Hello everyone,
It's a new feature that may have seemed insignificant at the outset, when the idea first took shape, but which has quickly established itself as that little something extra that we wouldn't want to do without. It also illustrates the direction we want to take the Pro Cycling Manager series: a game that's more accessible for beginners, while remaining rich and stimulating for experienced players.
Before that, it's worth remembering that, despite the diversity of game modes and possibilities, the options available until PCM 2024 remained very limited: a few parameters to customize certain elements, and a difficulty level that was reduced to a simple coefficient applied to opponents (the famous STA_race_difficulty, for those in the know).
So we've completely rethought this system, tackling several key points: firstly, allowing each game to have its own settings. Secondly, to enrich difficulty management with finer, more impactful options. And finally, to offer real game preferences, so that each player can live his or her own PCM experience.
From the outset, as we wanted to introduce more parameters, it seemed essential to start from a solid base. We therefore rethought the system's architecture, clearly separating global options (graphics, audio, accessibility, etc.) from game-specific settings, such as difficulty or game preferences.
Technical options - such as graphics, sound or accessibility settings - remain common to the entire game. They can still be modified in the same menu as before.
On the other hand, everything that defines the experience of a specific game is now configured at the time of its creation, and remains attached to it. This means you can launch several games, each with its own custom settings.
When launching a new game, you go through several simple and clear steps: choosing game data, configuring the difficulty level, then defining your personal preferences. A tailor-made experience, from the very first click.
Of course, most of these parameters can be modified at any time during the game. A dedicated page, easily accessible via a discreet button in the header, lets you adjust your settings with a few clicks.
Only certain very specific parameters cannot be modified once the game has started - notably those that influence initial behaviours or decisive game mechanics from the outset. A logical limitation, designed to ensure a coherent and balanced experience.
We decided on a system with a certain number of difficulty settings, which affect different parts of the game: finances, racing, transfers and sponsors.
There are 4 main difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, Hard, Extreme), which pre-set each parameter to the corresponding level. This is the simplest and most straightforward way to play PCM 25.
If you're a seasoned player, you can go into more detail with an additional level, “Custom”. As the name suggests, here every parameter is adjustable. A difficulty equivalence level is shown in green to give you an idea:
There are a few parameters for the career:
- Finances start of the game : Lets you start with a budget surplus in Easy (25%), Normal (10%) and Hard (5%).
- Prize money coefficient : Coefficient on prize money received when we produce results.
- Sponsors : This parameter impacts several elements linked to sponsors: difficulty of objectives for the season, evaluation of squad objectives and evaluation of race objectives.
- Transfers : This parameter affects two elements in transfers: the dossier points (cost is more or less reduced for the same level of rider depending on the option) and the cyclist's interest in our team (the rider is less demanding in Easy and Normal modes, and more demanding in Extreme mode).
Last but not least, a number of parameters have an impact on the difficulty of the race:
- Level of in-race opponents : This setting adjusts the attributes of our opponents, making them more or less strong. This is actually the old “Difficulty Level” option from PCM 2024.
- Time-trial : Help with the expenditure of energy during individual time-trials and team time-trials.
- Sprints : Help with the expenditure of the red bar during sprints.
In addition to settings that modify difficulty, we have game preferences that will instead affect choices you can have about the gameplay experience.
The old settings still exist, i.e. everything to do with day shape and drop settings.
The new settings are as follows for PCM 25:
- Game name: directly customize the name of your game/save.
- Frequency of punctures : parameter which is applied as a reducing or multiplying coefficient compared to the basic setting (x1.0).
- Freshness : Riders recover +/- freshness between 2 days. The 0 figure corresponds to the default setting of the game. A positive value means that riders recover more, and so tire less, during stage races.
- Impact terrain attributes (2 settings: one for classics, one for tours) : This setting allows you to adjust the impact of terrain features (mountains, plains, valleys, cobblestones, time trials, etc.). A stronger impact gives more importance to all terrain features and therefore tends to favor the differences between the best and the worst riders. This setting therefore directly modifies the skimming and the dynamics of the races.
- Impact Stamina/Resistance (2 settings: one for classics, one for tours) : This parameter allows you to adjust the impact of endurance and resistance characteristics. A stronger impact (to the right) causes more skimming and favors what we call "big engines." Be careful, it also tends to make these "big engines" more versatile since they tire less quickly over time (a Van Aert, for example, will get through long mountain stages better, without becoming a specialist of course).
- A final setting adds a little spice for players who like a challenge: “Settings locked”. As its name suggests, it prevents all game-related options (difficulty and game preference) from being modified.
Pro Cycling Manager 25 will undoubtedly raise new questions, arouse new desires and help us define the next steps to progressively enrich this part of the game.
As always, your feedback will be essential - we're counting on you to help us improve the game and deliver the most personalized experience possible!
>> https://linktr.ee/cyclinggames <<
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2511310/Pro_Cycling_Manager_25/