Hi Everyone,
I wanted to give you a bit of an update on what's cooking in the Startup Freak kitchen! Since the last update I have been working on a number of improvements based on feedback from players. I won't go into a lot of detail here (I will post about it when the update is ready), but a few of them are related to employees and their training, and some other UI quirks. The update will be released within the next week.
A Humble Request
There are two things that I would really appreciate a lot. 1) Reviews on Steam and 2) Giving us feedback in any shape you like (email, discord, discussion board, etc).
What's Beyond the Next Update
As I had mentioned in a previous post, I have dedicated a couple of smaller updates to making general improvements and bug fixing. The next update, however, will include larger changes and some new mechanics which will hopefully move the game into some new territory! Here are some of the things I have in mind:
- A mechanic around features being copied by competitors, and the ability to protect them with patents.
- A new mechanic that is only at a conceptual stage (will need prototyping). I can't give you too much detail, but I can say that if it works out, it will probably be called "super features".
- Some significant balancing around task levels. At the moment most backlog tasks become ineffective past level 10, however as you build up your team it becomes too easy to get to that level.
- Improvements to tutorials and better explaining game mechanics.
- Other improvements as time allows.
As you can expect, these are big changes and will take some time, so the next update may not be out quite so soon. I'll be sure to post updates so you know how things are moving forward. And as always I'll be listening for feedback and bug reports and if a quick update is needed, will get it out as soon as possible.
Some Notes on Feedback From Players
There has been a lot of feedback both in discord, the community forums, and reviews. I appreciate all of it. There have been a lot of positive notes and I think people enjoy the unique aspects of this game. I would say the negative feedback broadly falls into one of two categories:
- Length and replayability of the game: There has been some feedback around this and we are listening. One of the unique aspects of the game is that unlike most tycoons, the game is turn based. This means there is next to no "padding" in the game. You are constantly making decisions, which in turn can make the average game shorter. My focus with some of the new mechanics (see section above) is to add new challenges in the mid-late game, increase the challenge, and make the games longer. A few people have also mentioned that there should be an endless mode where you sell your company and use the cash to start a new one. I really think this would not work on many levels. The game is about startups. Creating a new company using millions or even billions of dollars will take all challenge out of the game. Having said that, you don't have to sell your company at a given point in time. You can continue to build out your product indefinitely. Again some of the new mechanics and balancing should hopefully help with keeping the late game more interesting.
- Mechanics not explained well: While a lot of effort has gone into the game tutorials and explaining game concepts, I know some players are still facing a challenge. Some of it has to do with the terminology and words used. We'll be looking to improve this; by adding more tutorials, having more "in your face" reports and dialogs as information becomes available in the game, and spreading a few tool tips around the UI for additional information.
Translations
When the game was released there were two options for translation: either the game would make enough that could afford to have it translated to different languages commercially, or the player base would volunteer to help translate it. Unfortunately the game has not made enough to make the former possible. Several people have volunteered and translated portions of the game (thank you so much for that!), but I think there is too much text in the game and some of it is highly technical, making it difficult for volunteer translators. The game has around 8000+ words, many of which are in the elaborate in-game emails (something that actually took a lot of time to write but most players won't even read haha).
Anyway all of that is to say that I would still love to release the game in other languages, but it will depend on one of the options above working out.
Thanks and have fun!