Welcome to the Tenancy Update, the first major update in The Tenants Early Access. Being the first big update planned on our roadmap (available here), this patch has been in the works for quite a while and it involves a plethora of new content and several massive features that address the biggest shortcomings of the current gameplay loop. Keep in mind that as a result of the scope of it all, your old saves will no longer work after the update and you'll have to start a new game. We'll try to avoid save wipes as much as possible in further development. Now, without further ado, let's go over the most significant changes in more detail.
New content
We're constantly working on new content to add to the game and this update is no exception as a number of new Elite Contracts and dozens of new furniture items make their way into the game. One might especially enjoy the set of contracts involving designing a wedding reception space as well as the interior of a chapel for where the ceremony is set to take place.
It wouldn't be a tenancy update without a new tenant archetype! Wondersville folks have taken the time to expand their horizons and now you'll be able to meet and house Artists who enjoy units designed with a bit more pizzazz in mind than usual. Try to meet their demands and you might make some money off of them too!
Additionally, we've added a fair share of items based on your suggestions posted on our official Discord (available here). If you're not a member yet, make sure to join us as we'll gladly talk all things game related with you and our lovely community will make you feel right at home.
New tenant interactions
As mentioned in the last development update, we took some time to reflect on the core game mechanics and decided to rework the set of the bland attributes that define the in-game tenants. Instead of the core tenant qualities that ultimately don't translate to any meaningful gameplay, we've introduced a new system of tenant traits, likes and dislikes. Together with the archetype, they now form a three-tier pyramid that describes your renter:
Archetype (1) defines what needs they have regarding furniture and apartment layout; it tells you what they do and what potential events they can trigger.
Traits (4) say if they're a "bad" or "good" tenant, they affect how you manage them.
Likes and dislikes (4) come into play when increasing their happiness with the new services system and gifts.
For instance, you can now have an Artist who is Diligent, Easygoing, and yet Clumsy and Picky. They're also someone who loves Sweets and Feel Good Movies, all the while disliking Shopping and Flowers. By having access to these more defined characteristics, you'll be better equipped to handle your tenants in a meaningful manner. As part of the changes, we're rolling out a new feature called Services & Sabotage through which you'll be able to take the initiative and treat your tenant to an exquisite meal with a private cooking show at home to make them happier, or to send in an annoying trumpet player next door to make them.. less happy. You'll also be able to purchase Gifts which affect their happiness depending on what they like and dislike.
Mid tenancy renovation requests
To accompany the changes mentioned above, we've decided that it's time to implement a feature that we had wanted to have in the game for quite some time already. We're of course talking about the tenant renovation requests, which add a new layer to the whole tenancy thing.
Starting now, you'll be receiving occasional requests from the tenants who have been with you for a while. These requests will range from simple stuff like adding in some hobby-related equipment to full-blown kitchen revamps. Most tenants will be reasonable with their demands; however, there may be some hotheaded renters out there requesting a full makeover on day one. Taking on these odd jobs will be of course optional, though your tenants might like you less if you turn down their requests. Likewise, accepting a request and then failing to deliver will result in a relationship drop.
Completing such a request will greatly increase your tenant's happiness and make them more loyal towards you. In some cases, you might even be rewarded with some cash or a unique item!
Considering how big and tricky the system is, we're aiming to gather feedback on this first iteration, and with future updates we'll be adding in more new and interesting requests to spice up the mid and late game.
Skill tree
With the introduction of all the new features and mechanics, we've decided to organize everything and group it into unlockable perks. You'll finally be able to improve Uncle Steve's walking speed or repair chance on top of it as the tree comes split into three categories, all with plenty of exciting stuff to unlock. While working on the new skills app, we also took some time to spruce up the phone's UI and improve the interface of all the other apps as well.
Tutorial changes
Given the number of changes and new features, we also made some adjustments to the in-game tutorial and the main questline. The reworked tutorial aims to ease you into the new systems that affect your tenancies by introducing new mechanics step by step. For example, now you'll not only have to renovate the old RV for Uncle Steve, but also babysit Pedro himself for some time while learning the basics of Gifting and Sabotage.
With all this in mind, we still worked hard to make all the features as intuitive as possible by themselves, so even if you give no second thought to the tutorial, you should still be able to make use of the new options and systems.
Creative mode
One of the most common suggestions we have received since launch is the idea to introduce a new game mode that is more laid back in nature. And we listened! If you're not a fan of the constant time management aspect of the game, you will enjoy the new Creative mode, where time stops in renovation mode, the jobs pay better, the progression speed is higher and things in general are just a little bit less hectic.
Optimization
We're constantly looking to find new avenues for optimization to make the game run even smoother on all platforms. One of those avenues turned out to be the way we render furniture in apartments. We've implemented a smart dynamic batching system that reduces the number of draw calls for static items outside of renovation mode, and so with the new update you should see an FPS boost in scenarios where you own multiple units.
Another area that needed tweaks was the phone and the way we display text messages and reviews. We've noticed plenty of reports from you that with a lot of messages the UI tends to slow down when opening certain apps, and thus we've optimized it by loading content dynamically on demand which should greatly increase performance.
Miscellaneous
With every update there's also a bunch of small stuff that we take the time to work on. You'll notice a few new environment animations in the Slums, changes to how the bank loan interest rate is calculated to better reflect real life, as well as improvements to how the walls are rendered when building. As always, there's also a number of bug fixes and improvements that you can find in the detailed changelog.
This update took a lot of work and as such there's quite a lot of changes for you to play around with. We hope you enjoy the new version of the game and we can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Full Changelog
Features
Implemented Services & Sabotage system.
Implemented Gifting system.
Implemented Renovation Requests system.
Reworked tenant core qualities and replaced it with Traits, Likes and Dislikes.
Implemented Skill Tree.
Implemented Trashing system.
Implemented an option that allows tenants to break the lease if they're really unhappy with the living conditions.
Implemented Creative Mode.
Implemented Research feature allowing you to learn more about your tenants.
Content
Added a new tenant archetype: Artist.
Added new Elite Contracts: Temple, Wedding Venue, Funeral hall, Spy Van, Shack.
Added new residential buildings to host the new Elite Contracts.
Added ~150 new furniture items (part of which are available only within the new Elite Contracts).
Added 16 tenant Traits.
Added 14 tenant Likes & Dislikes.
Added 30 different Gifts.
Added 7 Services.
Added 6 Sabotages.
Added 2 new loading screens.
User Interface
Reskinned the mobile phone UI.
Tweaked the tutorial highlighting effect.
Added a button that opens the community Discord server in the main menu.
Fixed an issue where more than one speed button could appear highlighted after using the keyboard to change gameplay speed.
General
Player-placed walls should now also come with filled corner pieces.
Added an option to censor pests and drugs.
Changed the tutorial to include babysitting Pedro.
Fixed an issue with disabling payment notifications.
Locked some room types to only appear in certain jobs.
Fixed an issue with the electricity box not displaying highlights when hovered.
Fixed an issue with incorrect numbers of items left to unlock.
Fixed an issue with placing wall mounted items on exterior walls.
Fixed an issue with painting exterior walls.
Disabled residential building markers above properties that never go on sale.
Jobs
Fixed an issue with the Mayor Commission job listing incorrect room missing issues.
Tweaked the tutorial RV job's furniture and requirements list.
Balance
Tweaked bank loans to work more like in real life.
Increased pay for Total Makeover renovation jobs.
Optimization
Optimized displaying large quantities of text messages, contacts and reviews.
Optimized static mesh rendering for apartment furniture.
Thank you, The Tenants Team
A Sale, a Giveaway, and a First Look at the Tenant Update
Hello there, Landlords!
It's been a few weeks since we last posted a development update and there's plenty to talk about. First of all, we'd like to announce that The Tenants is now 20% off starting today for a limited amount of time! If you haven't yet purchased your copy or simply have a friend who's interested in playing the game, this is the time to get it! To celebrate this, we're going to be running a special event in collaboration with some of our favorite Twitch streamers, more on which at the end of this post.
We finished off April with an update that brought important changes to the in-game economy, and while we're overall happy with how things turned out, we had noticed that property pricing took too steep of an increase which in turn made the game too grindy. We have since corrected these issues and pushed an update last Tuesday that makes all properties cheaper by 20% on average. For those who prefer a more laid-back experience, we're now also working on a new game mode called Creative, which will focus on giving you more time and resources to work on your apartments.
Apartment design by our Discord community member Jan
What did we work on in May, though? Well, following our roadmap, we began working on the big Tenant Update. The first major update focuses on new features and interactions that have to do with the titled tenants. We've decided to scrap the old wishy-washy tenant core qualities system altogether since most of what it did wasn't really well communicated and instead came up with a new, more impactful system of tenant traits in conjunction with likes and dislikes. By putting in the time and researching your tenants, you'll be able to learn more about their behavior. Some tenants might turn out to be very Agreeable and they won't cause issues when living with multiple roommates, while others might happen to be Clumsy which seemingly leads to things always breaking around them. The new system should make each tenant more unique, requiring you to treat each person differently.
The Tenant Update will also bring new ways to interact with your renters. In fact, you'll be able to take the initiative and finally do something to make your tenant happier or… well, less happy, if you want them out. A new feature called Services will allow you to treat your favorite tenant to a professional manicure at home, an exclusive live music event, or even a private fire dance show. Tenants will react differently to the various services depending on their traits, likes, and dislikes.
We should have more news regarding the update's release date in the coming weeks. For now, we welcome you to join us for the official Streaming Event where a number of really awesome Twitch streamers will grapple with their renters live, hosting giveaways for both The Tenants and House Flipper. Starting tomorrow, June 11th, we'll be having two streams per day where you'll get the chance to win a free game code, as well as have the opportunity to talk to us in the chat. We'll be releasing a detailed streaming schedule on our social media (Facebook, Twitter) so keep an eye out for more information regarding the event. And don't worry if you can't make it, you can always join us on Discord where we have a great community that will make you feel right at home.
Let us know what you think of the development progress in the comments down below. Stay tuned and follow the game for more updates!
The Tenants Team
The Tenants Patch 0.553
Hello there, Landlords!
We’re back with a bunch of fixes and balance changes inbetween the big updates. This patch includes lowered property prices, as we've noticed a pretty major issue with our price calculation formula.
Also, make sure to watch out for an upcoming announcement where we'll dive into what the next major update (Tenant Update) will contain.
All right, onto the patch notes part:
General
Fixed a few issues with kitchen corner shelves.
Jobs
Fixed an issue with a required item not being placeable in the Tree House apartment.
Fixed a few issues with Shopping Mall and Furniture Shop jobs' requirements.
Balance
Tweaked property prices with an average price drop of 20%.
Thank you, The Tenants Team
The Tenants Update 0.552b Patch Notes
General
Fixed a major vulnerability prohibiting certain new players from launching the game (thanks @Xenastar13!).
The Tenants Update 0.552 Patch Notes
Jobs
Fixed the Mayor's Garden tutorial job being incomplete.
Fixed an issue where players received 1 star ratings for preferred items category when the client didn't have any preferred items.
Renovation
Fixed an issue with detecting multiple instances of the same item in common apartment requirements.
Uncle Steve
Fixed an issue where the fixed items didn't become targetable until the player selected a random point on the floor.
Misc
Fixed an issue with agency messages sometimes not being displayed.
The Tenants Update 0.551 Patch Notes
General
Fixed a number of bugs that caused apartments and tenants to become inaccessible for some players.
Fixed a visual glitch with the giant soup bowl.
Fixed an issue with some players not receiving notifications about tenant leases ending.
Fixed an issue with some players not receiving messages from their agents.
Fixed a number of bugs related to notification settings.
Tutorial
Fixed an issue with the player storage tutorial sometimes being impossible to finish.
Jobs
Fixed an issue with one job requiring a garden table when there were none available.
Misc
Updated Ancient Forge Studio's logo.
April Update Is Live!
Hey there, Landlords!
As promised, we're back with the first bigger update for The Tenants - the April Update. We've taken the time to address as many of the most pressing issues as possible with this patch, including the ability to filter phone notifications, adjust wall display settings in renovation mode, and a bunch of necessary balance tweaks. Of course, we've also prepared a variety of new content for you to play around with! We'll go over the bigger changes in more detail now, but feel free to scroll to the bottom of this post if you just want to see the raw changelog.
New furniture and jobs
As we've mentioned in the last announcement, the April Update brings over 250 new items to the game, a number of new jobs, and an Elite Contract to design a climactic Hunter's Cabin. Some of the content will be available for everyone right at the beginning of the game, but we've also introduced 20 new in-game levels that contain the prettiest of the new treasures.
If you haven't joined our official Discord server (available here) yet, consider doing it now, as most of the new items were based on the ideas posted by our fellow community members on the dedicated suggestions channel. This is just the beginning and it goes without saying that we'll keep adding new furniture sets, materials, and jobs throughout the entire development of The Tenants.
Finances panel changes
One of the most important tasks that every landlord has to face is managing their finances properly. Previously, the game did not show all of your properties across all districts in the finances overview panel, as we naively thought it would clutter the screen too much and would only annoy players. It turns out we were wrong!
The finances panel will now show Agent-controlled properties in a simplified manner, allowing you to gauge all of your finances quickly. As a result, the income panel on the bottom will finally consider all of your income sources. Additionally, you'll be able to now pay all the bills with a single press of a new button, and if you're not a fan of constant micromanaging, you'll even be able to toggle on automatic payments.
Smart snapping
We also wanted to improve on the part of the game where players spend the most amount of time in, that is, the renovation mode. We've heard some complaints about how hard it is to smoothly place items next to each other in an organized way. The addition of smart snapping should make this much easier, eliminating the need to yell out in annoyance when arranging those pesky kitchen countertops. In short, while holding the designated key, your item will snap to the closest wall or other furniture in the proximity, automagically predicting where you want it to go. Since this feature is still a bit experimental, we'll gladly welcome all of your feedback!
Save system tweaks
As you may already know, keeping the players' save files intact throughout the whole Early Access development is a tall order, especially when adding so many new features and implementing big sweeping changes to the entire game. Nonetheless, our plan has always been to reach down for the full save wipe only when all other possibilities have been exhausted. And thus, we segue to the corrupted save files problem. Sometimes the game may crash in the middle of a save operation, and the save file becomes irreversibly corrupted. Earlier, we introduced a single save backup that players could try to manually restore in hopes that the previous file hadn't met the same fate. Of course, as it often is with temporary solutions, it was pretty cumbersome to use and didn't always yield positive results.
Now the game will first save your game to a temporary file and will only replace the main save file once it makes sure no issues occurred. Additionally, the game will now store an array of previous autosave files, and in case of an emergency, will automatically restore the last working file. As always, we'll keep an eye out for further potential issues with our new fail-safe system.
Settings app
Many of you have mentioned on the forums, on our Discord server, and even in the reviews, that there are just too many notifications popping up on the screen, even when you have a measly few tenants to manage. We've decided to solve this by introducing a new Settings app for the in-game phone. There you'll be able to select exactly what kind of text messages you want to be notified about. In the future, we'll be adding even more settings to further customize your experience.
Wall display modes
Due to popular demand, we've added a few toggles to the renovation mode UI where you can switch between three different wall display modes:
Show all walls - all the walls are always fully rendered,
Smart hide walls - only the exterior walls facing the camera are fully rendered,
Hide all walls - all the walls are only partially rendered.
Uncle action queue
Another feature that has been greatly requested by the community is the ability to queue actions with Uncle Steve. We're happy to report that it's found its way to the game, alongside other tweaks that should make Steve fans happy.
Balance changes
Balance is something that we will keep working on over the course of the game's development. During the last month, we've taken some time to analyze the in-game economy from multiple perspectives, and with this update, we're launching the first major batch of balance-related changes. First and foremost, we wanted to address the inconsistencies in our financial model, which made the game and the amount of money you could make feel arbitrary and random. Hence, we've rebalanced all property prices, bill amounts, profit margins, as well as reworked many of the in-game algorithms, including the rent calculation algorithm, how tenant ratings work, and the way agents negotiate lease extensions.
Additionally, to reduce the snowballing potential, we've implemented an income tax system. Don't worry though, you won't instantly go broke, as the brackets and rates we've chosen follow a gentle progression curve to make sure the game remains fair.
It's important to note that the playthroughs started before this patch might become even more imbalanced due to the sheer amount of changes. We advise starting fresh for the best experience!
A new batch of player avatars
We wanted to give players more options to express themselves, and thus we've added a big batch of new portraits to choose from. Namely, we've received a lot of requests for more bearded variants and we're happy to respond to the demand ːtt_happyː Check out some of the fresh additions in the picture below.
Full changelog
Content
Added a new Elite Contract: Renovate the Hunter's Cabin.
Added 4 new renovation jobs in the Suburbs.
Added 287 new furniture items (including kitchen countertops, wall cabinets, tv stands, modular couches, new decorations, and many others).
Added 20 extra player levels (max level is now capped at 70).
Players will receive some of the new content retroactively by simply loading the game.
General
Implemented the ability to pay all bills at once.
Implemented automatic payments, togglable for each property independently.
Implemented a new in-game phone app, Settings, to allow players to toggle notifications they want to receive.
Reworked save system to first save the game to a temporary file before overwriting the main save file. Will also keep an array of autosave backups (made every 5 minutes) to restore an older game state automatically, should the game detect issues on load.
Fixed an issue with player apartments housing 0 tenants sometimes irreversibly bricking the save file.
Tutorial
Reworked the portion of the tutorial regarding player storage to be more informative.
Removed the requirement to take out a loan in the Bank tutorial.
Renovation
Implemented smart snapping, a feature that aids players in furniture placement.
Implemented the ability to switch between different wall display modes when renovating.
Uncle Steve
Implemented the ability to queue actions.
Players can now fully manipulate the camera when in the middle of an action.
Implemented action canceling when attempting to move during an action.
Balance
Rebalanced all property prices and bill amounts.
Some bills will now scale with the number of tenants housed.
Reworked customer ratings, rent calculation, and agent's rent handling to reduce variance.
Tenants and job clients will no longer value expensive items as aggressively. Certain items will now hold both a base value and a modifier as per tenant's interests, the pool of which has been expanded to make each archetype more unique. Additionally, each subsequent item rating will be added to the previous scores and an average of ratings will be used to produce the final result. This should make Exceptional ratings more challenging to hit, all the while relying more on matching the right combination of items rather than getting a lot of random expensive decorations.
Introduced a progressive income tax system.
Agents will now collect a share of revenue as part of their compensation, on top of the daily rate.
Toned down global events' frequency.
Camera
Improved camera collisions with buildings so that it is now much harder to find yourself inside the empty models while moving.
Tweaked the starting camera position for all properties (better height and viewing angle when entering the property).
Improved camera interactions with the terrain and a variety of small objects.
Improved camera targeting when quitting the 'follow' camera.
Disabled free camera movement in the 'follow' camera.
Disabled camera movement that could occur when interacting with the UI via left or right mouse button presses.
Fixed zooming issues in renovation.
Fixed a critical problem with the camera behaving erratically when moving and rotating at the same time (typically when holding the middle mouse button).
Fixed a bug with the camera that would sometimes cause it to jump out of the apartment bounds when following a tenant.
Fixed an issue with the rotate button that allowed for entering building interiors.
Fixed a rare bug where the camera would display erratic behavior when a lot of control buttons were being pressed simultaneously.
Fixed an issue with the camera jittering when holding down the drag button (typically the right mouse button).
UI
The finances overview panel will now display all properties across all districts.
The finances overview panel will now display projected Agent expenses.
The Player app will now display player lifetime earnings.
Added development roadmap to the main menu.
Fixed a few finances history panel inconsistencies.
All the best, The Tenants Team
Going Forward
Hey there, Landlords!
Boy, have the last few weeks been busy! First of all, we would like to thank you all for your support and your warm reception to The Tenants. Launching a game is never a simple task, in fact, it's the period where us developers have to step up even more to deliver a product that meets your expectations, works correctly, and lays a solid foundation for the future.
Seeing how over 100 thousand landlords have already joined us in our journey, we're happy to report that it's all full steam ahead now to deliver the 1.0 version in 2022.
Since the late March release, we've been hard at work fixing bugs and issues you've reported, all the while assiduously reading through all of your feedback, suggestions and comments. We've released 5 patches already, targeting the nastiest of issues, and we're currently gearing up for our first content & feature update that should be out by the end of the month. After that, we'll jump right into our roadmap and we'll begin working on the game's first major update that will introduce new layers to the titled tenants.
What can you expect in April's update though? Well, for starters, we'll be adding a whole bunch of new jobs, including an Elite Contract for one fine Hunter's Cabin, as well as a set of over 250 new items available in renovation mode. Since you've asked for it, we'll also be rolling out additional landlord avatar options!
You'll be happy to hear Uncle Steve will receive a much-needed ability to queue actions and the finances panel will finally display your properties across all districts, allowing you to pay all of your bills with a single press of a button! For those tired of constant distractions, the in-game phone will feature a new Settings app, enabling you to filter out notifications you deem maddening, plus you'll finally be able to hide those annoying walls when renovating the Slums' cramped apartments.
There are many great features and content that have yet to make it into the game. Going forward, we'll continue releasing smaller updates with bug fixes and changes based on your feedback while quietly assembling the game's major updates that should be coming out at a few months' interval, leading up to the game's full release in 2022.
Let us know what you think of the development progress in the comments down below. Stay tuned and follow the game for more updates!
All the best, The Tenants Team
The Tenants Update 0.53 Patch Notes
General
Fixed an issue with the bank sometimes charging players exorbitant amounts of money for their monthly installment.
Fixed another issue with the mission related properties becoming available for purchase before the mission actually starts.
Fixed an issue with ghost tenants sometimes appearing in freshly bought properties, prohibiting players from entering renovation mode.
Fixed an issue with floating child items when selling the parent furniture.
Fixed an issue with the drug manufacturing tenant event triggering exceedingly rarely.
Fixed an issue with the lease length toggle defaulting to an incorrect value during renegotiations.
Renovation
The bulldoze tool will now highlight overlapping furniture when attempting to tear down an ineligible wall.
Jobs
Room detection will now skip broken items when performing the initial assigning. This should fix issues in jobs like the ones at the Slums Baron Mansion (note that it unfortunately won't fix jobs taken before this patch).
Fixed an issue with required items detection when moving furniture between rooms.
The Tenants Update 0.52 Patch Notes
General
Temporarily disabled tenants texting about having just paid rent to reduce spam. Will be available again in the coming weeks once we implement text message filtering.
Fixed another issue with multiplying workers.
Fixed an issue with the option to reset control settings to default not working when in-game.
Fixed an issue with rebinding LMB.
Fixed an issue with music sometimes playing in the wrong key due to a pitch shift bug.
Fixed an issue with looping sound effects incorrectly managing music volume when multiple events occurred in one apartment.
Fixed an issue with tenant actions sometimes taking much longer than they were supposed to.
Fixed a number of issues with the Burglary event.
Fixed an issue with the Date Night event not ending properly when switching districts.
Fixed an issue with the Breath of Freshness event that made tenants go ahead with the renovation even when the player explicitly forbade them.
Fixed an issue with apartment events not resetting when the Agent failed to resign a tenant.
Fixed a few issues with event sound effects not ending properly.
Fixed an issue with global events being applied in the middle of a babysitting job review.
Fixed an issue with the earthquake event when the player ran out of time.
Fixed a few graphical glitches in the Suburbs.
Fixed a sneaky negotiation exploit (thanks @fierrobert!).
Renovation
Reworked camera bounds in renovation mode to allow players to navigate through the entire property, not just the main building itself (relevant in the Suburbs).
Added highlighting to furniture obstructing build wall placement.
Improved checklist item search to work with multiple option requirements.
Improved checklist item search to only work on required item types.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to place doors outside the frame.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to use storage equipment in limited renovation mode.
Fixed an issue with the wall bulldoze tool when hovering over UI.
Fixed an issue where a wall sometimes couldn't be bulldozed even though no items overlapped it after switching districts.
Jobs
Reworked how room types are detected in jobs. Now the rooms will be limited only to job-related types. The required rooms will also have to meet the room type requirement.
Limited remodelling mode to total makeover jobs only.
Balance
Increased tenants' likelihood to pay rent on time.
Player's own Open Houses will now also count towards the "rooms to rent" option unlock.
UI
Fixed an issue with incorrectly localized client names.
Removed ordering items by set id on the item list.
