Happy weekend!
There's lots of fun stuff in this update, so let's unpack it.
Note - because there are so many changes to the early game, for the first time I am wiping Game-Saves. This won't impact achievements or anything, just any current games in progress. I have avoided doing this and have been able to implement new changes so far without losing save games, but at this point there have been so many changes, I felt it was better to start fresh!
The Storyline
The storyline of the game has been present, but fairly minimal so far - your Mother is a big-shot Producer and you are following in her footsteps...but she has no confidence in you.
This update takes you a lot deeper in that story
Mom Creator / Tutorial
The Mom intro has been revamped and she is no longer a shadowy figure.
When you start a new game, you also get to design your Mom and name her. She is your Guide and Nemesis throughout the game.
Levels 1-3 have been heavily rebalanced and sped up as Mom guides you to a full Production Studio.
- Level 1 is now a simple tutorial where Mom guides you through hiring your first 12 Employees, and making your first few pieces of Media.
- Level 2 is unguided (Mom leaves and will come back once you've finished the level), but the To-Do list is more explicit in it's direction. You are free to do things your own way, but if you follow the To-Do list, it will guide you through the level quickly and help you understand the dynamics of the different Departments.
- In Level 3 Mom gives you her last advice and leaves. She is too busy to babysit you and is honestly surprised you're not bankrupt yet. This To-Do list has been rebalanced as well.
After that, Mom leaves you in the hands of a couple of her friends - an Executive and a Producer - who will guide you through levels 4-6 as you build up your Crew and hire a Corporate staff and prepare to start winning Awards at levels 7-8!
Corruption Pathway
One of the major themes of the game is the idea that it's easier to get ahead in the Industry through corruption and shady deals than it is through quality artwork! Your Mom has clearly taken the pathway of Corruption, and following her would certainly make it easier to win Awards...but it comes at the cost of your Employee and Fan Happiness.
At the beginning of each level, you'll see a new article that mentions your Studio's rise under your Mom's supervision. The article will comment on your Corruption choices as the game goes.
Following this article, you will be presented with a choice:
- A simple one-time Money payout
- A permanent Perk like reducing the cost of Employee Salaries or increasing Media Royalty
Of course, the Perk option will begin to Corrupt you. Corruption will only have a minor impact at the beginning, but as you go, your choices will start to add up with things like lowering happiness, making employees more likely to walk-out or get poached, and giving you less time to handle the Fan Demands of Level 8. These issues will compound greatly in the future level 9 (not currently available) when you start dealing with PR disasters.
Selling Your Soul
Corruption is also now connected to the current "selling your soul" features (you are able to trade portions of your Soul for Perks or Loans).
Selling your Soul now also contributes to your Corruption Level. You can restore your Soul Pieces, but the Corruption is permanent.
Balancing
As always, due to updates or player feedback, things get balanced around a bit!
Animators
This was a highly requested issue as Animators are the biggest bottleneck of production - the number of Animators on a real production greatly outnumbers the rest of the departments - so for gameplay, I'm balancing it a little better.
- Now you only need to start with 4 Animators per Editor instead of 5 per Editor. Especially as you need a higher percentage of Animation in the future, this should dramatically reduce the number of Animators you need overall.
- Since the Animators are now working 20% faster, I always increased their salary by about 15% as well. This makes them slightly cheaper overall, but not a whole 20% cheaper!
- As part of this issues, there is also a new 4th Coffee Brew. The previous Perk (Rotted Potatoes Score increase) has been replaced with a new Animator's Brew. The rest of the crew still get the Happiness and alertness from the Coffee, but only the Animators get a big speed boost!
Soul
- Soul Restoration has now become significantly cheaper, only costing $250,000 or 250 themes instead of $1,000,000 or 1,000 themes.
- To compensate for new changes, the Soul Perk about Happiness has been dramatically increased
Extra Credit
- Reduced the amount of inventory required for levels 2-4 Extra Credit as it was too high to be enjoyable.
- Increased the amount of XP earned for each item.
Full Seasons
- They now unlock at level 4 (instead of 2, which was way too early) with the Executives when you're really building up.
- Seasons also now make over twice as much money, making them much more valuable, and worth the longer build time.
Player Widget / New Clipboard
The Phone has been completely removed from the game. It wasn't easy to read, and now with the new Tutorial and Pop-Ups, it has been rendered useless.
The Perks and Pains icon has also been relocated. This would help you track which Perks were currently active, but due to its difficulty to access/read, many players weren't even aware of its purpose.
It has now taken the place of the Blue Clipboard, which was also starting to lack purpose due to other updates. The blue clipboard has three tabs at the top so you can track anything that's impacting Speed / Media Sales / or Employee Salary and Happiness.
Random
- Fixed a glitch where XP Sickness wasn't reducing the chance of getting properly
- Increased number of Producer Retraining Pods from 3 to 4.
- Fixed a glitch that was causing some Catch a Break Perks to not activate properly
- New Achievements