Idol Manager beta update #17: Staffing up
over 4 years ago – Thu, Jun 04, 2020 at 11:53:18 AM

The latest update for Idol Manager is now live! This update focuses on the game's staffing system. If you joined the beta program by backing the game or buying the game on itch.io, to manually update you can head over to the game's itch.io page to download the latest version.

Gameplay features

Staffers can now be promoted to a senior position once they've leveled up to maximum proficiency in both of their skills.

Promoting the player character to senior status bestows the following perks:

• Gain x4 more influence on idols
• Socializing with an idol restores 5pt of her physical stamina
• Socializing with an idol restores points of mental stamina based on your level of friendship with her (0-5)

Promoting hired staffers to senior status bestows the following perks:

• Office manager: can perform producer production tasks for singles, shows, concerts, elections, and tours in place of the player character.
• Dance and music: Coaching is x4 faster
• Stylist: Styling is x4 faster
• Doctor: Stamina recovery is x2 faster. 100% success rate when treating injuries, 50% success rate when treating depression

Staffers cost 6 points to fire once they've been promoted to a senior position.

Other changes to staffers:

• Stylist's skills are now split into two stats: cute/pretty and cool/sexy
• Idols that you hire as staffers after graduation will keep their portrait. (Won't affect idols that were already hired as staffers in old save files.)
• Updated the artwork for the player character's portrait
• Redesigned staff cards in the left panel

Improvements

You can now buy research points. The price starts at ¥100,000 per 500 points and increases by 20% every time you buy points.

Idol and staff icons are now transparent during drag and drop, so it's easier to see where you're dropping them exactly

The date display now displays the current day of the week, and the "progress bar" has been updated to more clearly show when the day ends.

Bug fixes

• Fixed: Staffers sometimes not leaving the group after getting fired
• Fixed: When graduating, idols from sister groups will talk about their group, not the main group
• Fixed: If you click and drag an idol, and they get picked up for an automatic task, your cursor becomes idol's profile picture permanently

Your feedback, suggestions, and bug reports are what allow us to keep improving Idol Manager, so we're grateful to those of you who have taken the time to post in the beta community forum to share your thoughts with us. If you've been playing the beta, please drop by the forum to let us know what you think about the game so far. Thank you for supporting Idol Manager!

Idol Manager beta update #16: What's cooking?
over 4 years ago – Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 09:57:57 AM

The latest update for Idol Manager is now live! This month's update focuses on the game's cafe system. If you joined the beta program by backing the game or buying the game on itch.io, to manually update you can head over to the game's itch.io page to download the latest version. 

Gameplay

You can have one cafe per group. (If you've hit your limit and want to open another cafe, maybe it's time to spin off a new sister group!)

Who's working?

The cafe now selects idols to work automatically. You can control:

• Which idols are allowed to work in the cafe
• Stamina limit: idols below the stamina limit you set won't work in the cafe
• Cafe priority: how much idols will prioritize working in the cafe, relative to other tasks. (If set to "high," idols will abandon other tasks like training to work in the cafe.  If set to "low," idols will only work in the cafe if they don't have anything else to do.)
• Idol priority: if multiple idols are available to work, the game will select based on your priority. (You can choose to prioritize idols based on having high popularity, low popularity, who has the highest stamina, or who has the best stats.)

What's on the menu?

You can set a special dish for every day of the week on the "menu" tab. Each dish has different properties.

There are 16 different types of dishes, each of which will appeal to a different demographic (e.g. male/female, hardcore/casual, etc)

To develop a new dish, you need to select an idol that the dish will be based off of. Each dish costs 1,000 research points (office). The quality and type of the dish depends on the idol's stats.

Each dish has a "Novelty" parameter. Whenever you use a dish, that dish's novelty falls by 10pt, and the novelty of all other dishes of the same type or by the same idol will fall by 3pt. Novelty will slowly restore over time. You can maximize profits by having a varied menu that changes often: change up your menu often, try to have a different special for each day of the week, and avoiding having too many similar dishes.

Cafe benefits

Each day, the cafe will earn money and gain new fans for your group.

The amount of money you earn from the cafe on any given day is based on the novelty of the dish of the day and your group's "Performance" level. (You won't make any profit if there's not a dish of the day.)

The amount of fans you gain from the cafe each day depends on the number of idols working in the cafe, how high their stats are, and your group's "Promotion" level. (You won't gain any new fans if no idols are working in the cafe.)

New fans are split equally between the idols that worked in the cafe that day. The type of fans that you gain are based on the dish of the day. (If there's no dish of the day, then fan demographics will be determined by the idols' stats.)

Bug fixes

• Fixed: Scandal tooltip not updating after firing an idol
• Fixed: Idols in the idols list duplicating after audition if the tab with the list is open
• Fixed: Getting stuck on a dialogue after second election event
• Fixed: Tooltip in the election screen that informs you about idols that requested to get a certain position not showing up
• Fixed: New broadcast types sometimes not unlocking after elections
• Fixed: idols can't get injured or depressed while in a doctor's office

Your feedback, suggestions, and bug reports are what allow us to keep improving Idol Manager, so we're grateful to those of you who have taken the time to post in the beta community forum to share your thoughts with us. If you've been playing the beta, please drop by the forum to let us know what you think about the game so far. Thank you for supporting Idol Manager!

Reminder: CEO-tier producers, please submit your substory idea!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 03:15:52 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Reminder: Producers-tier backers, please submit your event idea!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 02:46:29 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Idol Manager beta update #15: You've got potential
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 11:08:20 PM

The latest update for Idol Manager is now live! If you joined the beta program by backing the game or buying the game on itch.io, to manually update you can head over to the game's itch.io page to download the latest version.

Gameplay

Changes to idol stats

Idols now have a "potential" for each stat. An idol can still exceed her potential, but after an idol reaches her potential for a given stat, that stat will improve x10 slower.

This update also includes several changes to auditions: 

• The difference in starting stats between normal, silver, gold, and platinum idols is now smaller, but rarer idols have higher stat potential.
• Lowered chances of getting silver and gold idols, significantly lowered chances of getting a platinum idol.
• "Best Employer" award for nationwide auditions now is "one additional gold or platinum (10% chance) idol" (previously, it was one platinum idol)

Besides the existing methods for gaining stats (like training and theater shows), idols now also gain stats for the following activities:

• Singles add "dance" and "vocal" skill points for all idols in formation. Idols closer to the center of the formation get more points.
• Shows add "funny" and "smart" skill points, but only if show's cast type is "permanent" or "rotating" (not "entire group")
• At concerts, centers get "dance" and "vocal" points, MCs get "funny" and "smart" points
• Business proposals add skill points to the required skill for that proposal. Photoshoots and variety shows add skill points once, while ads and tv shows add skill points once a week until the contract ends.

Training has also been changed to cost 3 stamina points per day. (Previously, training cost 10 stamina per level up)

Single changes

The number of available rows in the formation now depends on the size of the group. (Unavailable rows will be grayed out.) When calculating the stats of the formation, the number of available rows will be factored in. This change aims to make producing smaller groups more viable.

When producing singles, you can now use research points (office staff) to view currently trending genres.

The way that revenue is calculated for singles has been changed:

• ¥200 for digital singles
• ¥500 for physical singles
• Group handshake event adds ¥50 (¥100 on easy difficulty)
• Individual handshake event adds ¥100 (¥200 on easy difficulty)

The effect of handshake events on sales has also been increased.

Interface changes and features

• The compact view now shows stamina levels for each idols.
• You can now name concerts.
• If a button for launching an audition, responding to a business proposal, or socializing pops up in a room that isn't part of the current view, it will now stick to the top or bottom of the screen. (This should make it easier to keep track of what's happening in larger buildings.)
• You can now destroy rooms. Hover over a room and click the red button in the top right corner to delete it.

Modding changes

You can use the "first_name" and "last_name" parameters in params.json of an idol to always generate idols of this type with this name.

Bug fixes

• Fixed: The game could sometimes freeze after returning to main menu and clicking continue
• Fixed: Building a theater or loading a game with a theater, then returning to the main menu and starting a new game would create a game that constantly freezes
• Fixed: Some story dialogues could freeze the game if you don't have required staff
• Fixed: First floor not being rent free after loading saved game
• Fixed: Paranoid idol could report gossip that an idol is dating or bullying herself

Your feedback, suggestions, and bug reports are what allow us to keep improving Idol Manager, so thanks to the many of you who post in the beta community forum to share your thoughts with us! If you've been playing the beta, we'd love to hear what you think, and the forum is the best place to do that.