Hello!
Update 0.8.26EA
- Fixed a problem with an “empty” pre production screen for some save files.
- Fixed an issue where a movie that didn't get any reviews could lock up the game.
But of course we're not here today just for such a minor update. It's May, so we decided to tell you a little bit more about what we are working on and how the game will change in the near future. Many of you have seen our roadmap, but it was rather superficial and only outlined our general plans as we saw them before the start of Early Access.
We've been following your feedback closely, reading thousands of posts and emails and watching hundreds of hours of streams and videos. And we have come to the conclusion that the small additions we have planned for the coming months for Act 1, while we are working on Act 2, just won’t be enough. Act 1 needs not only new content, but serious systemic improvements, and we're already hard at work on them.
We'll continue to release regular patches with bugfixes and minor improvements, but the bigger changes will come in one big update. For a while we called it “The Super Update”, but when it came time to decide on a name, “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” seemed quite appropriate.
Here’s a very brief overview of what we're cooking.
Complete rebalancing
The difficulty curve will become smoother, and there will be virtually no prices, bonuses, or any other values in the game that won't be revised. It will be easier to survive the first few years and get used to the basic mechanics, but after that the game will require you to watch your spending more carefully and use all the tools more efficiently. The struggle to make each movie profitable will become more tangible.
Scripts will now work a little differently
The game will encourage you to find and effectively use new story elements and constantly put together fresh and increasingly complex story combinations.
First, the final result will depend a bit more heavily on how well you put the elements together.
Second, the maximum score of the script will be limited by the number of elements you use -- which, in turn, will limit the maximum score of the future movie. It will take effort to make a truly outstanding script.
Third, story elements will now “wear out” from frequent use and will be less likely to attract an audience for a while.
These and a few other changes will increase your engagement in putting stories together, but more importantly, good results will feel more deserved and rewarding. An 8 point movie would be an impressive outcome. A 9 point movie would be an incredible accomplishment. A 10 point movie would be a sensation. And all of these updated rules will apply to your competitors just the same.
Redesigned security department
In the current version of the game, the usefulness of agents is often not very clear, and the progression within the department is quite confusing.
Not only have we made things clearer, but we've also added new functionality.
For example, if you find compromising material on an employee of a rival studio (and a lot more people will now keep secrets), you can use this as leverage to instantly poach them to your studio. And if you found out what illegal gift an employee of a rival studio prefers and gave it to them, they will automatically come to you with an offer when their current contract expires.
But there is another side to this: competitors will become more aggressive and learn the same tricks. So the department's role in the game will increase dramatically.
Parties
It may seem like a small thing in the big picture, but still, Hollywood isn't really Hollywood without parties. After all, it's a great way to make everyone happy.
100+ new events
Incidents at various stages of production, new scandals, new legal entanglements, and even a chance to find out who puts out the Bonegrinder paper.
Many QoL improvements and enhancements
We're making more transparent and friendly all those elements of the game that are now confusing or just plain annoying, and we're also fixing many UI glitches and adding additional explanations wherever they're needed.
The update is still several weeks away from being ready -- so expect it in June rather than May -- and will contain a lot more stuff than we've listed. But we decided to share the first details as early as possible so you can get a better idea of what direction the game is heading in.
About a week before the release “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” will become available on a separate test branch for anyone who wants to help us with testing. So stay tuned!
Thank you!