I’ve been thinking about how to make Clickonomy feel more "gamey." While I feel the experience is already quite satisfying in terms of visuals and general atmosphere, the gameplay itself deserves more work.
The next major milestone will be the Weather & Wealth Update. I’m still hard at work on it, but it represents a significant step forward. This update will focus on adding weather systems and major overhauls to the selling and recycling mechanics (among other big things).
Currently, selling is perhaps the most underwhelming mechanic in the game. This is a shame, as the core purpose of the game is to make money! It’s also frustrating how much space recycling currently occupies in the gameplay, despite being only a sub-mechanic. Therefore, the focus of this update will be two major reworks: selling and recycling.
As for the weather system, it is still a work-in-progress, but here's a preview of the rain and storm conditions:
Creating a believable and interactive weather system is a challenge; it requires touching almost every aspect of the game. All these new features must also integrate seamlessly into a much larger upcoming update: Seasons.
The most difficult part of this update so far? The clouds.
Making clouds is hard.
(Visual showcase only. Gameplay may vary.)
This is the current visual for the clouds I’m developing. They need to be dynamic and match the current weather conditions. My goal is to make them truly beautiful; a "bonus" feature I'm aiming for is to achieve real-time shadow projections on the ground, though that hasn't been implemented yet.
This update will be available when it's ready, probably in the coming week or two. Stay tuned!