Dear Constructor Plus fans,

Before we start, we would like to thank everyone for their great feedback over the Christmas period as well as those who have continued to provide us with feedback regarding our public beta program. We are very happy to see that people are enjoying the changes being made to the game. We hope that you will enjoy the latest set of changes that should now be live for all to try on the s3public_beta build.

By the way please bear in mind that because of some of these changes with new data being added to the saves, saves made whilst playing on the public beta branch will not load in the public build as it does not have the relevant data entries. Any saves made in the public build will still load into the new beta build as well as those made on the earlier beta build.

Due to issues detected in the original s3_public beta build that have now been corrected in this build, we cannot in good conscience make the previous beta build live on the public branch as we had originally intended. If there are no serious issues detected with this latest build we will look to making it live on the default public branch next update.

The public beta build is open to everyone who owns Constructor Plus to try out and there are no time restrictions or limitations in place so feel free to stay on that build if you prefer. For those of you who do not remember or know how to access the s3public_beta branch here is a nifty set of instructions:


1. Right-click Constructor Plus in your Steam Library. A pop-up should appear.

2. Click “Properties”. A new window will open.

3. In the new window look at the top and you will see several tabs. Look for the tab that says “BETAS” and click on it. You will open the tab in the same window.

4. Look for a drop-down box and click on it. The drop-down should contain a new branch called s3public_beta. Click on it and your Steam client should begin downloading the new update.

5. If you wish to revert to the previous build repeat the above steps up until Step 4. In Step 4 instead of selecting s3public_beta please select “NONE – Opt out of all beta programs”. The previous build should begin downloading.

With our latest update we wanted to start to look towards the AI and ways we could add some new and interesting functionality whilst also addressing a few other key areas. We hope that this first wave of changes provides a more interesting experience for those of you who like to play with AI competitors.

Our newest opt-in gameplay option is Dog Bite Resistance. It is no secret that our beloved pooch is quite the super dog when it comes to dealing with all manner of undesirables and other ne’er-do-wells. With many of you coming to enjoy the missions and other gameplay that Constructor Plus has to offer we felt it the right time to make more fundamental changes to the game. Of course, this change, being a gameplay option, is completely opt-in. Here is how it works:

1. Click Options and then click Gameplay
   
2. You will see a set of options and at the bottom should now be a handy Dog Bite Resistance setting.
   
3. Tweak this within a set range of 0-5 with 0 turning off the function entirely, and 1-5 providing some amount of dog bite resistance to all characters in the game for both the player and the AI.

A more in-depth description of the function is as follows:

Dog Bite Resistance supplies a base amount of dog bites that a character in the game may receive before retreating. For those of you who remember Mob Rule, you might recall that the dogs in that game were fearsome, yet some characters would happily fight back against them. We wanted to bring back some of that functionality for Constructor Plus and in a nutshell, this is precisely the purpose of the option.

Each number of resistances from 1 to 5 will allow a character to receive that many bites before running. This number steadily decreases so if a character has recently received several bites, they will be less likely to want to engage with another vicious dog quite so soon. For this purpose, we have re-arranged the character UI ever so slightly to allow for tracking of how many bites a character has received. As stated, characters passively recover from dog bites but if you’ve a character who has had a run-in with one too many dogs you can speed up their recovery by sending them to rest inside the HQ or the Hospital.

In addition to the base amount of dog bite resistance, characters may sometimes receive a small bonus to their resistance if they are feeling particularly confident. This will trigger randomly once per engagement and cannot trigger again if a character is still recovering from his earlier bites. This change will be reflected in the UI value automatically.



With this setting enabled bear in mind that some undesirables may require additional work to deter and as such you may need to employ more policemen or make use of certain gadgets such as the burglar alarm to deter thieves, thugs, or squatting hippies if they become a problem. You may adjust this setting at any time during a game so feel free to experiment with what feels right for you.

Our next key change is related to the AI’s ability to preserve its own characters during fights. To this end the AI will now build hospitals during the game and make use of them for characters injured during fights.

It is no secret that the AI never particularly cared for its people happily throwing them at you with no regard for their lives. They are now more vigilant and will try to retreat when appropriate, healing up before the next fight. As a result, Professor super tenants are now much more effective.



If you find enemy characters particularly difficult to hold down in a fight, consider using knock-back weapons such as the UZI or minigun and positioning your gangsters in such a way as to lock them down. Of course, you could always play dirty and blow up their hospitals too leaving them with only the third-rate medical equipment of ‘whatever’s lying around’ in their HQ.

We hope this change makes games played against AI competitors much more interesting and we will be looking towards more interesting changes as we move forward.

It’s no secret that the shotgun is one of the best weapons in the game and because of that we often see that they are more often than not the final ‘upgrade’ for many-a-gangster. After experimentation on a few unfortunate souls, we have made a small change to weapon self-damage.

As you may notice, whenever one of your characters attacks someone they will suffer a small amount of self-damage whether through reckless action or just plain stupidity (swinging around a chainsaw like a psychopath is not good for one’s health I’m told). Unfortunately, this self-damage was being applied a little too highly for weapons that fired multiple shots within an attack such as the UZI and the minigun. Therefore, we have reduced the self-damage taken by these weapons. As a result, their already unique knockback properties coupled with this change should make them much more competitive options when stacked up against ol’ reliable.

We would also like to extend our happiest wishes to all fans for Valentine’s Day. Whether you have big plans or simply want a day of self-pampering, just know that out there somewhere Bob the Slob has yet again set his house on fire and burned down the neighbourhood. We’ve been told it was a romantic gesture of some sort went awry. Ah well.

Please find below the relevant changes included in the new public beta branch.

• New Gameplay option for both AI and Human teams in singleplayer and multiplayer: Dog Bite resistance. The number displayed will set a base amount of dog bites a character may take before fleeing. This number may sometimes be modified if a character is feeling particularly good about their chances when they first engage.

• AI may now construct Hospitals in their town.

• Characters with low energy will retreat to the hospital rather than the HQ if one is available.

• Team colours have been tweaked ever so slightly to brighten up some of the darker shades.

• Self-damage applied to Gangsters when using the Uzi and Minigun has been reduced and they should therefore be more competitive options to the shotgun.

• Thief will correctly latch onto possessed characters when attempting to steal a weapon from them.

• Characters on the way to the Arcade Funhouse's ferris wheel will no longer be sucked into a party becoming uncontrollable after it has expired.

• Adjusted layout of Police Station and Mob HQ screen to avoid text overlaps in some languages.

• Adjust layout of Character info window to show dog bite info.

• Nigel's Gambit during stage 3 will complete successfully if you destroy the enemy team's HQ.

• Nigel's Gambit mission now has a timer displayed when appropriate.

• AI Thieves will now attempt to steal weapons from Mob HQs to upgrade their gangsters.

• Fixed an issue that could occur when reloading saves with Gangsters fighting and sometimes becoming unstable that could potentially cause the game to crash.

• Increased healing rate of characters in HQ slightly to assist when no hospital is available.

Many thanks for your continued support,

System 3

Well Constructor Plus fans, it is that time of year again when the Slob is busy trying to get the ice off his chip cooker, and the Professor is at it trying to invent a new more efficient method for heating his home. A time when we tell ourselves we are not going to eat our weight in Christmas food, but do so anyway because it is just too enticing. Oh, and of course that also means a time when the Steam Winter Sale is in full swing. That means for the duration of the sale we are happy to say that you may purchase Constructor Plus at 50% off its original price! Why not give the gift of hoodlums and mask-wearing psychopaths? Use the handy widget below to get started!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/898800/Constructor_Plus/

We have to say to all our fans that we appreciate the reception we have received for Constructor Plus across each platform we support. It has been an immensely busy year for us folk at System 3 as we rolled out each version of the game. For some platforms this meant more time taken (Xbox One certification *grumble grumble*) but in the end we believe the proof is in the Christmas pudding as the saying goes… So thank you for your continued support, and most of all thank you for your patience and wonderful feedback.

On the topic of feedback what good would this be without a new update for the game? We are happy to say that we do in fact have a new update for everyone to try out but unlike our earlier update we will be trialling it as a public beta branch. This means that whilst we believe there are no serious issues, we do not want to leave you with an unplayable build just before the holiday period! We would also greatly appreciate feedback on the changes. You will need to opt-in to this branch by following these steps:

1. Right-click Constructor Plus in your Steam Library. A pop-up should appear.

2. Click “Properties”. A new window will open.

3. In the new window look at the top and you will see several tabs. Look for the tab that says “BETAS” and click on it. You will open the tab in the same window.

4. Look for a drop-down box and click on it. The drop-down should contain a new branch called s3public_beta. Click on it and your Steam client should begin downloading the new update.

5. If you wish to revert to the previous build repeat the above steps up until Step 4. In Step 4 instead of selecting s3public_beta please select “NONE – Opt out of all beta programs”. The previous build should begin downloading.

If there are any fans who speak other languages and wish to translate the above steps to their language please do so.

In addition, we must make clear one point regarding multiplayer:

The public beta build is NOT compatible with the default public release so if you opt-in and want to play with your friends please copy the above instructions on how to access the public beta and show it to them. Otherwise, if they attempt to join your lobby with the wrong build they will be rejected, and that is not very festive now is it?


In our latest update we wanted to address as many concerns as possible without making too many knee-jerk reactions regarding certain other things such as multiplayer balance. The reason for this is that in this update we will be trialling several different changes related to multiplayer. Below we will quickly outline some of these changes.

a. The host may now save a multiplayer game in progress. This game may then be loaded as a custom game. If a player is no longer able to play the game but the others wish to continue, they may do so, and an AI will handle the unfilled slot. There is always the option to load the save at a later date if a player that was not present is now present. Network games are also automatically saved based on the host's autosave frequency but the host may also initiate a quick save by pressing J. The shortcut for quick-saving can be remapped in key configuration.

Town Designer saves may also be loaded. This means that the host player can design towns for each player (try to make them balanced and not so one-sided!) and then load that saved design as a custom level. This particular feature we believe works well but there may be intermittent issues and hence if you encounter issues with the saving or loading of games please let us know.

Finally, we must explain briefly how this will work. When the host starts a multiplayer game and they want to load a saved game they will need to click “Custom game”. They will then be shown a list of Network or Designer saves that they may pick. Once they pick a save the lobby will be created and other people may join or be invited by the host depending on the lobby privacy settings. Once everyone is in the lobby, the game can be started by the host and the process of transmitting the relevant data will begin. The host will load into the game but there will be a delay as other players are loaded in and initialised. If the game looks frozen do not be alarmed this is part of the process. Once everyone is loaded in the game will begin and you can have at each other. After you have had enough, the host may save the game for another time.

b. Host options in the GAMEPLAY options menu will be transmitted to other players and set. These cannot be modified during the game. However, if the host changes the settings and loads the save these will be set to the new values.

Remember: The host must go to the options menu and set these values before creating a lobby.

Currently, we transmit the following settings:

1. Attack AI Teams – Toggles AI between attacking only human teams or attacking both human and AI teams.

2. Council Mission Status – Toggles whether or not Council Missions will ever appear. Useful if you want to play a different multiplayer mode other than War Mode, but do not want to have to deal with council missions.

3. AI Build Speed – Decides how quickly the AI places new buildings and the effectiveness of their work teams. This may be set from 50% up to 600%.

4. Build on Enemy Estates – Sets whether or not the AI will build on enemy estates as well as its own.

c. Right-click pop-up now displays the player’s currently set Steam profile username. For example, if you were to right-click on a building owned by Constructor Plus, it would display Constructor Plus.

Once again we must point out that these changes may have quirks or other unforeseen issues so please let us know if something does not seem correct. Please note that we are aware of an issue where if the host player is behind other players in terms of resource unlocks, that when the new game is loaded the players who are ahead may have certain items locked again. This should correct itself by simply building something else. We must investigate this further as to how we can resolve it without breaking something else so please bear with us.



We’ve also taken the time to add in some new changes that we hope improves the feel of the game for all our fans. Of note is the addition of a much-wanted option to disable council complaints. This option functions in multiplayer as stated above and will use the host’s own value. In single-player this may be toggled on and off during the game and you can use it to decide when you want more missions from the council. Please note that this will only affect classic mode, and the final six mission types in the “Play Game” missions. Council missions are not present in any other type of mission.

Other quality of life improvements include the addition of more information to the right-click status display when right-clicking on homes, greater visibility on unlocks and many other useful changes. See patch notes below for the entire list of changes.

We are also happy to announce that the Simplified Chinese localisation is also live in this update. We thank the fans who were patiently waiting for this localisation. Do let us know if there any issues with the translation and we will correct them in a future update.
Right, well, with the festivities in motion and the weekend almost upon us we do not want to keep you here too long. We’d like to finish by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holiday, and a very Constructor-y new year!



- Constructor Plus now supports Simplified Chinese text and trophies have been updated accordingly for fans using this localisation.
- Host may now save multiplayer games in progress.
- Host may autosave games in progress in a multiplayer game. Press J (default shortcut but may also be remapped) to initiate an autosave. Network saves made this way are located in the Autonetwork category of saves when starting a custom game.
- Host settings from Gameplay Options for Attack AI Teams, Build Speed, Build on Enemy Estates, and Council missions now apply to multiplayer games and will be transmitted to other players.
- Players may now issue attack orders for an entire work team with only the foreman selected rather than needing to select an entire team.
- Added player name to house info in multiplayer.
- Added team name to right-click status of houses.
- Added option to disable council missions during classic modes. This is found in options menu.
- Added F11 and F12 group key presses.
- Added tenant level info to right-click house info if not ideal tenant.
- Added display of installed gadgets to right-click house info display. This displays the remaining strength of the internal gadget and if it is set to be automatically replaced (requires computer installed) then the number will display in green. This follows a similar convention to room upgrades.
- If a tenant is set to auto-replace, his name is shown in green in the info popup.
- Added L/R neighbour buttons to HQ, Edit Gadgets, Gadget factory & Undes screens to designate that players may use < and > (default key bind) to switch between properties without leaving the screen.
- Allow visibility of non-residential buildings yet to be unlocked in Estate agent.
- Added Skyscraper info display when selecting buildings.
- Added Monument info display when selecting buildings
- Right-clicking will select and scroll to an undesirable rather than the building in Undesirable View mode.
- Left-clicking will instead scroll to the undesirable building in Undesirable View mode.
- Player now receives appropriate warning if trying to convert workers to tenants if only one worker is present in the headquarters.
- Shortcut keys are now displayed for changing house types on Estate Agent screen.
- Added flashing text during network game initialisation so that player's know the game is still connecting everyone.


- Fixed custom game level variable initialisation in client machines.
- Fixed instance where certain external gadgets would not correctly be refunded if demolished before being delivered.
- Fixed retail units giving monthly rent once taken over in Chump Change.
- Fixed crash when selecting your own undesirable just as he finishes his task.
- Fixed right click when no Undesirable houses exist in Undesirable screen.
- Fixed French text for maison Tudor.
- Corrected French translation of Russian Connection.
- Game no longer crashes when re-selecting other characters during foreman building destroy.
- Selecting a different character whilst performing a character specific action will now correctly exit the mode or cancel the action.
- Too many garden objects in queue no longer cause overflow and prevent delivery of previously designated gadgets.
- Menu now slides completely off screen after load menu.
- Only one tenant will return to HQ to be counted after house sold if more than one tenant from same house is out in the world.
- Thief stealing weapon locks on to gangster even if he is dancing. Handy if you want to steal a weapon from a gangster whilst he is distracted.
- Stealing a gangster's weapon no longer interferes with knocked out or arrested state causing the gangster to become frozen in place.
- All save types are now visible on Load Game screen rather than requiring end user to click to scroll through list of save types.
- Shortcut keys are now displayed for changing house types on Estate Agent screen.
- Replaced Homebase movie.
- Replaced Nero's Palace, Corn Palace, White House, Aliiolani Hale & Philadelphia City Hall sprites.
- Improved unlock logic for network games upon loading a custom game.



We will evaluate all feedback regarding this build and if no serious issues are detected internally or by our fans we will then make this build live on the public branch. The public beta branch will be removed at this point, and when we are ready to trial a new update that might have far-reaching consequences for which we cannot hope to test all situations, we will gladly organise a new public beta branch.

- System 3

Dear Constructor Fans,

As a certain foreman once said, all good things must come to an end eventually. Of course, that was shortly before he gave his demolition plunger the ol’ plunge, as it were, and sent the Major’s house tumbling down into rubble and ruin.

Therefore we thought it only right let you know in advance that next Friday the loyalty bundle pack will be ending. As many of you may recall, the loyalty bundle was our way of giving existing owners of Constructor HD, a way to purchase Constructor Plus at a reduced price. In short, it was our way of thanking our loyal fans for their ongoing support. Originally we said this bundle would only run for one month, but we decided to give fans additional time to make the decision and hence it has been live since the release of Constructor Plus back in May.

As we move forward with our plans for Constructor Plus we have evaluated the necessity of the bundle and believe that previous owners who wanted to upgrade to Constructor Plus have long since done so. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue the bundle. Of course, we understand that there may be fans who originally never received the news, and we wouldn’t want them to miss out. Therefore, we are extending the offer for one final week until next Friday.

If you've not already heard the word and don't know where to go, we've included a handy link direct to the bundle down below. Please note that this bundle is only for existing owners of Constructor HD who have not yet purchased Constructor Plus.

We would like to extend our greatest thanks to the fans who have continued to support our work and we wish you a happy weekend.

-System 3

Dear Constructor fans,

We would like to thank all the fans who have purchased Constructor Plus. We very much hope that the game has been an enjoyable experience for everyone thus far. We are working through the feedback we have received and where possible are making adjustments based on the feedback provided to us.

For fans who are still getting used to the game we will be publishing at a later date a new YouTube channel called Constructor Central with various hints and tips to help improve your understanding of the game. This will supplement the existing tutorials and in-game hints that already exist. More on this at a later date as we are still in the early stages of putting things together.

The focus of our first update is to address potential areas of confusion in the game based on the feedback received. The changes range from re-enabling saves in the tutorial to adding in detailed lists in several of the missions that require you to track lots of data. We hope that these changes will help in the long run with fans who are just dipping their toes into the world of Constructor.



We would also like to thank the fans on Facebook and Steam for their suggestions for new Zombie and Cockroach names as part of the Adopt-A-Zomroach event! There were many witty suggestions that we enjoyed reading. Listed below are our favourites which have been added to the game:



• George A Zomero
• Munchin' Joe
• Brian Nibbler
• Johnny Rotten
• Mikon Jacksal
• Plant Hater
• Right Said Dead
• Bitey McBiteface
• Risen Withnoreason
• Rodney Chompface
• Barack Embalma
• Don Zombiote
• Tschakka
• Keef Rechardz



• Roachafella
• Marilyn Monroach
• Hal Underfridge
• Hot Chocaroach
• Scutter
• Crunch
• Mr.Krabs
• Shelly Toughstuff
• Gaspar
• Jimmy the Legs
• Harald
• Rad Shell
• Squish Me

Thank you very much for your continued support. Have a very Constructor-y weekend.

System 3

Blimey!

Some o’ those names were a little cheekier than we’d thought. Great suggestions everyone both on Steam and the Facebook group!

It’ll take some time for the folks at the morgue to pick out their favourite names but once they’re done, we’ll knock out a new list and add them to the pool of names.

I don’t expect you’ll know proper horror until you’re dealing with the likes of Nom Nom Nom the Zombie…

Right then, I'm off for a bowl of bra- I mean grains.

Yes… that’s what I meant. Wholesome delicious grains that are part of a nutritious breakfast and not brains which unlike grains are not an ideal breakfast item.

Sincerely,

No Really I Am Definitely Not A Zombie

Directing Manager CSCHOGNG


P.S. He might be a zombie…





Boo!

Haha, always gets them…

Right, so we at the local “Can’t stop coughin’ house of ghosts ‘n’ ghoulies” have a special offer for you the discerning fan. As the years pass on by, we’re finding ourselves up to our necks in cockroaches and zombies. It’s like they’re dying to get into our cemetery!

For the next 24 hours we’re letting loose the crazy lot and we want to give you, the fans, an opportunity to have your specially named cockroach or zombie in the game for everyone else to kill, maim, or just plain tolerate until the sod totters off into the tube site.

We encourage fans to come up with creative names, especially pun-related ones that keep with the theme of a cockroach or zombie. As much of a theme as they can possibly have...

If you can only think of vulgar names, or insults, please do not suggest anything. We are trying to keep the game family friendly as it were! Well, as friendly as a game with a chainsaw wielding maniac can be!

After 24 hours we will no longer accept any suggestions. We will then discuss the names and pick our favourites who will have their cockroach or zombie name (or both!) immortalised in the game as a permanent addition to the random pool of zombie and cockroach names.

We accept one zombie name and one cockroach name per person so make them your best!

Sincerely,

Definitely Not A Zombie

Directing Manager CSCHOGNG

Dear Constructor fans,

We are happy to announce that Constructor Plus is now live for your enjoyment!

If you already own Constructor HD (2017) then please purchase Constructor Plus using the special loyalty discount bundle to receive your 50% discount via the store page, or using the link below:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/10986/Constructor_Plus_Loyalty_Discount/

If you do not own Constructor HD, please purchase only Constructor Plus. Constructor HD (2017) is not required to play the game, and the bundle would work out to be more expensive for you. Use the widget below or purchase Constructor Plus via the store page.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/898800/Constructor_Plus/

Please visit our QA topic for any of your more pressing questions via this link:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/898800/discussions/4/3557193237094974654/

We hope you enjoy the game, and we look forward to hearing what everyone thinks about all the new content and the direction in which we are taking the game.

We appreciate everyone's support the last two years and we cannot wait to share more with you going forward.

All the best,

System 3

Dear Constructor Plus fans,

We will be launching within two weeks (the absolute minimum launch window defined by Steam), but until then we wanted to make clear how the loyalty discount will work for existing owners. Further promotion will begin very soon.

If you would like to know more please visit this thread.

As you may recall, we said that loyal fans who own the 2017 version of Constructor will receive a discount on Constructor Plus. We had intended for this to be via coupons, but we have been advised by Steam that it is better to do this via the simpler “Loyalty Discount” bundle. This will become available once the game releases so do not fret if you cannot see it yet.

Please note that this is ONLY intended for people who already own the 2017 version of Constructor.





We hope that you are excited for the release of Constructor Plus and we look forward to seeing everyone experience all the new content that is on offer.

Please consider adding the game to your wish list using the handy widget below to be notified upon its release!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/898800/Constructor_Plus/

Kindest regards,

System 3