Today we’d like to talk about the so-called Prestige mechanic in The Tenants. Prestige is an important metric that encompasses how snazzy your apartment looks like and, subsequently, how much money your potential tenants are willing to pay for rent. Its value is naturally dependent on how lavish your design is, but also how consistent you are with your choice of materials and furniture sets. While some people think that dark kitchen countertops work really well with white cabinets, some tenants might beg to differ.
As you progress through the game unlocking new furniture manufacturers and better equipment providers, you’ll be able to boost the Prestige of your units, attracting wealthier folks who will pay extra to live in one of your apartments.
Prestige will also be something to keep an eye out for when you’re out on a job, designing an apartment for a client. Working around a limited budget while trying to tick all the boxes and responding to your clients’ whims will require some practice.
And for this update’s last eye candy... Well, this time it’s going to be more of an ear candy. We’re working together with the super talented Piotr Surmacz on the game’s soundtrack and we thought it might be a good idea to give you guys a little taste of it! The Tenants will feature an all-original soundtrack with a mix of funk and jazz to make it the game to play when you’re all tucked in under a blanket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kWxoBaxOI Let us know what you think of the development progress in the comments down below. Also, the game is very close to the beta phase of the development, so if you like what you see, make sure to add it to your wishlist to get reminded about a possible closed beta invitation!
While we’re heading towards the closed beta, we wanted to share with you some of the progress we’ve made in the time since our last post.
As you’ve learned from our last devlog, there’ll be lots of stuff happening in the apartments that you own that will require your attention. There’ll be times when the equipment from one of your apartments gets lost or broken beyond repair, which will often vary based on the quality of the workers that you hire to deal with the arising situations.
In those cases you’ll be allowed to enter the Renovation mode, even though tenants are still living in your apartment, to deal with the issue at hand. If you leave your tenants waiting for a working fridge for too long, they’ll just pack up their things and leave, as no one wants to put up with that. While tenants can take care of some of the issues in their apartment by themselves (like calling in a plumber to fix the toilet), replacing broken RTV/AGD appliances is beyond their obligation. Lack of their landlord’s help will also negatively affect their happiness and might lead to them not wanting to extend the lease.
Another thing we’re currently focusing on is the Job System. At the beginning of the game you’ll be more of an agent than a landlord until you build up your reputation and save up enough cash to buy your own apartments. During that time you’ll be taking care of other landlords’ businesses, carrying out renovations for them, taking care of their tenants or scouting promising investments on their behalf. Jobs are available through a special app on your phone, where your clients have the option to leave a review and rate your work. We all know how some clients can be unreasonable with their demands, but you’ll have to make nice in order to get good ratings to expand your business. In time, you’ll gradually switch to investing in your own properties and signing your own tenants, while in the late game you’ll even be able to hire agents to take care of some of the tasks for you.
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 Development Update #6
Hello there, Landlords!
We’re still working on implementing new events that will make the gameplay more interesting and dynamic. Take a look below for a quick sneak peek of some of our so-called specialists that you’ll be able to engage with. Can you guess what they’ll be up to sniffing around your apartments?
There will come a time when your favorite tenant will reach out to you with a problem. Simple issues at the first glance, though they can all escalate into difficult situations; forcing you to make tough decisions on the fly. Will you risk upsetting the people you work with?
Another thing that we’re currently working on are the apartment utilities. Nobody said that being a landlord is easy, so the responsibility to connect the gas, electricity, heating and water to your apartment will all fall on you. Fortunately, if you’re patient enough, you might get a lead on a decent unit that is already all set for renting, in case you don’t want to go through all that hassle.
And for this update’s last eye candy... We’re not stopping with adding new outfits for your future tenants, check out the recent wardrobe additions for yourself:
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 Christmas Update #5
Hello there, Landlords!
We’ve been working hard recently on tenant interactions that will serve as a vital part of the gameplay. Your tenants will call you for assistance regarding repairs, drafty windows and leaky plumbing, as well as issues of… smaller calibre. Make sure to keep them happy as the betterment of your relationship will make them more reluctant to stay in your units & pay you more.
As a landlord, you’ll be able to separate rooms for rent to get more tenants under one roof. Pairing roommates might prove to be a difficult task though, as tenants with poor personality match will easily get frustrated and will want to move out rather quick. Make sure to respond to inquiries about their roomies promptly and they will spread the good word about you.
We’ve also begun work on a new procedural tenant generation system that will utilize many cool features to make sure each tenant looks unique and fun. Our artists are working hard at giving us enough ingredients to put into the blender. Here’s a small sneak peek of the new faces.
As for the next development update, we plan to talk some more about our Open House mechanic. We want the phase of looking for new tenants to be more immersive and enjoyable so we’re paying a lot of attention to this part of the gameplay.
Let us know what you think of the development progress in the comments down below. For now, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and we hope to see you along for the release next year. Stay tuned and follow the game for more updates!
- The Tenants Team
The Tenants Development Update #4
Hello there, Landlords!
Lately we’ve been focusing on expanding the roster of residential buildings available to the players. You’ll be able to rent out regular apartments just as well as... RVs (or campers)! Check out the recent additions to the Slums district below!
As we’re expanding the first district of the game, we wanted to finish up the apartment purchase UI window. With it you’ll be able to quickly gauge if it’s worth investing in that property or not. All the little details will add up to the final price of a given apartment. For example, a nearby bus stop will likely slightly increase the apartment’s appeal for potential renters, while a junkyard next to it will decrease it.
We’ve decided that it’s finally time to pay some attention to our tenants’ animations. Our animator is having lots of fun recording the new motions using mocap! Let us know what you think about this small sample!
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 Development Update #3
Hello there, Landlords!
Recently, we’ve spent quite a lot of time improving and tweaking the apartment renovation mechanics. We’ve also attended PGA, a Polish gaming event, to showcase a pre-alpha version of the game. We’ve been positively reinforced with the initial players’ feedback and now we’re even more motivated to deliver the best experience possible.
Also, we went back to work on the game’s lighting and we’re happy to show you the improvements, check out the comparison below! Note that there are some new props in the screenshot too.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post we’re paying a lot of attention to the apartment renovation aspect. We still need to add grid placement and snapping along with some other UX improvements, but it’s getting there! See for yourself:
[previewyoutube="7tU7TLtlGPA;full"]
Let us know what you think of the development progress in the comments below and if you have any suggestions to the game, please let us know. Stay tuned and follow the game for more updates!
- The Tenants Team
The Tenants Development Update #2 - The Slums District
Hello there, Landlords!
We’re grateful for the continuing support from the community and we’d like to share some more information about the game with you.
This time we’ll talk about the first district of the game - The Slums. With each playthrough, you’ll start in this district and over the course of the game, you’ll unlock new districts and will be able to move to them. While switching to a new district you’ll have to first find an agent that will take care of your business (for a small cut) in the region left behind.
Each district in "The Tenants" will differ from the others not only by the looks, but there’ll also be different types of apartments available, different tenants, special events, etc. For example, in the Slums, you’ll be mostly constrained to tiny flats, while in the Suburbs you’ll be able to buy a standalone house or a duplex for renting.
The tenants that you’ll meet in different districts will vary by their occupations, salary ranges, and their Core Tenant Qualities that we talked about last time might be skewed more towards one side or the other. You’ll have to take all that into consideration while renovating your units, preparing offers and interviewing potential tenants.
Minding that it’s all work in progress, do you like the direction we’ve taken with the district’s visuals? What other districts would you love to see in The Tenants?
Stay tuned, follow the game for more updates and don't forget to wishlist "The Tenants"!
First of all, we would like to thank you all for your support and your comments regarding the game. We’ve been more than thrilled with the response we’ve gotten since our reveal trailer. As we get further and further with the development though, we’ll be releasing more information about The Tenants, in a more consistent manner.
Our aim is to create a game that will blend the beauty of larger-scale simulation games with the intimacy of games like The Sims. We want you to be invested in your tenants, their stories as well as both their accomplishments and setbacks.
One of our core features includes the ability to split your apartments into multiple rooms so you can house multiple tenants under one roof. Choosing the pairings will be an important task as someone who’s into partying all night will have a hard time living with a bookworm.
Core Tenant Qualities
To help you navigate those differences in people, we’ve built a personality system that is based on four main characteristics, otherwise known as Core Tenant Qualities. Some tenants will be lazy, some will try their best to stay fit, just like in real life. Core Tenant Qualities are the following:
● Diligence (D): denotes how clean and energetic a tenant is, someone diligent is someone who doesn’t procrastinate around the apartment,
● Sociability (S): describes how sociable the tenant is,
● Extravagance (E): lavishness, the extent of the weird things the tenant might do,
● Creativity (C): describes how the tenant chooses to spend their free time.
The Core Tenant Qualities will be visible to the player upon inspecting the tenant only once they get to know the tenant in question. Players will be able to ask questions during the phone interview process that might reveal one of those qualities right from the get-go. This way you’ll have to decide on the most important aspect of your potential renter in various situations.
For example, if you bought an apartment in a neighbourhood with strict rules you’d want to know if the interviewee is not too sociable and won’t be throwing a party every night of the week. Likewise, you’ll want to know the tenant’s Diligence meter to properly fit him with your other occupants.
Let us know whether you wait for our game and in case you had any ideas or suggestions, feel free to drop them here!
