While Alpha 9.9 was planned to be the final alpha, writing the actual story content for Beta 1 is going to take a while, and it just didn't feel right to sit on a critical bug fix that long.
The issue, reported by some, is that the game crashes after you've saved your customized desk. Once this happens, it keeps crashing any time the desk is loaded. I was able to reproduce the error and fix it in this bonus patch, Alpha 9.10. This fix should also work with existing save games, that had previously been cursed with this bug.
BUT! No patch should be completely devoid of new content. Before, if you decided to hide the map key guide (press G to toggle it on/off in game), the Above the Fold logo would be shown instead. This has now been replaced with your newspaper's name, with a small red circle behind it. It's not a huge change, but there you go.
Behind the scenes, work continues on the plotline feature. The technical side is more or less done, but there is a lot of writing and testing left to do, still.
Thanks to everyone who has provided constructive feedback so far - whether on Steam, twitter or privately, your support is incredibly important. If you don't already, you can follow me on Twitter (@theprint) or check the #AboveTheFold hashtag for the latest developments.
Alpha 9.9 : A Landmark Update
Navigate by Landmark
Navigating Goodbury just got a whole lot easier, and stories now spawn around city landmarks. Introduced as graphic elements on the map in Alpha 9.8, these unique buildings now become a key factor in your day-to-day tactics.
Scroll down for a full list of changes.
All story types still spawn randomly throughout the city, but if you are looking for a specific type, you will be better off hanging out near its associated landmark. I will leave some of the discovery up to you, but as an exampe "Sports" stories spawn more often near the stadium, MegaChain Park.
This is especially helpful, if you're looking to make a themed issue. In that case, you can much easier find suitable stories by going to the associated landmark. Note that story types you haven't unlocked yet, still won't spawn.
Changes in Alpha 9.9
New: stories now predominantly (58%) spawn near landmarks. There are 5 landmarks: city hall, the MegaChain stadium, the harbor, Harriett Hospital, and the business center. There are 3 story types associated with each of these.
New: When the map guide is enabled (hot key G), each landmark is labeled as you scroll around the map
Balance: the number of stories spawned per hour is reduced by one third to increase the challenge for those who min-max their stories.
Balance: drastically lowered the required score to win Award of the Month
Fixed an overlap bug that would cause local high scores to display beneath Steam stats
Fixed a bug that erroneously displayed Steam stats without connection to Steam
Fixed bug that caused old save games to crash when an award event would trigger
Alpha 9.8 : A Visual Lift
The City of Goodbury has a new look, and when putting the front page together, you now have the option to customize your very own desk. These are two of the major changes to Above the Fold in Alpha 9.8.
Dutch artist, Kay Lousberg, who also designed the reporter graphics, has drawn a whole new map of Goodbury. Where the city was very one-note before, it now has neighborhoods with unique buildings. As the game gets further towards release, these will play a more important part of the game. For now, the new map just makes everything look much better. Adding further depth to the map, new moving clouds also appear as you move around the city.
The ability to customize your Editor's Desk is just for fun. Different desk configurations have no direct influence on the game, however, as your game progresses, you may unlock additional elements, that you can use to make the desk your very own.
There are loads more changes under the hood. See a more complete list of changes below.
Changes in Alpha 9.8
New city map of Goodbury with neighborhoods and unique buildings
Customize Desktop-button added under Office Management
New screen lets you pick from different backgrounds, notepads and decorative items, and that's what you'll see when putting your front page together
Each new game stage unlocks 1 additional desk background to choose from*
Clouds now traverse the Goodburian sky for added depth and a slight distraction
Sidebar sprite on the Map now has a bit more texture on it
Newspaper graphic on the Editor's Desk screen has a new texture.
Events can now trigger on the same day, you level up (previously only leveling would trigger)
Balance tweak: For each day without an event, the chance of a new event increases randomly by 2-3% (was fixed 2.5% before)
New reporter name elements added
New celebrity added, John Peter Boga-Boga, professional Karaoke singer.
*Will only work with new games, not existing saves.
Longer Storylines in the Works and Other Developments
No new patch this week, but here is an update on what is going on behind the scenes. For one, work is about to start on the new city map of Goodbury, but it'll be a while before there is anything to share there, apart from the clouds shown in this screenshot. With the Challenges added in the last update, there is only one major gameplay feature left; Storylines.
Storylines are basically linked chains of events in the game, where each choice you make determines the nature of the next event, and eventually the outcome. They stretch over more than the current 2-3 linked events that are already in the game, have more impactful outcomes, and thus will take more planning and writing.
Unlike random events or historic events, Storylines trigger procedurally. That means, the way you play the game will determine which storylines are likely to trigger. For example, one storyline may be connected to organized crime, and will only trigger after you've researched this under Upgrades and with each published Crime-themed issue the chance increases.
With these Storylines, the hope is to add more replay-value and things to explore within Above the Fold. The current state of this feature, is that the basic code is written and being tested (when adding any new feature, old ones are likely to break), and the first few Storylines are being drafted.
The Beta phase of development, will be dedicated to audio, visual and UI improvements, balancing, meta game, and adding more art and Storylines.
What are the storylines you'd like to see? I'm always open to suggestions.
Alpha 9.7 : Challenge Accepted!
After having been teased with them for a while now, the Challenges are finally IN the game! You can complete them and claim the rewards once per Challenge.
The rewards include Angry Letter Forgiveness and additional Reporters on your staff. There are 10 Challenges in the game, of which 2 become available per game chapter.
But wait, there is more! Two balance changes to note are slight nerfing of Angry Letter forgiveness rewards from the Owner, and increased Overhead costs as your newspaper levels up. The first of these is to give a value boost to the Challenge rewards, and the second is simply increase money-making pressure a bit as you progress.
There is even more new stuff in this update, but these were the major changes and additions. For a full(er) list, see below.
Alpha 9.7 Change List
You can now Claim rewards for completed Challenges from the Challenges screen
Challenge elements are listed in green if you've achieved them, and red if not
Challenges display a button if unlockable, the label changes if unlocked or claimed
Fanfare plays when you claim a challenge reward
Lifetime game stats are now listed on the main game menu (pulled from Steam)
All days of the week now have their own music track on the Map
The "Typical Reader" in the Subscriber panel has been recoded
15 new last names were added (all from the game industry, see if you recognize any)
13 fresh newspaper name elements were added to the pool of randomization
Balance: Office Overhead is significantly increased when a new distribution level is reached
Balance: Angry Letter forgiveness has been nerfed to increase value of challenges
Balance: The first theme of the month is now presented early in the game, is scripted to be "Local News" and has a set difficulty of 760
Fixed a bug that would prevent F9 from toggling fullscreen on (only off was working)
Fixed a bug on the Editor screen, that would cause you to accidentally send 2 stories back if clicking too close to the edge
Alpha 9.6 : Let There Be Weekends!
Weekends have arrived in Above The Fold. Continuing the theme of adding progression to the game, you now have to unlock Saturday and Sunday editions for your newspaper. You (can't yet) do this by completing Challenges! More on this below. For a quick overview of all the changes, scroll to the last part of this post.
Challenges are huge new feature coming to the game. I say coming, because at the time this update goes out, they are not yet fully implemented. Everything is there, but needs a little more testing and balancing. That said, you can access a list of them, which gradually fades in as you unlock new challenges to complete (2 per game stage). Actually being able to complete a challenge is coming in the next patch, but some of the stats required are already tracked - like your highest scoring themed issues, per theme!
Contentwise, more than 100 new headline elements have been added, giving you much more variation and potential silliness in the random story headlines in the game. If you get a funny or noteworthy front page, please upload a screenshot to Steam - I love to see what you get!
In terms of balance, not publishing on weekends means less time between bills, in which you can make the cash you need to keep the paper afloat. The weekend is good for some things though - your Reporters recharge and may come back to work happier than they were at the end of the week.
Besides this, this update has a truck load of bug fixes and quality of life adjustments.
Changes in Alpha 9.6
100+ new headline elements added for greater variation and absurdity
Added 1 new music loop, which plays on Fridays. One away from having one for every day.
Each in-game hour is 2 seconds longer
to allow more fine tuning (+/- keypad keys adjust speed)
Saturdays and Sundays are now skipped by default, until weekend editions are unlocked
During the weekend, there is a chance Reporter happiness will go up slightly
Ticker now shows the date and weekday (easier to see when weekend is approaching)
Every time you break your own record with a themed issue, you get bonus score points (50-200)
Ticker now shows when your last themed issue scored higher than similar and/or all themed issues
Challenge screen accessible via the Office, and you can see what your available challenges are
Fixed male reporter's hair, sometimes floating 1 pixel above where it should be
Fixed happiness-related Strategic Goals*, which could trigger prematurely
Fixed an issue related to advertisements carrying over into a new year*
Fixed Reporter cards having overflowing text in cases with several long trait names
Fixed issue where newly unlocked story types wouldn't appear until the game had been restarted
Larger responsive area on screen, when right-clicking to remove a story from the front page
Typical Reader algorithm messed with some
Various bug fixes, incl. at least one typo-related crash
*Only tested with a fresh save game.
Alpha 9.5 : The Road to Progression
The newest update for Above the Fold is the first to focus on progression, and as such comes with some fairly drastic changes. Chief among them is that story types now unlock gradually.
Where before, you had access to everything from local news to global conflict from the start of the game, you now unlock topics as the paper grows. The locked story types are now darkened in the guide on the map, and the reporters for hire will mostly be interested in the story types already unlocked.
Content wise, this update comes with new daily quotes and one new music loop.
While there is nothing in this update that will mess up your save game, you may want to do some staff changes after updating, if your reporters are mostly specialized in story types that are suddenly locked - or accept the additional challenge of making it work.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these changes, and any requests you might have for future patches.
Changes in Alpha 9.5
Story types now unlock as you progress in the game
1 new "Hump Day" loop added to the Map
Added 22 new things your reporters might say, depending on their state of mind
Changed the button for deleting saved games
Updated the in-game map key to distinguish locked story types
Lunches bought and upgrades completed are now counted (for later achievement use)
Reporters wanting a raise are now more vocal and may lose more happiness
Reporters for hire are more likely to have (dis)interests that match available stories
Until the mid-game, certain story types will not appear as Theme of the Month
The word count now updates correctly, when stories are replaced
Alpha 9.4 : More Music and History
This update is a bit embarrassing, because of a bug that was uncovered and now thankfully fixed. The historic events previously added to the game, were not triggering due to an oversight in the coding department (that's me). The good news is, all these events now trigger, one every two in-game months, and your reaction to them affects your staff, credibility, and more.
This update also comes with 3 new music loops, added to the Map. The plan is to have a track for each day of the week, but for now Sunday has its own track, and the other days alternate between 3 loops.
Finally, the game now collects Steam stats in the background. You can't see these anywhere (yet), but they will be displayed in-game eventually, and more importantly - these stats are used to track progress towards Achievements!
Note: Achievements are not in the game yet (feel free to suggest achieves!) - but by adding stats now, I can test the underlying mechanics and once the achieves are added, your existing stats will immediately count towards unlocking them.
Changes in Alpha 9.4
Added 3 new music tracks
Music now alternates on the Map, so it's not the same track every day
Historic events now trigger every 2 months like they were supposed to
Steam Statistics are now collected in the background, for later achievement tie-ins
Game now auto-saves immediately after event windows close
Fixed an exploit that would award you points for [REDACTED]
Moved hair pixels down slightly to fix a gap seen on some reporter sprites
Fixed a crash if you hit F1 on the main menu
Alpha 9.3 : New Faces, Everywhere!
With the help of Dutch artist, Kay Lousberg, Above the Fold finally has character art to replace the stick person aesthetic that was there before. I am sure you can agree, that this adds a ton of character to the game. Pun possibly intended.
I have attempted to make this patch backwards compatible, but due to a data loss in the middle of development, I haven't been able to verify if the latest changes still work. Said data loss was also the reason this patch took a little bit longer to finish than expected, but I think the wait was worth it.
Changes in Alpha 9.3
Character art! All reporters have their own procedurally generated look.
Mouse over reporters on the map to see their current quote pop up
The news ticker no longer displays nonsense headlines
Instead, the news ticker repeats some info and tips throughout the game day
The sidebar on the map was tweaked to accomodate the new sprites
Several minor bugs were fixed - check if yours was one of them, and if not, leave a comment!
Alpha 8.8 : More Events and Ground Work
This update has a very important fix (memory leak), which isn't very interesting, but it also comes with a set of 9 new events that may trigger under specific circumstances. All of them are repeatable, which means you can figure out what triggers them and use that strategically in your game.
There is a bit of rebalancing happening as well, specifically in the Angry Letters department. Until now, even if you played well, chances were you'd reach your limit for complaints and get fired before winning. To help even those odds, Angry Letter Forgiveness rewards are nearly doubled throughout the game.
Finally, this patch lays the ground work for Alpha 9 and for some of the meta game features planned for future updates. All stuff that isn't necessarily visible in the game at the moment, but lay the foundation for the next layer of the game (mini storylines based on decisions in previous events).
Changes in alpha 8.8
Added 9 new, repeatable events, conditionally triggered with a mix of negative and positive effects
Added a new sprite for the sample Angry Letter
Added 5 new decision hooks, which can influence later events (mostly setup for next patch)
Added Reporter name elements matching characters from Friends, Seinfeld, and Beverly Hills 90210 (setup for future achivements)
Added a check for whether celebrities are alive, before being associated with a story
Added tracking for how many times each celebrity has been featured (which can affect their opinion)
Going beyond your max word count may now trigger happiness loss as stories are edited down
Rebalanced Angry Letter forgiveness rewards, increasing each by 50-100%
Tweaked the randomness of events playing out a tiny bit
Fixed a bug that wouldn't let you toggle the music on and off freely on the map
Fixed a memory leak on the Map affecting later chapters especially
BUT! No patch should be completely devoid of new content. Before, if you decided to hide the map key guide (press G to toggle it on/off in game), the Above the Fold logo would be shown instead. This has now been replaced with your newspaper's name, with a small red circle behind it. It's not a huge change, but there you go.
Weekends have arrived in Above The Fold. Continuing the theme of adding progression to the game, you now have to unlock Saturday and Sunday editions for your newspaper. You (can't yet) do this by completing Challenges! More on this below. For a quick overview of all the changes, scroll to the last part of this post.
