- Version 1.0.0 is Now Out! - 19 October 2019
Startup Freak is finally in full release with a number of requested features, UX improvements, and bug fixes! It's been a fun and challenging journey and the game has come quite a ways from its early days on itch.io and Steam early access launch. My aim has always been to bring you an experience that's unique and different, and captures a more faithful and in-depth look at software making and software startups. But first, let's look at what's new: Features Added an "Experiment Mode" where you start with $1,000,000 so you can try out strategies at your heart's leisure. Achievements are disabled in this mode. Added 24 new investor traits. The overall products stats are now shown in the main view so you don't have to jump to the backlog. You can now disable tutorial hints in the options menu. You are now prompted to confirm when trying to overwrite a save file or load a save file. Employee…
- Beta 0.11.0 is Here! - 13 January 2019
G'day Startup Freaks! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2F86fc9a8f38ba87637eac2d984c2ee8fc35854424.png Version 0.11.0 is indeed here. Now I know it has taken a while to get there, but that's not for a lack of working at it! This release focuses on some big UI changes which involved complex changes in the code. Excuses aside, let's have a look at what's in this build: New Store UI The biggest change in this release is the introduction of a new UI for the store. One of the biggest issue with the previous UI was that getting to and placing furniture was clunky and time-consuming. There is now a new slide-in UI on the left hand of the screen where you can get to the office store, as well as offices and logos. More importantly, when placing furniture you can easily span around and place multiple instances of the same item. The UI remains translucent wh…
- Beta 0.10.0 - 31 August 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2Fab32efbaa710c652a46e751d3ea2dc4d814c9f1d.png Hi Startup Freaks! Yes, Beta 0.10.0 is finally here and to celebrate, a 20% promotion will be kicking in shortly! Without beating around the bush, let's get into what's new: Copycats and Patents I had already talked a bit about this in a previous update, and it has evolved since then. Let's go over the basics: Around the mid game competitors will start copying your features. Copying a feature will take several sprints so you'll have a bit of time to react. A copied feature will have its rating reduced by 50%. You can now "patent" a feature. You can see both the progress of your patent, as well as progress of copying (assuming the feature is being copied). Patenting a feature has an upfront cash cost and uses Operation effort. So you'll need to plan accordingly. Rememb…
- State of Affairs #4 - 15 August 2018
Patents I thought I would quickly share a couple of screenshots to explain how to the "patent" mechanic will work. The idea is that at some point later in the game, you will start facing competitors trying to copy your better features. You'll see a message like this: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2F9e92e742db94df307f77e98d73b48d9a4b6937ae.png As the text explains, a copied feature incurs a rating penalty. Your options are to ignore and let it happen (can be a valid choice), or patent the feature. Features that are being copied will be flashing so you will be able to identify them. You can file a patent from the feature details screen: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2F770a604143c00772bef0f1263957cba9498104dd.png Patenting has an upfront cash cost, and will use up operations effort. Both go up exponenti…
- State of Affairs #3 - 8 July 2018
Hi Everyone, As you have noticed, the last update, 0.9.0 was a little while ago. This is just a short update to let you know that development is still progressing with Startup Freak, alas a little slow at the moment. My purpose here is not to make excuses but I just want to give you a bit of background and context as to why this is: Startup Freak, as you might know, has been a passion project and something I have worked on tirelessly in addition to my day job for the past 2.5 years. A huge amount of my personal time, including nights and weekends have gone into it. The past couple of months I have let myself reclaim some of that time and focus on other things. Keep in mind I'm still working on the game; just not as much. I have done a good bit of brain-storming around larger system / feature changes. One of the areas, for example, is the concept of a "super feature" which requires you t…
- Beta 0.9.0 - 16 May 2018
https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2Fef79347c1e931c7a1d2097d9f50b4a032e2c3582.png Hey fellow Startup Freaks! as promised Beta 0.9.0 is here with a bunch of improvements! Our focus with this release was mostly around employees, their skills, and training. A few other improvements and bug fixes have been made too. Here is the full list of features and fixes: Features Added a new training UI. You can now train any of the employees' existing skills, not just their primary one! Training now requires an up-front payment as well as implicit cost of the salary spent. You can clearly see the total cost, and how long before you can expect a return on your investment. You can only train an employee to a maximum level of 25. The employee UI now displays the "direction" of happiness so it's easier to tell if an employee is getting happier or sadder. After an in…
- State of Affairs #2 - 7 May 2018
Hi Everyone, I wanted to give you a bit of an update on what's cooking in the Startup Freak kitchen! Since the last update I have been working on a number of improvements based on feedback from players. I won't go into a lot of detail here (I will post about it when the update is ready), but a few of them are related to employees and their training, and some other UI quirks. The update will be released within the next week. A Humble Request There are two things that I would really appreciate a lot. 1) Reviews on Steam and 2) Giving us feedback in any shape you like (email, discord, discussion board, etc). What's Beyond the Next Update As I had mentioned in a previous post, I have dedicated a couple of smaller updates to making general improvements and bug fixing. The next update, however, will include larger changes and some new mechanics which will hopefully move the game into some new…
- Beta 0.8.1 - Hot Fix - 25 April 2018
Hi Everyone, While we are working on new features for Startup Freak, we have had a couple of bug reports that we thought were too important to leave for a later release, so we are getting those out in this hot fix. Here they are: Bug Fixes Fixed: Sometimes changing the price of a plan (usually to a price that's much higher than the market expectation) causes the game to get into an error state in the following sprint. Fixed: Employees will try to walk to a furniture that's being moved by the player, causing an error. Fixed: Sometimes a furniture that's being moved can't be placed back down (related to the above). Unfortunately if your game save is already in an erroneous state, it's not possible to continue playing it. The new auto-save system should help with that so check your earlier saves. Thanks!
- Beta 0.8.0 - 19 April 2018
Hi Everyone! A whole week has passed since the launch of Startup Freak, and it has been an emotional roller coaster. Thank you so much for all your support and feedback; Our discord server is now getting pretty big and we are receiving a ton of awesome ideas on the idea board!. We have had a few people talk about the difficulty of the game and how some concepts are not clearly explained. We are working on improving these in the game, but in the meantime please head over to this community disucssion and check out some of the tips and guides. Meanwhile we haven't been sitting around and checking the bank account (OK maybe a little)! Version 0.8.0 is already here with a bunch of improvements: Features Added auto-saving. There are 3 slots, and auto-saves happen every 10 sprints. Added a button for fixing all product bugs. Added a context menu button to features to fix all bugs for that feat…
- Beta 0.7.3 - 14 April 2018
Firstly a huge thanks for all the awesome support from all the fans leading up to, and during launch! Hanging out with all of you on discord was a blast. Also a whole lot awesome videos have been hitting YouTube. I'm humbled and glad that people are enjoying the game! With all of that behind us, we are back to the business of improving the game. First, a couple of particularly annoying bugs have been raised by a number of people; Build 0.7.3 addresses these: Bug Fixes Fixed: The game starts up in VR (Oculus) if one is connected. Fixed: Building features near the edges of the product map causes an error. We are still seeing some bugs in our logs but would really appreciate if you can report any issues you are seeing. Having first hand information and reports from players will help us hugely in improving the quality and stability of the game. A Quick Guide We have been getting a number of…
- Beta 0.7.0 - 4 April 2018
Hey hey hey! Version 0.7.0 is here! It's not a big change as far as game features go, but between all the improvements in the last version and the Early Access release coming up, I thought upping the number is a good idea. This is going to be the final build before the Early Access release on Steam unless any huge last minute bugs come up. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2F520bceae47ef7c8f01934f443141e1d18d042df8.png Improvements: After several reports of the game being unreasonably difficult, especially with the churn variable being quite erratic, several changes have been made: Churn for the easy mode (Photo sharing product) has been reduced overall. Churn due to bugs has been reduced and is now dependent on the difficulty level. Churn due to overloaded servers has been reduced and is now dependent on the difficulty level. Churn on all random…
- Beta 0.7.0 - 4 April 2018
Hey hey hey! Version 0.7.0 is here! It's not a big change as far as game features go, but between all the improvements in the last version and the Early Access release coming up, I thought upping the number is a good idea. This is going to be the final build before the Early Access release on Steam unless any huge last minute bugs come up. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F30885292%2F520bceae47ef7c8f01934f443141e1d18d042df8.png Improvements: After several reports of the game being unreasonably difficult, especially with the churn variable being quite erratic, several changes have been made: Churn for the easy mode (Photo sharing product) has been reduced overall. Churn due to bugs has been reduced and is now dependent on the difficulty level. Churn due to overloaded servers has been reduced and is now dependent on the difficulty level. Churn on all random…
- Beta 0.6.3 - 18 March 2018
Hey everybody, here we are with another batch of improvements, and a couple of important bug fixes: Improvements: You can now right click (as well as double click) on sprint items to cancel/remove them. Improvements to feature design flow: You can now freely switch between different feature types during feature design, if you haven't placed any components. You can now freely run a sprint if you have started to design a feature but haven't placed any components. If you have placed some feature components, you now get a warning when trying to switch to another type of feature. Events now display a countdown of the number of weeks they will be in effect. Eliminated the possibility of two security attacks occurring within a very short time span of time. Upgrade flags now become translucent so that bugs are visible underneath them. In the feature details window, the list of upgrades is now a…
- Beta 0.6.3 - 18 March 2018
Hey everybody, here we are with another batch of improvements, and a couple of important bug fixes: Improvements: You can now right click (as well as double click) on sprint items to cancel/remove them. Improvements to feature design flow: You can now freely switch between different feature types during feature design, if you haven't placed any components. You can now freely run a sprint if you have started to design a feature but haven't placed any components. If you have placed some feature components, you now get a warning when trying to switch to another type of feature. Events now display a countdown of the number of weeks they will be in effect. Eliminated the possibility of two security attacks occurring within a very short time span of time. Upgrade flags now become translucent so that bugs are visible underneath them. In the feature details window, the list of upgrades is now a…
- New Trailer! - 13 March 2018
Hey everyone, the new trailer for Startup Freak has just gone up on the store page, and also uploaded to Youtube. This was more of a refresh to the previous trailer. I just updated the graphics, added a section showing off the "pitch to investors" mini game, and also recorded the whole thing in 60fps for a smoother result!
- New Trailer! - 13 March 2018
Hey everyone, the new trailer for Startup Freak has just gone up on the store page, and also uploaded to Youtube. This was more of a refresh to the previous trailer. I just updated the graphics, added a section showing off the "pitch to investors" mini game, and also recorded the whole thing in 60fps for a smoother result!
- Beta 0.6.1 - Hotfix - 21 February 2018
Hi Everyone, Beta 0.6.0 had a couple of glaring and severe bugs in it. The new hotfix build patches the following issues: Fixed: The game hangs when an employee quits after becoming very unhappy. Fixed: In certain situation the game hangs when Market Research is completed.
- Beta 0.6.1 - Hotfix - 21 February 2018
Hi Everyone, Beta 0.6.0 had a couple of glaring and severe bugs in it. The new hotfix build patches the following issues: Fixed: The game hangs when an employee quits after becoming very unhappy. Fixed: In certain situation the game hangs when Market Research is completed.
- Beta 0.6.0 is Here! - 15 February 2018
Is Beta 0.6.0 late? You betcha! Is it lacking in new content and features? Absolutely not! Check out the list below or better still, get yourself a copy from itch and try it out: Features and Improvements Added two new markets, representing easy and hard difficulties. (Note: these still need to be balanced, so expect some rough edges). Added 3 music tracks. Added 12 Steam achievements (will become with available on Steam release). Added support for localisation to the game (only English is currently available but the plan is to release other languages throughout Early Access). Improved the game load performance. Added summarised product metrics as a HUD to the backlog product view. The player is now prompted to place their credited furniture after moving. The player is now prompted to confirm when cancelling or deprecating features. The candidate HUD UI now shows the maximum skill avail…
- Beta 0.6.0 is Here! - 15 February 2018
Is Beta 0.6.0 late? You betcha! Is it lacking in new content and features? Absolutely not! Check out the list below or better still, get yourself a copy from itch and try it out: Features and Improvements Added two new markets, representing easy and hard difficulties. (Note: these still need to be balanced, so expect some rough edges). Added 3 music tracks. Added 12 Steam achievements (will become with available on Steam release). Added support for localisation to the game (only English is currently available but the plan is to release other languages throughout Early Access). Improved the game load performance. Added summarised product metrics as a HUD to the backlog product view. The player is now prompted to place their credited furniture after moving. The player is now prompted to confirm when cancelling or deprecating features. The candidate HUD UI now shows the maximum skill avail…
