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Manias & Disasters: a new major EA update for Potion Tycoon has arrived!

June 9, 2023

Greetings, potion magnates!

We’ve been looking forward to enriching Potion Tycoon with exciting additional contents and mechanics from its first day in Early Access. And despite a slight detour we took with the previous quality of life update, we kept working hard on some new features that would make Potion Tycoon’s core gameplay more dynamic, more varied and, ultimately, more entertaining. Today we finally began to realize our original EA roadmap as the game’s first proper content update, “Manias & Disasters'', has just gone live!

First and foremost, this major update brings a bunch of brand-new random events to your shopkeeper’s table. Not only will these spontaneous encounters change how Potion Tycoon looks, sounds and feels every so often - they will also affect the way you play it on a more fundamental level. Unprompted and rampant, they are going to catch you off-guard and shake up your firmly established business flow with amended needs to satiate, sudden threats to avert and fleeting opportunities to seize. Simply put, expect less routine and more chaos with their arrival. But remember - it’s that kind of chaos that can turn the tides and bring fabulous rewards!

Additionally we'll introduce two public branches which are inteded to smooth out your playing experience during early access. See more details in the changelog below.

But enough words - just go explore firsthand what this new Potion Tycoon update has to offer. Hey, and don’t forget to let us know how you liked it - we hold our breath for it!

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

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Changelog:

Changes:

Added random events of two types:
[**] Manias (Bone Fever, Monster Mania, Calling The Ghosts): manic customers run into the shop searching for a specific type of potion;
[**] Disasters (Skeleton Invasion, Monster Emergency, Ghostly Mess): monsters emerge and spook both approaching workers and customers, though workers can be commanded to banish them if the corresponding repelling potion is in stock;
[**] Disasters usually follow upon Manias of the corresponding type;
[**] All events are accompanied with themed visual environmental effects;
[**] All events have custom music themes played in the background.
Added 3 new reward artifacts for ending invasion events: Skeleton Memorial, Stone Ogre and Phantom Statue.
The event widget shows the approximate duration for the active event.
Potions that are trending (Hot) due to an active event will now sell better.
Added more custom animations for the Supporter Pack witch.
Added two more department sizes. Departments can now be Small, Medium (previously Large), Large (previously Grand), Grand or Royal.
Added 3 new goals (Pharmacy, Sorcery Superstore and Adventure Arcade), one to each goal branch.
Enabled all artifacts to be placed anywhere in the house, including staircases.
Event requests' deadline cannot be extended anymore. You can only deliver something immediately or fail the quest when time runs out for a request.

Balancing:

Major balancing update to improve the pacing of the game:
[**] early game made slightly easier
[**] reduced likelihood of randomly getting unfavorable starting conditions
[**] more steadily increasing challenge as the game progresses
[**] numerous balancing changes across the board:
[***] potion price points
[***] container prices
[***] alchemy modifier values
[***] ingredient properties
[***] potion attribute appeal modifiers
[***] worker salaries (and some worker traits)
[***] purchasable item prices
[***] request requirements
multiple changes to research paths
both difficulty levels affected.
Product creation update:
[**] Added Neutral price tag which replaces Fair price tag as the 0% appeal tag. Fair now gives +5% appeal and is one step below Neutral. All other price tags below Fair were shifted down one step.
[**] Changed price bracket colorization to have 3 "optimal" green spaces (Neutral, Fair and Bargain), 2 "viable" yellow spaces (Pricey and Blowout) and all of the rest are with red implying either no benefits or heavy penalty on appeal.
[**] Price point now increases by one step whenever grade surpasses the next whole number. Previously price points were at: 1st price point: 0.5-1.49 grade, 2nd price point 1.5-2.49, 3rd price point 2.5-3.49. Now price points are at: 1st price point 0-0.9, 2nd price point 1-1.9, 3rd price point 2-2.9 and so on.
Increased the Welcoming trait customer action point bonus from 4 to 12.
Increased the customer action point bonus for every curiosity artifact (from 8 to 12 for Jar Of Wishes, Wisebeak, Spirit Trap, Old Friend, Mystery Object, Unicorn Shoe, Preserved Troll, Petrified Skull, Grim Pumpkin and from 6 to 8 for the Wheel Of Divination).
Marketing Rite now requires a Veteran Clerk (instead of Master), costs 15TP instead of 20, has a base success chance of 50% (instead of 30%) and yields bigger boosts to launch marketing.
Grand Cooker, Big Kettle and Big Mortar now require Veteran workers (instead of Adept).
Re-adjusted Fame and Appeal increases in all marketing and branding actions.

Fixes:

Fixed some interactions between the quest deadline choice and delivery picker that could lead to UI problems.
Items carried by workers and waiting in machine outputs are now considered when checking storage targets.
The Continue button now behaves more consistently and should always reload the latest save. The game is also saved on exit.
Fixed crash when closing the game during intro videos.
The “For hire” workers list now avoids duplicate worker names. Existing saves may still have duplicates in the list until it is refreshed. (Also note that you can rename workers in the Ledger).
Various localization fixes.
Fixed event requests showing wrong portrait and letter icon in the quest reminder.
Fixed Sorbus generic "Thank You"-dialogue showing !loc warning for what's supposed to be an empty space except when the player had just completed the Field Trip quest.
Fixed Cabinet refills sometimes getting stuck if the worker could not find a crate.
Fixed Issue where a newly built item could stay outside a room after canceling construction in some situations.
Fixed customers sometimes turning around for a split second when exiting the shop.
Fixed tutorials and goals related to stocking potions getting completed in some places where they shouldn't.
Fixed customers sometimes spawning/despawning too close to the house depending on the entrance locations.
Fixed Growth Lamp not showing tooltip on hover.
Some animation-related optimization - should result in slightly less CPU load depending on the amount of objects.
Fixed issue where potion appeal wasn't checked properly in Ledger/Segments.
Fixed issue where player potions weren't shown properly in Ledger/Segments if the player didn't have any superior potions.
Fixed customers getting away without paying if they could not find their way to a Cash Register. Now they will go through non-shop rooms if necessary, and if they still can't pay, the potions are moved back to Shop Cabinets.
Fixed Alchemy Labs not being checked for existing potion orders when determining whether a potion can be deleted or not.
Fixed equipment status icon tooltips being covered by other item pop-ups when on top of each other.
Fixed a crash that could occur when a room construction order was canceled after being assigned to a worker.
Fixed issues where sorting player and rival houses in Ledger/Leaderboard based on multiple different stats wasn't executed properly.
Fixed issue where unprocessed ingredients weren't properly marked in Ledger/Ingredients if their storage targets were reached.

Public branches:
With this update we establish two public branches you can use if you encounter issues to see if the builds provided there help you to improve your experience. These branches are opt-in and of course our goal is to polish and improve the game continously to make these branches obsolotete as soon as possible.

rollback: in this branch you'll find the version without the latest update, in case you encounter issues with new content or features.
experimental-public: unstable and mostly untested iterations of the game that are currently in the works to be released soon that may help with issues we already fixed in this branch without having them rolled out to the public yet.

To get into these branches, right-click on the game in your library list, choose 'Properties' and then 'Betas...', in the following window, please choose the according branch from the dropdown menu.

Reacting to your Feedback

May 4, 2023

Greetings, potion magnates!

Since the launch day of Potion Tycoon we have been meticulously collecting your feedback, noting down every last piece of it for further processing. So once Potion Tycoon’s most reported issues such as random crashes and localization errors were largely patched up, we locked ourselves up in a cellar to scrupulously analyze all your expressed needs, woes and desires, and to cook up some more fundamental and potent remedies to address them to the best of our ability. Today we are thrilled to finally get them in your hands as one extensive package of quality-of-life improvements and gameplay enhancements garnished with some more fixes and game content additions!

More specifically, this extraordinary purely feedback-driven EA update includes the following new and improved features and contents for you to enjoy:

Worker Assignments Overhaul:

Area Assignments: a new overlay UI view where workers can be assigned and unassigned to/from individual rooms and facilities
Task Filtering: a worker UI upgrade for quick control of skill-based assignments (i.e. whether an individual worker can or cannot be automatically assigned to tasks associated with a specific skill)
Updated equipment assignment UI: multiple workers can be assigned to an individual workstation
Re-balanced task priorities: operating specialized facilities such as Cash Registers, Research Labs or Cookers gets higher priority than delivery tasks

Production Setup Update:

Automatic processing orders for the same ingredient type are now bundled together as a single order (more orders can still be added manually, though, and existing orders in the previous games will not get affected until deleted)
Automatic processing links can now be toggled on/off in the production schematics dialogue window to improve support of manual production set-ups (toggling it ‘on’ auto-fills all processing equipment entries except ones that have been explicitly set to ‘not linked’, while toggling it ‘off’ sets all entries to ‘not linked’)
Improved production queue UI: added “Move to Top” and “Move to Bottom” buttons

Improved Inventory Management:

Support for manual deletion of individual items stored on pallets (from the Pallet Settings menu)
Extended pallet storage options: added "All", "Used in this room" and "Used in adjacent machines" settings to the Pallet Settings menu. The latter two settings update the pallet filter automatically unless manual changes are made
Delivery logic enhancements to allow more even distribution of goods across storages prioritizing loading pallets with filters
Loading Pallet upgrade to function as an adjacent machine’s extended output zone (in addition to its current function of an extended input zone). Any produced goods that are allowed in the loading pallet settings will be automatically moved from the machine to the pallet
Added hover-on pop-ups for ingredients in the Pallet Settings menu

Balancing & Miscellaneous Improvements:

Smarter worker resting to avoid operation hiccups and reduce worker handover overheads
Increased construction space to accommodate more premises
Storage target settings added to the Ingredients and Product pages in Ledger
Improved VIP request requirement scaling (to prevent spawning too challenging requests too early)
Improved seed offering as quest/goal rewards (to reduce the likelihood of getting a duplicate seed in the early game)
Improved leaderboard/segment ranking calculation to use additional performance factors on top of the number of superior products
Improved XP level scales for some worker skills
More merciful rivals (that keep out of launching new products for a few game days after their starting line-up launch)
Rebalanced completion requirements for some goals
Starting workers now come with starting traits (including the witch alchemist included with Supporter Pack DLC)
Increased the starting “New player in town” event’s duration from 3 to 6 days and slightly increased the potion sale chance boost active throughout it
Increased the wages for Adept, Veteran, Master and Grandmaster workers on normal
difficulty

Bonus Content:

Easy Mode with more forgiving game economy but blocked achievements (only available at a new game start)
Additional room backgrounds for underground grottos
Additional 8 artifacts granted by faction VIPs as rewards for advancing the relationship with them to the endorser level
One new artifact to be gained randomly from request and goal rewards or purchased from the artifact trader
Added 4 new items: Candelabra (decor) and Department Signs (shop, unlocked in Sales Tools)

Fixes:

Fixed Alchemy Labs sometimes getting stuck until manually nudged to the next order
Fixed bottle editor bugs that would make existing potions load incorrectly in the Alchemy View
Various localization fixes
Fixed an issue where the game would not always pause when a modal dialog is shown, potentially leading to UI lockups
Fixed issue where gameplay would resume in the background after a confirmation dialog in the research tree
Adjusted the Recipes list layout in the Alchemy View to display category icons next to the recipe names
Changed Chinese font handling to use both static and dynamic atlases for better performance
Fixed the rogue VIP request, Enchanted Lockbox, not triggering a new request if the player delivered insufficiently and declined the retry choice
Fixed issue where the loan payment and quest deadline pop-up positions could be incorrect based on the screen resolution (in extreme cases they could be placed offscreen)
Fixed issue where the game could be manually resumed while a deadline pop-up was on the screen, if the pop-up appeared exactly at the same time as the daily report
Removed an unnecessary barrel from some Infuser, Pickler and Fermentation Tank animations
Fixed the game unpausing prematurely after clicking ‘Cancel’ in Construction mode and then ‘No’ in the follow-up confirmation dialog
Fixed the ‘Enter’ key accepting construction changes even when it shouldn't
Fixed issue where Construction mode could be activated while the Production Schematic panel was visible
Fixed issue where some letter icons (rival messages or gifts from VIPs) might linger around after going back to the Main Menu and starting a new game
The equipment names in Ledger/Production can now be clicked to make the camera center on the corresponding machine
Fixed missing hover-on tooltips on Oven Preheater and Water Tank
Added missing room construction sound
Fixed shortest-path calculations not working correctly for some customer AI and schematic linking purposes
Fixed issue where production orders for a machine could get updated incorrectly when moving orders up or down
Fixed difficulties with hovering over workers and customers while on top of equipment
Hover-on pop-ups in Ledger/Products and Ledger/Goals will now update properly when the page is scrolled
Fixed Daily Report randomly displaying when clicking on certain UI elements
Fixed the "Mine is the Superior" achievement not progressing

We do hope that this long list of fixes and improvements won’t fall short to impress you. Meanwhile, we are already working on the next big update for Potion Tycoon, which will be much heavier on new content and finally let us realize some of our long-conceived ideas and plans. To slightly lift the veil of mystery, we can’t wait to see how your potion shop’s steady daily routine gets shaken up with the arrival of disastrous world events and introduction of the day-and-night cycle.

Please stay tuned for more announcements and details to be revealed closer to the next update’s actual release date. If you have any questions, insights or suggestions, don’t hesitate to join the Potion Tycoon community dedicated discord server at https://discord.gg/daedalic and let us hear what you’ve got to say!

Thank you for your unrelenting interest and support!

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

Potion Tycoon’s second hotfix patch is out to address the dire crash problems!

March 24, 2023

Greetings, potion magnates!

Another week has passed since we launched Potion Tycoon into Steam Early Access. We are amazed by the amount and quality of the feedback on the game and its specific aspects you’ve shared with us so far! Thank you for your ongoing support and please keep it up this way as our work on Potion Tycoon carries forward!

We know that the EA launch version of Potion Tycoon has been rough to many of you, with crashes ruining the fun and fluency of your playing experience. We are truly sorry about this situation and we have worked relentlessly this entire week to track down and address your reported problems as fast and as fully as we can!

Now we are finally relieved to let you know that the second hotfix patch 0.9.39 has just rolled out. We hope that it will prevent further game crashes occurring while moving and removing various rooms and equipment across your potion house and, apart from those, fix a number of other annoying quest bugs, UI and localization issues.

Please check out the full changelog appended below for further details.

Let us know if your Potion Tycoon experience has improved thanks to the patch - it’s our top priority to make it smoother for you with every update!

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

PATCH NOTES (English):
v.0.9.39

Crashes

Fixed a crash when moving Cookers.
Create schematics for Cooker orders in cases where they might be missing
(correcting potentially invalid data and crashes caused by previous versions).
Various fixes towards crashes and other problems related to removing rooms.

Quests

Fixed “Enchanted Lockbox” rogue request potentially always failing when the delivered potion’s grade is between 0.75 and 0.99.
Fixed "Enchanted Lockbox" rogue request using the wrong text and requested
potions.
Fixed issue where one of the quest letter icons could be left invisible if multiple
letters arrived in close succession.
Fixed an issue that prevented Librarian requests from spawning correctly 50% of
the time. (This fix does not work with existing saved games where the Superiority goal has already been completed.)

Localization

Fixed worker names sometimes missing characters in Chinese.
Fixed an instance of a visible placeholder when completing research in Chinese.
Fixed Chinese text not showing correctly in the Fame trackers when having a
small product department.
Fixed the customer group in the customer popup not showing up correctly in
some languages.
Fixed missing translation for "Sorcery" in the "Field Trip" Sorbus’ request. Also
fixed a missing line break in the dialogue's Chinese variants.
Fixed quest reward dialogue choices not correctly using hover-on tooltips in
Russian, Chinese and Korean.
Fixed the tier 1 rogue request "Lost Posse" not showing the request details in
Chinese.
Fixed missing translation for the product category requirement in Chinese in the
"Adventure Time" tier 1 rogue request.
Fixed “Lost Scrolls” wizard request’s text in Korean.
Fixed missing "Privacy Policy" translation in some languages.

Miscellaneous

Fixed some potential errors when updating speech bubbles.
Added Q and E (A and E on AZERTY keyboards) keys for zooming the camera
on and off in the Main View.
Fixed the worker assignment button not doing anything on cultivators’ overlay
menu.
Fixed issue where event scripts could break if a dialogue started at the exact
same time when another event was triggered.
Fixed issue where removed products could still make an appearance in
marketing reports and rival communiques.
Fixed issue where rooms could be resized so that items moved to it from
elsewhere were left outside. Also added more safety checks for moving items in
general.
Soul Mirror now also copies worker perks.
Fixed a rival script error that could occur in the late game.
Fixed unlocking and/or progress tracking problems with the Versatile, Power
House, Favors for All and Potion Connoisseur achievements.
Added a confirmation dialog when deleting saves.
Fixed issues where the game would not always pause while displaying a modal
dialogue window, potentially leading to UI lock-ups.

Potion Tycoon’s first patch is live now!

March 16, 2023

Greetings, potion magnates!

It’s been just a few days since we embarked on our new journey into the magical land of Early Access, together with you! Thanks to everyone who decided to join us on this trip - your feedback has been amazing so far and kept us both busy and thrilled beyond description!

Your input has already proved invaluable and helped us pinpoint and mend a bunch of problems which made the beginning of our ride a little bumpy for many of you. We are sorry for the caused inconvenience and press on to roll out the first hotfix as a remedy to the most glaring issues reported after the game’s launch. Namely, these include:

Crashes - we already tackled some of them but we are still not done yet. It helps us a lot if you can provide steps to reproduce those crashes that you might still have
Localisation issues in various languages

Check out the full changelog appended below if you want to see all the changes brought by the hotfix.

Meanwhile, we’ll keep on working hard to improve the game in every possible way, rectifying any newly discovered issues, improving existing features, polishing out various game elements and, of course, adding more varied content to the game. This patch is just the first tiny step on the long road lying ahead of us, and we hope that you will continue to help us make progress by readily sharing your findings and insights about different aspects of Potion Tycoon as we go. So let’s move on!

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

PATCH NOTES (english):

General

fixed some crashes, we are still on it and keep fixing

Localisation

Fixed the issue where set language for in-game text did not stay applied between game sessions.
The language setting can now only be changed in the Main menu.
Fixed missing title in the Fame tracker tooltips.
Fixed "Idle" not being localized in the worker hover-on tooltip.
Fixed "Not installed" text not showing correctly in Settings/DLC.
Fixed various missing/not updating strings in different languages.

UI/UX

Fixed an issue where pressing the “Ok” button in the Construction mode could result in building another copy of the currently selected item while hovering over a valid space.
Adjusted text layout in the shop cabinet pop-up for long potion names.
Improved intro video quality.

Construction

Fixed room type getting reset when a new room was resized after building content inside it.
Fixed an issue where pressing the rotate key could result in an error while not hovering over a guide sign in the Construction mode.
Construction: newly planned rooms can not be moved as long as they contain items that have been moved from other rooms. (We will revisit this in the future, but for now this prevents some nasty problems.)

Potion Tycoon is OUT NOW!

March 13, 2023

Good day to you, future magnates!

Today is indeed a big and special day for us all.

The day that heralds the launch of Potion Tycoon on Steam Early Access!

The day you can kick off your potion business for real at last.

The day we embark on a new exciting adventure, together with you.

So may it be a great day!

We lack proper words to describe how thrilled we are to finally get Potion Tycoon in your hands. Thanks to Early Access, none of us should wait for that any longer. But it also means a long road ahead of us, and we trust you to help us master it. Potion Tycoon already has a solid experience to offer, but to make it really shine we intend to improve and enhance it a great deal in the months to come. And while we have no shortage of ideas on how to turn our game into a gem at the final release, we believe that the truly right concepts are the ones that chime with our fans - with you! So we welcome you to join us in this ambitious and keen endeavor to bring Potion Tycoon to its full greatness and splendor! The path to the ultimate success may be thorny - just like it is inside the game - but the starting recipe should be simple enough. Just sharpen your business acumen, grab the game now and make sure that your voice is heard - share with us every last bit of your thoughts, ideas and suggestions once they cross your mind while you play Potion Tycoon.

Bewitchingly yours,
Snowhound Games and Daedalic Entertainment

Try out Potion Tycoon's Demo!

December 16, 2022

Rejoice, potion brewers!

Just in time for the coming festive season, we’ve got a nice little treat for you to enjoy!
Starting today, you can play a new Holiday demo of Potion Tycoon and see for yourselves what kind of game it is ahead of its upcoming release in 2023.

Whether you are a newcomer or a returning player, the demo is worth checking out as we have added quite a lot of polish and gameplay enhancements since the last showcase. And then we’ve also spruced it up with a good serving of thematic visuals to properly plunge you into the Holiday spirit and mood! Behold the world of Potion Tycoon turned into a magnificent winter wonderland covered in beautiful fluffy snow, watch your house crew wear lovely festive outfits, and decorate your potion shop with Christmas trees, stockings and lights to make that cozy holiday feel even stronger!

Please try the demo now and let us know what you think.
We look forward to your feedback!

Happy Holidays!

Snowhound Games & Daedalic Entertainment