Apologize for the silence lately. After Localizor was made public in Beta 24, there has been a substantiel increase in users interested in translating Startup Company into more languages.
Because of this interest, it has been necessary to improve various parts of system which has been taking up my time. Fortunately I'm almost done, and looking at the numbers it looks like we'll soon see both Dutch and Polish added to the game. Thank you to everyone who has contributed! :schappy:
Major change to website satisfaction: Dissatisfaction
Beta 25 will now completely change how website satisfaction is calculated.
How it works today Today the website satisfaction is 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 works in Beta 25 In the future there will instead be 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 savegame. If you want to switch to the new model, you'll have to remove and add the revenue features.
Outsourcing
By popular demand I'm now introducing Outsourcing in Startup Company. We had the feature in the game before (formerly known as “Contract Work”).
To start finding outsourcing tasks you have to hire and use a Sales Executive. It will take between 4 and 24 hours to find a new task.
A task contains the following properties:
Requirements - The components and modules that has to be delivered.
Time Left - The amount of hours before the bidding ends.
Deadline - The amount of days before the requirements has to be delivered (after “time left” and bidding has ended).
Current Bid - The current lowest price.
Another new thing about Outsourcing is that you’ll also be able to submit your own tasks and have your competitors work for you!
The Outsourcing feature isn't planned until Beta 26, as I already locked down Beta 25 (I believe you've waited long enough for new content already).
Please notice that the Outsourcing feature is still under development and is subject to change.
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.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
Release dates
Yea, I really don't know for sure, but let me explain what we're waiting for:
Beta 25: Everything is done. We're testing right now. Strings has been uploaded to Localizor. Once everything is translated and bug free, I'll release it. My hope is Friday (June 28).
Beta 26: Development has started. Together with Outsourcing I also want to include a bunch of additional QOL improvements. We're probably looking at late July.
That's all for this week!
I hope the changes above is as exciting for you as it is for me. I can't wait to ship it all to you :schappy:
By the way, stay tuned for next week. I got some major news to announce!
All the best,
Jonas
Beta 24 Released!
Hi there!
Beta 24 is now available. Restart Steam to get it right away!
Today is the release of Beta 24, an update with a bunch of new features and various improvements. Performance issues have taken most of the time in this update, so hopefully a lot of you notice an improvement :schappy:
As with each beta release we just want to make sure that you’re aware of the fact that there might be some bugs or other unexpected issues. Jonas is on standby, ready to make sure that any discovered issues are fixed as soon as possible. If you find any bugs or experience any issues make sure to either let us know on the community hub or by joining our Discord!
New Map!
The city map has been updated and revamped, making it much more detailed and cooler!
Improved Performance
Another huge performance improvement hits Startup Company. This time I've been working heavily on improving performance of the employee overlays which caused a lot of end-game lag.
Switching between floors and buildings (office/hosting) has also been greatly improved. The game will now "cache" the floors, making the switching much more smooth and rapid.
CEO becomes a Manager
Beta 24 adds another option to your CEO: HR Management. Just like the usual HR Managers, you can now use your CEO to set working schedules and adding speed bonus.
The CEO will still be able to recruit, meaning the CEO is the first employee type to be able to do multiple task types.
Shared Production Plans
Beta 24 makes managers even more useful with the new feature: Shared Production Plans. Instead of having all your managers working independently, they can now share the same production plans. I also took some time to redesign the UI of the screen making it a bit easier to find the components or modules you're looking for.
Improved Competition
For a long time there has been a bug allowing the game to "shrink" the internet population. Beta 24 fixes this once and for all.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
That's it for this week!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #47
Hi everyone,
This week I've been putting in a lot of hours in the new roadmap. I hope to introduce it next week. I promise you, you won't be disappointed. Tons of new cool things to show!
The new citymap
We've been facing some problems making the new citymap suit all resolutions. Right now I'm waiting for Bruno to get back to me with some new assets. Once received the city-map should be all ready.
Missing transations!
I've uploaded a bunch of new Beta 24 strings for translation. Together with the city-map, this is the last thing we need before Beta 24 can be released.
If you want to help out, we have missing translations for the following languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified and Chinese.
We're also looking for language moderators. If you're 18+ years old and believe you have good grammar, please let me know, either here on Steam or in Discord :-)
Adblockers will be introduced which will directly affect how many impressions is generated (and be monetized) for all 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 the 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.
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.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
That's it for this week!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #46
Hi everyone!
Performance and white-screen bug
As announced earlier the performance of SC will be greatly improved in Beta 24. This last week I've been struggling to make the update compatible with all setups/computers.
A lot of the testers have been getting a white-screen crash which has taken up a lot of my time. Fortunately it looks like it's all sorted out now. Performance is still way way better compared to Beta 23.
Introducing Localizor: Now in open beta
This is a big one! I'm finally happy to announce that all of you (the community) can finally contribute by translating Startup Company to your native language. The tool is still very much in beta and missing lot of quality of life improvements, but it works!
Localizor is a brand new translation tool from Hovgaard Games. Right now we're testing the tool exclusively on Startup Company, but as the tool has matured we want to invite other game developers to use it.
We need testers!
Do you want to help out testing Beta 24? Then all you have to do is go check out the pinned message in the #testing channel on our Discord server. All help is much appreciated!
That's it for this week!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #45
Hi everyone,
First of all welcome to all the new players coming in the last two weeks, it has been incredible to see all the new faces joining our community hub, Discord and providing super valuable feedback for the further development of Startup Company. :-)
This week has been a combination of working on Startup Company and working on Localizor.
We already begin testing Localizor (only on Discord for now). Hopefully we'll soon be able to invite everyone to come help translate Startup Company into any language they'd like.
CEO becomes a manager
Beta 24 will add another option to your CEO: HR Management. Just like the usual HR Managers, you can now use your CEO to set working schedules and adding speed bonus.
The CEO will still be able to recruit, meaning the CEO is the first employee type to be able to do multiple task types.
Shared Production Plans
Beta 24 makes managers even more useful with the new feature: Shared Production Plans. Instead of having all your managers working independently, they can now share the same production plans. I also took some time to redesign the UI of the screen making it a bit easier to find the components or modules you're looking for.
Improved competition
For a long time there has been a bug allowing the game to "shrink" the internet population. I'm now working on improving this. I'm also experiencing with a "close competitor" functionality. I hope to tell you more about this in next devlog.
An updated roadmap
It's time to get the roadmap updated. I really think the future looks suuuper exciting! I can't wait to get started on the development.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
That's it for this week!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #44
Hi everyone,
This week the main focus has been on support and bug fixing.
Last Saturday Startup Company was featured as Steam's Daily Deal. We had an amazing week where we welcomed a lot of new players. We even managed to break the old record of max concurrent players from 1403 to 1969 on April 21, 2019. (Super close to 2000!).
Bugfixes and changes this week
Third floor added to the HQ building.
Removed framework max level limitation to allow for modding.
Fixed HTML in Korean speech bubbles.
Increased aging speed by 33%.
Removed landing page as a premium feature option.
Fixed a bug causing contracts not to be cancelled when firing sales executives.
Fixed bug where an employee could have two demands for firing the same employee.
Fixed bug allowing players to generate components for free by cancelling current task.
Fixed keyboard shortcuts that did not work.
Increased maximum negotiation bid for expert candidates to $25.000.
Fixed bug making it hard to unlock the Researcher achievement.
Adding sorting to Sales Executive leads and sort default by time of creation.
Removed framework max limit limitation for mods.
Fixed bug making it impossible to move items or workstations between floors.
New citymap planned for Beta 24
Bruno has returned and is working on the new citymap. We still need to make it more obvious what buildings are rent-able and some additional details, but overall I'm pretty happy with the result already.
Community Translations
Localizor, our upcoming game translation tool from Hovgaard Games is soon going into beta testing.
The tool will be used to allow you guys (the community) to mainly help translate Startup Company into more languages, but also to improve the existing translations.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
That's it for this week!
Best,
Jonas
Beta 23.5: One more floor for the Headquarter!
Hi everyone,
Usually I don't post announcements for minor updates, but this one is special. Today my designer sent me the third floor of the new headquarter building!
Instead of waiting till Beta 24, I decided to include the new floor with Beta 23.5 right away!
If you haven't already received the update, simply close the game and restart your Steam client.
I hope you all enjoy the extra space! :-)
Have a great Monday!
Best,
Jonas
Daily Deal - 50% off right now!
Daily Deal! Grab it while you can!
Today we’re launching the last big discount before leaving early access! (Date will be announced soon)
For the next 48 hours you can snatch up a copy for yourself, or a friend, for 50% off! This means that Startup Company will be available for purchase for only $4.99 (or your regional equivalent)!
Newly appointed CEOs
For new players, we recently released Beta 23, which includes a brand new ‘’Help System’’, giving you the tools you need in order to establish your own company and grow it to dominate the market! The new Help System is currently only available in the English language but will be translated to the other supported languages as soon as possible.
The future of Startup Company
Even thought we'll soon be leaving Early Access it doesn't mean we'll stop developing the game. There's still a bunch of fixes, changes and brand new features in the pipeline to be released after the "full release". We’ve been in the Early Access program since August 2017 and have released more than 72 updates, which means that on average we’ve put out 3-4 updates per month!
I’m incredibly excited to see new players be founding new companies and look forward to your experience, feedback and impression of the game! In case you’re gifting a friend a copy of Startup Company, a big thank you for your continued support of the development of the game.
Also, feel free to join the official Discord server of Startup Company, which is linked below (click on the image). It’s the perfect place for receiving tips from experienced CEOs (our supporters are ready for all your questions), sharing highscores or simply have a chat with our amazing community.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
I hope you’ll have a ton of fun with Startup Company!
Best,
Jonas
Beta 23 Released!
Hi there! :schappy:
Beta 23 is now available. Restart Steam to get it right away!
On paper Beta 23 might not be a super exotic update. Fortunately it feels very different once you start playing. The brand new time machine and the additional play speed comes as the main changes. Together with tons of "rebalancings" across all parts of the game the overall gaming experience is now much more smooth (I know, this sentence is bad. Help!).
As with each Beta release we just want to make sure that you’re aware of the fact that there might be some bugs or other unexpected issues. Jonas is on standby, ready to make sure that any discovered issues are fixed as soon as possible. If you find any bugs or experience any issues make sure to either let us know on the community hub or by joining our Discord!
Help System
The new help system is introduced in Beta 23. The system will help you understand every aspect of Startup Company, this is especially interesting for new players.
The system will first be introduced in English only. Once we're sure everything is covered, we'll have to translated later to the other languages.
3x speed
Finally! Many of you requested one more play speed and I can happily say that it is included in Beta 23.
Time Machine: Version 2
Some time ago I received a review on Steam where the time machine was described as: "It feels like one of those annoying popup ads" I never really received any other complaints about the time machine but I completely understood what was meant by it. After some investigating, I've found a way to simultaneously allow the time machine to run and still allow you to work on your company! The updated time machine is also shipped in Beta 23.
Switching tabs while the time machine is running.
Achievements, achievements, achievements
Achievements in Startup Company have always been extremely popular. Therefore Beta 23 will include 8 brand new achievements:
[table]
[tr]
[td]Support[/td]
[td]Resolve 1000 support tickets[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Reseacher[/td]
[td]Research everything available[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]The Collector[/td]
[td]Collect 100,000 research points[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Not So Creative[/td]
[td]Use a name from the real world for a website[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bankrupt[/td]
[td]Go bankrupt[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Super Speed[/td]
[td]Get 1 or more employees with a base speed of more than 480%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]World Domination[/td]
[td]Become Top #1 of all website types[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Small But Efficient[/td]
[td]Reach 1,000,000 users while staying in the small office building[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
New components and modules
Beta 23 includes new components and modules. I've been focusing on 3 things:
Designers: Will now be even more relevant, especially late game. The designer is now able to merge designer components into brand new designer modules. There are now components for Beginners, Intermediate and Experts.
SysAdmins: The SysAdmin is now able to merge SysAdmin components into new SysAdmin modules. There are now also components for Beginners, Intermediate and Experts just like the Designer. Configuring servers will require different components/modules depending on the type/throughput.
Website features: Rebalanced current feature upgrade requirements to better fit the progress of the game. High level features will now require high level modules.
New investor milestones
Beta 23 introduces new late-game milestones making the journey to Top #1 more smoothly.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
That's it for Beta 23!
Best,
Jonas
Devlog #43
Hi everyone,
It's been a pretty efficient week, lots of progress and testing!
3x speed
Finally! Many of you requested one more play speed and I can happily say that it will be included in Beta 23.
Time Machine: Version 2
Some time ago I received a review on Steam where the time machine was described as: "It feels like one of those annoying popup ads" I never really received any other complaints about the time machine but I completely understood what was meant by it. After some investigating, I've found a way to simultaneously allow the time machine to run and still allow you to work on your company! The updated time machine will also be shipped in Beta 23.
Switching tabs while the time machine is running.
Achievements, achievements, achievements
Achievements in Startup Company have always been extremely popular. Therefore Beta 23 will include 8 brand new achievements:
[table]
[tr]
[td]Support[/td]
[td]Resolve 1000 support tickets[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Reseacher[/td]
[td]Research everything available[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]The Collector[/td]
[td]Collect 100,000 research points[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Not So Creative[/td]
[td]Use a name from the real world for a website[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bankrupt[/td]
[td]Go bankrupt[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Super Speed[/td]
[td]Get 1 or more employees with a base speed of more than 480%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]World Domination[/td]
[td]Become Top #1 of all website types[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Small But Efficient[/td]
[td]Reach 1,000,000 users while staying in the small office building[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
New components and modules
Beta 23 will also have a few new components and modules. I've been focusing on 3 things:
Designers: Will now be even more relevant, especially late game. The designer is now able to merge designer components into brand new designer modules. There are now components for Beginners, Intermediate and Experts.
SysAdmins: The SysAdmin is now able to merge SysAdmin components into new SysAdmin modules. There are now also components for Beginners, Intermediate and Experts just like the Designer. Configuring servers will require different components/modules depending on the type/throughput.
Website features: Rebalanced current feature upgrade requirements to better fit the progress of the game. High level features will now require high level modules.
Changes concering the office building floors
With the introduction of the new headquarters building a lot of players have complained about two things:
The new HQ isn't large enough compared to the skyscraper.
Losing the office layout (furniture and workstations) of floors 3, 4 and 5 if you upgrade from the skyscraper is unacceptable.
Because of the feedback I've ordered an update for the HQ to add one more floor. The designer is still immensely busy with the creation of a new city map, so I don't have an ETA on this update. The amount of floors the skyscraper has will be reduced to 3 floors to fix the issue where you lose the floor layout when upgrading. This change will only affect new savegames. If you already use a 5 floor skyscraper nothing will change.
New investor milestones
Beta 23 will introduce new late-game milestones making the journey to Top #1 more smoothly.
State of Beta 23
Beta 23 went into public testing last week on our Discord server. The community found some ugly bugs that I'll be fixing next week. I still don't have a release date for Beta 23, but it will be soon and definably before the end of April.
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.
Do you have suggestions or ideas for the game?
Check out our Conflux board.
