Summer Update!

Summer Update!

With summer coming to a close we wanted to post an update letting players know the changes that have been made in the previous weeks and months.

The game continues to progress, adding more features, gameplay improvements and request from players. We are very happy with the success and support we have received through this Early Access process and we hope you are enjoying the journey as well!

There have been over 24 patches/updates since the last posted notification - these patch notes are regularly posted on the Steam discussion forums with every patch but here are some of the highlighted changes -

• Game design settings (sliders) now factor in both the main genre and the sub-genre. Taking the previous 18 perfect genre settings and now making the combinations nearly 300! This will increase the variety of game designs allowing you to make more unique games and the usefulness of game reports from the Q&A department.

• There are now new events! Your games can become surprise hits, commercial failures or have bugs show up after release. Taking your time to polish your game before releasing it can help you avoid bugs after release!

• It's now possible to publish games for other companies. You can negotiate terms and release these games through your production facilities earning a profit on their work!

• When a game is in development you can now add additional new features to it, and once completed you will have the option to set aside the game to publish it at a later date rather than having to publish it immediately.

• Many background changes to improve game performance, the A.I and Multiplayer have been made. The A.I now is both more competitive and creates a larger variety of game types with near parity of all the choices the player has to create games. Multiplayer has had data synchronization added making it more stable and much more difficult to cheat. Additionally several other multiplayer bugs have been fixed and the ability to share console research between players has been added.

• In the marketing department you can now perform a staff search! Need a programmer, or a game designer and there isn't one available? Start a search for the specific employee you need!

This is along with dozens of other changes that also include larger impact of 'Trendsetting' games, new publishers and developers, the ability to create 1st party manufacturer exclusive games for your own consoles, a reworking of the banking and loan system, changes to certain ways you gain fans along with the impact your fans have on sales and a continued ongoing focus on quality of life improvements and balancing existing features. And there is still more to come! Please keep the feedback, suggestions, reviews and bug reports coming - they are much appreciated! Thank you!

The full most recent change log is below with the build numbers representing the date of release -

BUILD 2021.09.04A / 2021.09.07B ----------------------------------------- - The game design settings (design focus and design orientation) now depend not only on the main genre, but also on the subgenre. As a result, there are significantly more different perfect settings (almost 300 different ones). For example, a platformer/adventure has different settings than like a platformer/sports game.

• New event: Games can now be a "surprise success". - The gametooltip now also shows the subgenre.

• BALANCE: (Commercial Failure Event) * Bundles are now excluded. * Event is unlocked only from difficulty level "hard". * Games that are trending (genre) are excluded. * Two games in a row can no longer be a failure.

• AdjustedBALANCE(New Bugs Event) * Is unlocked only from difficulty level "Normal". * Chance that the event will appear decreased.

• BUG: If you activated / deactivated the heat or garbage filter, a wrong floor graphic was set in rooms. - BUG: (GameDev menu -> Engine selection) Sometimes the icons were colored wrong.

BUILD 2021.09.01A / BUILD 2021.09.03A ----------------------------------------- - Staff menus: The number of employees per profession and the total skills are now displayed. - Labor market menu: The number of applicants per profession is now displayed. - Staff menu: Search function added. - Game reports: Genres that have not yet been unlocked are no longer displayed in gernecombinations. - Research "Other": Tooltips added. - GameTabs (game list): An icon is now displayed when there are still bugs in a game. - You can now create updates for NPC games you distribute. - Multiplayer -> Give away research: You can now give away console compnents and console features. Research that the other player already owns is now highlighted. - New event: "New bugs" can now appear for published games depending on the difficulty and polishing phase. - New Event: Games can now become a "Commercial Flop" depending on the difficulty level. - Bugs now have a high impact on user reviews. - If you choose a higher starting year, the "Personal Computer" will be unlocked immediately. - BALANCE: Fans generated by the "Mad Games Awards" are now limited. - BALANCE: (Trendsetter): Hype is now generated and the IP bonus has been increased. - BALANCE: The studio rating now increases significantly less when you distribute an NPC game. - BUG: (Publishing offers) Games were not marked as multiplatform games and sequels. - BUG: Archive->Game Concepts: Game concepts of NPC games you distributed were incorrectly displayed. - BUG: (Multiplayer -> Give away research) The search function sometimes did not work. - BUG: (Multiplayer) Clients had two random genres unlocked at game start. - BUG: (Sales menu of games) Wrong data was displayed in the first week of sales.

BUILD 2021.08.26A / BUILD 2021.08.30A ----------------------------------------- - Publishing offerings: Multiplatform games are now offered. - Staff menus: The average skills of all staff members are now displayed. - Sort filters are saved globally. - Publishing contracts: The production menu now displays profit minus profit sharing. - Complaint icons are now displayed in the employee tooltip. - BALANCE: Number of publishing offers reduced. - BUG: Employee group menu no longer worked. - BUG: Profit sharing of publishing contracts was calculated incorrectly for very low numbers. - BUG: (Exclusive games) Sometimes more consoles were sold than games were sold. - BUG: NPC games could have more features than the game size allowed.

BUILD 2021.08.25A ----------------------------------------- - It is now possible to distribute games from NPC companies. To get distribution offers, you need to research production. Currently, only exclusive games are offered, otherwise this feature might be too powerful. Due to the exclusivity of the games on only one console, larger differences in sales figures are possible. But as always: Just write in the forum if the balance is too unbalanced ;) - The search function is now reset as soon as you close the menu. - BALANCE: Fans now have more influence on the sales figures of games. - BUG: When a staff member quit, sometimes the "Bad mood" event was triggered. - BUG: (NPC games) There were no names for racing games. - BUG: NPC games were always scored like a retro game. This caused the review scores to be too high.

BUILD 2021.08.13A ----------------------------------------- - You can now add gameplay features to a game that is still in development. - Added 9 new publishers / developer studios. - Console hardware becomes obsolete over time, increasing production costs. - NPC studios can now create budget games. - Multiplayer: "Player ready" toggle added for clients. - BALANCE: Maximum credit limit and interest are now linked to difficulty. - BALANCE: Quality (graphic, sound points etc.) of NPC games increased. - BUG: Selection of publishers for NPC games did not work correctly. - BUG: In some cases the pause mode was terminated when watching a game review. - BUG: Multiplayer: Sometimes lobby settings were not sent to clients. - BUG: Multiplayer: After a few seconds all data in the "My IPs" menu disappeared.

BUILD 2021.07.19A / 2021.07.21A ----------------------------------------- - New platforms added: "Beam Deck" and "Intelvisual Amikos". - 9 new objects added. - The chance of success for the employee search is now linked to the current year and difficulty level. - BALANCE: Success chance for employee search reduced. - BALANCE: "Pretendo Zwitch" is removed from the market in 2025 and now has higher sales. - BALANCE: "Pretendo Zwitch Pro" and "Pretendo MX" are now released several years later. - BUG: "Update all items" button was not disabled when the build menu was open - BUG: Starting money for the year 1995 was incorrect. - BUG: When automatic was active in employee search, "Start automatic" was still displayed.

BUILD 2021.07.09A / 2021.07.13A ----------------------------------------- - Marketing department: You can now perform a staff search. - Sales prices of games can now be automated. - When loading a save game, the game is now paused. - "Game Complete" menu: Current development cost and Estimated review score is now displayed. - "Game complete" menu: "Delete game" and "Complete game" are now small buttons. - Performance improved. - MOD: (Add new quotes): It is no longer necessary to adjust the English text file to the other languages. - BUG: Orange GameTabs stayed orange. - BUG: Legendary staff sometimes had incorrect skill values. - BUG: Clipping error removed from package contents. - BUG: You could use rubber band to pick up your employees even if selecting employees was disabled. - BUG: Picking up objects could cause a crash.

BUILD 2021.07.07A ----------------------------------------- - You can now finish games and put them on the waiting list. This allows the development office to get a new work and you can publish the game at a later time. Unpublished games are displayed on the right side of the game list and are highlighted in orange. If you click on the game, you can publish the game. - Game Completed Menu: When you have created a contract game, you can now see the most important info of the contract. - Create research and game reports: If you have activated the automatic, you can now see how many tasks the room can still do. - Prizes and content for newly released games are now saved and set automatically. - You can no longer release Deluxe and Collectors editions for addons and GOTY editions. - BALANCE: The release date can now be pushed back by 20 weeks. - BUG: Sometimes objects were not placed back in their position (ESC key). - BUG: Menu "Game completed": Some tooltips were not displayed. - BUG: Sort function in the research menu sometimes had a wrong setting.

BUILD 2021.07.01A/B ----------------------------------------- - Buy objects menu: You can now move objects that have already been placed. - In the stockroom you can now set that the stock is sold automatically. - New object added: Soundstudio V - BUG: The stockroom was not recalculated when you sold the remaining stock. - BUG: Develop addons menu: The appropriate themes for the genre were not marked. - BUG: Sometimes Save Games were not saved. - BUG: The engine feature "Real 3D Sound" had technology level 7 instead of 8.

BUILD 2021.06.30A ----------------------------------------- - A button has now been added to the start menu to load the latest save game. - Place objects: Snapping for rotation can now be activated separately. - It is now possible to set the quality assurance to wait until a new game report can be created. - Create game menu: Added a button to view the market research. - Staff view: It is now shown if the employee is sick, freezing etc. - The development costs for engines increase depending on the difficulty level. - The NPCs now occasionally create games with very low scores. - The button to find rooms without a task now goes through all rooms one by one. - New item added: Modern air conditioner for server rooms - Added new names for developer legends. - BALANCE: NPCs do not create so many remasters anymore. - BALANCE: Licenses are now much more expensive. - BALANCE: The theme "Robots" now fits the genre "Plattformer" | The theme "Planes" now fits the genre "Racing". - BALANCE: The gameplay feature "Mod Support" now fits to RPGs. - BALANCE: Remaster sales numbers reduced. - BUG: Sometimes Save Games with modified themes could not be loaded. - BUG: Snapping setting no longer changes when buying or picking up an item.

BUILD 2021.06.28A ----------------------------------------- - Mad Games Awards: The number of fans is no longer static, but is calculated as a percentage of existing fans. - BALANCE: The themes fairies, anime, and time travel now fit role-playing games. - BALANCE: (Mad Games Awards) Only games that got less than 60% review score are now counted as "worst game of the year". - BUG: The needs of the staff didn't work anymore. - BUG: NPCs have not developed enough games. - BUG: NPCs were creating retro and mobile games as early as the 70s. - BUG: (Mad Games Awards) Sometimes the worst and best game of the year were identical.

BUILD 2021.06.24B ----------------------------------------- - The AI of the NPC studios has been completely revised. The NPCs can now additionally publish retro games, standalone addons and MMO addons. - Performance is now better when you have a lot of staff. - BUG: You could no longer port games to arcade machines and cell phones.

BUILD 2021.06.22A / 2021.06.23A ----------------------------------------- - Manufacturer exclusive games can now be developed (exclusivity only for own consoles). - Game design menu: You can now see the selected genres by the design sliders. - Contract work: If you have activated the automatic, the remaining number of contracts is next to the room button. - You can now use engines with higher technology level than the selected platforms. - When converting an MMO to F2P, subscribers become active players. - BALANCE: Production of arcade machines accelerated. - BALANCE: (Special Marketing) The penalty for cheated user reviews has been increased significantly. - BUG: The automatic selling price for own consoles has been applied to all consoles. - BUG: Sometimes new platforms were not released on old save games.

BUILD 2021.06.20A / 2021.06.21A ----------------------------------------- - Trendsetters are now raising the IP rating. - Completed console development menu: Added a button to release the console later. - Custom Consoles: The desired profit can now be set for the automatic sales price. - Menus can now be closed with the right mouse button (can be activated in the options). - New object added: Workshop 5 - BALANCE: Selling price of own consoles now has a stronger effect. - BUG: IP rating sometimes dropped too fast. - BUG: If you wanted to develop an MMO addon and didn't have a staff member in the room, a crash occurred. - BUG: If you placed animated objects during pause mode, the animation still played. - BUG: Spanish language did not work anymore. - BUG: There were some errors with the Portuguese language.

BUILD 2021.06.16A ----------------------------------------- - Arcade machine orders are now cancelled over time. - You can now go bankrupt in multiplayer. - The "Katari VCC" console has been added. - When an employee quits, there is now a button to jump directly to the room. - Autosave for multiplayer now works (at the turn of the year). - The default console price is now $10 above the production cost. - Brightness can now be adjusted in the options. - BALANCE: You can only overdraw the account in the amount of the credit limit. - BALANCE: "Beam Machine" is now rated as a computer. - BUG: (Stockroom) "Sell total stock" did not work correctly.

BUILD 2021.06.15A ----------------------------------------- - "Not enough money" limit removed. It is now possible to pay / buy everything and overdraw your account. - The maximum bank credit is now additionally influenced by the studio rating and the reputation of clients. - New objects added: Console development 4 & 5, Workshop 4 - Added another difficulty level "Very hard - BUG: (Multiplayer) When a player bought a building, the message was displayed only in German. - BUG: (Multiplayer) Sometimes the client did not receive engine fees. - BUG: (MMOs) Number of subscriptions of NPC games were calculated incorrectly.

BUILD 2021.06.12C (Hotfix) ----------------------------------------- - When there is no more server space, MMO sales are reduced. - (Multiplayer): Modified genres are now synchronized. - BALANCE: Sales of own consoles reduced. - BALANCE: (Overcrowding) More people can now fit in one room. - BUG: MMO addons were not added to the IP. - BUG: (Own consoles) Exclusive games ignored the console's retail price. - BUG: Crashes triggered by missing texts fixed.

BUILD 2021.06.10D ----------------------------------------- - Multiplayer: Modified gameplay features, NPC engines, engine features, hardware components, console features, copy protection and anti-cheat software are now synchronized. This prevents unwanted bugs caused by modified files and makes cheating in multiplayer more difficult. - IP penalty due to neglect is now related to the difficulty level. - BUG: Internet capability for own consoles was unlocked too late. - BUG: You could select the same console twice at the "Mad Games Convention". - BUG: You could sell your development kits for a negative price. - BUG: (Console Development Report menu): "Lead Designer" was displayed instead of "Lead Technician". - BUG: (Stats > Own Consoles > Available Games): Games were displayed that were still in development. - BUG: Review texts of NPC games corrected. - BUG: (NPC games) addons were created for the wrong platform. - BUG: (Staff complaint) Overcrowding was not calculated correctly.

BUILD 2021.06.08A ----------------------------------------- - Contract work: You can now set rooms to wait for new contract work. - You can now select two consoles at the fair. - (Messages) You can now additionally set a message to appear when the NPC releases a game for your console. - Start menu: Number of remaining perks is now displayed. - (Multiplayer) "Wait for teammate" message and "Wait for server" message: Added a cancel button in case of disconnections. - (Multiplayer) Modified publishers and developers are now syncronized. - BALANCE: Development costs for AA and AAA players increased. - BALANCE: (Staff complaints) Overcrowding for "Motion Capture Studio" and "Sound Studio" adjusted. - BALANCE: NPCs are now releasing more game for player handhelds. - BUG: When selling stock of games, it was not added to revenue. - BUG: (Own Consoles menu): Text error fixed. - BUG: Console production costs of several million dollars should no longer occur. - BUG: (Contract games) Player console icons had incorrect coloring. - BUG: (Room Options) An incorrect room type was displayed. - BUG: Sometimes old save games were not loaded. - BUG: (Contract Games) Engine fees for player engines were not billed. - BUG: (Multiplayer) Number of additional consoles sold by exclusive games was not sent.

BUILD 2021.06.05A (Hotfix) ----------------------------------------- - In the Charts & OwnConsoles menu, there are now all-time charts for consoles. - When building a room and in the room staff menu, you can now see how many staff the room is suitable for (without the staff complaining). - In the console tooltip and in the "My Consoles->Console Details" menu, you can now see the date when the console was taken off the market. - LOAD / SAVE GAME: An icon is displayed when a save game is out of date. - BALANCE: Bonus increased for console and computer games that are also available on an arcade machine. - BALANCE: NPC platforms now have a random factor of maximum 5% for historical sales. - BUG: Crunch time has been enabled for customer support at 100% work progress. - BUG: The gameplay feature "Modern Controller Support" was unlocked too late.

BUILD 2021.06.03A (Hotfix) ----------------------------------------- - BUG: Penalty for neglecting an IP did not work correctly. - BUG: Sometimes "-1" was displayed at the highest chart position. - BUG: Multiplayer crashed when the game was set to French language. - BUG: Some menus could not be closed with "ESC". - BUG: (Menu: Financial statements) Text overlapping bug fixed. - BUG: (Menu: Market Analysis) The correct number was not displayed.

BUILD 2021.06.02A ----------------------------------------- - Added button at the top of the GUI to update all objects in each room. - Game development: Added a button to automatically set all known optimal design settings. - Game development: Themes can now be sorted by market oversaturation. - Game development: Genres can now be sorted by alphabet, popularity and experience. - Price settings for consoles and arcade: Added additional buttons to set the price faster. - You now get engine fees from contract games if you used an InHouse engine. - The highest chart position is now displayed in the tooltip of games and in the revenue menu. - If you have not released a product for an IP for a long time, the IP rating will drop. - If you release a product for an IP too many times in a short period of time, the IP rating will increase slower. - Game concept menu: Translation costs for languages are now displayed. - BALANCE: Production research now costs $5,000,000. - BALANCE: Arcade machines now stay on the market longer and sell more units. - BUG: Games in development have increased the market oversaturation of topics. - BUG: In the bank menu some texts were displayed only in German. - BUG: (Console development) Automatic updating of objects did not work. - BUG: Legendary technicians had a " " in their name. - BUG: (Console Price menu) When you set automatic price, the updated price was not displayed.

BUILD 2021.06.01A ----------------------------------------- - New objects added: Console development workplace II & III - There are now legendary technicians / hardware specialists. - Added an additional menu in the Custom Console Menu to view all available console games. - Number of games with a specific topic: Addons and MMO addons no longer increase the number. - Stats->Own Consoles->Console Games: Own games are now highlighted in green. - BALANCE: (Difficulty level "Hard" and "Legendary"): Sales of own consoles reduced. - BALANCE: Owned console lifespan reduced. - BUG: Sometimes commissioned games were created for platforms that have already been removed from the market. - BUG: The gameplay feature "Touch Screen Support" was unlocked too late. Therefore it was not possible to develop games for a custom handheld with touch screen.

BUILD 2021.05.31A ----------------------------------------- - Added contract work for console development. - Engines: Consoles under development can now be selected as a special platform. - "Develop Successors, Spinoffs, etc.": You can now sort the games by IP notoriety. - The game report now shows the date from when the game was developed. - "Hide walls", "Show pollution" etc: Buttons now reset when you start a new game. - Research menu: Hardware components can now be sorted by their type and tech level. - Cancel Task: You can set that this messagebox is not shown anymore. - BALANCE: Console price now has a greater effect on sales. - BUG: (Console development): You could select an MMO addon as a classic game. - BUG: Sometimes objects remained Highlighted