If anyone has a little time to spare, I’d appreciate some feedback on the current status of the tech demo we’re working on.
You can find all the information about the project on the website and on my YouTube channel.
Many thanks.
Most of my observations are not game related.
I would invest in a mic, it sounds as if you are using the build in mic of your laptop, or a table mic direct near your keyboard. In some videos the music is as loud as your voice.
I would get rid of the “Viel Spaß beim Schauen” and the “Vielen Dank!” in your DevLogs. Maybe the topic of the DevLog instead of the “Viel Spaß …”.
I can understand that you don’t want to make the DevLogs in English, but I would develop every game at first in English (I’m German, too) and keep the localization (translation) in mind. Localization is very easy in Godot. I also keep all my code comments, documentation etc. in English. It’s a good habit and it will prepare you for working with other people around the world (e.g. open source), and your target audience is x-time larger.
For the game play, there is yet not too much content to comment about. It’s a good start.
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It would be a great idea to include a few screenshots and a brief description of the game so that people can get an idea of what they’re being offered.
Is the tech demo just a video — is there nothing to download and try out?
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Thanks for the helpful tips. The mic is actually a desktop mic. I’ll see what I can do about that.
The localization is already implemented; I just need to translate it.
The GameLoop will be available in the next few days—then it’ll become clearer how the game actually works.
But that’s exactly the kind of feedback I need right now 
Thanks so much for that
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The tech demo will be playable so you can get a sense of what the game is all about. I’ve currently chosen itch.io as the platform for the release—you can also find screenshots of the current version there:
( HO·MA·SIM - Hotel Manager Simulation by Angelus2010 )
As soon as the tech demo is available, I’ll make another announcement.
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The description and concept are quite interesting. I’m working on a sim myself, so I’m interested in projects in this genre. But I’ve decided to steer clear of 2D.
You can add #Godot to the tags on itch.io.
Yep, it’s an interesting concept.
Some cudos for your honest LLM disclosure. There are some heated discussions about AI on this forum, be prepared.
One suggestion, I wouldn’t use real corporation names. That includes the “Michelin-Stern”, here I would choose a funny name, that could remind of the “Michelin-Stern”, but not the original one.
EDIT: Or do you get sponsored/paid by them?
“Mouse-Storm”? 
Nope. Good thing - I will change it with the next step. Thanks for this hint.
Edit: Now the stars are called as “Gourmet-Sterne” - same principle.
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Regarding AI: I’m 57 years young and don’t type as fast as others—but my ideas are “mine,” and I use the technology available to me as described. That includes AI. But I’m happy to discuss it
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I’m in that ballpark … 50+, and I have some experiments done with LLMs, too. Running a 2nd PC just for agentic workflows. Tried from LLM based auto complete to full vibe coding. But there are limits, especially in game development, as it’s one of the most complex software projects, so many dependencies. You have to post so many tokens, just to keep the LLM aligned. At some point it’s too much and context rot will appear, when there is too much information in the context window.
More and more I’m conflicted with this tech. All the social, economical and ecological impacts weight is so heavy on the scale with some indy game on the other side. I’m using it sparsely now.
Maybe it’s not the best idea to start another LLM thread here. IMHO, you don’t want this discussion in your HO-MA-SIM thread.
Please, read these threads, maybe it’s better to discuss it there.
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I’ve released a playable preview version of the tech demo - feel free to check it out if you’re interested. Available in German and English.
Feedback is welcome—have fun playing!
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What level of feedback are you looking for? The disclaimer at the start makes it clear that this is a work in progress, so I’m wondering if you want detailed reports, like the “Verstanden” button being untranslated, and the tutorial asking you to close the menu with right click (which doesn’t close the menu)? You’ll probably catch those yourself at some point.
Also, would you prefer the in-game bug reporting, or here?
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OK, thanks in advance for your response
Since it’s a tech demo, I’d like to know how it feels, whether it’s playable, and whether people like it.
My main concern is whether the direction I’m taking is the right one or if I’m heading down a dead end—because the concept is too complex or too abstract.
If you find any actual bugs, like the missing translations, please report them via the in-game bug reporter.
And in general—thanks for your time
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Overall I think you have the beginnings of a fun resource management game, with an easy-to-understand premise. Very nice with tooltips and the like for communicating everything to the player. And who doesn’t like building stuff, and then seeing it populated by little virtual people?
One thing I kept thinking is it would be cool to get the character system really good, so you can dynamically make very different and characteristic portraits of them. Including staff. I think that would do a lot to make the people in the hotel feel alive and distinct.
This is what I noted while playing:
- I think it would be good to translate the menus and tooltips as a priority - it’s easily done, and it will have a big impact on whether a non-german speaker will understand the game. There are too many to list, but they’re quite obvious.
- Definitely make sure families etc don’t show up until the player’s level is high enough to buy the needed room. It makes the start of the game very slow if you have to skip one or more potential customers, and it’s purely determined by (bad) luck. It might be good to let big groups be checked into multiple rooms, at a lower satisfaction rate?
- Scroll zoom could be faster, or in larger steps. It takes a couple of spins to zoom out after the game zooms in on a room, for instance.
- The rate of time resets to standard after closing a menu - I’d expect it to remain as it was.
- Time is paused after checking someone in - why?
- The fastest rate of time is very slow, leaving lots of time to fill with very few actions available. It feels rare that the player has anything to do, and especially at the beginning, where there aren’t a lot of guests to look at or anything to manage. Simply raising the allowed max rate would do a lot to remedy that, and leave the decision in the player’s hands, so there’s no added stress.
- It would be nice to see staff walking around.
- It would also be nice to see characters when they’re in a room
- Clicking rooms to clean and maintain them does give the player some things to do, but I think it will get very tedious quickly, especially as the hotel grows. You could consider making the staff autonomous, and just let the player prioritize for them when necessary.
- I found that some rooms would not get serviced, even though I had the room marked for service, waiting staff of the matching type, and no other tasks.
- I’m not sure, but I think (some) staff only work at night? That seems very strange… a room can go from decent condition to 0% in the span of a day, and you can only sit and watch, while your cleaning staff are “waiting”.
- When clicking a room, the cleanliness and maintenance levels should probably be visible, as you oddly can’t get a tooltip at the same time. That means you have to check the numbers first, rather than seeing the relevant numbers in / with the menu
- A hotkey for fast time rate would be nice.
- The lobby room only has a quarter-sized selection box. Tool tip also only works over the smaller box.
- It would be good to show the condition of rooms without having to mouse over, especially if all service assignments are going to be manual. Also good to convey if they’re occupied or not. Both could be done graphically, rather than with numbers or icons.
- Does anything unlock at level 2? I found there wasn’t much I could do but wait for the next level. Usually you’d want the highest rate of unlocks at the start of the game, to engage the player early, and then space out rewards more as the game goes along.
- The popups low in the screen overlap menus like the build menu, making them unusable while the popup is displayed.
- Why don’t bartenders get automatically assigned to a bar with space? Housekeepers and maintenancers do.
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Wow. First of all, thank you so much for all this input.
I’ll take my time going through everything. I’ve already taken care of some things while you were testing. I’m currently working on the project nonstop.
But that’s exactly the kind of input you miss when you’re a solo developer.
So thanks again for going into such detail.
I’ll keep you updated here—I’ll probably be posting an update about every 14 days for now.
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Glad to be of help
Hi and thank you again so much for the detailed and thoughtful feedback — this is exactly the kind of input that helps a solo dev improve things!
A quick note: several of the issues you mentioned were already fixed in today’s hotfix (v0.1.33), which went live just a few minutes ago:
Time rate now restores after closing menus / the reception
English translations are now complete across menus, tooltips, and UI text
Lobby hitbox and tooltip now cover the full room area
On the other points — you’re right on all of them:
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Families / guest types appearing too early — This is something I’m actively working on. The spawn system already checks player level for some guest types, but needs tightening.
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Scroll zoom speed — Noted, will increase the step size - Maybe in settings for individual use.
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Max time speed being too slow — Agreed. 30x and 50x speed options are planned for the next update.
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Staff autonomy — Staff already work autonomously: when a room’s cleanliness or maintenance drops below 50%, a service ticket is created automatically and the next available staff member picks it up. The manual “call service” button is there for players who want to trigger a clean earlier. We’re planning to let players configure that threshold in the settings — so you could set it to 80% if you prefer a more hands-off playstyle, or keep full manual control.
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Some rooms not getting serviced — Known bug, actively being investigated.
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Characters visible in rooms / distinct portraits — Great idea and something I’d love to do. It’s on the long-term roadmap.
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Bartenders and bar assignment — This is intentional: unlike housekeeping staff who handle individual rooms, multiple bartenders can be assigned to a single bar. The manual assignment lets you decide how many staff each POI gets. We’ll work on making this clearer in the UI so it doesn’t feel like a missing feature.
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Popups overlapping the build menu — Known, on the fix list.
Thanks again — feedback like yours makes this better for everyone. 
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HO·MA·SIM - Techdemo Update v0.1.34
Features & Improvements
- Save/Load: Added a confirmation prompt before loading or overwriting savegames to prevent accidental data loss.
- UX: The save menu now closes automatically after saving successfully.
- UX: Fast forward speeds now include x30 and x50 options.
- UX: Mouse scroll zoom sensitivity is now fully customizable in the settings menu.
- Tooltips: Room tooltips have been merged to display both current occupancy and required services (e.g. cleaning/repair) at the same time.
- Finances: Cashbook entries for construction and demolition costs are now broken down in more detail.
- Reception: Guest tooltips at the reception now show the exact reason for waiting (e.g. “Waiting for Check-In” or “Waiting for Check-Out”).
Bugfixes
- Quests: Fixed an exploit where demolishing rooms could incorrectly trigger and complete building quests.
- Staff: Fixed visual overlapping issues when multiple staff members work in the same room at the same time (they will now stand slightly apart). Also fixed a display glitch with the room progress bar that occurred under the same circumstances.
- Reception: Centered the Guest Decline confirm modal and fixed a formatting error that caused the guest name and reputation penalty placeholders to not render properly.
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