Summer is here, so naturally it is time to talk about Christmas. A lot has changed since the last Steam update, much of it shaped directly by Playtest feedback.

The biggest change is the guided tour. It was useful, but at around 120 steps it was also a bit daunting. It has now been compressed to around 45 steps with the help of some entirely sensible magical teleportation and time travel. The aim is the same: explain the main flow of Music Manager without making the start feel like admin.

To support this, and future help across the game, we are introducing Pleccy, an in-game help assistant. Pleccy can explain how to do a task and highlight the correct button to press. Pleccy is still learning, so the more questions we throw at it during testing, the more knowledgeable and useful it can become.

Events have also had a major overhaul, with the aim of making them more enjoyable to interact with: sharper choices, clearer consequences and more of the small music-industry stories that make the world feel alive.

Race to Christmas #1 is also well underway. The mechanics are working and it adds a new annual in-game feature around the Christmas chart battle. Some scenes are still being polished visually, and translation for this area still needs to begin, but there is a good chance it will be included in the next Playtest this month.

Under the bonnet, data processing has been improved to reduce year-end lag. Save game files are also around 70% smaller, which should improve loading and saving. There have been plenty of other smaller fixes too, but those are the highlights for now.