It's been a month since my last devlog and I must admit I'm surprised how many of you have reached out to me and asked what was going on with the silence. I wasn't aware how many of you follow these logs. I really appreciate that! ːschappyː
The reason for the silence isn't that exciting tho. One of the week I've spent attending the Unity Unite conference here in Copenhagen. The rest of the time I've been busy with prepping Beta 27 for testing. It has been heavy work for sure, but definitely worth it! Beta 27 will be, without doubt, the biggest update in the history of Startup Company.
Custom Game Mode
I have completely redesigned the "New Game" menu. You'll now be able to select "Custom Game" which allows you to configure the game exactly how you like. Don't like investors? Turn it off. Don't like the new retirement feature? Turn it off. Hate that you have to research everything? Turn it off! Wanna go crazy and build your dream? Turn up your starting money.
The new beginning...
This one comes without a screenshot, as I don't wanna spoil anything. However I can say that there's now an actual ending to the game and it happens when your CEO becomes 67 years old and retires. You'll also be able to continue playing in a new way.
Redesigned Company Menu
The company profile has been slightly redesigned. The main reason has been a lot of new players would have trouble finding the "Benefits" menu. I've renamed the menu and combined the two tabs. It's a small thing, but I believe it has annoyed a lot of players.
We're now secretly testing Beta 27!
Yes! I have given our moderators access to the Beta 27 branch and they are now busy testing and finding the biggest bugs.
When they finally stop reporting bugs, I'll invite all of you on Discord to start testing too. It can be any time now so make sure to subscribe to our CEO role by writing !subscribe in any channel!
That's all for this week
Also remember I'm continuously uploading new strings for translation to Localizor. So if you want to help translate the game, this is the place to go: https://app.localizor.io/game/1/translations
Thank you for reading and see you in the next devlog ːschappyː
All the best, Jonas
Devlog #53
Hello everyone,
It's been a very busy two weeks so let's jump right into it!
Investment Projects
If we look at the world today, most successful entrepreneurs are investing in massive projects which move the world forward. Elon Musk with SpaceX and Tesla. Jeff Bezos going to space with Blue Origin and Mark Zuckerberg is aiming to provide access to the internet to everyone with internet.org. In Startup Company Beta 27 you'll be able to do the same. Each investment project will give you access to special abilities. Investment Projects are accessed via the city map.
The projects are incredibly expensive therefore, it's only for well-established companies.
Today I'm announcing the first project of 3: Space-based Solar Power.
This project gives your company access to hiring new superstar employees.
Superstar Employees
Have you ever worked with someone that was incredibly fast? In Beta 27 you'll now be able to hire those superstar employees.
The superstar employees are very rare and can only be found using expert-level Recruiters. They require a very high salary, but can also reach base speeds of up to 900%.
Career Mode: CEO Aging & Retirement
Beta 27 will introduce a brand new Career Mode, which will also be the primary game mode.
When you start a new game, your CEO will be 18 years old. As the game progresses your CEO will now age with your employees. At the age of 67, you will retire and the game is over.
As you're playing, your main objective is to move money from the company account to your retirement fund. You'll have to think this through as your investors will need to receive an equal cut (unless you have bought them out). You'll also have to consider taxes. Paying out everything in the same year will hit you with a huge tax charge.
Below is a very early screenshot not containing investor cut or "retirement fund goals".
The screenshot also shows the new topbar with a progress bar for both the current day and the CEO's retirement (purple).
All the notes that are listed above are simply a preview of what's coming up in Startup Company. These new changes and items are not yet available in the public build of the game.
That's all for this week
I hope these changes bring excitement to you all. Beta 27 is shaping up to be one of the biggest updates.
I'm continuously uploading new strings for translation to Localizor. So if you want to help translate the game, this is the place to go: https://app.localizor.io/game/1/translations
Thank you for reading and see you in next devlog ːschappyː
All the best, Jonas
Devlog #52
Hello everyone,
Just a short little update on what we've been working on. This week I've started on Beta 27 and Mark has been busy adding features to Localizor.
Improved Inventory
The Inventory Menu is probably the least used feature in Startup Company. Hopefully, this will change with Beta 27.
You'll finally be able to see both consumption/demand and production for each component/module.
This new information will allow you to make your office more efficient and cut down on overproduction.
Steam Review Score
Unfortunately, I have some unfortunate news to share with this devlog. Within the last month our "Recent Score" has dropped from around 85% to 62%.
It is indeed an extensive drop and I've been trying to figure out exactly what is going on however I have had no luck. The negative reviews aren't pointing in any specific direction so it might just be a coincidence. I'll keep you updated if/when I figure out what's going on.
Localizor's Coin Shop is now open!
Yes! You'll finally be able to spend your hard-earned coins in Localizor on free Steam keys!
Please note that we'll soon move all Localizor related news onto the Hovgaard Games publisher page. Make sure to follow us on there! https://store.steampowered.com/developer/hovgaard
That's all for this week. Next week I'll show some cool improvements to the Company Profile Menu.
Thanks for reading! :schappy:
All the best,
Jonas
Beta 26 Released!
Hi there!
Beta 26 is now available. Restart Steam to get it right away!
We're super excited to bring to you Beta 26, which introduces a very controversial feature: Outsourcing.
To understand why, we have to go back to Beta 17. Back then, we had something called "Contract Work". The feature was removed in Beta 17 because it was such an easy way to earn money. It was probably the most unpopular decision I have ever made. Fortunately the game ended up being much better, as I was finally able to correctly balance out websites. You can read the original devlog here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/606800/announcements/detail/1709565386033916765
Today, with Beta 26 we are reintroducing "Contract Work" as Outsourcing. The feature has been completely rewritten and is now much more integrated with the rest of the game's ecosystem. It is "part 1" as I plan to introduce even more features in future updates.
Outsourcing: Completing tasks for money
You can use Outsourcing in two ways. To deliver components and receive money, or to request components and pay money.
To generate extra income, you have to first hire an Outsourcing Executive. Then you'll have to win the task by sending a good offer. The mechanics are similar to recruitment, but here you'll be competing against other companies.
Outsourcing: Get components/modules delivered
The second part of outsourcing is getting other companies/competitors to deliver components and modules to your company.
This is especially useful if you have a sudden demand for some specific components or modules or if you simply don't have the space to hire more employees.
To create a task simply use your Outsourcing Executive. You can define up to 4 requirements (max 500 each). The shorter the deadline you define the more expensive it will be.
Outsourcing: Market Prices
The new Market Prices Menu allows you to make clever choices based on the demand and prices of specific components/modules.
Another round of performance optimization
Improving performance across the board. This time the code that updates overlays has been improved. In my specific test case I went from aroung 20 FPS to a minimum of 120 FPS. I'm feeling pretty happy with that!
Pay bonuses to multiple employees
By popular demand, you can now pay bonuses to multiple employees at once using the Employees Menu.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
As always, we'll be monitoring the release very closely for any potential issues that might arise or that we might have missed during testing. If you encounter any issues or bugs, please send us a message in our Discord channel (link provided below) or create a post in the Steam discussions.
That's it for Beta 26!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #51
Hi everyone,
Just a quick update of this weeks progress.
Pay bonuses to multiple employees
By popular demand, you can now pay bonuses to multiple employees at once using the Employees Menu.
Beta 26 is finally ready! Almost...
Yes, we're done testing. I feel confident that the outsourcing feature is well balanced and bug-free.
The only thing left is localization. Everything has been uploaded and a lot of the strings have been translated, but we're still lacking a lot of votes in order to verify that the translations are correct.
All help is appreciated! You can help translate here:
https://app.localizor.io/game/1/translations
Beta 26 release date
Beta 26 will be out Friday, August 16, 2019. There will be an official release announcement once it's out. The next devlog will be August 23, 2019 where I announce the next big feature of Startup Company! :schappy:
That's all for this week!
All the best,
Jonas
Devlog #50
Hi everyone,
Better late than never, but here it is: Devlog number 50!
Localizor has been updated and we need your votes!
We recently shipped a big update to Localizor, our community translation tool. We realized that having moderators for each language was a huge bottleneck. Instead, we made everyone a moderator by simply asking you to vote for the correct translations.
You can start voting right away: https://app.localizor.io/game/1/translations
As you go through the translations, you'll gain 1 point per vote. Later on you'll be able to convert these points into exciting gifts. I can't show it just yet, but I'll promise it will be worth your time and effort :schappy:
Outsourcing: Component/Module demand
A new parameter has been added when bidding and receiving bids for outsourcing tasks: Demand. Next to each component/module you'll see a red, yellow or green indicator. Green means low market demand, red means high market demand.
The higher the demand, the higher the price. Demands are dynamic and change based on the state of the game and how you play (or what tasks you create).
Outsourcing: Market Prices
A new tab has been added to the outsourcing menu, allowing you to see current prices and demands for components and modules. This view will allow you to make clever choices based on the demand and prices of specific components/modules.
Another round of performance optimization
We've been working on improving performance. This time the code that update overlays has been improved. In my specific test case I went from ~20 fps to minimum 120 fps, so that's quite an improvement.
iTzCallumUK's quote describes it too (the pause issue has also been fixed):
Beta 26 ready yet?
No, not yet. We still need to complete various things, such as:
Testing and improving outsourcing for the later stages of the game.
Added tool-tips and improved usability/UI for outsourcing.
Translating new strings (they are not ready yet, I need to complete the tool-tips first).
If everything goes well, my guess is that we're able to release the new update on August 16, 2019! :schappy:
That's all for this week.
All the best,
Jonas
New trailer + Outsourcing feature available until Sunday!
Hi everyone,
Today is an exciting day, as we have some awesome stuff to announce. Let's jump right into it!
New trailer
For a long time the Startup Company trailer has been out of date and didn't give you the impression of Startup Company that we wanted.
We completely redid our entire trailer from scratch and we're really proud of it! Make sure to check out the new trailer, we hope you like it as much as we do!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKtUgM2S1qs
Outsourcing: Right from the beginning
If you choose the "Bootstrapping / No investor"-mode you'll now have the new Outsourcing Executive unlocked right away.
This means you can finally build up your company's bank balance, before investing and creating a website.
Outsourcing: Real-time bidding
The AI bidding for outsourcing tasks has been greatly improved this week. Each competitor has a different level of "competitiveness". For now, only the "public bidding" is available, but we are also working on a "1-bid-system" where each competitor only has one chance to send an offer.
These type of bidding "rounds" will be used specifically for larger tasks.
Outsourcing: Up for testing until Sunday!
Because of the complexity of the new Outsourcing feature, we've decided to invite all of you to test what we've developed so far. We'l use the feedback provided by you to make the feature even better!
However, you'll have to be fast! You'll only have access to the feature up until this Sunday! (July 28, 2019)
Please note: your save-game for this specific test is temporary! Your progress will be lost after Sunday, unless you manually backup the .sg file!
In order to access the test, please follow the instructions below:
* In Steam: Right click Startup Company and select Properties
* Select the "Betas" tab
* Enter torremolinos2019 in the text box
* Click "Check Code"
* Select the new version in the dropdown menu.
If you're unable to make the code unlock the branch, try to restart your Steam client.
Thank you in advance for you help! We're super excited to hear your feedback!
All the best,
Jonas
Price increase to $12.99
Hi there,
Today we're announcing that Startup Company will go slightly up in price, to reflect the long way we've come since we first released the game back in August 2017.
Since the launch of the game we've been selling Startup Company for $9.99 (or your regional equivalent) and have been putting out countless updates, bug fixes, introduced new features and implemented requested gameplay features by the community. Since the official early access release back in 2017 we've updated the game at least ~80 times.
On July 19, 2019 the price of Startup Company will be increased to $12.99.
We wanted to communicate this to the community in advance, so that people who are considering to get Startup Company (or for their friends as a gift) have a chance to snatch it up for the ''old'' price.
Does this mean that we're done with Startup Company? The short answer: NO!
We've still got a lot of features planned for Startup Company and we're obviously going to listen closely to what the community wants as well. Startup Company will not leave the Early Access program of Steam just yet, as we want to make sure that potential players are still aware of the fact that we're still implementing new features which can sometimes result in massive gameplay overhauls.
Feel free to join our Discord community (link provided below, just click the image) and we'll be happy to answer any questions you might have!
All the best,
Jonas
Beta 25 Released!
Hi there!
Beta 25 is now available. Restart Steam to get it right away!
We're super excited to bring to you Beta 25, which will introduce new features that will change the game play and introduces new challenges for you to manage as CEO!
Major change to website satisfaction: Dissatisfaction
Beta 25 changes how website satisfaction is calculated.
How it worked in Beta 24 The website satisfaction was calculated by simply using the average of all features' satisfaction. You could have a Landing Page with 100% satisfaction and "Banner Ads" with 15% satisfaction. This worked okay, but it was super confusing to new players, as the red smiley would show 5% for "video ads" and 15% for "banner ads", indicating that "video ads" would be less annoying to the user.
How it now works in Beta 25 There are now two options for a feature: Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction. Base Features will only produce Satisfaction and Revenue Features will only produce Dissatisfaction.
The total website satisfaction is calculated by first taking the average of your base features and then subtracting the dissatisfaction from all the revenue features.
Hopefully this change will make it more clear to new players how everything is calculated.
Please notice: Existing Revenue features will continue to use the old model to avoid breaking your save-game. If you want to switch to the new model, you'll have to remove and add the revenue features.
AdBlockers
Adblockers are now a part of the game and will directly affect how many impressions is generated (and can be monetized) for ad features.
Small websites will have a very low ad-blocker penetration as they haven’t yet been discovered by many ad-blocker programs.
As a website gets more users, the more ad-blocker programs will register the site and start blocking ads.
AdBlock Obfuscator
The obfuscator will cover up your ads in messy Javascript code that makes it much harder for the AdBlockers to detect your ads.
If you don’t continue upgrading the obfuscator, it will be less efficient over time (as AdBlockers become smarter).
The obfuscator is also the first time we see Research Points being used to upgrade a feature.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
As always, we'll be monitoring the release very closely for any potential issues that might arise or that we might have missed during testing. If you encounter any issue or a bug, please send us a message in our Discord channel (link provided below) or create a post in our community hub - which we'll be closely monitoring while Beta 25 is rolled out.
That's it for Beta 25!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #49
Hi everyone,
Let's jump right into it. As promised last week, I got a major announcement today:
Meet Mark - our new developer!
Just as in Startup Company, eventually all successful companies need to expand the staff team. I've been eagerly waiting for this to happen. Starting today Mark Jan Kordon is joining us at Hovgaard Games as a full-time developer.
Right now Mark is already busy working on adding new features to Localizor, our community translation tool. Next week, he will start working on a bunch of QOL updates for Startup Company that I know a lot of you have been waiting for.
I hope you'll all welcome Mark (he is @kordonme at Discord) and I can't wait to see how much faster we can work with another set of hands.
Thank you for all for making this happen!
Status of Beta 25 and Beta 26
The testers on Discord have been busy testing and finding bugs. Below is a screenshot of the registered remaining bugs (for now). All of these bugs will be fixed within the next couple of days.
For that reason, Beta 25 is now scheduled for release this Friday, July 5!
We're still missing some translations for Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Turkish. If you want to contribute, follow this link:
https://app.localizor.io/game/1/translations
We're also looking for a Spanish reviewer/moderator. If you're fluent in Spanish language and Spanish grammar and want to contribute, you can reach me at jonas@hovgaardgames.com, here on Steam or on Discord.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
