Hey everyone,

I ended up changing quite a bit for this update. Some criticism about the game looking unoriginal because of the Synty characters got to me, and honestly, I took it personally. That pushed me to spend more time on the game's appearance.

I'm still learning, and I don't think replacing some models suddenly solves everything. But it gave me a reason to revisit the customers, the shop and the apartment, along with some things that were confusing or just weren't working properly.

Customers and pedestrians

The characters have been replaced, with some more variety in their clothes and appearance. They'll probably need more work as I see them in normal gameplay. Your existing regulars will still keep their history with you.

Around the shop

I've worked on the shelves, register workstation, demo kiosks, arcade cabinets and overhead signs. There are more details like supports, frames and sign hangers. Cardboard cutouts have thickness and backing, window advertisements have taped paper details, and the early game boxes have platform-specific packaging around the existing artwork.

Decorating

The Decorate menu now has named previews, search and separate surface tabs. There are more floor and ceiling finishes, colour variations for supported materials, and additional ceiling construction, light styles and layouts. Wall panels and slatwall also line up more consistently across the expanded shop.

The apartment

I wanted the bedroom to feel more like somewhere you'd have lived in the late 80s or 90s. It has different furniture, wood and fabric textures, a rug, bedding, a CRT, a boombox and some small bits around the room. The posters use the correct artwork now, too.

Closing up

Switching off the neon sign now closes the shop and pauses the clock. New customers stop arriving while the people inside finish shopping. You can then lock up from outside, head home and use your bed to end the day. Markers help you find the apartment, bed and shop. From day three, there's an option to skip the walk home.

You also open and close the storefront door yourself now by aiming at it and interacting. Customers still let themselves in. Trying to lock up from inside tells you to step outside and opens the door instead of trapping you.

Cash at the register

The register uses recognisable U.S. bills and coins, sized to fit the drawer better. Customer payments show bills that match the amount. A $70 payment can be a $50 and a $20 together, rather than one random bill with "$70" floating above it.

The register computer

The Vault and Resale views now display properly inside the Codex. Collection browsing has more room, selections highlight correctly, and resale buttons stay visible at larger UI sizes. I've also cleaned up inconsistent naming, hard-to-read text and instructions that described the wrong unlock requirement.

Tutorials and reminders

I went through the tooltips, notifications and tutorial messages to try to make them clearer and less robotic. There are fewer repeated interruptions, hints wait their turn, and payment advice checks what you're actually doing before appearing. Phone and shelving objectives also have fixes to when they finish or clear.

Sounds and TVs

Menu clicks, scanner beeps, register sounds and other feedback have been replaced. There are also sounds for peeling stickers, handling the phone, cassette controls and starting the register computer.

Each store TV can now use its own selection of clips, with a next-clip control for that screen. The CRT glass and picture treatment have had another visual pass as well.

Loading and fixes

More artwork and startup data are prepared ahead of time, and some repeated startup work has been removed. This is work on loading, so I'm not claiming a frame-rate improvement.

• Expanded shop walls now keep the finish you selected after loading a save.
• Fixed a crash that could happen when quitting shortly after the store loaded.
• Fixed a ceiling-fixture detail being left out of saves.
• Fixed the bright white patch on the backwards cap.

Thanks for playing and for letting me know when something doesn't look right or work properly. I'm still figuring a lot of this out, and it helps.