Tavern Keeper’s biggest update ever is here, adding a new scenario level (dwarves!), new mechanics as well as expandable taverns(!), cellars (!!!), and a ton of other improvements!
Key Features of Update 2
Cellars
With Update 2, you can now dig out your own cellars, build stairs, and give yourself much more space to work with in every single level of the game. These are features we had actively ruled out before and that simply wouldn't exist without you! We just want to say thanks for your constructive input, the game is much better because of it.
Cellars and stairs truly adds a whole new level to Tavern Keeper, if you'll excuse the pun, and gives you so many interesting new options on how to build and structure your tavern.
Little dev note: We never planned for multi-level taverns and implementing this was the single biggest architectural change we have ever done, touching practically every system: from adjusting our game systems so that heat, cold and fires propagate up and down stairs, to changing every single level, including Freeplay variations, and adding cellars to them.
We also spent extra time making sure that these new features are available in all your existing taverns, not just newly started ones.
Stairs were a fun challenge: we ended up placing individual markers on every step so that our walk animations feel right and characters tilt their heads up and down as they walk on them, just to name a few tiny details. We are also particularly happy with the improvements to our build system which enable you to place full furniture items right underneath staircases (or even hang a chandelier off the staircase, if you wish).
(That bed for me, boss? Thanks!)
Tavern Expansions
Digging down is not the only way you can expand your tavern footprint in Update 2. The Riverbottom, Halflington, and Domhain levels have also received expandable areas on the ground level.
(Gugamush's unique architecture and layout make adding ground-expansions impractical, but the Orc level received a huge diggable underground area to make up for it.)
Construct Foundations
Both cellars and the tavern expansions make use of the new “Construct Foundation” tool which you can find in the Build Room menu.
By default, constructing a foundation takes both a lot of gold and time. You buy the land and then your Dogsbody staffers clear debris and manually construct the foundations of the expanded tavern before you can build on the new area.
You can speed up construction by hiring and assigning dedicated staff for the task or, as with many features in Tavern Keeper, you can fine-tune these systems to your liking with the game difficulty settings by increasing construction speed or even making it instantaneous.
Level - Domhain
The fourth and largest campaign scenario brings you deep under the mountain in Domhain: The home of the dwarves. Build your grandest tavern yet, dig out ancient rooms, and assist the local dwarven clans to unearth a long-lost artefact.
This new scenario adds many hours of tavern keeping fun, dozens of new stories and introduces some unique challenges and characters. It also gives you the largest buildable area and the most freedom on where and how you want to build your tavern.
Shop
As your tavern expands, you can now run your own tavern shop. Buy goods from the merchant or from one of many trading points on the world map and offer them in your shop. Set prices, then watch out for demand spikes and supply shortages while providing enough variety to satisfy your patrons.
Blacksmith
Higher tier patrons often want to buy tools and weapons from your shop and while you can (usually) buy them through trading points in the dwarven mountains, with a bit of an investment (and the right hire) you can also build and operate your own blacksmith.
Earthquakes
A unique challenge in the mountains of Domhain are earthquakes. Watch out for the damage they cause and make sure your Dogsbodies are ready for repairs!
Desserts
Desserts bring some new sweet (or tough, or gross - depending on your choices) culinary options for your discerning patrons. Desserts require a Cake Base which you can bake in the Bread Oven and store in your larder. When someone orders a dessert, your Chefs then finalize the cake at the Cake Table with a wide variety of toppings.
Staff Duties
You can now designate staff to prioritize (or avoid) specific duties as part of their roles.
This feature is much more impactful than it might first seem as it allows you to optimize your staff assignments like never before. Want one server to focus on serving at the bar and another to serve tables? Want your best chef to focus on cooking while others do the serving and preparations? With Staff Duties, now you can!
Guild Levels
Every time you earn a new tavern star in a scenario level, you increase your Guild Level. When you reach a new maximum star rating in any level, you can now go back to your previous taverns and also raise your tavern stars there (as well as use those freshly unlocked features and services).
Tavern Reputation
We have reworked and simplified how tavern reputation works and how it appears. Previously, this was a rather hidden and obscure mechanic and in Update 2 it should be simpler to understand and plays a big role in the new Dwarven level. We plan to build on this system more in the future.
Reworked Patron Ratings
Update 2 changes how patrons rate your food, drinks, and services. Patrons are now more discerning about personal preferences and price. If you want to satisfy all patrons from different types, it will require a little bit more nuance and variety on your tavern menu.
Additional Quality-of-Life Features
In the past months we have added many other quality-of-life features and improvements, many of which were shipped as part of small patches already but here is a list of some noteworthy additions new to Update 2.
Janitors and Dogsbodies are now much smarter and more efficient than before.
Staff Schedule can now be sorted and filtered.
Storage shelves now have an option to reserve the entire room for particular item types or items.
Taps remember their selected drinks when they run out.
You can now assign drinks to taps that are temporarily out-of-stock.
New "Mute Misophonia Triggers" setting that mutes sounds like burping, vomiting and munchy eating sounds.
When staff can't reach an area, they now continue doing other things and show an error with a clear link to where they wanted to go.
Clicking the same spot repeatedly now cycles through every object under the cursor.
(Design Mode): Selected snapping points now stay stable when switching between object variations.
Late To Work behaviour on Tier 1 staff is now a visible trait.
The full (rather long) changelog also follows further below.
Player Tavern Showcase
From one of our experimental players: An incredible player-created tavern full of customized (hand-made) dwarven themed furniture and decorations.
Steam Reviews
If you like what we are building for you with Tavern Keeper, please consider writing a Steam review. Your support and encouragement mean more to us than you might imagine, and as a small independent self-published studio we only exist because of you.
What's Next?
Update 2 has already received many fixes and balance changes as part of our Experimental branch refinement (thanks to all testers, truly!). The update should be in a good spot. However, if you spot any bugs or have any feedback, please send them through (preferably by pressing F3 in-game) and we'll address any issues that might arise. We are also not done listening to our players so any feedback of things you’d like to see in future updates are also welcome.
After Update 2 settles, we'll focus on our next goal on our Roadmap: Major Update 3: "Strut Your Staff". Where Update 2 gives you more space, more ways to build your tavern and much more to do, Update 3 will give you more options on what staffers you get, how you manage and evolve your staff and how you run your tavern, among other surprises.
Until next time,
Patrick
And the Tavern Keeper Team
Full Changelog
For those curious about (hopefully all) the new changes, here's the full changelog.
New
New scenario level: Domhain, the largest campaign scenario yet, with dozens of new stories
Diggable cellars in every level
Tavern expansion areas in Riverbottom, Halflington and Domhain
Tavern Shop: buy goods and sell them in your own shop
Blacksmith: forge your own tools and weapons for the shop
Desserts: bake cakes and offer desserts on your tavern menu
Earthquakes in Domhain
Staff Duties: have staff prioritize or avoid specific duties of their role
Guild Levels: raise all your scenario taverns up to your maximum achieved star rating
Reworked tavern reputation
Reworked patron ratings with more discerning patrons
Doors now come in three sizes (Narrow Door, Wide Door and Grand Door) and can be built on outer walls
10 new main stories and 30 new side stories for the Gugamush gazette
Three new music tracks
New staff traits, including Wants To Sleep Underground and Loves Construction Work
Patrons with Diarrhea now have their own (very urgent) toilet animations
New "Mute Misophonia Triggers" setting
New "Hold to Rotate Continuously" setting (default on)
Closed rooms are now dimmed and indicate when they reopen (opt-out under Settings)
Clone option in the furniture right-click menu
New sound effects for free drinks, placating and kicking out patrons, and many menus
(Design Mode): Hovering over a style now previews it on the object
Quality of Life
Staff Schedules can now be sorted and filtered
Staff Schedule entries can now be copied via right-click
Staff who can't do the selected role are now dimmed in the Staff Schedules
New "Reserve all in room" storage shelf option
Taps now remember their drinks when they run out
Out-of-stock drinks can now be assigned to taps
Staff who can't reach something now carry on with other work while indicating the problem
Clicking the same spot now cycles through all objects under the cursor
Saving no longer cancels placing or moving furniture or building rooms
Toggling snapping and cycling snapping points now have separate key bindings
Rooms now show their name and cost on the floor while building rooms
Blocked wall sections (or blocking furniture) are now outlined in red while dragging walls
Furniture can now be moved while a character is walking toward it
Guides can now be skipped once or permanently (you can re-enable them in Settings)
Deleting a save now asks for confirmation
Status bar buttons stay highlighted while their window is open and clicking them again closes it
Info panel arrows now cycle staff and furniture in better order
Tavern Menu remembers the last selected category
After creating a meal in the Meal Designer, the Tavern Menu opens on that meal's category
Price sliders now indicate the default price
Tavern Menu now shows when a dish is disabled
Item tooltips now indicate when an ingredient is missing
Storage Overview now shows an alert icon on items that can't be made
Scroll Rack info panel now shows how many scrolls are left
Shops with an active Arcane Orders contract now have an appropriately magical glow on the World Map
Checklist goals with large targets (like gold or room size) now also show your progress as numbers
Tavern Log now shows more information about several events
The New Unlocks screen closes faster
Crowded event icons on the timeline now group together better
Patron Satisfaction chart now groups extra patrons into a badge when a column is full
Furniture that staff can't reach now shows an "Unreachable" warning, and a new "Unreachable rooms" alert shows rooms nobody can walk into
Staff trapped in a walled-off area now trigger the "Some characters are stuck" alert
Late To Work is now a visible trait on some tier 1 staff, who are no longer late every single day
(Design Mode): Snapping points now stay selected when switching variations
Improvements
Janitors and Dogsbodies are now much smarter and more efficient
Staff now consider walking distance instead of straight-line distance when picking tasks
Idle staff now stay close to where they last worked instead of wandering across the tavern
Off-duty staff no longer stand around at their work stations
Staff now repair broken furniture before damaged furniture, and fix broken or sparking furniture before other Dogsbody work
Urgently needed furniture (like your only Food Window) is now repaired first, even by off-duty staff
Staff now wait briefly for a colleague to refill a nearby tap or shelf instead of walking to one in another room
Janitors now grab a mop closer to the room they're polishing
A small fire no longer makes every patron at a table get up to put it out
Tired patrons now finish what they are doing before heading home and no longer leave while waiting for their order
Dirt from destroyed furniture now spreads better
Served plates now slide onto the table instead of snapping into place
In Freeplay, the Gugamush and Domhain regions now unlock as your tavern gains stars
Patron gifts are now more likely to contain furniture designs you don't own yet
Custom decorations that block movement now block far less ground
Bulletin Board and Work Schedule now block less space in front of them
Food Window "Too many orders" hint now suggests scheduling more Chefs
Patron Attraction Board now shows a checkmark on confirmed groups
Hour labels and icons in the Staff Schedules are now easier to read
Tasks in an info panel's task list no longer jump around while you prioritize them
A "denied" sound now plays when assigning a role a staff member can't do
The "Bomb" action on infestation nests is now called "Use Nest Killer"
Honeycomb is now called Honey
A staff member's days off in the Wares Wolf story now show up in the Tavern Log
Skyler's job application in Halflington now expires after 14 days
Letting staff play Slippery Wigglies now cleans the floors as well as polishing them
The Warmongrel story now picks a more suitable staff member
Narration and voice-overs now pause while the game is in the background
Saving is now more reliable
Subscribed Workshop designs with damaged downloads are now re-downloaded at startup
Improved performance, especially in large taverns and taverns with many staff
Improved performance when building and demolishing walls in large taverns
Improvements to localizations across the board
(Design Mode): Improved performance while decorating
Balance
The mix of patron tiers visiting your tavern now adapts to your tavern stars
Bedrooms and the Front Office now unlock at 2 tavern stars (was 1.5)
3-star bedrooms can now hold 2 beds (with a footlocker for each) and no longer need a Wardrobe
Maximum bedroom prices now depend on the room's star rating
Higher-tier patrons now accept higher bedroom prices
Taprooms no longer need a minimum number of tables for 3 stars
Tier 1 and 2 patrons now treat food as optional more often
The Merchant now offers goods closer to your tavern's star rating
Side dishes now have higher flavor ratings
Patrons now get less tired
Waiting patrons now lose patience faster when they have nowhere to wait
Staff with the Wants To Sleep In Darkness trait are now less bothered by dim light
A Chef's low-skill penalty on a meal is now capped
Dartboards last longer before needing repairs
Food Windows get less dirty
Fixes
Staff
Several cases of stuck staff
Clumsy staff who tripped while refilling a tap would sometimes remove the keg again
Staff woken up mid-sleep could keep walking around in their night clothes
Staff and patrons busy with something else sometimes ignored the evacuation when the fire brigade was called
Entertainers were cut off abruptly when the stage caught fire during a performance
Staff with several tasks lined up could start a routine one before a more urgent one, like fighting a fire
Fire extinguishers sometimes stayed unavailable after the last fire was out
Idle Servers sometimes picked the furthest away task instead of the most suitable one
Repairs sometimes stalled and never finished
Rebuilding a burnt Key Rack or Firefighting Gear left it empty
Fixed several staff happiness issues related to specific traits and situations
Staff who joined through a story could get upset about colleagues fired before they arrived
Advertising for staff could reshuffle the applicants already shown and stayed more expensive for longer than intended
Characters could stand still for a few seconds after some activities
Furniture and tool animations could lag behind characters at faster game speeds
Carried items could turn invisible when set down or, in rare cases, appear giant (like covering the whole screen big!)
Janitors could have a second broom and bucket sliding along at their feet
Janitors could get stuck trying to reach dirt in walled-off corners
"Clean here" and "Polish floors" orders sent staff to the dirt nearest to them instead of the spot you clicked
Fires and fights in polished rooms could leave invisible dirt spots that Janitors kept trying to clean
Servers with the Multi-Order Taker trait sometimes froze at the Food Window
Orders sometimes went unserved when the Server who took them went to bed or on leave
Plates of food could pile up on the floor in front of the Food Window
Patrons
Several cases of stuck patrons
Patrons sitting back to back at different tables could start a conversation
Patrons could complain about "No social interaction!" even after chatting with others
Patrons with Diarrhea could go to the toilet twice in a row after loading a save
Patrons sometimes washed their hands far away from the Wash Basin in the air
Selling a Dartboard mid-game left the patron throwing darts forever
Fights could throw characters through walls
Patrons waiting to start a story could block furniture
Patrons couldn't leave a room after it was set to staff-only
Kicking out a patron sometimes did nothing while they were busy
After offering a free drink, Try To Placate and Kick Out stayed disabled until the patron's next drink order
Waiting patrons kept the Seated patience bonus after standing up
Patrons who didn't order anything could still rate the service and were counted as having left early
Patrons in a group could end up with different needs than the rest of their group, or keep group traits from a previous visit
Timeline events and stories sometimes sent patrons wanting rooms of a higher star rating than the scenario allowed
Several room booking issues: patrons losing a room they paid for, being charged for a room they never got, or a bedroom staying reserved after its guest left
Tired patrons could go to bed halfway through checking in and leave their room key on the Registration Desk forever
Patrons could fall asleep standing up when their reserved bed was briefly unavailable, and kept their sleep icon after waking up
The Registration Desk warned about missing Key Racks when a Key Rack was only temporarily unusable
In Freeplay, patrons could ask for accommodation before bedrooms could be built
Right-clicking a patron's gift box offered "Trash item", which destroyed the gift unopened
Gift boxes could in rare cases open with nothing inside
Kitchen & Larder
Several cases where Chefs got stuck
Bread, stews and roasts that were cooking when you saved took about six times longer to finish after loading (ouch!)
Meals made by several low-skilled Chefs could drop to 0 stars
Canceled orders could leave a half-cooked meal on the station or make the Chef's ingredients vanish
Changing the Soup Pot's dish while a Chef was picking up a serving left the Chef empty-handed
Idle Chefs sometimes left a finished meal for other staff to fetch from across the tavern
Fixed several Roasting Spit issues, like it getting stuck waiting to be cleaned, its fire going out between batches or finished roasts disappearing
Homemade bread recipes deleted from the Tavern Menu sometimes kept being baked
After renaming a dish, the Soup Pot and Storage Overview kept showing its old name
An emptied barrel or keg could still count as stock
Cooling Fountains were refilled outside their scheduled maintenance hours
Clicking quickly through an Arcane Orders contract offer could break the contract
Building & Design Mode
Furniture could be blocked by a nearby chair even though there was room to reach it
Room star requirements sometimes stayed unmet after a fire
Rooms could be built through the middle of a doorway
Moving a door could leave a "Room without a door!" alert on a room that had a door
Doors could be built over walls holding snapped furniture, leaving it floating
The Food Window's blocked access points only showed after building it, not while placing it
Furniture could snap through walls
Quick-rotating snapped furniture was glitchy
A Bar Counter removed from between two corner pieces couldn't be placed back
Demolish Mode sometimes couldn't select shelves or tables with items on them
Moving or removing an object could also mistakenly remove the atmosphere effects of another object
Build menu sometimes didn't fully close when opened and closed quickly
Sorting the build menu by cost, name or stars sometimes didn't work correctly
Furniture limit counter on build menu buttons was hard to read
Custom furniture designs sometimes showed a blank thumbnail in the build menu
Retrying a failed design import could show duplicate entries
The Design Mode helper cone on light decorations could get dirty or catch fire
(Design Mode): Clicking pieces could stop selecting them after saving a design template
(Design Mode): Saving sometimes left invisible furniture behind
(Design Mode): The right-click menu could sometimes act on the wrong Design Item
(Design Mode): Decorations assigned to a socket had no move handles when selected together with the socket
(Design Mode): Cloned decorations could lose their scale or snap to the wrong point
(Design Mode): Resetting a decoration's rotation or scale moved its pivot away from the decoration
(Design Mode): The Eyedropper didn't work correctly while placing a new decoration
Stories & Events
Some stories could no longer be opened if they first appeared while another window was open
Pressing Escape right after picking a story's last choice could close the book without the choice counting, so the story repeated later
In Gugamush, the "Order more fuel base" checklist steps for Rock-It Fuel could uncheck themselves
The smuggler could sell ingredients you couldn't use yet
When replaying Gugamush, Onic's story could assume you had agreed to an installment plan
Fate Spinner sounds sometimes kept playing after a story ended
Narration from before loading a save could play again after loading
In rare cases, a tavern star could be awarded before its requirements were met
In Freeplay, furniture designs from patron gift boxes weren't added to your collection
The unlock screen could get stuck
Interface & Text
Fixed several issues with tooltips, such as links not opening, spoiler text disappearing or the patience tooltip showing outdated modifiers
Staff Schedules showed the Chef icon on Generalist hours while the kitchen was still locked
Some staff traits, like Undead, didn't show in the Staff Schedules
The "No Arcane Order Desk" alert appeared when no order needed a desk
Some windows could appear on top of each other or show through the handbook
The stamp on staff hiring and loan documents sometimes got stuck
Long letter titles overflowed the letter header
At 16:10 resolutions, the status bar could block some filter buttons
The camera wobbled and stuttered slightly while following a character
The camera could end up off-center when focusing on a story
The camera and keyboard controls could stop responding after renaming a staff member
Access point markers could disappear after using Photo Mode
The camera controls guide could overflow with long key bindings
Text in some languages could show stray bars next to letters, wrong outlines or faint boxes behind words
Switching to a language with a different alphabet could garble some text
Links to characters or furniture that no longer exist showed a code instead of "Unknown"
Patron tier ratings on price panels overlapped in German
Fixed several typos
(Controller): PlayStation controllers were missing button prompts for R1, L2 and R2
(Controller): Fixed some issues with multiple controllers plugged in
(Controller): Button prompts in the Tavern Log sometimes appeared twice or next to the wrong entry
(Controller): The Delivery Times window showed an oversized highlight
(Controller): The tap guide and a loading screen tip told you to click
Stability
The game could crash while staff were organizing the larder
The game could crash when leaving a level or loading a save
Staff repeatedly failing to fetch a drink for an empty tap could freeze the game
With Steam Cloud enabled, the game froze for a few seconds after saving, editing or deleting a design template
Late-game taverns using Arcane Orders stuttered once per second
A failed Steam Cloud sync could spam the screen with error popups
Saving could hang after an error in rare cases
Starting a new game could fail when the game was installed on a case-sensitive drive
In rare cases, the intro video kept restarting