GDM Ver 8 - Fixes Features and Fans

GDM Ver 8 Is live..

You will need to delete previously unzipped files.  Then download and unzip the new GDM_V8.7z file to access this latest version.  This version will work with older saves but you will lack access to certain new additions.  I recommend starting a fresh save to try this version.

Fixes

There was a variety of fixes and balance tweaks applied to this update like most updates.  I think I have the difficulty in a pretty good spot, but it's very hard for me to tell.  As the creator I am pretty damn good at my own game, so I am truly relying on feedback to let me know if I have made it to hard or to easy.  I am aiming for challenging, but friendly.  I don't want the only reason to restart to be you went bankrupt.  I would like you to be able to be successful, but still have ideas on how you could of done significantly better.  Then retry to beat your own scores, ideally.

Quick list of some changes 

-Purchased marketing now adds to your games budget

-Fixed an issue with pop up worker hud placements in some situations.

-Fixed an issue that could have you prevent lossing fans if you made the game of the year, but declined to go to the awards show.  Now wether you go or not if you made the worst game your going to lose some fans.

-Fixed an issue that would allow you to take a new contract as one ended thus having it return a fail.

-Fixed an issue that caused long term bank payments to be calculated incorrectly.  They now correctly go into your bank when term ends.

-Added a display of desired minimums for engine and tech+design as well as show your current.  This should help you see more clearly how well developed a game is and perhaps help you make better decisions during a delay.

Money

I have re done money and removed petty / bank it just seemed to be unnecessary to have both and try to have the player deposit money in the bank for interest while also pulling money from different sources for different types of work.  My aim is to add options on options, but not at the expense of fun clean game-play.  So I removed petty cash and all money now goes into the bank which auto receives a 6% interest rate as baseline.  There is still of course long term investments where you commit that sum for a period of time chosen by you.

Company Fund

With the removal of petty cash, and based off a suggestion from one of my active players Seb.  I have created an additional feature called company programs.  Every year you are given a sum of money based on your companies valuation (which changes per year based on sales).  This money has no strings attached, and can only be used to purchase company programs.  Any unspent money is removed on new year it does not roll over, so spend it as you see fit through the year.

Currently I have only 3 programs on offer, but I have more planned to add in the future this is just the baseline for this feature.

1.  Hire a 3rd party Marketing team..  you can pay 25k of company funds to acquire an instant 20% hype

2.  Hire a design expert..  you can pay 25k to hire a design expert that adds an instant 100 design to your currently being developed game.

3.  Hire a tech expert.. you can pay 25k to hire a design expert that adds an instant 100 tech to your currently being developed game.

The idea here is these funds can be used to augment a game by either boosting the hype if you believe the game is good, or jamming in tons more design / tech to meet minimums or hit balance %s

Manager Perks

Manager perks have undergone some balance changes in an effort to make all of them viable choices and each having a valuable impact on each new game.  I also have added one new manager perk 

Fan Friendly:  This perk allows you to gain an increase in fans from games created.  You gain 15-35% more fans depending on your game score. Ie a 10 gets 35% a 0 gets 15% although a 0 likely gains no fans :)

Well Connected which lowers the cost of all game development now has a different strength for each size of game.  For small you are now receiving 75% off would make it fall more inline with money gained from coding veteran or seeing the right tend to make your game in.  For medium this drops to 40% to keep the same balance in line.

The perk which allows you to pay your workers less, which obviously has no value in the early game due to having no employees has been increased to a 50% reduction to all employee expenses.  Ie when you have 5 workers each level 20 your monthly bills would go from 200k / month to 100k / month which over the course of a year would bring it more into balance with other perks? 

Which is the best perk for a long play?  No idea, that's kind of the point :)

Please if you haven't already wish-listed GDM on steam I would really appreciate if you did so now at this address.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1478350/Game_Dev_Masters/

You can of course search "Game Dev Masters" on steam store as well if you don't want a direct link.

The next update is going to be a big one.  I am about to begin the journey into adding the 3rd office which includes up to 5 workers and the ability to create Large games which will come with increased complexity / cost a lot more / make a lot more.

I will be pushing updates / news on twitter as a continue to work, but this next update may take me a little while.  It is honestly impossible to say until I start writing code and seeing how difficult it will be to implement.  If you want up-to-date notifications please consider following me on twitter @hulgarth for regular updates.