in the Steam version! (either in the first steam release or the first steam update depending on how quickly I can work)
5. Regarding the traffic light weirdness: That's an extremely strange circumstance that I haven't heard of/seen before. I'll look into it and try to fix it asap. Thank you for the report.
In regards to the general crashiness of the cars I am very conflicted at the moment. For me, I find it very odd that people are requesting the cars should be more crashy as it's the opposite of what I expected. I'm kind've stuck between what I think should be done to make the game more fun and what players are telling me.
1. Yes. :-)
5. I also noticed you can point that traffic light in the opposite direction, and still get the same scores.
Another thought:
It's really hard to see the differernce in colour between the red and purple cars/flags (on my monitor, at least).
---
ON CRASHY-NESS:
People don't like change, and crashy-ness is a fundamental part of gameplay. When I played v0.21, I initially thought the cars weren't crashy enough, but only because I was used to v0.15. After playing all the levels I changed my mind.
So, I think crashy-ness should be set at whatever level allows for the most interesting/varied/challenging maps. For example, I love TANGLE because there's no single obvious solution, and lots of layouts get scores without gridlock. :-D
Is there a txt based manual? I dont mean the in-game tutorial.
No, but I can try to include one in the next update if that's something you'd be interested in?
(The game's discord is a good place to get help in the meantime)
I saw the great tutorial but for maschine learning (POC) a text file would be better ;-)
You've made me curious now :D
What are you using machine learning for?
I’m curious too. I hope to find the perfect intersection. I just wanna check the opportunities.
I'm very interested by what you might find! How does the text file help? Surely you can't just feed the file to the machine learning algorithm and expect it to learn?
Good luck!