Hi everyone!
Thank you very much for your valuable feedback. We’ve been working hard to improve the game, and we’ve prepared a massive update for the upcoming Steam Deckbuilders Fest! There are a lot of changes and improvements, so let’s go through them one by one.
1) TOOLS!
We reviewed the effects of all tools and found that some had become outdated. In earlier versions of the game, where “tags” played a more prominent role, tag tools like Certification, License, Slate, Slab, etc offered more meaningful decisions. Over time, however, they became less interesting. So instead of holding onto designs that no longer felt engaging, we decided to remove them entirely. Gone. Reduced to ashes.
So… does that mean fewer items? Not at all.
We’ve replaced them with a wide range of new and more exciting tools: Big Axe, Bottled Plant, Cage, Candle, Coin Purse, Coupon Book, Emerald, Flail, Green Crystal, Keychains, Landlord Certificate, Landlord Emblem, Landlord Invitation, Landlord Key, Landlord License, Landlord Sign, Mezzaluna Knife, Nails, Necklace, Ring, Ruby, Sack, Slotted Spoon, Squeezer, Staff, Stakes, Tankard, Torch, VIP List, Waterskin, Yarn, and Yellow Crystal.
As you might have guessed, the new Landlord series takes over the role previously filled by tag-based tools. Other new items introduce entirely new game-changing mechanics. For example, Staff (reaching the target quota no longer ends the season) and Big Axe (applies Fragile material to shop tools. Fragile tools are free).
We’re excited for you to try them out!
2) SELLING SYSTEM!
We added selling to the game! Now, instead of always discarding your items, you can sell them for some credit by discarding them in the shop. The tooltip and UI will display how much credit you’ll earn (1C for common, 2C for uncommon, and 3C for rare blueprint or tools). Be careful, though, as “selling” won’t count as “discarding,” so if you discard an item in the shop, you won’t trigger certain item effects! Also, you can't sell foods as the shopkeeper won't accept it. Since discarding is now more limited, we buffed some items that synergize with discards, such as Pawn Shop.
This change was implemented because players often found themselves needing just 1 or 2 more credits to buy items. But with no way to stretch their resources even a little further, players had to be cautious about restocking the shop, as they needed to anticipate whether they could afford the most expensive items it offered. This change makes that decision-making process much easier and smoother, and we like it quite a lot!
3) NEW STAMPS AND TOOL MODIFICATIONS
We’ve updated several stamps to make them more exciting and impactful:
Rent Stamp: Now turns a blueprint/property into a rent-type and grants rent to the stamped property itself.
Tenant Stamp: Now turns a blueprint/property into a tenant-type and grants tenants to the stamped property itself.
Double Stamp: Doubles both rent and tenants of a property.
Hand Stamp: Grants rent and tenants while held in hand.
We’ve also moved away slightly from the old “land-to-gain” design of other stamps. Our goal is for stamps to change rules and meaningfully modify gameplay, rather than simply adding numbers.
We’ve renamed the “tool type" to "Material". For example, instead of “Eco Tool,” it is now applied as "Eco Material". We’ve updated the visuals of these modified tools as well.
Chromatic Material, Eco Material, and Holographic Material remain the same aside from their names.
Burning Tool has been renamed to Flammable Material.
Fragile Material and Golden Material have been newly added. Discover what they do in the game!
Hovering over items that apply or interact with stamps/materials now displays detailed information about them, similar to special tenants.
4) REDESIGNED PROPERTIES
While properties were already in a good place, we felt some lacked identity and impact compared to others. So, we’ve been reworking a number of them, including: Airport, Church, Library, Metro Station, Monument, Menusem, Parking Lot, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Post Office, Recycling Center, Town Hall, Train, Bridge, Theater, Warehouse, Newspaper Stand, Nuclear Plant, Graveyard, University, Baseball Stadium, Rugby Stadium, Botanic Garden, Eco House.
We’ve also added a bunch of new special tenants and reworks!
Botanist: When Botanist lands on a tile, the tile gains $150 base rent per empty tile slot on the tile. Botanist moves forward 1 tile each turn.
Baseball Player: When Baseball Player lands on a tile with stadium, collect 25% of accumulated rent on the tile. Baseball Player moves 1 tile forward each turn.
Cook: reworked into When cook lands on a tile, cook consumes food from properties on the tile. Cook moves forward 1 tile each turn.
Builder & Electrician: (available in the full version)!
Some of these newly reworked properties may not be accessible in the demo version, but we wanted to give you a glimpse of what we’ve been working on!
5) ITEM DESCRIPTION OVERHAUL
While the game’s rules and flow eventually clicked for some players, some found it confusing at first. We took this feedback to heart and carefully reviewed all texts in the game. As a result, we’ve rewritten much of the text to make it clearer and easier to understand.
Most notably, we introduced the keyword “base” to clearly distinguish between a tile’s rent value and a property's rent value. This also helps clarify what affects what in other cases, making the game’s mechanics easier to understand at a glance.
As part of this process, parts of the tutorial have also been rewritten and improved to better communicate the game.
Also, some niche mechanics such as treasure chest now shows what it does when you hover over it.
6) IMPROVED GRAPHICS!
This has been an ongoing effort since the 0.7 patches, but we’ve continued improving the game’s punch and juice. Shop items are now more responsive, and blueprint packages are easier to identify. Also, some of small visual bugs (material information not showing the correct value, or side information panel going nearly offscreen) has been addressed and fixed.
7) BUG FIXES AND BUG FIXES!
We’ve been testing and patching as much as possible to resolve a wide range of issues. Most notably, the crash caused by interactions between Tea & Golden Fork, and Kneepad & Glue has been fixed.
Addressing this required us to completely rewrite parts of the underlying game mechanics, which is what has taken up most of our time.
We’ve also made various visual improvements and smaller fixes across the game.
8) SAVE DATA
As we've been fixing and addressing a lot of stuff, some internal changes were inevitable. So, the save from the previous version may not work with the 0.8.0 version of the demo, especially if you load a run where you were holding removed tools.
Please restart the run to clear the data from the previous version.
Thank you, and have fun!