Visual Entertainment And Technologies LLC

AeroMogul Update #9 (2023/6/22)

Greetings everyone,

This month the release of GearCity v2.0.0.9 and GearCity: 2nd Gear v2.1.0.1 slightly slowed progress on AeroMogul. I've also had some health and offline issues that have knocked me completely off the computer during working hours for more than I would have liked. And I am still dealing with some of those health issues even now. (This is why my replies have been brief or delayed for the last week or so. Sorry.) 

I also wasted time trying to prevent my emails from landing in Gmail spam...

2023 June FBS Update!

Another month has passed, and it's been a pretty stressful one offline. But hopefully, June will be much better and more productive.


Feature Bounty System

This month we raised $544.28 on Patreon and $3 from Paypal. We are now at $2090.05 toward our $3500 milestone goal. From the looks of it, we'll have the second milestone funded in about 3 months! I'm looking forward to it.

GearCity

I've been hoping to get Classic v2.0.0.8 and 2nd Gear v2.1.0.1 out for the last couple of week...

AeroMogul Update #8 (2023/5/21)

Greetings Everyone,

I've gotten a few hours of work into AeroMogul since GearCity: 2nd Gear's launch. Although, I've been putting Mondays and Tuesdays into GearCity recently as I am falling a little behind on bugs.

As previously mentioned, the game now efficiently processes and caches demand from 1.8 million data points, utilizing only 4GB of RAM, a substantial improvement from the previous 40GB usage. I refer to this system as "Data Grids," and further details will be shared as we approach the alpha testing phase. I will use t...

Threaded Mode 2023 May FBS Update!

Greetings Everyone!

As you may have heard, we launched GearCity: 2nd Gear last month. The launch was a little rocky, some features I don't use went untested, resulting in some instability. I resolved those fairly quickly, but additional fixes to smaller issues caused some larger issues. In any event, the expansion stabilized now. I haven't heard much positive or negative about the features, but fundraising went up slightly, so that's a good sign that folks were largely happy with it.

Fund Raising / Milestone 2023-05-02 04:43:50 +0000 UTC View Post

GearCity: 2nd Gear

Greetings Everyone!

After two months of work, GearCity FBS Milestone #1 is complete! I finished 16 of the 17 funded items. The only unfinished item was a self-funded game launcher that I have temporarily postponed.

The first release of GearCity: 2nd Gear is version 2.1.0.0. Remember, the first build of the new DLC, so there are likely to be bugs. I implemented significant changes under the hood that the player can't see but can cause instability or unintended results. If you notice anything, please report it to me via forums, ema...

GearCity FBS Milestone #1 Complete! Entering Build and QA Phase

GearCity FBS Milestone #1 is complete, and now entering build and QA/Testing phase.

I still need to playtest to catch any major bugs. And I need to set up my build infrastructure for all the operating systems and architectures we need to support. I expect this process to take a few days, particularly because of macOS's legal inability to run on a virtual machine. I'm aiming for Saturday the 22nd. But it could be earlier.

This brings me to an issue. Today I was looking through Steam's documents for beta keys, and it seems there is...

April 2023 FBS Update

Greetings Everyone!

If you missed it, the new GearCity DLC is named "GearCity: 2nd Gear." I'm in the process of putting the final touches on it now. Only 2 more bounties remain, emissions and rebalancing aircraft engine requirements based on a couple of books I obtained for AeroMogul. I've already completed approximately 10% of the emissions bounty. The game now has the entire federal United States emissions requirements. I've stored CO, HC, NOx, PM, and CO2 limits in the data files. However, internally the game uses a GearC...

GearCity FBS DLC Named! Minor AeroMogul Update!

Voting has concluded for the GearCity FBS DLC. A majority of voters selected the "2nd Gear" option. So I will go ahead and set up that in the next few days and get the initial build uploaded.

Time issues (or the lack thereof) and slightly more difficult implementations have dampened progress on the FBS. I currently have 7 bounties remaining, of which 2 are over 75% complete. I will postpone the self-funded "DLC launcher" bounty to the v2.0.0.9 update to Classic GearCity. Its primary purpose is to PR the FBS DLC "2nd Gear" anyway.
<...

March 2023 FBS Update

Greetings Everyone!

We currently have a poll going to name the GearCity FBS "DLC" here:
https://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4403 Please vote if you haven't. Polling closes on the 21st, and I hope to have Milestone #1 done shortly after.

I've worked exclusively on the first milestone bounties for the unnamed GearCity FBS DLC for approximately 10 days. Unfortunately, I lost last weekend to family issues. So I couldn't g...

GearCity FBS Milestone #1 Voting Results

Greetings everyone!

Voting for FBS Milestone #1 ended. I've tallied the results several times, updated the websites, moved the threads, and updated your voting points.

We had 24 voters casting 1681 votes. Voting turnout is at 32%, and the voting point consumption is at 50%.

The voters funded 16 bounties! Voters fully funded seven, and the remaining nine won by popular vote.

Without further ado, funded bounties for Milestone #1:

• 2023-02-19 06:45:24 +0000 UTC View Post

AeroMogul Update #7 (2023/02/17)

Greetings everyone,

A friendly reminder for FBS Contributors, voting will end mid-day Saturday, Eastern Unites States time. (Approximately 24 hours from this post.) If you haven't voted already, please do so: https://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4401

Work has continued over the last month on AeroMogul despite the GearCity FBS reaching its milestone. Since the previous update, I focused on the logic eng...

FBS Milestone #1 Voting Is Live

For the 8 of you without forum accounts, please make them and PM me your account name so that you can vote!

February 2023 FBS Update

Greetings everyone,

As mentioned just a few days ago, we've reached the goal for our first milestone! Voting will begin tomorrow, February 3rd. Currently, we've raised $3347.19. I'll have more information on how to vote in the voting thread. But for now, use this thread, https://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4398 , to plan your vote!

When the voting starts, I will close this milestone fund. Any contributions made at that t...

FBS Milestone #1 Funded!

Hello everyone! 

I'm pleased to announce that the community has funded the First Milestone of the Feature Bounty System! 66 contributors chipped in to get us past our goal in just 9 months since the system officially launched.  

We have now entered the caucusing phase. Contributors, please review the bounties. You may talk and plot with your fellow contributors here: https://www.ventdev.com/forums/showth...

Milestone #1 Caucusing Thread

Greetings everyone, 

Milestone #1 will reach 100% funded by February 2nd, if not sooner. So it is time to caucus, lobby, and discuss what you want to fund. The system works off popular vote, so it might be a good idea to rally behind what you want to get it approved. 

The Caucus thread is on our official website. Roughly half of our contributors do not have access to the Patreon threads, so please visit here: 2023-01-25 23:19:20 +0000 UTC View Post

AeroMogul Update #6 (2022/18/01)

Hello everyone! 

I've recently finished v0.0.2 of AeroMogul. 

Since the last update, the game now loads all the world's airports. However, I will still need to curate and edit the airport's data. I have also implemented the initial UI for the advanced slot purchasing system, a quick information system when interacting with the globe. And I have created a basic routing system with interactive visual effects. 

I'm now switching focus to the logic/game engine. So my updates will ...

January 2023 FBS Update

Greetings everyone!

We raised $304.46 over the last month. We currently have $2224.46 in milestone funds. With four months remaining, we need to raise $775.54 before the deadline. That's only $193.88 per month. If our Patreon remains constant, we should be able to do it.

And that would open us up for another guaranteed FBS milestone. In other words, at least two feature updates for the game.

Outside the FBS, I occasionally work on GearCity documentation and bug fixes. I'm only putting Monday...

AeroMogul Update #5 (2022/12/21)

Greetings everyone! 

Another AeroMogul video for you this time.

Something I failed to mention in the video, this is likely not the final design for the seating configuration system. It is a minimum functionality design since the Russian bombardment of infrastructure in Ukraine has left Sergihy without electricity and me without an artist. But even if we have to use this minimal functionality design, I think it's still pretty good, although I might clean up the UI a little more to make it less cluttered....

December 2022 FBS Update

Hello again everyone,

I have updated your voting points for December. We've got two Patreon users without forum accounts and one PayPal user. Please remember to make an account on https://www.ventdev.com/forums. 

Over November, we raised $242.89. That puts us at exactly $1920. We're only $1080 from reaching the milestone, and with five months remaining, we only need $216 per month. If we can maintain our current level of funding, we...

AeroMogul Update #4 (2022/11/22)

Greetings everyone!

First, I would like to apologize for how late this post is. Over the last month, I've been in and out of doctor's offices and hospitals. (No reason for any concern.) That's eaten up quite a bit of my time because programming isn't something you can start in the morning, stop in the middle, and then restart later without losing some productivity.

Anyway, I finally reached the point where I may show what I have been working on. This is the world map for the game. Unlike GearCity, nearly everything in AeroMogul...

November FBS Update

Greetings Everyone,

I've updated your voting points for November. There are still two Patreon users without a forum account. (You'll need an account to vote.) And one PayPal contributor (I'll email him this.) 

Over October, we raised $159.91 via Patreon and $26 via Paypal. That brings our monthly total to $185.91 and our milestone funds to $1677.11. We need $220.49/month to hit our goal by the deadline. I believe we're still on track to do that, but just barely.

Beyond that, AeroMogul v...

AeroMogul Update #3 (2022/10/18)

Greetings Everyone, 

Nearly the entire functionality of the Main Menu is complete. There are still a few nitpicks here and there that I need to address. Also, I want to fiddle around with the theming based on your feedback. And I am missing a few starting game options. (I'll be adding starting game options frequently throughout development. So that's not a big deal.)

Outside of that, version 0.0.1 is practically complete. 

I've made a 10-minute walk-through video of the menu. It's ...

October FBS Update

Hello everyone,

I have updated voting points for October. Currently, there are 2 Patreon users without forums accounts. Please sign up so I can link your points to your voting accounts. 

Over September, we raised $161.69 from Patreon and $90 from Paypal. Combined, we reached $251.69 for the month, which means we beat our monthly goal again! Great job! The total funds raised is $1,491.20, just shy of the halfway mark. With seven months...

AeroMogul Update #2 (v0.0.1)

This post is a copy of what's on the official forums.

Greetings everyone! 

Work has continued on AeroMogul. Visible progress hasn't been as quick as I would like, but I have resolved several quarks and issues behind the scenes.

We now have in-game music and GUI sound effects. For now, I am just reusing GearCity's old assets. Also, MrX has started working o...

September Update

Greetings again, everyone! 

I have processed your voting points for September and assigned them to your forum account. There are three Patreon users who have not signed up for forum accounts or let me know their forum usernames. I am logging your voting points, but you will need a forum account to vote when we reach our milestone goals.

That brings me to our Milestone. Throughout August, we raised $303.51. A slight decline from what we raised in July, but we beat the monthly goal and maintained a health...

AeroMogul Settings UI - Sneak Peak (v0.0.0.1)

Greetings everyone,

I expected to give you all an update on AeroMogul's progress Monday (15th), but unfortunately, I caught COVID instead. Progress has been slow the last ten days or so as a result. 

Since the game is UI-heavy like GearCity, figuring out the layouts, themes, and UX up front should make feature development faster and improve the UI of the game all around. With GearCity, I developed the UI as I went along, and that was a factor in many heavily panning the UI.

So over the ...

August 1st FBS Update

Greetings again, everyone.

It's time for the fundraising update. Thanks to several one-time PayPal contributions, July was a pretty good month for us. We raised $391.41, which beat our monthly goal, and reduced what we needed monthly to guarantee a second milestone. This month puts us at $936, which is almost 1/3rd of the way to the goal. With nine more months to go, we will need to raise $229.33 monthly for nine months to hit the goal. Unfortunately, our Patreon is only at $144/mo, so we're not fully out of the w...

July 1st

Greetings everyone! Fundraising for the first milestone hit $537.89 out of 23 contributors. That number may rise slightly, as there were a couple of payment declines. Those might get approved in the next couple of days.

This leaves us with $2,462.11 more to go in 10 months. I've talked with a few potential donors who plan on contributing toward the end of the year and around tax refund season next year. Assuming these donations come into fruition and we at least maintain current donation levels, we'll hit the milestone a month or two ...

GearCity DLC Name

The current plan is to release the Feature Bounty updates into a Steam (and possibly GOG) DLC. Everyone who contributed funds will get a key to access this DLC. Eventually, the DLC will become free for everyone, and we'll move on to a second DLC for Feature Bounty contributors.  

Before we can get to that point, a DLC needs a name. Please use this thread (or the one on the official forums) to make name suggestions for the first GearCity Feature Bounty DLC. 

I will narrow down the selections, and we...

Greetings Everyone!

Welcome to the Patreon page for GearCity's Feature Bounty System (FBS). 

You can find out more about the feature bounty system here: https://www.ventdev.com/fbs/

Most of the fun happens on our official forums. There you can find individual bounties and FBS discussion. You'll need to be a contributor here to gain access to post on the FBS sections of our forums. And...