GDM Update 6 - Conventions / Hardware Upgrades

Update 6 is out.  You will need to delete all previous unzipped files and re download gdmv6.7z and extract to play.

Minor Changes

- Tweaked the amount of hype generated by Ai companies.  I felt they were increasing / decreasing trends to quickly.

-Added a toggle for the breaking news sound affect.  I think the sound is helpful but I could also see it being annoying so I made it an option.  This option can be found in the game options under game-play.

-Tweaked some balance numbers, the game is still difficult to master but should punish bad play a little less as well as feedback is now provided via breaking news for what you did wrong to help guide the player to success.

Major Changes

Conventions

I have added conventions to the game.  Currently there are 2 conventions per year and they run sometime between February - June and August - December respectively.  There is also a 3rd option to create your own convention but this is restricted to companies who have created multiple AAA games.  Seeing as AAA game creation is not yet in the game this option isn't "live" but will be available when AAA games are available in the future.

I have added a notify option in the conventions menu that you can toggle on (off by default) with this option on you will receive a breaking news update when the start of a convention's month begins.

During the active month for the convention you can book the event using either a currently on sale game or a under development game.

Regardless of game type you will receive visits to your booth based on the quality of your game,  size of the booth, and the year.  You will then receive gained fans based on game quality and total visitors.

 If you are using a currently selling game this game will receive a sales increase of X% based on quality / visitors and 4 more sales weeks will be added to the lifespan of the game and these new sales will populate those extra weeks. 

If you are using an in development game then instead of sales you will instead receive hype for your current game.  The hype gained is based off the current quality of your developed game which of course is based on many factors such as topic / genre / target matches as well as any stage development you have already completed.  The further into development the higher the quality of what you can show at your event which of course will yield in higher hype gained for that project. 

Once an event has been booked and processed it is over for the year and new dates are set when the following year begins.  Of course if you miss the event month it will conclude when the following month hits.  You can make use of slow time and accelerate time to hit convention dates for the right games if you think that's the right approach.

Hardware Upgrades

Hardware upgrades are an additional way to improve individual workers.  Currently there are 5 Pc's / 5 monitors / 5 peripherals (MAK) that can be upgraded.  Each upgrade will reduce training / researching times for your worker. 

I have slightly increased the base time for training / researching so at first it might seem slower but after upgrading hardware the time for training / researching is significantly quicker than it was previously, but this speed must be earned.

You have to understand that choices have to be made when developing a game around what areas to focus and how realistic or silly a game will be.  I have already chosen game-play over realism by using an alternate reality for each new game to justify procedural weights to force engagement and not spreadsheets so realism is out the window, but personally I prefer game-play / fun first before anything else.  With that said I realize there is not to many $250,000 keyboards out there in the world to buy. or $500,000 monitors, at-least I dont think they exist.  However if I went for realistic prices in a game where you are going to make 100's of millions hardware upgrades go from a progression mechanic to just something you buy to max as you add employees etc.  The only real option to make this feel like progression is to jack the prices to crazy levels compared to reality but make sense to your financial progression in game.  Or to make use of research points to buy hardware which is also very UN-realistic but could serve as a progression mechanic.  Currently I have gone with the high prices but I believe in terms of your money in game these make sense and are not to high priced especially for the first few sets.

I hope you enjoy the newest update and I look forward to any feedback you wish to offer.