Hi Tycoons,

VERSION 0.9.9.14 is out in the "Open Beta Branch"! It contains changes and bug fixes.

Changes

• From now on, the max LP value of a market follows the population changes of the market - the game also gives back your LP when the population decreases to the required level.
  
• The player can now step back to the previous messages when doing the tutorial.
  
• I've added a flag to the site view - so that it is easier to see when the current site is changing. It was especially important during the tutorial.
  
• I've changed the color legend on the research tree so that now the techs that are needed both for the PC and Portables will have a gradient color from red to blue.
  
• I've decreased the frequency of AI players sending gifts depending on the difficulty level. The frequency stayed the same for Intern, got x2 times less likely on engineer, and x10 times less likely on the hardest mode. The rest is between these two.
  
• I've removed the current year's partial sales data from the sales graph, because lots of players misinterpreted it - not realizing that it is a partial year yet - so players thought that their sales are dropping.
  
• I've changed all pop-up messages so that now the player has to click on all of them to close them - instead of them, some working like this and some disappearing automatically.
  
• I've added a new notification ball that tells the player when they are reloading their SPP - because often players didn't realize that it is an expense when it's happening.
  
• I've added a notification ball to tell the player when a manager levels up.

Bugs Fixed

• Sometimes the site manager upgrade pop-up got stuck - especially late game on slower computers. I've added a safety check so that it won't.
  
• In the office with the mini soccer table, one character was misaligned into their desk. Fixed
  
• The worldwide customer coverage calculator showed incorrect an incorrect percentage - because the max country LPs were not following population changes yet. Fixed.
  
• There was a bug making you unable to sabotage AI opponents, the day counter got stuck. Fixed

Remember that all that is relevant to the Open Beta Branch - not the normal Steam version. Changing to the Open Beta is simple (and free of course).

How to play the Open Beta Branch:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/686680/view/524207137294910328

Thank you for all the support! <3
Andris aka Progorion

Hi Tycoons,

VERSION 0.9.9.13 is out in the "Open Beta Branch"! It contains a few smaller changes and bug fixes.

In my last news post, I mentioned that I had to update my engine - which is a big ordeal. Unfortunately, thanks to it there was a serious issue with the historical map - but I've fixed it now.

Changes

• From now on, the game no longer displays the total population of your current market territory in the top left corner. Instead, it shows your percentage coverage of the worldwide market. This change was necessary because many players had incorrect assumptions about how much they should sell per day, as they were not able to contextualize that number.
  
• I have improved on the tutorial and fixed a few smaller issues with the text and process. For example, the green tutorial arrows now emit some light effects to make them easier to see.

Bugs Fixed

• This version fixes a serious issue with the historical map when the changing borders didn't work. (Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, etc.)
  
• There were still smaller issues with the new LP system used by the AI.
  
• I've fixed a few tech issues related to storage devices

Remember that all that is relevant to the Open Beta Branch - not the normal Steam version. Please check out the previous normal update news post to learn more!

How to play the Open Beta Branch:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/686680/view/524207137294910328

Thank you for all the support! <3
Andris aka Progorion

Hi,

I realized that my default branch didn't get an update for a long period, so I wanted to add something small. Can you find it in the game's folder?

Also, just a reminder to all of you! There is an "Open Beta Branch" for the game where I have a more up-to-date version of the game. I'd like to push out a major update with the game's final graduation day from Early Access into Full Release. Partly this is the reason why I keep that branch separated for now - but also, in general, it is good practice because of the more frequent balance changes going on there.

But! If you are interested, it is a very good time to check out the new version! Opting into the Open Beta is free and simple, just follow this link for more information:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/686680/discussions/0/4031350783733793401/

Thank you so much for all your support!
Andris aka Progorion

Hi Tycoons,

VERSION 0.9.9.12 is out in the "Open Beta Branch"! It contains no gameplay changes - but fixes bugs and improves on performance.

I was forced to update my engine to the latest version which caused me a lot of trouble - but at least the game runs now a bit faster than before. We have gained some extra FPS and both the game itself and the World Map View load a bit faster.

Bugs Fixed

• The AI players could create some combinations of hardware that shouldn't exist. Such as HDD and SDD technology on the same Storage Device. There might be out there one or two that I haven't thought of and wasn't reported yet - so if you see something let me know, please!
  
• In the 6th office the computers in front of the person sitting on the left side of the screen facing us showed up as it was above the glass wall - Fixed.
  
• The "TV interview" repeated costed no money. Fixed
  
• The "Your market should be bigger . . . " bouncing 'warning' was displayed even while you were expanding. Fixed
  
• I've changed the "-" indicator on the Computer Designer to "N/A" - while your mouse is not hovering over a computer part.
  
• There was an error messing up tax and reseller cut in the cashflow window. Fixed
  
• When a CEO went bankrupt ALL payments were canceled. Fixed
  
• The color highlight on the bankruptcy notification ball was off. Fixed
  
• There was a bug when your manager reported that they failed to steal a technology - but you still got it and the notification window at the bottom also showed that you got it. Fixed
  
• Various typo fixes
  
• I noticed that the Tool Tip for Marketing while setting stats, doesn't show up. Fixed

Remember that all that is relevant to the Open Beta Branch - not the normal Steam version. Please check out the previous normal update news post to learn more!

I've deleted the Holiday Branch - please update to the Open Beta Branch if you were still using that one.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/686680/view/524207137294910328

Thank you for all the support! <3
Andris aka Progorion

Hello Tycoons,

I've just dropped a new version into the "Open Beta Branch". At the end of this post, you can see the changelog, but in short, it contains bug fixes, balance changes, and QOL improvements.

In the coming weeks, I will focus on the Scenarios/Challenges I've announced in my last News Post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/686680/view/4490746800993468607

I get more and more messages from volunteers who'd like to help localize the game. I'm happy about that! Please read this if you are also interested:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/686680/discussions/0/4510921146043834308/


This year I'm going to finish the game - but still, there is work to be done. I just would like to thank you again for all the support you gave me over the years - it means the world to me!

v0.9.9.11 Changelog since 0.9.9.09 (the last one that had a news post here)

New Features or Gameplay Changes

• I've tried to further optimize the position and size of the different screens so that on smaller screens the space is better used.
  
• The game-stopping notification balls now all have a light animation to attract the eyes of the player - so they can realize that they have to click on them for the game to continue.
  
• Trade offers are now limited to 10 years instead of 20.
  
• I've decreased how many computers your Fans buy from you by a lot. Still, it is very much worth having them - they can still buy multiple times more than all the other groups together - if you work for it. The amount of sales you were able to get from fans was disproportionate late-game - that also forced you to build more factories than now.
  
• The Game didn't prioritize the most profitable markets when serving customers - it only prioritized the most profitable products and factories. It's important when you don't have enough PP to fulfill the demand.
  
• I've created a new window, it is called the "LPDetailsWindow" and will show you your most important LP-related values.
  
• Now on the Computer Designer Screen when you hover over a hardware part the screen will tell you the name of that hardware part and how much PP its production costs.
  
• The window that appeared when you wanted to build a new site showed the monthly upkeep cost for your future site. Now it shows the daily cost instead - and it was increased (now it is daily 5k, not monthly 50k).
  
• I've nerfed laboratories significantly - research was too cheap with LVL5 labs.
  
• I've lowered the potential income coming from Personal Computers and Portables - they were way too dominant in generating profits.
  
• I've changed difficulty levels overall - so now the difficulty increase is smaller between the second and the third level - but in general, I made all levels a bit easier, too. I've also changed the names of the difficulty levels.
  
• There is a significant change in how the AI players price their computers. Now they put more emphasis on their earlier product prices.

BUG FIXES:

• The Computer Manufacturing price estimator didn't work properly since it was using real-time manufacturing cost data allocated from factory usage data - when there was no actual demand on the market at the moment. So for example, it didn't matter that you already had a factory when you were still not selling anything - the calculation showed 0 dollars for your future computer's cost. Fixed
  
• When two managers finished on the same day with a task and the first manager whose task result is reported was "Looking for Software Licenses" and set to repeat then it failed to repeat its task. Fixed
  
• The ordering arrows on the Accessoires List didn't function. Fixed
  
• There was a game-breaking bug when you reached a super high demand - frozing the game. Fixed
  
• The bubble help for the "Random Events" check box was the same as the "Survival Time" victory goal. Fixed
  
• On the Manager Hiring screen the hints for the different skill bars didn't appear only over the far sides of the bar. Fixed
  
• On the site view the "Build" button didn't change its text to "Upgrade" as it does on the Site Manager List. Fixed
  
• I've increased the size of the ordering arrows on the Research Queue screen because, on some systems with some resolutions, they didn't appear.
  
• When you reached the last illustration level of PCs then in the office you might have got managers working without computers. Also, there is a connected bug that happened when you released PCs without an OS - both fixed.
  
• The "Opens the Budget Screen" bubble help doesn't usually show up (when hovering over the '$' symbol at the top of the screen for Cashflow). A different large paragraph of text is what is normally seen (describing the cash flow chart). I had to move the mouse around a bit for it to show up.
  
• There was a serious bug in the game concerning computer design points. When you removed a hardware part (doesn't matter if it was copied from an earlier computer of yours or not) then the designer part refreshed the points of the computer (like performance or capacity), but the Release tab didn't and it kept using that not refreshed value when you started the polishment phase. It mostly caused issues in practice when you've copied a computer and then removed a part and started polishing it immediately - because when you added a new part tho then all the values were refreshed. Fixed
  
• "Unfortunately, this time we have gathered no new knowledge about marketing" - had a typo
  
• The Cashflow Window's anchor was set incorrectly - and therefore with some multipliers/resolutions it appeared just above the upper main menu bar (showing your balance and customer number etc.) and the window was flashing. Fixed
  
• The Trade/Gift Screen's buttons had misleading hints (they were kind of switched up). Fixed
  
• The player could see the Marketing Efficiency in the Alternatives tab - even before releasing the computer. Fixed
  
• SCD and CrystalPlatform had category issues that caused bugs with their visibility on MOBOs. Fixed
  
• There was a site buy/sell trick that enabled the player to get infinite money. Fixed
  
• The "your market should be bigger" notification ball appeared when you were already expanding. Since you cannot do more - it shouldn't appear during expansion. Fixed
  
• The Logistics Point Distributor Window had outdated hints. Fixed
  
• The "Your computer is Polished" voice didn't work after the last version. Fixed
  
• Random events showed the hint of a Winning Condition. Fixed
  
• The pop-up windows showing information about the next department levels on the Site Manager screen were showing incorrect department data when an update was already set (by hovering over the progress bar it was always showing factory data). Fixed
  
• When we sell a site the game does not update the logistic balance (at least not the ui) in the top left corner - only our money balance. Fixed
  
• The Cash-flow Window had to be repositioned.
  
• There was a text issue with the Random Event messages. Fixed

Have a lot of FUN, my friends!
Andris aka Progorion

############################################

Holy! The game's text file is already longer than the first Harry Potter book... If you'd like to know more about localizations:
LINK


* Also thank you so much for the reviews, they help a LOT! *

Important! These images are from the Open Beta Branch version so if you'd like to have these features then opt-in to that version. Here is how you can do it:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/686680/discussions/0/4031350783733793401/

Hello Tycoons,

I'm happy to announce this version since we are getting really close to the beta of the game. After this version, I will focus on "Scenarios," which should add some new challenges to your game plan and custom difficulty—but mostly just balancing.

After that, I can work on localizations, steam integrations, etc.

This makes this already version pretty close to v1.0

To play it, you just have to right-click on Computer Tycoon in your Steam client, then click on "Properties", then there click on "Betas" and select the "Open Beta Branch" from the dropdown list, save and restart your client or your computer so that Steam can install this version instead of the previous one you had on your computer.

This version cannot load your earlier saves!

What's in it?
Compared to the previous "Open Beta Test Branch" version we have lots of small improvements and polish of course, but the most important new features are the new Logistics System and Random Events.

1 - The New Logistics System
2 - Random Events


After the last "Open Beta" version I had to balance out a lot of things. The fact that you can trade with your opponents makes it a very different game. Do not underestimate the possibility of buying technology from your opponents and paying for them in installments or declaring them your rival and try stealing from them their technology etc.
After all that I still felt like the biggest issue with the game's balance is the customer simulation and the logistics - how you can expand your territory. Adjusting sales wasn't hard, but I had to find a better market/logistics progression. It is I think the fourth time that I'm rewriting this aspect of the game! I think I have found "the right way", and the playtests/feedback of my core players also make me confident about that.



The current system lets you set Logistics points just as the previous one, but instead of one point opening up the whole population of a market - it will just give you access to 12m people there. I had to change the effects of manager skills and change the out of your departments to make it work right. Also, it takes time to allocate/deallocate a point in a market. It is both a more realistic and balanced/chilled mechanic now. On the other hand, you have to be more strategic with where you go since you cannot just redistribute your efforts on a single day anymore.
The AI players will be now more inclined to get into high-profit markets - but that also offers you a safe line in poorer countries. You either get into the markets where potential profits are higher - or you can go where there is not that much competition - of course until everybody gets everywhere slowly.


One aspect that was lacking in the previous version is replayability or dynamics. This is why we have the random events now:

• Viral Marketing Campaign
  
• Market Boom
  
• VideoGame Cult
  
• Computer Award
  
• Manager Inspiration
  
• Admirerer Donation
  
• Oil At Site
  
• Bonding With Manager
  
  
• Changing Taxes
  
• Communism Change
  
  
• Manager Accident
  
• Manager Personal Issue
  
• Economic Downturn
  
• Natural Disaster
  
• Faulty Design Recall
  
• Data Breach
  
• Manager Burnout

The first group is positive, and the second group is negative - while tax and communism changes are neutral (they can go either way).

A natural disaster at your factory or logistics department is not a joke. While you can save a lot of money by just maxing them out and putting there a manager with great skills - there is a risk now that you will lose the site for even 2 months - and lose money. If things turn really bad - your opponents might try to sabotage your sites frequently (the best way to achieve that is by breaking a contract and making everybody upset) This and natural disasters together might make you think twice about how you build your infrastructure.

I hope you will like these! But of course, you can also just turn off random events before starting a new game.


The game today cannot be compared to what it used to be when it was originally released into Early Access. I thank all of you for being here and supporting me! Please continue giving me feedback wherever it is convenient for you! As you have more and more possibilities now in the game - some playthroughs can be as tricky or novel as you wish them to be.

Have a lot of FUN, my friends!
Andris aka Progorion

############################################

Holy! The game's text file is already longer than the first Harry Potter book... If you'd like to know more about localizations:
LINK


* Also thank you so much for the reviews, they help a LOT! *

Hi Tycoons,

Here is the next iteration of the Open Beta Branch's version: 0.9.9.06

Changes

• I gave a Repeat button to all the Manager Tasks that ended with a Report - such as Looking for A Video Game, Training, etc.
  
• I've added a checkbox to the Accessory List that you can use to ignore items by the "All" button. So when an item is not profitable enough anymore to add - you can just tick its checkbox and when you create a new computer and click on the "All" button it won't be added automatically. You can of course manually add it still - or reverse your change on the item, too.
  
• I've color-coded the names of the computers on the Computer List by Design Type. This way you can differentiate between them instantly. Green is HC, Blue is PC, Red is Portable and Orangish is Handheld.
  
• There was in the game a "You cannot add this type of element" message when you tried to add a GPU or Removable Media to a Handheld Computer. That's ok, but it was too late sometimes. Now it appears right when you try to create such hardware with handheld compatibility and when you click on the given Element on the Computer Designer.
  
• I've introduced a new indicator on the site manager so that you will know the unit per price of your output. This way players will realize faster that investing in a factory is worth it.
  
• I've changed the Site Manager List in a way so that the next level's data appears only in a pop-up window - this way making the main (current level's) data easier to read.
  
• I've altered the CEO Suff Manager window in a way so that players always have to see the description of what they are buying before buying it - since in gameplay videos, I saw that lots of those funny descriptions are never seen otherwise.
  
• I'm testing a small modification that might forbid the world map and the research tree from becoming frozen on slower systems. Please let me know if you still experience the map freezing - until you use the zoom button or switch screens.

Bug Fixes

• The Factory department still said that it requires the recreation buildings.
  
• On The Research Queue some category icons didn't have a hint or showed incorrect hints. Fixed
  
• Having 3-1/2” Bay selected didn't allow you to see 3-1/2” SuperDisc! even though it’s not obsolete. You had to first deselect 3-1/2” Bay to see the SuperDisc! as a possible addition. Fixed
  
• The B&W LCD tech didn't appear on computers as an option except for handhelds. It was because the game considered it to be inferior compared to Monochrome Displays. It was wrong. Fixed
  
• There was a similar kind of issue with Plazma Displays. Plazma on the tech tree seems to be positioned after Ega and Vga. (The tech tree loosely reflects real-life invention dates). Still, it didn't appear that you already had CGA. Stats-wise the Plazma Display Technology is close to CGA, but it is slightly better - so from now on it will show up - but even tho EGA seems to be an earlier tech - it has better stats, therefore it will obsolete Plazma still. I know that this is a bit confusing, but at the same time, I don't wanna separate them into different types of techs. The player always can manually select something else by clicking on "show all".
  
• When you reloaded a game, your LP balance was not updated immediately, only after a day. Fixed
  
• After you were sabotaged and your LPs were affected, the LP balance didn't update after the period of the sabotage automatically. Fixed
  
• The CEO Connections hint was incorrect.
  
• The sabotage notification message was too long, I made it shorter
  
• When you were a rival of an opponent the Negotiation Screen incorrectly showed the "Cancel Research Contract" button (it shouldn't be there since you couldn't even have a Research Contract with a rival). Fixed
  
• The sliders in Sites and on the Site Manager Screen didn't update the values in the right upper info bar syncronously. Fixed
  
• There was an inconsistency on the tech list with pen drives and interfaces - ATA appearing as an option. Fixed.
  
• When you created a new PC part and checked the pricing screen's ranking, then the part you were currently working on was not involved in the comparison - only after you finished it and came back to the same pricing screen.
  
• The new Price Input field on the Hardware List was not disappearing if your list became empty. Fixed
  
• There was a serious bug in the game since 0.9.9.04 that could result in players hiring the same managers - since the manager data was messed up after the first reload of a saved game. I thank O'Neil for finding this one, it was a critical one! Fixed.
  
• Opponents could add Removable Media and GPUs to their Handheld Computers. Fixed
  
• Lad1das reported that for some reason AI can't add newer technologies for Personal Computers, they only improve their CPU. Fixed
  
• Fan numbers could malfunction after huge fan penalties due to sentences. Fixed
  
• I've put a label on "New" on the tech items to explain that it just means "Never used before - not up-to-date".
  
• The "Add All" button on the hardware designer screen bugged out with Buses and Video Buses under certain circumstances.
  
• You couldn't move around the legal defense, the legal action, and list screens.
  
• The Legal Defense Screen's hints were incorrect. Instead of telling you that "this is what happens to you when you lose", it said that this is what happens when you win…
  
• The Legal Defense Screen shows the "fan loss" value with a negative percentage.
  
• When an opponent called you and you clicked on the notification ball then it didn't make the CEO Stuff Manager disappear. Fixed
  
• When you were sued and had to choose a strategy, then you could just click on the other notification ball that makes the Court Case List visible… and then click on the "sue somebody" button… that made it possible to not react to the case where you were starting from. So I made changes so that this window won't disappear this way anymore.

I hope you will like it!

Please support me with a review if you like the game and keep the feedback coming! :) Thank you so much!
Andris aka Progorion

Hi Tycoons,

Since the last update that I released into the Open Beta Test Branch - I've got some fantastic feedback - please keep it coming! So I've fixed the most important bugs and tweaked on the system.

Changes

• I've changed the sentences and winning probabilities of court cases about spreading lies - since it was OP.
  
• I've changed the costs and effects of the marketing department again since many felt like it takes way too long until those departments are useful.

Bug Fixes

• The Legal Action List didn't have a hint. Fixed
  
• The game saves what messages the AI has already sent to the player into a file. We had an issue that if you don't have enough space to save files - then this file could become corrupted and make CT fail to start a new game or load a game. I've improved the messages about this and how the game handles this file.
  
• A smaller block of water was flashing on the site view. Fixed (but I will have to take a closer look to the rest of the scene)
  
• The hardware had an unnecessary field after the PP cost on the hardware list screen - making it hard to read. Fixed
  
• Sometimes the chance of winning a court case was higher than 100%. Both 100% and 108% mean that you will win, but 108% is not meaningful here. Fixed
  
• The CEO manager had issues with experience points after the start. Their "remaining points" could be negative. Fixed
  
• Since the last version heat is higher - and the AI players had an issue with designing CPUs. The result was that they couldn't make one and this way failed to update their computers - leading to not releasing new computers. Fixed.

I hope you will like it!

Please support me with a review if you like the game and keep the feedback coming! :) Thank you so much!
Andris aka Progorion

Hello Tycoons,

I promised in my last post that I would come back with some news and a new version this week. So! I'm happy to tell you that there is a new version in the "Open Beta Branch" on Steam.

To play it, you just have to right-click on Computer Tycoon in your Steam client, then click on "Properties", then there click on "Betas" and select the "Open Beta Branch" from the dropdown list, save and restart your client or your computer so that Steam can install this version instead of the previous one you had on your computer.

This version cannot load your earlier saves!

Compared to the "Holiday Test Branch" lots of small improvements and polish - plus now you can also sue your opponents. Since that version wasn't played by the majority of the community (it required you to check the forums), to you what's more interesting is what's different compared to the public main version, the main branch of the game...

1. 1 - The CEO Negotiations Expansion
   
2. 2 - The CEO Stuff Expansion
   
3. 3 - Lots of changes... I mean - A LOT.
   
4. 4 - Lots of bug fixes.

It's not the first time that I write about this new system, it is the backbone of the last major update of the game. It lets you do business with your opponents, offers a lot of replayability and new strategies, and makes the experience more immersive. I'm super hyped about it - and according to testers from the community, it makes the game more interesting.
You can trade technology, lend money, send/get gifts, demands and extortion is a thing now, you can have various contracts, etc. and you can also sue your opponent - after you receive grievances for their bad deeds (but it can happen to you as well!).
I've put a lot of time and effort into giving your opponents personalities, they all have their own offices, their own music, etc. If you have a favorite, please talk about them, I'm happy to see - what you think about them!
When you lose a court case - somebody could have to go to prison... and that makes loyalty a bit more important again - since you can "blame" anybody from your team instead of the actual perpetrator, in return for some loyalty points (and remember, that loyal managers are also cheaper to pay)



This is just a silly try of mine to make the game more immersive again. I think lots of tycoon games make the mistake that you cannot spend your hard-earned money on anything else than your business. Now you can. How about Velociraptor as a pet or a new speaking car? Or just a house? Or maybe a space station? All these have no real effect on the game other than your opponents complementing them - when you get something that they like. That's all. It might be not a great investment, but makes being rich more fun!



There were a few aspects of the game that were always criticized by the community - and now I am trying to eliminate them. Tho, I still have my to-do list, I hope that I'm getting there where I wanna be!
For example, from now on you can't only "Roll" the stats of your character and your partner - but you can edit them at the start. You can give a maximum of 70 points on the same skill OR Roll them. This gives more freedom to the player to try a given strategy - or they can decide to play as earlier - where you had to adjust your strategy to what you get randomly. Also, when you are looking for new managers, tho you cannot set their skills - so there is no change, your manager always finds another manager - it just takes more time, and how long it takes depends on their Charisma skill.

I still have to add a custom difficulty option - but since balancing is not finished yet and I need to get feedback about the presets - I have added new difficulty levels and they have different names as well. I've also added descriptions for those levels in hopes of making it easier for the player to pick the right one - tho still, if the game is just too hard - pick an easier level.

I've changed the building site, too - since some players thought that it is too punishing when you upgrade the bad departments. From now on you can build factories without recreation buildings - and recreation buildings and the offices also have a budget slider. So if you accidentally built one - you can just zero out its budget - and you are good to go. You are not forced to sell the whole site - you should do that only if you need cash. Also, recreation buildings now have a different effect instead of just being mandatory to build factories. They give you a small chance of a "technological breakthrough". When it happens you finish your current research immediately. The chance could be small, but it is a daily chance, so if you have two maxed-out rec. departments, it is kinda sure that in like every 3-5 years it could happen. That offers a new strategy again - since it will be worth optimizing your research for big ones - when you try to max out your chances with this.

We have a manager task as well - Sabotage. With that, you can harm your opponents' production or research. But if you are caught, then your opponent can gain a grievance. It is not automatic, but there is a chance! Other bad deeds, such as black marketing also generate grievances. Your grievances can be forgiven if you can make an opponent of yours to be your friend! But being friends also has other benefits... just as it has benefits to be rivals.

I've improved on the game's economy and other aspects as well. Please do not be surprised if your earlier strategies are not enough anymore on higher levels. Simply the fact that you can trade technology means that you have more ways to acquire technology - so you have to adapt to that. Btw. Poverty and Poor markets are not as hard to make profitable now as earlier - and in general, the difference between the economic levels is smaller, fans by significantly more than before and I updated the UI so that it is easier to compare their sales with the other user groups. This was also necessary since your wrongdoings will affect your fan base - so you are actions have a bigger impact on your profitability.

Normal marketing is more effective now - the different campaign sizes have hints to help you, group selection is more important and marketing departments are way more expensive than before! I hope that these changes will make the game more interesting and also less punishing for beginners.
Also, now when you win a game - your opponents say goodbye. That's one of the things that I enjoy the most - doesn't matter how small it is. It just feels good! :) Btw. if you are bothered by your opponents, you can automatically ignore their demands or all their messages except these goodbye messages.



I have fixed a lot of older issues around the UI and gameplay, too. Not being able to add cache to "plentum" processors? Edit boxes messing with time in some places? I've fixed all the bugs from my to-do list - but unfortunately, I don't think we got them all - and I might have introduced new ones with the new features - so please if you find anything, save your game and report it to me with the save file! It helps a LOT!


I still have plenty of suggestions/improvement ideas (lots of UI things for example) that I would like to implement in the coming weeks, and there are two bigger still gameplay features I would like to add: Random Events and Scenarios.
Scenarios will just offer different settings for how you start a game or even different winning conditions. While Random Events will make the game a bit more dynamic. These are not huge things to add, but still, they are there.

After polishing the game and completing my to-do list, I will start preparing the game for localization. That's something that will take a while, unfortunately, since the task is enormous. The game has around 60k words in it! That's like a Harry Potter book - and I have to be sure that the game will be ready to use and show the new texts etc. Localization isn't a trivial task, unfortunately. As soon as it starts, I will post a news post here and ask you to join the volunteers so we can have as many languages as possible.


Thank you very much for your patience and support over the years. We are getting there and I'm super thankful to all of you! Have fun, give feedback and if you enjoy the game, please leave a review!

András aka Progorion

• When software appeared the first time and was still unreleased, then the release date instead of being empty - was showing the date formatting formula. Fixed.
  
• Smaller issues with the Trade offer balancing. Fixed.
  
• A Few CEO Illustration's poorly cut. Fixed.
  
• Under certain circumstances the hardware price field's value was changing also when you changed the Money values in your CEO offers. Fixed.
  
• When you had multiple products and factories then the production cost label showed incorrect numbers sometimes. Fixed.
  
• There was a bug connected to firing managers that messed up the pool. Fixed.
  
• Not all notification balls were activated right after loading a game, some needed a day to appear - fixed.
  
• "If you use the "Delete" key when editing the name of a part, the part you were trying to rename or the part from which you copied the part will be archived. Since the shortcut for archive restore is the "Delete key," it will react to it. If you don't notice it, you may think, "Hey, where did the parts I just made go? If you don't notice it, you will end up saying "Hey, where did the parts I just made go?" Fixed
  
• Sometimes on the market analysis screen the "Orders fulfilled" field showed "no" incorrectly.
  
• Some Typo corrections.
  
• "There was this type of bug when for example Yugoslavia breaks apart, if you're selling there, it'll say you're also selling in for example: Croatia, but it doesn't take a logistic point away" - Fixed.
  
• "There is a small problem when generating the high-end storage drives. If I first enable SSD Density 5TB and then add CDD, increasing the capacity to 100TB, a drive costs well over 3000 dollars.
  If I disable the 5TB density, I have the same capacity but the drive only costs 375." Fixed.
  
• Some trickery was possible around drive-size extenders and techs to make them very cheap. Fixed.
  
• It could cause issues if you saved a game before setting up your CEO and Partner Managers - so from now on you cannot save until that.
  
• I have fixed a bug connected to Spying - when the attempt was a failure then you might have got no response about the task being completed.
  
• You were unable to go back into the game after a game over at the end.
  
• "486 CPU is the last one which can put Cache Mem normally, for the next ones I need to each time firstly choose 486, then add Cache, then remove 486 and add the latest gen of CPU." Fixed
  
• I've added some tech combination restrictions, plus made a note that impossible combinations are not accepted - like a pen drive together with SATA.
  
• The Hardware Designer Helper Hints from the top right corner were showing all the same description - earlier it wasn't the case, but I rewrote them all because they had some grammar issues anyway.
  
• A few expressions/parts of the screen were not matching in the tutorial and in-game. Fixed.
  
• I made North Korea communist and changed "liberal markets" to "capitalist markets" since the naming was confusing.
  
• No hint on the credit button on the statistics tab. Fixed.
  
• Ordering your markets by profitability had this issue, that markets without profitability were between the profitable and unprofitable markets - making it harder to read the list. From now on, markets where you don't sell will be at the end of the list instead.
  
• When the game started and still there was no market selected then the market details window had "asdf" values in its fields. Fixed.
  
• Raki has reported that the gov. Tax bonuses are sometimes incorrect when combined with manager bonuses. Fixed.
  
• The tutorial move indicator icon didn't have a hint.
  
• "When you have the Building Site List open, the [Spacebar] is a shortcut to pause/un-pause AND build the building. The spacebar should only pause or un-pause the game. I’ve accidentally built many buildings with this “feature”." It was a game-wide issue that needed to be solved. What happens is that some buttons become highlighted/focused and if you press the spacebar button it gets clicked. All fixed!
  
• Sliders in the game where it used to be enough to click on the empty part to increase a value, you had to grab the handle instead in the last version - I reverted this to the previous solution.
  
• And more...

• I've added a pop-up for the RP value to the main window bar and the CEO info panels.
  
• You can manually set techs obsolete - so they won't appear in the tech list of the hardware designer.
  
• Now you can set your hardware price (for PCs) on the hardware list, without opening them - this way you have to click less.
  
• I've added a better difficulty selection screen with descriptions, plus updated the names of the levels.
  
• I've changed the movement of the world map - so it doesn't have the rubber band effect as you move around. Now it has a constant, fixed speed just like the research tree, or Google Maps.
  
• I've increased the generated heat by hardware parts.
  
• I've redesigned the notification messages in the bottom left corner - so that they are prettier and easier to read.
  
• When you are in the Research View then the Research Details window won't close - so that you can click on the "add to queue" button - when you are checking your opponents' computers. This makes it easier to find research targets.
  
• I've added an ALL tech button to the hardware designers.
  
• On the market list the maret filters are reworked - and are hopefully more flexible and easier to understand.
  
• I've put the PP cost on the pop-up window on the Computer List that originally showed only the discounted prices of computers.
  
• I've put an extra fire button on the screen where you used to be able to spend your manager's exp. points.
  
• From now on if you click on the Notification Ball that tells you that there is an idle manager - it will show that manager and also open the task selector window. Plus you can move those windows on the screen, too.
  
• From now on if you click on the Notification Ball that tells you that a computer doesn't have any discounts - it will open that computer.
  
• From now on if you click on the Notification Ball that tells you that you cannot get a loan because you already maxed it - it will open the Loan Window.
  
• I've increased the sales by fans by x3, adjusted the computer budgets of economy levels (making poorer countries more profitable and richer ones less profitable, decreased the research and manufacturing passive skills bonuses by 50%, and made factory costs lower by 10%.
  
• I've changed the hint for the view site's window.
  
• I've added hints to the marketing screen sliders.
  
• The pop-up notification windows about important events have now different colors per importance. Critical messages are Red, Informational ones are Blue and Positive events have a Green message.
  
• "During testing a new computer, the MARKET button always turns green after just a few days, and I ALWAYS almost instantly click it. Going from greyed out to full green makes me think, “OK, it’s done!”. What I’d like to see is that it turns Yellow to let you know you can market it now but it’s not fully “baked” and then turns full Green when 30 days have passed."
  Nice idea, noted and done!
  
• I've changed the sales graphs so that they don't show the current month/year because many misread them and thought that their sales dropped while those last month/year data points were just incomplete, yet.
  
• From now on when you click on an input field that is connected to a slider like the frequency slider on the CPU designer the game selects the text in it as earlier, but now it is enough to type in the number that you'd like to have without the unit (MHz for example) and then the game will know that you'd like to use the earlier unit that is already there. You can of course still use a different unit if you want to (when it makes sense). Also, pressing ENTER will have the same effect as clicking outside of the control (you finish editing and the game checks if the new value is correct or not and saves it if it is). This makes it faster to edit these values.
  
• From now on you always find a manager, it just takes a maximum of 2.5 years - while charisma can greatly decrease that time. You can also edit the stats for yourself and for your manager manually at the start. But still, you get only 1 manager when you hire - not 2.
  
• The big dollar icon in the top right corner opens the budget tab of the statistics window.
  
• I've altered the CashFlow Window, so now it has "sum" values and is clearer to read.
  
• I made the cash flow window movable.
  
• I've updated the error message that you get when you don't have an interface or integrated graphics on your MOBO when building a PC to make it easier to understand what's missing.
  
• There is a new Connection Graph between the players - so one can know what's going on.
  
• You can ignore the demands of your opponent or all of their messages automatically except when they say goodbye.
  
• I've added hints to the manager pool window's two buttons.
  
• Economical differences are smaller between market economy levels, fans buy more computers, and passive manager skills were nerfed a bit.
  
• Marketing departments cost way more now - but marketing is more effective, too - and target group selection has a bigger impact.
  
• I've made changes to how the Site Manager shows data.
  
• New software and games are now indicated on the Computer Designer Screen - so that the player knows when to create a new OS for the extra points.
  
• You can rename your managers.
  
• Now there is a check in the tutorial - that guarantees that the player's first market has more than 30m people in it! So that it is not too small to be profitable.
  
• I've rearranged the upper bars in the game - so that they are a bit easier to read and look better - tho there is still room for improvement.
  
• Now all departments have a slider - so you won't over-upgrade your sites - since you can just adjust your costs by using their sliders. The Recreation Department now has a different effect. Instead of just being a mandatory department to upgrade your factories, they give you a small chance for a "Technological Breakthrough" which is an event when your current technology is unexpectedly finished. You can upgrade Factories without restrictions now, but the Recreation Department is limited to the level of your highest-level department at the same site. Establishing a new site is more expensive from now on - and of course, the Recreation Department has different costs, too.
  
• I've changed the required LP points to distribute your computers in a country on your own by two-thirds but at the same time halved the number of LPs that your departments can produce. AND also increased the penalty for using more LPs than what you have.
  
• And of course... I've updated the Wall Of Gratitude! <3
  
• And this list doesn't contain some smaller things that I've done on the fly...

############################################

Holy! The game's text file is already longer than the first Harry Potter book... If you'd like to know more about localizations:
LINK

Heartfelt thanks to all of you and have fun! :)

* Also thank you so much for the reviews, they help a LOT! *

Hi Tycoons,

I have some great news for all of you! :)


I'm happy to announce The Epic Tycoon Collection! It is a collection of 3 titles including City Game Studio, Arcade Tycoon, and Computer Tycoon. I can wholeheartedly recommend these games to all of my players. What I especially like about the bundle is that all these 3 games are set in the same era, the 70s when games, software, computers, and consoles conquered our world.

The bundle is offered with a 15% discount, so if you ever wanted to create video games or run an arcade... then it is your lucky day!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39131/The_Epic_Tycoon_Collection/


I'm working on my long to-do list to polish some critical systems for the next major update. I've finished the CEO Negotiations and the CEO Stuff systems - and got fantastic feedback from the community. Thank you again! <3

I will likely update the open beta branch next week (not the holiday version), so stay tuned!

The game will likely reach its beta state (meaning that all the features are done and prepared for starting localizations) this year! But I'm afraid that the localization process won't end in 2024. However, in the beta branch (in English only), you will very likely be able to play with a nearly completed version this year - and I will continue polishing the game until the big release day.

I will also write a longer post next week with more details and screenshots about what's coming!

Andris aka Progorion