- New game from Inexplicable Games: Showrunner! - 24 June 2022
Inexplicable Games are proud to announce our second game, Showrunner! It's an isometric management game where you create and run your own TV show. Craft scripts, populate your world with characters and cast actors to play them. Hire and manage staff, develop your studio and gain a dedicated following. It'll be entering Early Access on Steam later this year, head over to the store page to wishlist and keep informed on updates! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058200/Showrunner/
- Version 1.1 - 16 April 2020
What feature is most commonly requested for This Merchant Life? You guessed it, a band management system! So we added one. Become the band's manager, rename them, get them to compose new songs, rename those too... take to road, go on tour, perform in taverns, earn coins, lead them to musical glory all while taking a cool 20% of all their earnings! There are also a bunch of new road events and we've added visually distinct seasons as well. Hope you enjoy! Full Patch Notes Systems - Added a Band system. Recruit and manage a struggling group of musicians! - Rather than requiring the player buy or sell a set number of resources during various road events, players can now define how many items they wish to buy/sell up to a set shop limit for each road event, as long as they have enough of the resource (for selling) or space in the cart and gold (for buying). Road events involving buying and…
- Version 1.02 - 12 November 2019
We've added an Auto Resolve to combat for those that don't fancy directing their fighters in every battle! Systems - Auto Resolve option added to combat. Takes into account your current forces (including perks, deployment time, heroes, cart defences) and gives a battle result with a random element also involved in the final outcome. Can be used for all fights except for a small selection of key story battles. Balance - Ranged fighters (local hunters and archers) will now only appear in taverns from player level 5 onwards. - Increased payback extensions from 2 to 3. UI - Added much briefer tutorial messages for combat, with the original extended versions available with a 'more' button each the tutorial. Fixes - Actually I Need a Dozen Heroes achievement should now unlock correctly - Old fighter data should now be properly cleaned out when a fighter leaves due to low morale/death/fired, w…
- Happy Halloween! - 31 October 2019
Happy Halloween merchant fans! We'll have some exciting new updates for you in the next few months!
- This Merchant Life really gets what playing as an NPC should be like - 17 October 2019
Ave once more, citizens – Ghoastus here! Nate s in Berlin for PDXCON this week, but I m still haunting his PC (I zoom into it through the floppy disc drive), working my way through all the games he didn t get around to writing about in the last few weeks. Today, I ve been playing This Merchant Life , an extremely gentle fantasy trading simulator that came out in August, and which RPS features mortal Brendan had a look at two years ago . It s come on a lot since then, and while there aren t really any Romans in it, I like it very much all the same. Many artists, when satirising the fantasy genre, have reached for a good and obvious joke: in a world defined by singularly important heroes, what s it like to be something other than the hero? What s it like to sweep the pubs down, maintain the castle walls, or run the potion stalls – and isn t there a sort of heroism to be found…
- Version 1.01 - 9 September 2019
Having monitored feedback on the game there have been some concerns raised about it being a little too grindy, so we've made some balancing tweaks aimed at reducing friction a little! Balance - Unlock gold costs reduced (tier 1 from 5k to 4k, tier 2 from 10k to 8k, tier 3 from 20k to 15k) - Tier 3 unlock level requirements moved down from level 14 to level 12 - Reduced the requirement for story chapter 2's goal down from 6000 gold to 4500 gold (and take 3500 gold rather than 5000 gold upon completion) - Reduced the requirement for story chapter 12's goal down from 50000 gold to 35000 gold - Reduced the requirement for story chapter 14's goal down from 100000 gold to 75000 gold - Cart repair cost for normal difficulty reduced down from 4 to 3 - Reduced the chance of getting attacked at all target ratings aside from 1 - Reduced the speed adjustment to chance of getting attacked - RegularV…
- This Merchant Life version 1.0 released! - 6 September 2019
This Merchant Life version 1.0 has launched! A big thank you to everyone who supported the game through it's two years in Early Access and some wonderful content creators who've covered it. If you've ever wanted to own a trade cart with two not particularly loyal horses then this is the game for you! Make profits, make friends (also enemies) and maybe, just maybe, save the whole kingdom along the way. https://store.steampowered.com/app/666730/This_Merchant_Life
- This Merchant Life full launch - 6th September - 29 August 2019
This Merchant Life leaving Early Access has been delayed a week, will now be happening on Friday the 6th of September! Here is a 'Director's Cut' of the release trailer, featuring a different release date at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm8pH_wBkF8
- Version 0.91 - 26 August 2019
This update is primarily concerned with smoothing out a few bumps within the story campaign along with some balance tweaks. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F5af1acd73a596414c2398eb75cc910be7b6a28ed.png Systems - There is now a small chance of rapport with heroes increasing when you reach a settlement with them as part of your security. Balance - Itinerant Swordsman security reduced from 5 to 4. - Hero deployment time maxes out at 3 with leveling rather than 4. - Adjusted difficulty of story chapter 11 battle. - Road events set to be 3x as likely to occur during Chapter 18 while travelling in the desert region, making encounters with Grey Bards more regular. - Stats for Mountain Horrors and Basilisks reduced slightly, the same for faction monster enemies Famed Monsters and Walking Nightmares. - Reduced the prices of Exotic goods down a fair amou…
- Version 0.9 - 21 August 2019
Some more polish and fixes as we approach leaving Early Access! Also Steam achievements, although going to test them for a little before rolling them out properly. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F90c872887b54e557c893405259023958be4842ff.png Systems - Added Steam achievements. - Now a distinction between events that could potentially injure or kill fighters, and those that should just injure those that won't be killed by it. To prevent half your guard being wiped out by a minor accident with a pothole. Balance - Added modifier that makes combat events slightly more likely as cart speed increases. - Adjusted target modifier so combat a bit less likely at higher target ratings, slightly more likely at lowest target ratings. UI - 'Next Payment' in Payback mode no longer reads 'Paid off' as the next payment for several payments before it's actually…
- Version 0.85 - 7 August 2019
This version features some more bug fixes, polish and rebalancing! The looting mechanic has also been adjusted a little so that a high cart defence stat doesn't mean you can entirely ignore enemy attacks. Rebalancing efforts for this update were focused on buildings, explore events and road stats. In particular explore event rewards for one-time events have been greatly increased to make them more meaningful. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F74574184506eee8c2a5d2091d62d1b2e440d284e.png Systems - Explore event options that introduce new town locations - taverns/friends/trainers - now become unavailable once that location has been unlocked, but the events themselves will continue to appear. - If cart defences match or exceed enemy attack scores in a quadrant during the looting phase then looting now does take place in that quadrant, but only one…
- This Merchant Life full launch - 3 August 2019
UPDATE: This will now be happening a week later, on September 6th! This Merchant Life is leaving Steam Early Access after two years, version 1.0 launches on August 30th! Check out our fancy new launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgxINR0Phw Big thanks to everyone that provided feedback, ideas and bug reports while we've been in Early Access, I think it's fair to say it's come a long way and we couldn't have done it without all that help! The game will continue to be updated and improved after launch and all additional content and features will arrive in free updates.
- Version 0.84 - 11 July 2019
More bug fixes and balance changes, particularly focused on skills, road events and cart parts. Also a nice new rotating background element for the combat screen! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2Fc5bca990d604c640cefa6d3b047af63b2c2f8ec9.png Balance - Three skills changed. 'Bargain Hunter' now causes cut price events to last longer, rather than increase the chance of cut price events occuring. 'Everything Must Go' becomes 'Delivery Service' and instead of making cut price events reduce prices more it instead makes high demand events last longer. Finally 'Timing is Everything' becomes 'Alert' and instead of doubling the changes of high demand events occur it instead gives the player an additional heart to their max health. - Reduced road event chance down a bit more as journeys now take longer in general. - Limited Event and Limited Combat Avoida…
- Version 0.83 - 20 June 2019
A lot of new hints and various bits of bug fixing, balancing and polish! Systems - Added trainer available to save/load for current settlement. Balance - Some scaling to XP rewards from explore events based on global reputation. - Time to complete missions increased by roughly 30-40% - Rebalanced Payback mode to be less impossible. UI - Added lots more hints. - Side trait mouseover boxes only appear if any bonuses are applied from that side trait. - Tweaks to max stats for stat bars - not absolute theoretical maximum, but more realistic maximum. - Added no missions available here message for mission screen if all current missions taken. - TAKE MISSION button reacts correctly when mission can't be taken in terms of visuals and sound effects. - Built in a delay to hub button activation after finishing an explore event to prevent accidentally clicking through from the explore event continu…
- Version 0.82 - 9 June 2019
A lot of fixes and balance changes in this update, and some more event illustrations to boot! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F2230d526eb6db39c06b673926050659f5b45d131.png Systems - Heroes joining the caravan during the story no longer replace existing heroes of the same class if you have one currently hired - they accompany the caravan but not as fighters. - The initiation system for combat missions has been revised a little so that it should be impossible to complete a journey on which a combat mission should take place without it actually happening! - Mission, faction mission and tavern fighter data for the current settlement now saved in full. Explore available for current settlement also saved. - Friend meeting availability added to save/load data for current settlement. - Faction missions received at Archon now randomly alternate between…
- Version 0.81 - 10 May 2019
v0.81 It's an update jam-packed full of UI tweaks, bug fixes and balance changes. There is also some lovely new art to depict some of the events that can occur on the road! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F0d976140b5a769d2e66f9918254996b04479b113.png Systems - If a fighter or hero has more than 50 morale, their pay cost now adjusts to cost proportionally less the closer their morale is to 100 - basically, paying a fighter or hero that is above 50 morale is no longer horribly inefficient cost wise - Fighters now have a 20% chance to heal their health by one each time your caravan reaches a settlement (if their health is currently below max) - Chance of non-combat road events is now increased when the cart reaches a certain speed threshold (so they don't occur much less when travel times are significantly reduced) Balance - Hero chance to heal by…
- Version 0.8 - 22 March 2019
It's a really big update with a reworking of the combat system! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2Fd98c41e0938c1e8172bf53640c61e4295dd9385d.png Systems - Combatants now have a defence stat as well as an attack stat - Combat in quadrants is now in two phases per round; player attack vs enemy defence, then enemy defence vs player attack - The difference between attack and defence scores (with rolls added) results in how many wounds are suffered per quadrant by each side. This means multiple wounds per round and much faster battles. - Fighters can now be moved to different quadrants between rounds, with a Deployment Time costs - Fighters can also be withdrawn from the fight with a Deployment Time cost - Losing the battle now also reduces fighter morale - Enemy forces can include several different unit types in the same battle - Three new fighter cla…
- Version 0.73 - 2 February 2019
This is a fairly minor update, with some fixes to deal with some progress issues that were cropping up in the story campaign and a few other particularly annoying bugs! There's also a proper system for when the player runs out of health while market taxes now ramp up (and sometimes spike). https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F7cb467e41a8361e886d04112c9ab12f562890d1a.png Systems - Health dropping to 0 now initiates a crisis event, where the player must pay a percentage of their current coins (percentage varies by difficulty) to heal up and continue - Market tax for some good rarities now increases at month 4 and month 9 - Each month one settlement will have a market tax hike, where market taxes for that settlement will double for the duration of the month, making profitable acquisitions from here difficult. UI for this is placeholder. Balance - Redu…
- Version 0.72 - 25 January 2019
This update adds an optional tutorial sequence for players to run through at the start of the game. There's also a new, daring look for the market screen as well as a bunch of UI tweaks and improvements, plus some bug fixing! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F4d61b5be34090c3b95cd0a12692dfa8d1089c978.png Systems - Added a tutorial system, which can be toggled on/off for all new games. Involves a checklist of tasks to be accomplished and nice glowy buttons! Balance - Exotic goods are no longer available to buy in Archon UI - Minor rejig to profile sidebar - Visual redesign of the market screen - Changed the town name of Bryce to Centuria - Added Unlock Hints for unknown town locations - Added building icons and mouseover details for each settlement in the Reputation sidebar - Added mouseovers of names of discovered locations for each settlement in…
- Version 0.71 - 18 January 2019
Version 0.71 makes a number of changes to the market system, with the overall aim being to make it more varied and challenging to trade. There's also a rejig to some skills and plenty of UI tweaks and fixes! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F29485762%2F91c2404010470554cf59342016a50e16be086098.png Systems - Added global resource price changes. Three random resources each month have a sizable increase or decrease in price across all settlements. - Added a market tax. This increases for every purchase you make in a settlement's market, and is paid automatically when you leave the settlement. If you can't afford to pay it, you instead lose one reputation in the settlement. The tax amount increases by 1 for every common good purchased, 2 for every rare good purchased and 3 for every exotic good. This is partly to avert the loophole where you could make small pr…
