Previously, there was just one "relationship" meter that governed your relationship with each idol. This has been split into three separate stats: "friendship," "influence," and "romance." Each starts at level 0, and can level up to level 5, or down to level -5.
Friendship is a measure of how much an idol generally likes you, similar to how the old relationship stat worked. Romance is a measure of romantic interest, and determines how willing an idol is to date or enter a relationship with you; it's affected by actions like flirting.
Influence
It's nice to be both liked and respected, but the two don't always go hand in hand. Influence is a separate meter which measures how indebted an idol feels to you: generally speaking, you gain influence with idols by doing favors for them, and you lose influence by asking idols to do favors for you. Similarly, uncovering compromising information about idols (and agreeing to keep it secret) will cause you to gain influence over them, but if they learn compromising information about you, it may cause you to lose influence over them.
If your influence level with an idol is positive, it means that you have influence over her; a negative value indicates that she has influence over you (and you probably owe her a favor if you want to get things back to normal). If an idol has influence over you, she cannot be fired!
The following events affect influence:
You will lose influence with an idol if she becomes injured
Fulfilling an idol's wish will cause you to gain influence with her
You gain a small amount of influence with any "pushed" idols each month
Your choices in certain substories and random events can also gain or lose influence (depending on the story or event) and affect other relationship stats.
Spending influence on favors
One of the benefits of gaining influence with an idol is the opportunity to spend that influence to ask her for favors. All of the following requests can be made of an idol if you have enough influence over her:
Forced breakup: You can tell an idol to dump her current boyfriend or girlfriend. The amount of influence required depends on several factors: if she's unhappy in her current relationship, she may be more willing to break up than if she likes her current partner. Additionally, if you have a "no restrictions" dating policy, it'll be harder to force an idol to break up. However, if you have a group policy which forbids dating, you can take this action without spending any influence.
Stop bullying: If you know that an idol is bullying another member of the group, you can use influence to force her to stop. If an idol is being bullied by a clique, telling the clique leader to stop the bullying will cause most of the other clique members to stop bullying as well (but you might still have a hanger-on who has to be persuaded separately from the clique leader). If you don't have enough influence with the clique leader to tell her to stop the bullying, you can tell the clique members individually to stop bullying: if you can separately influence half the group to stop bullying, the rest of the group will fall into line and stop bullying as well (regardless of how the clique leader feels).
Spying and blackmail: You can tell an idol to try to dig up dirt on another idol by rooting through her belongings or casually stalking her. If the spy is successful (random chance), you may gain influence over the idol she was spying on by uncovering evidence of misconduct, depending on how severe and potentially scandalous her misconduct is. An idol's willingness to spy for you is based on certain factors, such as her relationship with the target: idols will be less willing to spy on friends, and more willing to spy on their enemies. Idols who like you (either as a friend or as a romantic partner) will also be more willing to spy for you.
Improvements
New hairstyles and accessories
Three new accessories and 19 new hairstyles have been added. (More hairstyles will be added in future updates.) For the next update, we're planning on adding an option to change hairstyles and accessories.
Reworked salary system
The game now tracks how much money each idol earns for you. You can check this number in their profile or in the salaries popup. The bottom-right corner of the default view now also has a button to bring up the salaries popup.
An idol's desired salary is based on their current fame level, how much money they're currently earning for you, and how much you're paying other idols. (If an idol sees that her peers have high salaries, she may start to feel underpaid.)
Under the old system, idols with 9 or 10 fame would sometimes demand absurdly high salaries. The new system (which factors in how much money she's actually making for the company) should help to alleviate this problem.
Changes to single creation
Selecting a marketing strategy for your single is now optional. Choosing to produce a single with no marketing strategy removes the need to have a business manager work on the project before it can be released.
Marketing strategies that are tied to a ticket or other physical item bundled with the CD (e.g. handshake events) have a scaling cost that is based on the number of CDs being produced, while marketing strategies that aren't tied to the physical product (e.g. fake scandal) have a fixed cost. (This was always the intended behavior, but small changes have been made to make this more consistent.)
Miscellaneous
You can now drag and drop tasks into an office when the staffer is working on a business proposal. The staffer will resume working on it after completing the task.
Checkbox buttons in context menus are now green when selected
Separate checkboxes for auto physical and mental stamina recovery
Separate checkboxes for auto injury and depression treatment
Added "Info" button with a tooltip that shows related active tasks when creating a new single, show, or special event, and during elections
"Details" widget now also shows how many special events are waiting for your action
You can now sort idols in the "Formation" popup
You can now change the cast, host and title of a running show
You can now reorder songs in the New Concert popup
You can now edit the set list of a concert in production
Added a warning icon with a tooltip on singles, shows and concerts in production where a participating idol was automatically removed or replaced due to injury or graduation
Updated Unity to the latest version, which should improve performance for some players
Bug fixes
Fixed: Idols on hiatus were still getting into conflicts
Fixed: Pressing 1, 2 or 3 in the New Concert popup unpaused the game
Fixed: Wrong position of one of the portraits in the birthday event
Fixed: Wrong word order in dialogue for Single wishes
Fixed: Graduation could cause a time freeze
Fixed: Tasks widget showed tasks of graduated idols
Fixed: Settings popup only worked in the main menu
Fixed: No more 9,999/10,000 sales
Fixed: Issues with mentorship dialogue
Localization: Auto resized text in a few places where overflowing was an issue
Localization: Fixed text that was untranslatable (some buttons, tooltips, context menus, etc)
As always, we look forward to seeing your feedback on the latest update in the beta community forum. If you have a feature request, or find a bug, be sure to drop by and let us know about it.
Idol Manager beta update #8: Happy birthday!
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jul 17, 2019 at 01:39:38 AM
A good friend is always there to celebrate your birthday with you, and whenever an idol has a birthday, you'll see who her friends are. Usually, it will be members of her clique.
On the "graduation" tab, you can see her planned graduated dates for each of her birthdays. Looking at these dates can provide a hint as to whether she's generally happy to be in the group or not. If she keeps pushing her graduation date back, maybe it's because she's happy and doesn't want to leave. If she keeps moving her graduation date forward, she's probably not too happy with her experience in the group.
The aging system has been reworked to revolve around idol birthdays. Any attribute changes related to aging now happen on an idol's birthday. You can see any age-related attribute changes on the "stats" tab.
Idols have a randomly-generated hidden stat for "peak age," which can range from 16 to 25.
"Funny" and "Smart" attributes always increase when an idol gets older.
"Vocal," "Dance," and "Pretty" attributes will decrease with age after an idol reaches her peak age.
"Cool" and "Sexy" attributes now have an age-based cap that serves as an upper limit for those attributes.
The stat caps associated with each age are: 12 years: 10 points, 13: 20 points, 14: 40 points, 15: 60 points, 16: 80 points, 17: 90 points, 18 or higher: 100 points
Each idol has a hidden "potential" stat for these two attributes. If her current age has a cap lower than her potential, her stat will be equal to whatever the current cap is. If her current age has a cap higher than her potential, her stat will be equal to her potential for that stat.
For example, if an idol has a "potential" Cool of 73, and she is 15 years old, the 15-year old age cap will cause her Cool to be 60. When she turns 16, her Cool will be 73 (since the cap for 16 has been raised to 80, which is higher than her potential).
Any changes to an idol's "cool" or "sexy" attribute from effects unrelated to aging (e.g. styling) will affect her "potential" stat
"Cute" works like Cool/Sexy in reverse: each idol has a "true" cuteness, and there is a minimum value for each age, which serves as a lower bound for Cuteness based on her current age.
The minimum Cute stat for each age is: 12 years: 90 points, 13: 80 points, 14: 60 points, 15: 40 points, 16: 20 points, 17: 10 points, 18 or higher: 0 points
If an idol's hidden "true" Cute is lower than the minimum for her current age, her Cute stat will be whatever the current minimum is. If her potential Cute is higher than the minimum for her current age, her Cute will be equal to whatever her "true cute" stat is.
For example, if an idol has a true Cute stat of 43, and she is 14 years old, her Cute will be equal to 60 (since this is the minimum Cute for 14-year-olds). When she becomes 15 years old, her Cute will be equal to 43 (since her "true cute" is higher than the 15-year-old minimum of 40).
Any changes to an idol's "cute" attribute from effects unrelated to aging (e.g. styling) will affect her "true" stat.
In a nutshell: young idols start with a boosted Cute attribute will decrease with age until she reaches her "true" value for that stat. Similarly, an idol's Cool and Sexy attributes will increase as she ages, until she reaches her potential for those attributes.
Improvements
Changes to idol recruitment
The auditions system has been reworked. Each type of audition now has a cooldown based on the level of audition.
Nationwide auditions: 90 days
Regional auditions: 30 days
Local auditions: no cooldown
Your odds of recruiting a higher-rarity idol are based on the level of audition.
Local: 5% silver, 0% gold, 0% platinum
Regional: 15% silver, 5% gold, 2% platinum
Nationwide: 30% silver, 15% gold, 5% platinum
Note that these are the chances for each idol in the audition to be of a high rarity, and each audition generates five idols. (For example, if you have a local audition, each idol has a 5% of being a silver, meaning that your chances of getting at least one silver from a local audition are much higher than 5%, since you have multiple chances to get a higher-rarity idol.)
Higher-tier auditions are also guaranteed to generate at least one high-rarity idol.
Regional: 1 silver guaranteed
Nationwide: 1 gold guaranteed
Changes to "team chemistry"
The team chemistry stat for singles and shows has been reworked.
Putting idols from the same clique together in the same formation will improve team chemistry
Putting a bullying victim together with girls who are bullying her will worsen team chemistry
Team chemistry affects appeal to all demographics
50 is the "baseline" for team chemistry: a team chemistry score above 50 will result in a bonus to demographic appeal, a team chemistry of less than 50 will result in a penalty to demographic appeal.
High team chemistry will cause idols to gain mental stamina on the release of a new single (or each week of a weekly show). Low team chemistry will cause them to lose mental stamina.
To view the effects of team chemistry on your current formation, mouse over the team chemistry stat bar to bring up the tooltip.
Miscellaneous improvements:
New policy: Auto Practice: Max Value - Idols won't be picked up for auto practice if their stat's value is bigger than the limit. Use this if you want idols to train their weak stats.
New policy: Auto Practice: Min Value - Idols won't be picked up for auto practice if their stat's value is smaller than the limit. Use this if you want idols to train their strong stats.
You can now drag & drop tasks into rooms where idols are practicing. (Practice will be paused while the task is being performed; training will resume when the task is complete.)
The "loans" pop-up now shows Fujimoto's task if you're currently working on one
You can now delete save files from the save menu
Modding changes
Localization support
Idol Manager's modding tools now include support for localization. (See the modding thread in the community forums for details and instructions.)
Idol Manager's beta currently only includes support for English. Official support for Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Russian will be added on release.
Throughout the development of Idol Manager, we've received questions from fans asking if support for other languages will be available. While we don't have plans to officially provide support for other languages apart from those listed above, the modding tools now give you the ability to create your own fan translation.
In addition to localization support, the most recent update to the Idol Manager modding tools allow you to create your own balance changes, and customize the accessory rates for idol portraits (including the ability to force the game to render the accessory layer). See the modding thread in the community forums for full details.
Bug fixes
Fixed: doctors weren't picking up idols for auto stamina recovery because of "auto practice stamina limit" policy
Fixed: widget showing graduated idols in "low stamina"
Fixed: local politician event (wrong variable used in text description)
Fixed: shoplifting event (result text of two options displayed as tooltip instead)
Fixed: injured idols and idols on hiatus spending stamina on some activities
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest update in the beta community forum, whether it's bug reports, feature requests, or anything else you'd like to tell us about your experience with Idol Manager so far.
Idol Manager beta update #7: Mod support!
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Jun 06, 2019 at 10:36:56 PM
If you are a Kickstarter backer and did not receive an email when beta keys were distributed on March 30, please message us directly so that we can make sure that you get your beta key.
Newly-released modding tools
You can now add new idol portraits and create new random events and substories using a preliminary version of the editor, which we've released as a separate download. For download links, documentation, and further information, see the thread here in the beta community forums. If you have any questions about the editor, post there to let us know!
To re-iterate what we've said previously during the Kickstarter campaign, support for stretch goals like mod support ranks behind working on the core game on our list of priorities: we believe that working on core gameplay features and content is our highest priority, and we don't want working on stretch goals to delay the completion of the core project. As such, some modding features may not come until after the game comes out of beta and is officially released. However, because we already developed the event editor for internal use during the game's development, we're releasing it now so that you have a chance to play around with some of the development tools we've already created while the game is still in beta.
Feel free to ask in the forums if you have any questions about the editor, and you're also welcome to provide your feedback on the editor — just be mindful that we may not have the time to make changes to the publicly released editing tools until after the base game has shipped.
Now, onto the update itself:
Features
Early game rework
A small story event has been added that triggers one week after starting a new game. This "starting player" event provides a small boost to your group from neighborhood support. Daily activities receive a 50% bonus for a month after the story event is triggered, and a 30% bonus for the month after that.
Reworked fan system
Fans now follow individual idols, rather than following the whole group. Your group's fan count is the sum total of all fans for idols in your group.
Fans also have opinions of each idol. An idol's total appeal is equal to the appeal from her stats plus the fan opinion.
When a scandal happens, some of the affected idol's fans will switch to other idols in the group, while other fans will abandon the group entirely. Hardcore fans are more likely to switch to a different idol, while casual fans are more likely to leave.
Similarly, when an idol graduates, some of her fans switch to other idols while others leave completely
The first time you load an old save file from a previous version, your group's fans will be distributed between your idols based on their current fame points.
New events
4 new events have been added, including new ways for idols to get in trouble.
Improvements
Interface changes for single creation
When creating a new single, the "release" button will be yellow and display a warning tooltip if less than a month has passed since the previous single release. (Releasing singles too often results in a penalty to sales; this penalty was previously not clearly communicated to the player, leading to many people confused about why their sales were so low after releasing several singles in a short period.) Also, the "quantity" field is now hidden for digital releases.
Miscellaneous changes:
Redesigned pop-up for dates/socializing
You can now queue daily activities. The max length of the queue depends on your producer's level, with the maximum cap being 7 (up to one week).
All business contracts now add fans. The fan demographic depends on the parameter of the contract (cute, cool, etc)
Idols won't trigger a dating scandal with the same partner twice (but can still trigger a new dating scandal if they get a new boyfriend or girlfriend).
Promotion upgrade path changed: upgrade to level 2 now requires releasing a single, level 3 requires launching an internet show
The "choose a dialog" menu (debugging tool/cheat code, accessed by pressing the "~" key) can now also be used to force events as well. Note that certain events will only start if certain conditions are met.
Clicking on an empty room with no staffer no longer shows a context menu.
New popup with SNS messages after random events. (SNS history can still be viewed via the SNS button on the game's menu.)
Bug fixes
Fixed: A number of bugs related to a dialogue and an event popup opening simultaneously
Fixed: Graduated idols could still collect a salary
Fixed: Idols still attempted to date clique leaders after their graduation, which could lead to a time freeze
Fixed: Business popup displayed liability for contracts with no liability (Photoshoots and Variety Shows)
Fixed: Not being able to select idols for concerts, shows and pushes if they were currently attending practice
Fixed: Duplicate random events triggering again after reloading the game
Fixed: Queued random events and dialogues not saving/loading
Fixed: Two idols graduating on the same day could break the game
Fixed: Broken layout of the election planning popup on 16:10 resolutions
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest update, and if you decide to experiment with the modding tools we've released, be sure to post in the forums to let us know what you think, or to share your creations with other users. Thank you for supporting Idol Manager!
Idol Manager beta update #6: Notice me, senpai! (Mentorship, graduations, and relationships)
about 5 years ago
– Sun, May 05, 2019 at 02:40:35 AM
If you are a Kickstarter backer and did not receive an email when beta keys were distributed on March 30, please message us directly so that we can make sure that you get your beta key.
If you run into any bugs, or have suggestions or feature requests for things you'd like to see us add to the game, please drop by the beta community forum to let us know!
Here's what's new in Idol Manager Beta #6:
Features
Mentor me, senpai!
You can now ask an idol to mentor her kohai. If she agrees, the kohai gets a bonus to the training speed of one of her stats. The bigger the difference between senpai and kohai's stats, the bigger the bonus. This also improves their relationship.
Graduations
Each idol has a date for when they're planning to leave the group. This date can be pushed later or earlier based on a number of factors, and can periodically change based on her current circumstances. You can ask an idol when she's planning to graduate while socializing.
You can also fire idols. You can choose between booting them immediately, or allowing them the more graceful option of an accelerated graduation.
When idol leaves, you can try to recruit her as a staffer or ask her to help find and recruit a successor (with the same stats and look).
The "idols" section now features a tab for graduated idols (in addition to the default tab, which shows active idols). Here, you can get a glimpse of how idols' lives have turned out after graduating.
Relationships
By talking with idols, you can hear the latest gossip about the relationship status of other idols in the group (who's dating someone outside the group, and which idols might be finding romance inside the group), and who's getting bullied by whom.
Idols can now form cliques, which form based on which idols like each other, and when they joined the group. Each clique has a leader who influences the relationships between clique members and those outside the clique. Clique leaders can be replaced if they lose their influence in the group, which can lead to the formation of new rivalries.
Idols will sometimes get into public arguments depending on various factors, including how well they are getting along with each other. If an argument becomes public, it's up to you to mediate.
The relationships system is still a work in progress, and in future updates we will be making tweaks to the clique system, including new ways for you to see where feuds are forming. If you'd like to share your feedback about the current relationship system or things you'd like to see in future updates, be sure to drop by the beta community forum and let us know what you think!
New idol portraits
You might notice some new faces (and hair styles and outfits) the next time you hold an idol audition:
Improvements
Idol salaries
Low salary satisfaction used to ruin your relationship with an idol very rapidly. The system has been reworked to be more forgiving, and the game will also show a notification if you're losing relationship points with an idol because of her low salary.
Misc improvements
Policies: you can now limit auto-training to stop at 80 stamina points
The "tasks" widget now has a scrollbar
Added buttons for "Loans" and "Contracts" to the bottom bar
The game will now display a warning tooltip if you forgot to create a name when starting a new show
Lowered chances of getting an injury
Bug fixes
Fixed: Couldn't drag & drop idols into some rooms after drag & dropping an idol into a doctor's office or a dressing room
Fixed: Busy dressing room not blacking out when drag & dropping an idol
Fixed: Wishes to host a show with a co-host not fulfilling
Fixed: Wishes to center a number of songs at a concert not fulfilling
Fixed: Bug that sometimes tanked mental stamina and restored physical stamina when both should be decreased by a little instead
Fixed: "Give concert in every country" not triggering the "Promotion" upgrade
Thank you to everyone who has supported Idol Manager so far! We look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest update in the beta community forum.
Idol Manager beta update #5: Now welcoming all Kickstarter backers, Linux support, socializing
about 5 years ago
– Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 12:39:26 AM
Let's start with what may be the biggest news of this update for some of you: All Kickstarter backers who pledged to receive a copy of Idol Manager now have access to the ongoing beta. This includes backers who didn't originally select a reward tier that included alpha/beta access. If you were part of the "student" tier, your beta access code should already be waiting for you in your email inbox. (If you didn't receive it, or have issues with redeeming your code, contact us directly so we can help you out.)
Since we launched the Idol Manager alpha, we've been thrilled with the response that the we've gotten from our alpha and beta players: we're glad to hear from the many of you who are already enjoying the game in its current state, and your feedback has been instrumental in helping us to improve the game by adding new requested features and fixing bugs.
When we announced last year that we would be delaying the release of Idol Manager while maintaining a monthly update schedule for the beta, the overall response we got was positive, and we're glad that so many of you agree with our decision to spend more time working on adding new features, creating more content, and balancing the gameplay. At the same time, we also heard from a number of backers who were disappointed by the delay, because it meant they would have to wait longer to play Idol Manager. Many people backed the game last year expecting to be able to play it in December, and understand that the delay was a big letdown for some of you. Although we're happy with the progress we've been making on Idol Manager, in light of the delay, we think it's only fair to allow those Kickstarter backers access to the beta so they can play, too.
What's on the horizon:
While many of the core gameplay systems are in place, the beta in its current state does not represent a complete game. Significant portions of the story are not yet included, and we are still working on new features and content that will be added in future updates. Over the coming months, we will continue releasing Idol Manager updates on a monthly basis to add new content and features, including:
Relationships between idols (including bullying and cliques)
Expanding the idol/player relationship system with dating
Award shows (a new type of special event)
Sales charts for singles
Main story content: a more involved storyline, including some events that will affect gameplay
Various other content (including increasing the number of possible substories and events as the story expands)
As the game is still in development, in the beta for Idol Manager, you may encounter bugs or performance issues, and future updates may break compatibility with old save files. All of that being said, we're really happy with the current state of the game, and even if it isn't the full Idol Manager experience, we think that giving you access to the beta so that you can see the features and content we've already released is the next best thing.
If you decide to play the beta, we hope that you'll join the ongoing discussion in our beta community forum where you can let us know what you think about the beta and request features or suggest changes that you think might improve the experience. Thank you all for your patience as we continue to work on Idol Manager, and we hope you enjoy your time with the beta!
Now, onto the new content of the March update itself:
Features
Linux support
Idol Manager is playable on Windows, Mac, and now Linux! If you encounter any performance issues or other problems with the newly-released Linux build, please visit the beta forum or contact us directly to let us know.
Socializing
You can now socialize with idols. Drag and drop an idol's card into your room to plan a visit with her. When socializing, you have several different options:
Casual conversation: learn something about her and improve your relationship.
Flirt: If an idol is old enough, you can take a chance and try flirting to see how romantically interested she might be. Don't overstep your bounds, though -- there lots of reasons why flirting might not go over well, and repeated unwanted advances could have catastrophic consequences!
Talk about her wishes: learn about her goals. Idols can wish for things like getting a good rank at elections, hosting their own show, going on hiatus, etc. Fulfilling her wish will improve your relationship and restore mental stamina.
The options for "Talk about the group" and "talk about graduation" will be added in a future update.
Profile
Click the profile button on an idol's card to bring up a window that includes tabs that show her stats, which activities she's currently engaged in, what jobs she's doing, and other information you've learned about her.
Improvements
Redesigned idol cards: idol cards now have a menu button for actions (like assigning a nickname, putting her on hiatus, or forcing her to graduate early), a profile button (clicking this brings up the profile window show above), and a hand grab icon for drag-and-drop. (Drag-and-dropping the whole card still works.)
Misc improvements:
You can now set business proposals type priority for individual staffers
Singles, Shows and Special Events tabs now have separate sub-tabs for singles/shows/events that are still in production and those that have already been released.
Spa activity now has a soft cooldown of 3 days. By default it restores 10 stamina pt, during the next day 2pt, the day after that 5pt.
Releasing a single costs 30pt stamina for all idols in the formation (in addition to the stamina cost of marketing activities), and center idol also spends 15pt mental stamina.
You can now select which notifications you want to see (click the notifications envelope and click the "Options" button)
Bug fixes
Fixed an issue that prevented you from canceling a show after loading a save file
Fixed a graphical/interface issue that sometimes appeared when releasing a single or show (the "white rectangles" bug)
Fixed an issue where fame points earned with variety shows could get "stuck" and upgrading promotions would be impossible
Fixed an issue where election votes could get "stuck" and upgrading performance would be impossible
Fixed an issue where canceled shows would still be counted as part of your weekly budget report
Thank you to everyone for your patience as we continue to work on new content for Idol Manager for our monthly updates. We appreciate the many of you who have already taken the time to leave your feedback, bug reports, and suggestions in the beta community forum, and we look forward to seeing many more of you in the coming weeks and months!
