Update for Sept 2014: AI Opponents, Additional houses, Business changes & More!

Welcome back to another months update!

 So, as some of you may have seen by my Twitter updates, the game has been in playtesting for a couple of weeks with a few trusted people, I'm getting plenty of valuable feedback from them and it's helping me focus on what's important for the game.

 The game has undergone a fair amount of changes, businesses for example, make money much faster than before, this is to make way for another change, which is additional housing.

 These additional properties can't be entered, but play a major role in the game. Owning the houses will earn you rent, and also increase your companies influence over the area. Influence allows you to improve the area, increasing property values and rent. Only the player with the most influence can improve the area.

 The world map has also been improved some more, adding overlay options to let you see the influence of companies in areas, and also an info pane which tells you information about the area.
 

AI opponents have also been a big focus over the past month, there are now 3 AI opponents that start up alongside the player, using the same business system, so no cheaty AI here. The AI will earn money and buy properties to gain influence, just like a player would. There's still some work to be done, but the basics are already in place and working well.

 The original music from the game has been removed, and replaced with some music from V-Axys's new album, Heat.Wave.

 Auto-saving was also added, as what kind of game doesn't have auto-saving these days?

 Also water using some shiny GLSL shaders!
 
 I can walk on water, don't question it.

Keep up to date with further info by following me on Twitter, Tracking This Game on IndieDB, and visiting theofficial IRL Blog.

 Have some pretty cherry blossom trees to tide you over until next time!