GDM Ver 1.3 patch is ready and live.
This patch should not force you to use a new save. Some of the new features might have null (0) values possibly, but it will not break your save if you are in the middle of a run for the top spots on the leader boards.
I omitted the Guided Stage 1 to the tutorial, this is really important to new players. However, my current players don't need this. It will take a few days to set it up, and I didn't want to wait to get this patch out to you guys. So, after pushing this live I will being to work on the guided stage 1. This will get added in a few days as a hot fix as well as any actually fixes needed from this patch if there are issues.
You can find the short bullet list of changes on the GDM discord in the patch notes section. Now for the long version of the notes, lets get into it.
Fixes
- Reduced the specular glow on the plant in the first office, even with lights off it had to much brightness baked in. This has been removed.
- Added a few edge case checks when you save / exit or bankrupt. If you start a new game right after doing these it is possible to have bad variable data that can prevent the game from running normally.
- Platform research has been removed from the game. As well as the genre / target matches for platforms has been removed. This system was not adding much to the game, except for the confusion it created with some players. It felt bad to research a new console, just to have it get replaced with a new generation. So, this is gone now.
- Review scoring metrics have had a bit of some additional logic added to them to vary scores up a little more, and prevent scores from exceeding 10.0
- Fixed an issue that caused hardware to show the incorrect -x% time for monitors / peripherals.
- Changed a bit of the logic order for contracts to ensure you correctly fail or pass, checking pass first in the case of these both hitting exactly together. I also removed the bonus week from contracts, 2 week contracts were giving you 3 etc they now give the correct number of weeks to complete.
- Research and crit gains have been reduced, these were getting out of hand with the new training systems while you do things. They are more in-line with where I think they should be, but of course balance is always up for debate.
Changes
- Company programs now have a cap of 1 use per project. Some people with super high valuations where doing multiple marketing company programs, and making it to easy. This is now a once per game creation ability.
- I have added caps to speed and focus gains from training. It was possible to go above the max value for these stats of 100, this is no longer possible.
- I have added some randomness to the start time for workers to begin typing, and turn PCs on. This should help the game in the larger offices not feel like they are all so synchronized.
Additions
- Added a set of options for Game Reports, Contract Work, and Game off market reports. The majority of players love the new email system, but a few requested to have popup messages back, and game pausing when you complete these types of things. These are set to use the mail by default, as I feel its the better option. However, if you go to options > game options at the bottom of the list is 3 new options to turn popup / pause on for these events.
- Added slider locks to the game. You are no able to lock 1 slider in, and then move the other 2 to get the perfect balance of %s you want. It was difficult with the ratios to lets say lock to low sliders at exactly 20%. Now you can lock 1 at 20% then move the other until you reach 20% etc. This will make fine tuning sliders much easier. If you unlock the slider it will immediately reset to the new ratio based on where the other sliders have moved 2.
- Added the ability to rename any hired workers from the View stats menu. You can not change your own manager name, but all of your workers can now be named anything you want. If you want to name there by there specialties or call one Tech Guy Design Guy or name them after your dog and cat at home you can now do so. I hope to add options to let you add names to the random name pool for workers, but not at this time.
- Added the ability to rename a game for the 4th time in the EXP HUD. There is now no reason you can not change that name at some point, if you miss all 5 chances then you are stuck with Project x
- Completely reworked marketing;
The market menu has been removed and its its place is studio options. Currently from this menu is just marketing upgrades, which I know seems odd menu to menu for no reason. However, this studio options will serve to navigate through additional features that are coming soon. You now spend Rp and cash to unlock marketing campaigns (start with first 2 open). You can then level the 3 areas of each campaign which are "hype gained, hype cap, run time". As you level these up you get more hype, higher caps, and shorter run times.
When you hit the first stage menu you have the option to pick a campaign to run, as well as a worker to manage this marketing. The time to run a campaign is reduced by the SPEED of the worker running the campaign, however this worker has his bubbles created reduced by 2/3rds. You can still se him on stages, but his bubble production will be quite low due to being busy marketing. This does not occur on small games, since you are alone this would make small game marketing impossible, hence it doesn't reduce bubbles for smalls only med / large / AAA.
Once chosen these campaigns will keep auto running until the cap for that campaign is reached, or the game is finished. When you hit stage 2 / 3 you can stop the current campaign and run a different one, or you can choose to let it continue to run if it has not yet reached the cap. This should make marketing very easy to use and not tedious at all.
Currently I am not letting you market during delays, to emphasize not having to use delays by making the game perfect. I might consider changing this based on feedback.
Conclusion
That is it for this patch. Please if you have the time to get in there and play with the new patch, if you see anything weird at all bring it to my attention. Either via discord or steam discussions, I will heavily monitor both. I will be working on the new guided stage HUD, but ready to patch any emergency hot fix that might be required. I have only tested the patch to a small extent, I believe it is stable, but I need your help to identify any issues, including of course my favorite types and spelling mistakes :)
Thank you so much for your continued support, and this is just the beginning. I have big ambitions for the game, and I hope you guys are ready to buckle up and take one hell of a ride with me.