Hey folks!

I am planning to release Tunnet in a month.

At this point, I think I consider the project feature complete (at least for an initial version) and I am currently focusing on polishing it.

Before doing the code freeze, there was still one feature I wanted to squeeze in: a basic customizable home for the player.

In the demo I released some months ago, a cabin could be found early in the game with a sign saying "for sale":

The original idea consisted in having a funny secret ending where the technician would simply ignore the main story line and retire in his own little cabin.

I expected this ending to be a special way to reward players who went the extra mile with their network. The price of the cabin was so high that only players who took the time to build a broad and efficient network would be able to afford it.

Once the player acquired the cabin, the game triggered the ending credits immediately with an extra artwork showing the technician enjoying a well deserved retirement in his new home:

This logic was included in the demo and one of the feedback I received the most was: "can we keep playing the game after buying the cabin in the full version of the game?"

Well, that wasn't what I initially planned, but I kept thinking about the idea and started to really like the concept of allowing the player to furnish and decorate the cabin with the props already present in the game and make it their own.

The question was: how could I make this new feature coexist with the other mechanics of the game?

After tinkering for a while, here is what I came up with:

Once the player acquires the cabin (which is now much more affordable), the ending credits won't be triggered immediately anymore but the door will unlock and the player will gain access to the endpoint inside.

This computer is the only one that can be operated by the Technician. When using it for the first time, the UI only displays a "Refresh" button which makes the endpoint send a mysterious packet when pressing it. The packet is addressed to the supermarket and seems to request some sort of catalog.

If the packet and its associated response are properly routed, the interface will start displaying the items currently available for sale.

Each item of the catalog indicates the price and the address of the seller (which can be any other endpoint of the facility). When pressing the "Purchase" button, a network packet will be sent to the seller.

If the network manages to route the packet to its destination and if the technician has enough credits, then the purchased item will be acquired and placed automatically in the cabin.

Once the cabin is fully furnished, the "retirement" ending will be triggered similarly to what I initially intended. Hopefully, this new mechanic will provide one more way to reward the player for exploring and expanding the network.

I can't wait to see what players will do with their cabins :)

--

Puzzled Squid