Hey everyone, just a little mini patch here to bring a little more stability/polish to the game. Got some more mini patches (and medium ones) in the oven, stay tuned! ^-^
- Danny -
Balancing
When you obtain the tape player by any means, it now comes with a free tape. Other tapes are still available via trading
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed an error that could cause you to be stuck on the main menu
Updated save/load code to better handle cases of corruption
Fixed groups of teenagers appearing close to each other so much
Fixed Pencil Item being bugged
Fixed some Localisation errors
Fixed various issues with the tape player
Cloud Saving! Plus other improvements
Hey everyone, I'm back with another update! This time it's the long awaited cloud saving plus various stability fixes. I'm never giving up on this thing.
Hoping to have some big news for you all soon! ^-^
- Danny -
Changes and new stuff
Cloud saving has now been added!
Balancing
Reduced difficulty for busking on the subway
Comic Books give more happiness for new issues, but price is slightly more
Bug fixes and improvements
Improved how interactables wait for your approach before interacting with them, interactables no longer wait forever and activate when near if you interact with something else. The short story is that it is now easier to cancel clicks.
Added extra snappiness to various elements while playing with a controller
Fixed the starving button possibly not working with mouse
Fixed the mouse cursor possibly still showing while playing on a controller when switching rapidly between mouse and controller
Fixed a bug that could cause you to not be able to enter buildings without pausing and unpausing, alt tabbing etc
Fixed Restaurant appearing closed when unable to enter due to low hygiene or being drunk
Fixed day labour truck following you after declining a pay raise
Fixed some soft lock bugs that could occur mid-late game
Fixed jobs not allowing you to work until exiting the menu sometimes
Fixed dog’s hunger showing as 0 temporarily until the first hunger tick right after getting a dog
Fixed white squares showing in the true ending for addict and mental illness characters
Improved true ending timing and pace
Fixed some issues with perk awarding in the late game
Fixed some icons appearing huge in some popups (bread roll)
Fixed: When buying newspapers from the paperboy to show the next city event on the same day you get a city event, it would instead show the event you just got instead of the next upcoming one. It now correctly shows the next event.
Fixed begging in front of other homeless trying to bed taking more reputation than it should
Some other minor stability fixes
9 Years of development anniversary: EVEN MORE!
Hey everyone, it's time for another update!
More polishing and bug fixes/request fulfillments this time and some hefty balancing changes.
A bit about me, things aren't great over here. CHANGE doesn't make as much as people might think; it's been enough to squeeze by each month but I also gave a load of it away and its getting to the point where I probably can't keep doing this. I suppose that's my fault for not releasing new games in time and just working on this one for so long, and I still want to add to this game, but the reality is I can't afford it.
In fact... I may be about to lose it all. Delve isn't looking good. I may have to shut things down and I don't know what's gonna happen to CHANGE after that.
I don't wanna sing a swansong just yet, if just ONE big streamer does a play of the game before the end of the year that would literally be enough to save CHANGE and the company and me. You can also help by spreading the word or maybe trying out the Living City DLC?
Still, I'm so grateful that we even got to this point, so many other great games get buried on steam, and I'm here with thousands of people experiencing what we made and that's amazing and humbling. It's been something truly special that's almost taken a full decade of my life, and all the messages of people saying how affecting the game is has kept me going.
We can still do this, just gotta hope for lucky break. I'm finishing up a post mortem right now, so you can all read the full story behind CHANGE soon.
I hope there'll be more updates to come
Danny
Changes and new stuff
Controller - Y/Triangle is now mapped to the EAT button on the bottom right that shows when hungry, B is mapped to various Stop buttons, etc, various other UI elements on controller are better mapped and feels more intuitive
Taxi hailing whistle SFX added when hailing taxis
Balancing
Increased amount of paperwork given by the paperwork boost custom effect in the Living City DLC
Removing the Dirty Clothes or Injured maladies now gives 1 happiness
Increased the base minimum time between police spawns a little bit (they should be around almost as much, they just won’t appear practically immediately after the last one)
It’s harder to get the “Haggard” Malady
Depression now prevents you from working/studying if happiness is equal to or less than 30 instead of 40
Various trades are better balanced and usually more favourable
Bliss gives a bit less happiness
Significantly reduced chance of finding silver bracelet in trash
Certain negative night events cause more happiness drain
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed a case where you could still get warmed in winter in shelters with the no heating status
Fixed “Go to park” option when talking to other homeless being bugged after moving areas
Fixed still being able to move cursor around in shelter menu while night event was showing on controller
Fixed vehicles possibly driving through the sky during the intro cutscene
Fixed cursor alignment being displaced after parts of the UI are removed in various menus on controller
Lowered placement of bus stops and increased the delay before input is allowed on the bus UI, to help with misclicks
When haggling with other homeless for day labour, their speech bubbles are no longer obscured due to bad placement
Controller support - Made the gambling UI in the Arcade building easier to use
Fixed a crash that could occur if a controller disconnects in the options menu
Fixed police scolding you for warming up at trash cans that are on fire after police funding event level 1 (They still don’t like it when actually starting fires)
Search button now hides when clicking on payphones if you’ve already searched that one that day
Floating cash gained text more prominent/better timed when searching payphones
Fixed a bug that could allow you to search trash cans that were on fire
Slightly increased payphone hitbox size
Fixed a bug where deselecting “Fast start” after having it enabled and skipping the intro scene could cause the intro start texts to show when you next moved areas
Fixed a bug where homeless characters in the park could have talk options you haven't unlocked yet
Fixed alt tabbing while using controller causing a graphical error with the cursor until you pressed a button
Fixed a bunch of issues with the Taxis
Fixed staying in shelters not warming you up sometimes
A bunch of other little fixes, tweaks, SFX additions, general polish
Another Update! Lots of fixes!
Hey everyone! It's me again!
This time around we're just focusing on your reported bugs and general polish, plus one minor change to make paperwork grinding feel less... grindy.
Sorry it's been awhile since the last update, full disclosure; my computer broke. It got hit with a surge some months ago and I've been replacing parts paycheck by paycheck only to find it needs more parts. Back up and running again now though!
I've been reading all of your feedback and reports, please do keep 'em coming! I still have some requests/reports to get to, but now that game is playing better, I may even turn my head to more content soon... after cloud saving that is.
Anyway, I gotta get back to work, I hope you all enjoy the latest update! ^-^
- Danny -
Changes and new stuff
Day Labour now awards 1 paperwork, (chance to award none on bad events). This will reduce the overall late game feeling grindy a bit and allow you to gain work experience outside of the employment system
Balancing
Inflation city event is now harsher Reduced number of pedestrians on the street a bit, as with all the new characters walking around these days the city is feeling a bit full. This should help with the missclicking Increased crime level rate required before welfare doesn’t let you in
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed job application successes giving a perk which then threw you out of the job screen nulling the application success (really sorry about that one) Fixed a bug that could cause your welfare appointments to be -x days in the past Fixed a bunch of other welfare bugs Fixed menus in the mobile phone scrolling in the wrong direction Fixed public toilets not kicking you out at/after 8pm if waiting in there past then A bunch of other minor fixes and tweaks
Controller Support Hotfix patch
Hey everyone, just a little hotfix patch here to deal with some of the reported issues, keep the feedback coming! ^-^
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed click movement being bugged with mouse after clicking on an object to interact with it
Improved stick sensitivity when playing with controller
Fixed perk popups causing bugs when applying for jobs
Fixed some tooltips in the character customiser not showing, namely the ones describing the hope bar
Fixed some buttons in the character customiser being unresponsive (minus cash, defaults button, etc)
CONTROLLER SUPPORT! Plus, a bit of new content
It's finally here! CHANGE is now fully playable on controller!
Hey folks, it's me again (And hello to our new players too), how've ya been? How in the hells did almost a year go by without an update?!
Well, it turned out that adding controller support meant re-writing a ton of code in the game, since it wasn't designed for controllers originally, a lot of stuff had be torn out and re-done. Of course, making changes to a lot of code for one feature caused a shedload of bugs, and they needed to be fixed. So It took a lot longer than originally planned, sorry about that.
I've also been spending time on work contracts to keep things going as well as on my secret-for-now other project that I'll be revealing soon! (Maybe I should be banned from using the word "soon", slap my wrist)
At least during this time I was also able to make a load of other fixes and improvements to CHANGE, and I actually have even more night events coming in an update soon.
One thing I wanna mention before I go, did you guys know about the Living City DLC? It adds a lot of new content including soundtrack lofi remix, loads of new perks/items, customisation, new buildings, etc. It's on sale right now, why not give it a go?
I want to thank you all again for all the support you've shown me and this game, things have been a bit tough financially lately, but I have hope I'll get to keep making these things. ^-^
Until next time,
-Danny-
Changes and new stuff
Controller support! Both Xbox and Playstation controllers are now supported. Most other controllers should still work but haven’t been tested.
Some new night events added
Quality of life: You can now right click (Or press B/Square on controller) to exit menus and stuff rather than hitting the LEAVE or RESUME button
Balancing
WARNING! Your city WILL regenerate with different buildings because of this update! Sorry! - decreased spawn rate of police stations, more shops instead
Addiction has been changed. The final and worst malady you get for abusing each addiction for a long time is now permanent, but it also takes longer/is harder to take addiction to that level. Base happiness gains from alcohol and cigarettes are also reduced by 1.
Welfare takes a bit less happiness
During winter, there’s now a low chance to come across a trashcan that’s already on fire to get warmed. Usually there’s two each day somewhere in the city
Nerfed some busking perks, mainly SHOWOFF(slightly lowered bonus) and MUSICIAN(Lower chance of triggering). Also base busking income nerfed very very slightly.
Novel item’s happiness boost is now boosted by the bookworm perk a little
Trade options with others on the streets now auto reroll after making a trade
You are no longer locked out of the bank from losing residency
Notes while busking have a slightly bigger hitbox
Base hygiene decay rate lowered significantly while working
Minimum movement speed increased. This isn’t a boost to default walk speed, it's just that debuffs that affect walk speed (low happiness, injury, freezing, etc) aren’t so crippling when you have a lot of them at once
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed a typo “shleter” in one of the night events
Fixed a circumstance where unlockable buildings weren’t spawning sometimes when loading back into a game
Fixed click skipping when the main menu is fading in possibly causing it to be stuck with a white overlay
Fixed Novel item not using up time
Fixed cases where you could get multiple perm/special items from trading
Fixed some issues with taxis
Fixed some bug around welfare appointment times
Fixed some menu transitions being a bit slow compared to others
The “OPEN ALL DAY” Library event has now been appropriately named “OPEN LATE”, because it’s always meant it closes at 7pm rather than 3pm. I mean technically that’s the end of the day and the start of the night, but hey.
Fixed some minor bugs that could occur with talking to Joe and maggie at the park, namely the wrong talk options showing for your current relationship level with them.
Fixed shop item generation favouring DLC items a bit too much
Fixed a crash/softrlock that could occur during a night event
Fixed city regenerating a new city when loading into game
Fixed library saying “we’re closed after 3pm” when it’s actually closed because of pandemic closing times during pandemic mode.
Fixed the “Tarp” item showing wrong item info in shops
Made some UI improvements to the character/run customiser in the DLC.
When asking for directions via a person or your residency/welfare cards/phone, the directions shown are now much more obvious and stay up longer
Restaurant worker speech is more reactive/apt for your situation/stats
Yet another update, with content! Will I ever stop...?
Aha, bet you weren't expecting this! The main new thing here is Taxis, plus a load of fixes and quality of life stuff.
Controller support and cloud saves next, I promise. ^-^
Thanks again to everyone's feedback, keep it comin' and I'll keep on improvin'!
On another note, I'll be at WASD in London this September with CHANGE, if you're gonna be there too, come say hi!
Alrighty, that's it for now, I'll be back with more news on other projects soon too. Now, BEHOLD THE NOTES!
- Danny -
Changes and new stuff
Added Taxis. These can be clicked on when parked or passing by, if your hygiene is high enough you can pay to travel quickly in one direction until you hit stop. So it’s sorta like the bus but with more control and potentially more expensive. Your crime will increase if you can’t pay the whole fare at the end of your journey, and they may even call police.
Patch notes button in main menu changed to button displaying additional dlc/content you don’t have. These patch notes here are much better anyway.
Made it more obvious/easier to use different organisations with residency in shelters. You cannot apply to another shelter from the same organisation while already a resident at one, but full resident rewards are given for staying there. You’ll see the RESIDENT text in blue at shelters that are run by the same organisation but aren’t your actual main resident shelter. This should help massively with being locked down in one area in the mid/late game.
Balancing
Sort of a bug fix but also balancing, paperwork gained from applying for jobs (even failing an application is good for farming paperwork until you can get one), now also gives its paperwork bonus when you get the job as well, not just when failing. This should take off a day or two’s worth of paperwork farming time in a run.
Inflation city events are more severe
The difficulty of stealing multiple items in a row in a shop increased. First item steal chance in a shop each day is unaffected.
Busking on the subway is more difficult, makes sense, since it’s a moving train and the rewards can be greater.
Begging perks are earned a bit faster, especially from non typical pedestrians
Slightly reduced xp gained for shorter runs (less than a few winters survived). Don’t worry, a decent run will still get you through a few levels at once, just not like… 8.
Street vendors are more rare. You’ll still see some pretty much every day, just not several types everyday. The discount has also been very slightly reduced. They still have a good chance of appearing in the emptier street areas though.
Increased spawn chances of bus stops and benches a bit
Housing assistance in the welfare office is a bit more effective. Now adds +2 days to the residency stay counter in a shelter if going for residency instead of 1, and reduces rental price by 3% instead of 2%. (Even more if you have the notepad item)
Bug fixes and improvements
ATTENTION! YOUR CITY MAY REGENERATE BECAUSE OF THIS: Tweaked city generation code to make identical buildings not appear on the same strip as much
There’s more car traffic during rush hour. This doesn’t affect anything, it’s just visual, and a nice hint for when rush hour is on besides the other things. This was actually always meant to be happening but there was a bug.
Beer is now represented as a few beers in the icon.
Fixed being able to interact with certain menus when you shouldn’t be able to, like being able to leave welfare office while waiting
Fixed being able to busk on subway with only a licence and not a guitar if you had a guitar but lost it
Fixed a bunch of other issues with busking on the subway
Fixed a bug that caused your player level to not update from previous run visually after beating a run
Fixed bonus item falling from vending machine popup having wrong title
Fixed issues with arcades perma-banning you after being caught looking for change in machines a lot, even after moving areas
Fixed certain custom stats such as hygiene not working in character customiser
Improved some clock timer popup timings
Finally fixed the Perk Collector achievement
Fixed a crash that could occur in night events
Fixed Juice not working in flask
I'm back with another update!
Hey everyone, I'm back with another update! I'm still goin'! ^-^
Bad news first, controller support is still in progress, there's a few things that just don't feel right yet playing that way, but I'm almost there.
So, why's it been so long since the last update? Well I'm currently working on multiple things, not just CHANGE, and the time is soon approaching when I can show off some teasers. But not quite yet...
There's also of course the other ports like the mobile release of CHANGE, which is coming in the next few months. The last thing is I've been quite unwell for some of the previous months, but doing better now so should be firing out updates more often.
Anyway, this update is all about reducing the mid-game grind a bit, as well as a load of bug fixes and other improvements. I've still got a bunch of your suggestions/reports to get to, don't worry I'll get to any remaining issues soon! Please do keep up the feedback! :)
- Danny -
Changes and new stuff
Two minor NPCS from the dlc are now available in the base game, namely the guy sometimes seen on a bench and the sandwich guy. I think this adds some value in variability within the streets to the base game while not taking too much from the DLC, since it still has tons of other characters, buildings, perks, items, customisation, remixed lofi soundtrack, etc.
Balancing
Base study gains increased, basically it's way less likely you'll only get 1-2 study
Residency gives +1 more paperwork, bank account gives +3 more paperwork
Max xp for a run is now 1800 (you can break past this cap with customisation/hope modifiers in the dlc), and xp calculation for runs is generally improved
Juice costs more
Lvs 25-27 now require 750 xp rather than 500
Welfare office drains happiness a bit faster
The dog loses hunger a little more slowly, even more slowly while working/studying/waiting.
Hunger loss ever so slightly reduced while working
Changing core stats such as starting cash, hunger, etc, now has less effect on your hope level in the customizer. Happiness and study still affect hope more though, of course.
Bug fixes and improvements
Fixed some generation cases that caused the city to regenerate on load with a new layout (THIS FIX WILL PROBABLY CAUSE YOUR CITY TO CHANGE ONE LAST TIME ON LOAD IF PLAYING IN PROGRESS SAVE)
Fixed speech bubbles disappearing when trading
Fixed a bug that could cause the true ending to not show when you had met the requirements
Fixed unlockable buildings (BAR, SUBWAY, etc) not generating when loading back into a game or changing city sometimes
Fixed things that award random perks (such as bill’s teaching or EUREKA/BURNOUT) sometimes awarding special/incorrect perks or an addiction.
Fixed one of the customisable traits having the wrong unlock text (beat game without recycling > beat hard state challenge mode. This still unlocked before if you beat hard challenge, only displayed text was wrong)
Fixed still being able to eat trash food with picky eater perk even with food in inventory
Fixed library book showing as a tradeable item
Fixed flask item containing drink from previous run still when you get one in a new run
Fixed being caught stealing not causing crime increase
Fixed Maggie’s tip special perk only working first day
Fixed a bug that could cause volume settings to change after completing a run
Fixed characters not taking you to park
Fixed abandoned having option for giving directions even when your rep wasn’t high enough yet
Fixed silver bracelet being a tradeable/buyable item. It should only be found in trash
More Improvements!
Hello again!
Some of you were nice enough to point out some more bugs and stuff, so here's another mini patch!
Back again soon! ^-^
- Danny -
Fixed some new items not being buyable in the shop or showing wrong info in shop
I also spent some time working on the pedestrians and the hitboxes for begging from them, so now it should be much harder to accidentally click on one when you were going for scrap. Let me know how it feels!