Hello, coaches, this is moto from the Asteroid studio.
Thank you all for your support during the past month of testing for Esports Godfather. After a month of testing, we are happy to announce that the content for this update is now complete. The update will officially launch tomorrow, December 14, 2024 (Beijing Time).
Update Content Overview
I won't go into detail here about the specific updates. You can here to view our previous summary.
Important Notes
1. Save Compatibility
Due to the large number of new additions in this update, previous version saves will no longer be compatible. Coaches will need to create a new save file after updating to play normally.
2. Mod Compatibility
Some mods may not be compatible with the official version after the update. We recommend temporarily uninstalling mods after updating. Once mod authors have completed their updates, you can reinstall them as needed.
3. Legacy Branch for Old Saves
We understand that many coaches have strong attachments to their existing saves. Therefore, after the official update, we will maintain a branch for the pre-update version of *Esports Godfather*. This branch will support your old saves. Coaches who wish to continue playing with their old teams can switch to this branch.
At the end of this article, I'll include the detailed instructions for switching branches so coaches can jump to the version they need.
Next, my two fellow developers and I will share the parts of this update that each of us was responsible for.
MOTO:
In this update, I was primarily responsible for the athlete’s characters and emotions, as well as team building systems.
As many coaches have suggested, athletes should have their own personalities and emotions rather than being robotic competitors. To address this, we've introduced a Character System.
The Personality System aims to diversify players, reducing sameness among them. Each athlete will now have three distinct personalities. These personalities affect initial relationships between athletes, their future potential, and the influence required to acquire them on the market.
To complement this, we have also developed the Emotion System and Team Relationship System, which are interrelated and ultimately impact match performance.
Emotions: An athlete’s emotions are influenced by factors such as promotion, championship victories, personality traits, and relationships. Positive relationships among teammates help boost emotions, leading to better training results and improved match performance.
To give coaches the tools to manage these systems, we've designed the Team Building System. Every two weeks during the regular and playoff seasons, coaches can use team management tasks to adjust player emotions and relationships.
The system is designed to be simple and quick so as not to interfere with your overall game flow. Each time you enter Team Building, you'll be presented with random projects and athletes. If the available choices meet your needs, you can spend money to improve athlete emotions or relationships. If not, you can skip and wait for the next opportunity.
As your coaching level increases, you'll unlock more powerful (and costly) team building options, allowing for more effective adjustments. To afford this, you'll need to generate more money through the Venue System…
XQ:
In this update, I was responsible for the Venue Management and Athlete Contract Systems.
The Venue System is a key part of the club's management gameplay and a primary source of external currency—money. Initially designed as a simple calculation mini-game, the system has evolved into a resource management challenge.
Here's a quick overview:
- Venues: Each venue has unique features, such as size and facility slots. Venues are divided into sections where you can place seats, set ticket prices, and attract different types of fans.
- Attributes: Two key attributes, Viewing Experience and Environment, determine whether fans are willing to attend. You can improve these attributes by placing specific facilities.
- Fan Groups: Followers are divided into ten groups, each with their own financial capacity and preferences. By meeting their needs, you can increase ticket sales.
- Customization: Balancing facilities, space, and seats is critical. Do you aim for maximum seating at lower quality, or a luxury experience with fewer seats at higher ticket prices? The choice is yours.
Additionally, we've introduced the Athlete Contract System:
- Contract Components: Contracts include duration, signing fee, salary, termination fee, and **player demands.
- Athlete Satisfaction: Players will have varying levels of satisfaction based on how their demands are met. Coaches can negotiate contract terms to balance finances and player expectations.
- Penalty: If you fail to meet an athlete's demands during the season, their satisfaction drops. Once dissatisfaction reaches a critical point, you'll need to pay a Penalty fee, although the athlete will continue to play until the next transfer period.
OAB：
Hello everyone, I'm OAB. Since the launch of Esport Godfather 1.0, we've received a lot of feedback. Many players are interested in the future expansion of game content and have provided us with numerous ideas. Among these, the demand for expanding the management aspects of e-sports clubs is particularly strong. As the management of an e-sports club inevitably involves athletes, the question of "how players acquire new athletes" became a crucial point for us to consider. This is how the Scout System and the Regular Season Athlete Market System came to life.
Gameplay of the Scout System and Athlete Market
These two systems are not overly complex in their gameplay. During the transfer window, players can choose to hire scouts. These scouts may specialize in searching for specific athletes, saving money, negotiating with athletes, or gaining greater influence, among other skills. Players can then allocate their budgets during the regular season to scout athletes. Each week, players can spend additional budgets or influence points to impose stricter requirements on the scout, ensuring the results align better with their expectations. The scouted athletes flow into the market, where players compete with other clubs to secure the athletes they want.
The Role and Design of the Scout System
The primary goal of the scout system is to enable players to find athletes that match their preferences. The core concept here is "customized athletes" to fulfill players' expectations, whether for role-playing or team strength. Of course, this customization includes elements of decision-making and randomness. Decision-making serves as the foundation of this system's fun, as "games are essentially a series of interesting choices." Randomness makes these decisions more engaging and broadens the range of player experiences.
Introducing the Athlete Market
However, relying solely on the scout system isn't enough. Players need access to a wider variety of random athletes. This extends the anticipation of discovering new athletes (e.g., when their scout doesn't find ideal candidates) and satisfies players' desire for exploration. For example, imagine a player named Joe who initially focuses on athletes excelling in Trait A. Naturally, their scout would also lean towards Trait A candidates. But when the market introduces a superior athlete with Trait B, Joe might shift his preference, exploring more game mechanics instead of limiting himself to a narrow experience. This approach naturally leads to the creation of the athlete market system.
In the athlete market, we introduced the concept of competition. Allowing players to easily acquire all market athletes would render decision-making meaningless ("I'll just take them all!"). When a player desires a specific athlete, they are making a subjective choice. Competition introduces objective variables, making the player's experience more diverse and their decisions more interesting.
Resource Management and Influence Coin
Every choice comes with a cost, namely the expenditure of resources. Personally, I want resource management to be intuitive and include decision-making in resource spending. This led to the adoption of the Influence Coin (inspired by coin-operated kiddie rides, XD). Players can store only a limited number of influence coins, and the values are kept small (within 10). This design ensures that players can easily gauge their resources.
The discrete nature of Influence Coin enhances the sense of "decision-making" and "multiple-choice questions." Each coin functions like a decision point or a card in a card game, making every choice more meaningful. Additionally, the design of this currency allows for scalability beyond numerical values, offering opportunities for new dimensions of gameplay. This adds variety to the decision-making process and makes acquiring currency itself an experience enriched with randomness.
By combining these elements, the Scout System and Athlete Market create a layered and engaging experience for managing athletes in Esport Godfather. We hope this enriches your gameplay and provides fresh strategic opportunities.
How to Access the Legacy Version of Esports Godfather After the Update:
1.Right-click on Esports Godfather in your game library.
2.Left-click on Properties.
3.Left-click on the Betas tab.
4.Select Participate in Beta.
5.Choose the branch "Old Version 1.3.25" to switch back to the version prior to the update.
Finally, we sincerely thank all coaches for your continued support and feedback. It is your enthusiasm and suggestions that drive us to make Esports Godfather even better. After the official update, we encourage you to share your thoughts through the following channels:
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Wpf6y7kFjp
Twitter (X) https://twitter.com/1000_Water_