A summary of recent & latest changes
A lot of work has been put into the game since the last Steam notification update! As always, you can find the latest patch notes in the Steam discussion forum. This is the easiest and fastest way to stay up to date with the development of the game.
Here is a summary of some of the key changes with the full notes listed below!
- Sandbox Mode! - A much requested feature! It is now possible to start the game in sandbox mode (Selected under 'game modes'), with this game mode you will have unlimited funds and begin the game with just about everything unlocked (that is currently available in your starting year) and ready to develop with! Achievements in this mode are disabled.
- Automatic Room Furnishing and Decorating - Now when building a room, or remodeling an existing room you have the option to allow the game to automatically place the necessary items, work stations and decorations for that room! This was another highly requested addition that should save players a lot of time when playing.
- A New Genre - Survival Game & 48 New Topics - You can develop games based on the Survival genre (Available in the mid 1980s) and there are 48 new topics to build your games around! These topics include things like Court Cases, Hotels, Restaurants, Multiple different ancient civilizations and more!
- New Starting Options - When you start a new game you can now choose between standard development times, or realistic development times. With realistic development times, games will take considerably longer to develop. Additionally, you now have the option to choose any year between 1976 and 2020 to begin your new game!
- 9 New Publishers/Developers - New Publishers/Developers have been added to the game, along with their IPs. Adding extra competition to the game, and new companies that you can buy and take over!
- Additional Control Over Your Subsidiaries - You can now see the exact game that your companies have in development, view the full development report of the game and cancel the game they are working on if you decide you want them working on something else.
- MMO & F2P Marketshare Improvements - The market for both MMOs & F2P is now based on how many players have access to the internet in that given year. You can see this percentage through Market Research and the number will grow as the years advance.
- Overall Game Performance Improvements - Multiple updates to improve the performance of the game, the pathfinding (more about that below) and make the game more stable as the years go by and your company grows!
- Tons of Quality of Life, Tweaks and Additions to Existing Features, New Items, Balance Changes and A.I Improvements - You can see the full list below, but many menus have additional filters, easier access and other tweaks. Collision boxes on some items have been improved. New items such as Luxury Toilets and Modern Heating. The development time, game size requirements (A, B, etc) and requirements to get quality reviews have all been better balanced.
The A.I for both employees, and competitors has been improved, with your employees making smarter decisions when fulfilling needs and their pathfinding being improved (Work on this is ongoing).
Competing NPC companies make additional use of ports (from Arcades -> PC/Consoles), have had their Arcade sales numbers boosted and more.
Employees now request salary improvements through negotiations as they become better skilled.
You have the option to charge for customer support in the Support Room now, there are additional statistics for merchandising in the Fan Shop and many more quality of life improvements, tweaks and much more listed in the patch notes below!
Upcoming Changes! Development Continues!
And there are still more changes in the works! Console Creation/Development still has improvements and changes coming. Game Pass is still coming to the game. Multiplayer will have performance improvements and additional options/features added plus other unannounced changes and suggestions from the community!
And of course continuing to do more bug fixes, quality of life changes, performance improvements and balance changes to create the most fun and smooth gameplay experience possible!
Thank you for supporting the game! All the reviews, suggestions, bug reports and feedback has continued to push the game to be better and better!
Full Recent Patch Notes
-------
- Sandbox mode: All available genres and topics are unlocked at game start.
- Subsidiaries can now also publish bundles & addon bundles.
- Create Addons / MMO Addons: Added search function for gameplay features.
- Auto-place now also works for "room remodel".
- BALANCE: It is now possible to develop a level 8 handheld as early as 2024.
- BUG: Fixed a bug in the calculation of design settings.
- BUG: Fixed an error in the topic data.
- BUG: Fixed bug in calculating game reviews related to sub-genres.
- BUG: You could add more platforms that are not unlocked during development.
- BUG: Polishing, bugfixing etc. did not finish when you canceled a commissioned game.
- BUG: In some menus (Create Addons, View Game Concepts, etc.), gameplay features were incorrectly displayed as inappropriate or appropriate.
- BUG: Create Addons / MMO Addons: "Automatically select matching gameplay features" did not work correctly.
- BUG: The job market did not work correctly.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) Clients did not have topics unlocked at launch.
BUILD 2022.09.12A - BUILD 2022.09.16A --------------------------------
- Added 48 new topics.
- Added a new genre: Survival Game
- NPC-Games: The points for graphics, sound etc. are more realistic now. Adjusted to difficulty level and year.
- Charts menus: Subsidiary games are now color coded in the charts.
- The start year is now freely selectable (maximum 2020).
- Matching or mismatching gameplay features now change when selecting a subgenre.
- Slider settings: When using a main genre and subgenre, the main genre is now prioritized.
- You can now fill empty platform slots during development.
- NPC companies can now create bundles.
- Employee AI: When employees get sick, they now abort their current path and go directly to the doctor's cabinet.
- The higher the starting year, the more available employees are at the start.
- Multiplayer: Data from modified topics is now sent to clients.
- BALANCE: Required points (graphics, sound etc.) for good ratings reduced. (Very hard & Legendary)
- BUG: Dart sound was not played as 3D sound.
- BUG: You could cancel the development of a game for which a port is currently being developed.
- BUG: You could not create addon bundles from remasters.
- Launch Options: You can now choose between standard and realsitic development time.
- Features with low experience have a higher development time. (Maximum 50% slower)
- Number of bugs is now related to the experience of features (the less stars, the higher chance of a bug).
- BALANCE: Minimum number of required gameplay features for game sizes reduced.
- BALANCE: NPC companies should release more games in the first year.
- BALANCE: NPC companies should not develop bigger games (B+, A etc.) so early.
- BUG: For mobile and arcade platforms, the tooltip displayed the exclusive game bonus.
- BUG: "Support room" sometimes did not work correctly.
BUILD 2022.09.11A --------------------------------
- Right Games list: Added filter to show only self-developed games.
- Sick employees now run slower.
- At some objects, employees now wait until the object has been released by the other employees.
- It is now graphically displayed when the trash can is full.
- Icons for target group added.
- The negative effect of market oversaturation now depends on the difficulty level.
- Game sizes (B, A, AA etc.) now require a minimum number of gameplay features.
- The bigger a game is (B, A, AA etc.), the longer the development time.
- Performance improved.
- BALANCE: More points (graphics, sound etc.) are now needed to get a good rating. Therefore, well-trained staff is now much more important.
- BUG: Collision box for training room desks fixed.
- BUG: Animation for arcade production was not played when doing a contract work.
- BUG: In multiplayer the offices were not sent to all players.
- BUG: If you enabled "Don't show random events", sometimes an invisible menu was opened.
- BUG: When you loaded a save, all employees were teleported to their destination.
- BUG: "Paid customer support" toggle was sometimes not saved.
- BUG: Development speed bonus/penalty for MMOs / ports was given only in the development room (not in graphics studio, sound studio etc.).
- BUG: When placing an object, there could be a crash.
BUILD 2022.09.07A --------------------------------
Performance has been improved. Due to the many changes, new bugs may appear. Let me know if you find something.
BUILD 2022.09.03A --------------------------------
- Rooms can now be automatically equipped with objects.
- Added 9 new publishers/developers.
- Your employees will now run to the bathroom if the distance is too far.
- Pathfinding improved. (has to be activated in the options, because it has to be tested better)
- Console development: Added search function for hardware components.
- Some collision boxes revised.
- BALANCE: In sandbox mode all platform slots and licenses are now unlocked.
- BUG: Icon of "Siga Master Deck" fixed.
- BUG: Crash could occur when letting contract work be done automatically.
- BUG: Fixed bug with automatic price adjustment of games.
- BUG: Menu "Own games": Incorrect number of games was displayed in some leaderboards.
- BUG: Sometimes games from subsidiarieshad a review rating of 0%.
- BUG: In Sandbox mode, you could not buy NPC companies that were more valuable than $1 billion.
- BUG: Fixed collision box and rotation of a lamp and a radio.
BUILD 2022.08.16A - BUILD 2022.08.25B --------------------------------
- Sandbox mode added.
- NPCs can now port games from arcade systems to PCs/consoles.
- Automatically update items: Costs are now displayed.
- Labor Market: Significantly fewer employees are created who have a useless profession. (For example, technician if you haven't researched a hardware department).
- Game reviews now show the platforms.
- Ukrainian language added.
- NPCs now announce their games.
- Games released for consoles without internet can no longer be distributed digitally.
- If you cancel a task in the sound studio, graphics studio, etc., you will no longer receive all the money as a refund.
- The better your game is, the higher the chance you will get XP.
- New event: "Disappointed fans" (Will be executed if you release a series of bad games)
- BALANCE: The gameplay feature "Controller Support" and the platform "Arcade System 500" is unlocked at the start of the game.
- BALANCE: (NPCs) development time for addons are much shorter.
- BALANCE: Employees should now ask for a raise sooner.
- BALANCE: Increased sales of arcade machines for NPCs.
- BALANCE: (Start year: 1985) Quality assurance is now unlocked.
- EXPLOIT: You could reduce the cost of tasks in the graphics studio, sound studio, etc. if you added gameplay features only during development.
- MULTIPLAYER: The development report of games is now updated every second.
- BUG: When loading a save game, water ran from all sinks.
- BUG: In the menu "Salary negotiations for employees" a text was always displayed in German.
- BUG: Fixed a bug in the tutorial.
- BUG: NPCs could develop addons for mobile games.
- BUG: (NPCs) bug when creating SpinOffs fixed.
- BUG: If you changed the name of an IP, the sorting function (by alphabet) no longer worked.
- BUG: The collision box of a carpet was too big.
- BUG: The collision boxes from the old radio and the modern radio were different sizes.
- BUG: If the setup file was broken, the game could crash.
- BUG: The development costs at graphic studio, sound studio etc. were calculated incorrectly if you had more than one game in development or loaded a save game.
BUILD 2022.07.11A - BUILD 2022.08.12A --------------------------------
- You can now do the salary negotiations of employees manually.
- You can now charge for customer support.
- Fanshop: You can now set a default price for new IPs and view overall statistics.
- You can now open the customer support menu under the main button "Management".
- In some menus with IPs there are now more sorting functions like "Turnover", "Sales" and "Number of games".
- IP tooltip: The release date is now displayed.
- New item added: Luxury sink
- Menu "Stock": Games that have been taken off the market are now marked red.
- Subsidiary Settings Menu: Added buttons to remove all platforms and all IPs.
- In the options you can now set that the market research is automatically displayed as soon as it is finished.
- Release of budget games, GOTY editions: It will now display how much hype the game is receiving upon release.
- AI: The AI no longer releases budget games and GOTY editions on very old consoles.
- Game Tooltip: Platforms that have been removed from the market are highlighted in red.
- The gameplay feature "In App Purchases" is no longer activated by the automatic.
- Console development: There are more colors to choose from.
- Sales screen for games: Console names are now displayed for manufacturer-exclusive games.
- Own consoles: As soon as the console is no longer sold, the user numbers and market share slowly decrease.
- Performance slightly improved.
- BUG: Removed some bugs that could cause a crash or not let the month pass.
- BUG: (Create spinoff) sorting function did not work correctly.
- BUG: "Automatically sell stock" did not work for games that have already been removed from the market.
- BUG: Sometimes the wrong console was displayed in the market research.
- BUG: In the GameTabs, "Units sold" was displayed 1 too few.
- BUG: During development the work priority could be set below 100%.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) Fixed some bugs in sending data.
BUILD 2022.07.06A - BUILD 2022.07.08A --------------------------------
- Added cancel button when you want to create bundles or addon bundles.
- Multiplayer: Added option to allow all players to set game speed.
- Console development: You can now choose the console color via color palette.
- The hype of budget games, GOTY editions and addon bundles decreases the older the game is.
- History -> Mad Games Awards: Added buttons to jump to the first and last page.
- BUG: Sometimes games were awarded several years in a row at the "Mad Games Awards".
- BUG: Some bugs removed in connection with the new subsidiary features.
- BUG: Budget games and GOTY editions of NPCs had no user rating.
- BUG: NPC games had an incorrect release date.
- BUG: IP rating did not drop if you neglected your IP.
- BUG: Removed bug in the game database that could cause a crash.
BUILD 2022.06.27A - 2022.07.05A --------------------------------
- Subsidiaries:
* You can now see which game your subsidiary is developing.
* You can now view a development report of the game that is under development.
* You can now cancel the game in development.
* You can now manually remove games that your subsidiary is distributing from the market.
- Console Development: You can now add console features during development.
- MMOs and F2Ps: Sales figures are now related to players who have internet access.
- Remove Game from Market Menu: You can now set at what sales numbers games should be automatically removed from the market.
- Options: You can now set the "Game Complete" menu to open automatically once all bugs have been removed.
- Market research: It is now displayed what percentage of players have access to the Internet.
- Console Development: The development costs for console features are now displayed in absolute terms (cost increases due to console complexity are added).
- Pre-orders of standard games are now cancelled if buyers have to wait too long.
- Licenses with genres not yet unlocked are no longer offered.
- Licenses become more expensive over time.
- Console development: A button has now been added to the development report menu to view console details.
- Development Report: The IP rating is now displayed there.
- Added a new hardware feature for consoles.
- Reduced traffic for multiplayer.
- BALANCE: Complex custom consoles are now more expensive to develop.
- BUG: In rare cases, contract games could cause a crash.
- BUG: Sometimes a crash would occur if you were developing a remaster or porting a game.
- BUG: The NPC was developing games for platforms that did not exist.
- BUG: The NPC copied some wrong data from the original game for budget games and GOTY editions.
BUILD 2022.06.02A - 2022.06.16A --------------------------------
- New object: Modern heating for open plan offices added.
- Added new object: Luxury toilet.
- Licenses now have one suitable and one unsuitable genre. This can also have a negative impact on sales.
- Added three more types for licenses: Comics, Board Games and Toys.
- Fanshop: It now shows the profit of the current and the last month.
- Three new achivements added.
- Develop updates & addons: Development costs limited. Otherwise they increase infinitely.
- GameDev menu: Added search function for licenses.
- Create budget games and GOTY: You can now cancel the process.
- (Multiplayer) Publisher & Developer menu: Teammates are only shown as publishers if they have researched production.
- (Multiplayer) Mini-Game Charts: Games of teammates should now be colored red.
- (Multiplayer) Number of NPC developers increased to 40.
- MOD: You can now enter a release date for licenses. <Y1996>
- BALANCE: In the end-game, about 60% of buyers will now prefer a digital version.
- BALANCE: It now costs significantly more to convert an MMO to F2P.
- BALANCE: (Objects for lounges) The price and regeneration value for motivation has now been adjusted to the size of the object.
- BUG: You could develop updates for games developed by subsidiaries.
- BUG: (Develop free updates) Incorrect development costs were displayed in "Content".
- BUG: When you tried to place an object, sometimes the filter for heat, equipment, etc. was displayed incorrectly.
- BUG: Automatic activation of gameplay features sometimes did not work.
- BUG: Legendary Achievements were not unlocked in-game on low difficulty levels.
- BUG: (Console) Bonus sales for exclusive games could have a negative value.
- BUG: (NPC games) Spin-off sequels had the wrong name.
- BUG: Addons could not be added to the waiting list until the main game was released.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) When you created budget, GOTY, bundles, the game data was sent twice.
- BUG: Objects that generated heat, etc. cast outside of their building.
BUILD 2022.05.25A - 2022.06.01A --------------------------------
- 3 new console feature added and 5 new gameplay features added.
- You can now start playing the game in 2020.
- Custom Consoles -> Available Games Menu: Own games are now highlighted in green.
- History: Added buttons to jump to the first and last page.
- Gameplay Features Tooltip: The release date is now displayed.
- Game development: When a gameplay feature is required for a console, it is now automatically activated.
- The minimized console tab now displays the hype and market share.
- Multiplayer: Studio level of teammates should now be sycronized.
- BALANCE: Budget games, GOTY games etc. now only take 50% of the hype.
- BUG: MMOs that have been converted to F2Ps could cause a crash.
- BUG: Fixed some errors in the file for NPC game names.
- BUG: You became "Publisher of the Year" while not distributing any games.
- BUG: You could publish budget games from games that were put in the drawer.
- BUG: Fixed some serious bugs in multiplayer.
- BUG: Graphical bug in room buttons removed. (two lines were displayed)
- BUG: On the map "European Estate" some doors did not animate.
- BUG: When you took over an IP and developed a successor, you could choose game sizes, genres etc. that you haven't unlocked yet.
- BUG: NPC companies could not be purchased for too long a period of time.
- BUG: (GameTabs - F2Ps) Active players and interest were no longer displayed.
- BUG: MMOs that have been converted to F2Ps could no longer be removed from the market.
- BUG: If you changed the GUI scaling, object tooltips were positioned incorrectly.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) It could happen that no new employees applied anymore.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) The number of hit awards was not sent correctly.
- BUG: (Income and expenses numbers on the map) Sometimes expenses were displayed in green.
- BUG: Sometimes employees waited a long time before charging motivation.
BUILD 2022.05.19B & 2022.05.20A --------------------------------
- When you go over a room button, it will be put in the foreground.
- When you start a new game, your randomly unlocked genre is no longer selected as Unpopular.
- Budget games, GOTY games, and addon bundles are now taking over the rest of the hype.
- Subsidiaries no longer delay a game's release as long.
- Pre-orders are cancelled due to a price increase.
- BUG: (Multiplayer) Several different bugs removed.
- BUG: If the game is automatically saved when a subsidiary releases a game, that game was not released.
- BUG: For pre-orders, the sale price was ignored.
- BUG: If you purchased a license, 0 uses was displayed.
- BUG: You could buy NPC companies right at the start of the game.