1.3.0 (Battle Royale mode, Endless mode, Manual saves)

Greetings, writers!

I am proud to announce the release of version 1.3.0. July was a hot month, and the game underwent numerous changes. During development, I accidentally placed all 24 characters on one level. This was a bug, but it gave birth to the idea of "Battle Royale," which I’ve been working on this month. This mode turned out to be much better than the main game (in my opinion). The dynamics and sense of competition in "Battle Royale" feel just right, something I haven’t managed to fully capture in the main game yet.

I also want to thank Valve for providing a free Steam Deck (Developer Kit). I plan to improve the game for this device.

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Almost all changes were made based on feedback and forum posts. Thank you all for participating! ːsteamthumbsupː

Main Changes:

• "Battle Royale" Mode (what, is it 2017 again?).
• "Endless Game" Mode (as promised).
• The ability to save at any time.
• 4 new original tracks. Thanks to composer Andrey Romanov for the soundtrack!

Battle Royale

The rules are simple. Writers write a book on a given topic. When all writers finish writing their books, the worst writer is eliminated from the tournament. Then the topic changes, and the cycle starts again. The winner is the one who remains the last writer. The round ends when all writers finish their books.

Of course, it’s not that simple. This mode implements the Action Points (AP) mechanic. Research and editing cannot be exploited without limits. The cost of research or editing is 1 action point. The game includes a description of how to earn AP. When a player has no AP, they cannot edit their book. This mechanic forces players to plan their steps ahead. For example, if you spend all your AP right away, after a few rounds, you may run out of points, the book rating without editing will be lower, and the risk of being eliminated increases.

Various events have also been added. Sometimes the conditions of the rounds change, forcing you to change your approach to writing the book.

A statistics window has also been added for this mode:

In this mode, you need to write a book on a pre-selected topic. You cannot choose the topic yourself. This was done to create equal conditions for players and diversify the gameplay. It also forces the player to choose a genre for the topic rather than a topic for the genre, as it was in the main game.

Relationships with the player play a greater role in "Battle Royale." For example, if an eliminated player has a good relationship with you, it increases the chance they will give you AP.

Everything happens on one chart. Sometimes the chart turns into a complete mess, as it displays the progress of 24 players at once. In any case, the mode turned out to be interesting, and I hope you enjoy it.

Endless Mode

You can start the endless mode by selecting a new game or loading any of your saves and selecting "Upload Progress." (You can even load from saves where the game is not completed)

An option to continue the game in endless mode has also been added to the end game screen.

Endless mode has a customizable duration and an option to "add opponents." So you can play alone or with opponents. It might be worth adding some goals for endless mode, but I haven’t come up with anything yet. If you think there should be specific goals for endless mode, please write about it.

Saves

Since the game was made without a specific engine, such a basic function as manual saves didn’t work "out of the box." I had to work a bit, but now you can save the game at any time (when no active windows are open). A brief list of work with saves:

• Added an autosave function every 6 minutes (autosave does not overwrite the main save file, a separate file is created for autosaves)
• Removed the function of overwriting the save when a round ends in the main game (this was done to give the player more control over saves and to allow them to load an earlier save if a round ends unsuccessfully)
• Added a modal window "Do you really want to exit..." when ending the game.
• Redesigned save logic. Now the game won’t break if any extra file gets into the save folder.
• Previously, the save id was linked to the save file name. This was silly, so now the save name can be anything.
• Added indication of the game mode for saves.
• Steam Cloud.

Other Changes

• Character interactions are duplicated in the character information window.
• Added information on why an action might be unavailable.
• On the editing screen, if the "Edit" button is unavailable, a description of the reasons for unavailability has been added.
• Almost all buttons and icons on the main screen show what action they perform when hovered over.
• Auto-opening of the "Level" select when hovering was removed. Now you need to click on the select to open it.
• Added additional player colors for "Tournament" and "Battle Royale" modes.
• Added an event when other writers freeze your book (previously there was no event, and many didn’t understand what was happening and why the book writing process stopped).
• Added an event when other writers team up to take away your prestige points (for "Tournament" mode).
• Fixed tooltips. Now it never goes off-screen.
• Fixed a situation where AI offered too small an amount during a duel.
• Changed the balance of "Level 1". Now the AI is not so tough.
• Added sound effects when the form validation fails (e.g., book title or main character name form).
• Added more allowable characters for the book. You can now use exclamation marks, parentheses, and other symbols.
• Added the ability to click on player images in the "Start Level" or "End Level" modal window. Now you can go to player profiles even before the game starts.
• Changed the logic of displaying typewriters in the store. Now when you open the "typewriters" tab, the most current generation of typewriters is displayed (not the generation of your used typewriter).
• Now, when performing basic actions (choosing an ending, editing, etc.), you get more prestige. The limit has changed from 100 to 200.
• Added luck dependence for the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game.
• Added a border for the numbers inside the chart (for contrast).
• Replaced the achievement "Course Eater" (complete all courses) with "Last Hero" (win the Battle Royale). I’m not a fan of adding new achievements with game updates (like Paradox Int. does, for example). I respect players who have already earned their platinum and forgotten about the game. So instead of adding a new achievement for Battle Royale, I decided to replace the least popular existing achievement.

Bugs

• Fixed character list display for Steam Deck.
• Fixed issue where the game would unpause after selecting an interaction with a character.
• Compressed music files. Some tracks were previously over 30 MB! This is unacceptable.

That's about it. I understand that the game has its flaws - it doesn't remember successful slider combinations, and it lacks depth in the late game. In future updates, I will focus on writing mechanics. Please continue to report bugs and errors. I think that by doing this

and this

, at least one error I missed will definitely slip through. I hope I'm wrong.

Planned Updates:

• Changing the names of secondary book characters.
• Additional goals for each round.
• Saving at any time (this is not easy, believe me).
• Remembering slider settings from previous books.
• Endless mode.
• A "normal" tutorial.
• Adding publisher mechanics and publisher tasks.
• Contracts.
• Editing book covers.
• Perk system.
• 200 more stories.
• More events, including real-world events. (Is this needed?)
• Sequels (still figuring out how to do this right).
• Hall of Fame, more detailed statistics.

Unplanned Updates:

• Battle Royale.

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Leave your feedback and suggestions for improving the game, thank you all!