Important: Beta 1 is not fully compatible with Alpha save games. It is highly recommended that you Retire any existing games and start fresh with this update.
The first beta took much longer to put together than I wanted, and for that I apologize, but here it finally is!
Many of the additions and changes are content related, but you may notice a couple of visual changes as well, such as the brand new icons for different story types and available advertisements. These were done by Dutch artist Kay Lousberg, who also designed the city map of Goodbury. You may also notice, that the background color within the game has changed to a cooler tone.
TIP: Hit G when on the map to toggle the map key on/off.
Because this is the first Beta, the leaderboards have also gotten a wipe! This means that you have a brand new opportunity to put your newspaper at the top of the list, and earn worldwide bragging rights.
Finally, there are a number of smaller tweaks and changes. The way you improve morale for your reporters has changed a little, quest goals were rebalanced (again), and you can now right-click on unwanted stories on the map to dismiss them - this not only increases the odds of a new story spawning, it also earns you a few points for that leaderboard.
I really hope you enjoy the first beta. The Story Lines are really the major new feature, and the next update will primarily build on that with more of these types of events. Now that the framework for the stories is in, adding more content will be the priority.
All Beta 1 Changes
- New: Storylines - linked series of events with 3 different outcomes based on choices made. Stories may trigger once per game
- New: "New Game" story added, may trigger after newspaper is fully staffed
- New: The "Coffee Plot" story, chance of triggering increases every issue with more than 65% wordcount.
- New: "City in Need" story, chance of triggering every time you publish a "Local News"-themed issue.
- New: Story markers and map guide have been updated with new, original graphics
- New: Advertisement markers have been updated with new, original graphics
- New: "Buy Lunch" has been replaced with "Morale" and now queues up a morale event, which may increase happiness. Only one morale event may be queued at a time, but the rewards have been increased up to 400% compared to the "Buy Lunch" button from previously. Cost remains unchanged.
- New: Beta Leaderboard is now live on Steam. Turned off score submission to the Alpha Leaderboard
- Changed: Leaderboard button removed from the menu, replaced with website button
- Changed: Office background graphic changed to a "stormy" color tone
- Changed: Right-click on unwanted stories on the Map to dismiss them, earn a small amount of points for doing so. This also increases the chances of new stories spawning.
- Changed: Font scales down in event windows with longer descriptions
- Balance: Quest goal requirements have been lowered and re-balanced for age group and politically based quests. You also score more points for completing quests.
- Balance: Morale events reward up to 4 times more Happiness than previously
- Fixed: Bug preventing more than one timed event to play out on the same date
- Fixed: Events being skipped if they were slated to run on a weekend day
- Fixed: Crash related to desk customization
- Fixed: Various stability and optimization fixes.
