TEW2020 Announcement & Developer's Journal

[Adam Ryland]

#49: A few last minute changes

 

As we reach the last few days before the public demo is released, there's a few last minute changes to go over.

 

Regional Battles

 

Previously regional battles would involve Tiny, Small, and Medium companies. We've decided to alter that and make it just Tiny and Small. The reason for this change is that the Medium category tends to include a lot of companies who are pretty powerful (for example, in a converted TEW2016 database that would generally include heavy hitters like TCW and PGHW, and in real world mods you'd generally find AEW there) and so it tended to lead to frustration as the genuinely regional companies would get hammered with no real way to compete. By reducing it to just Tiny and Small it's a lot fairer and more in keeping with what the feature is meant to do. Medium sized companies now operate in a sort of "buffer zone" where they're not in regional or area battles, which seems appropriate given that they're effectively "too big to be small and too small to be big".

 

Release Costs

 

Release costs have been rejigged. Firing someone who is under a written contract with monthly pay still involves paying them compensation of what they're owed, but it is now capped at six months' worth of wages at the maximum. People under a written deal who are paid per appearance are now compensated on their downside agreement and are again capped to a maximum of six months' pay. This change has been made to make firings / "spring cleanings" more viable as you're actually saving money in the long run rather than just saving yourself from bonus payments as you would in 2016.

 

Storyline Penalties

 

Finally, the product-related penalty where matches are hurt by a "lack of associated hot storyline" has been narrowed slightly and now only applies to major matches (major meaning that the match has at least two people of Recognisable or greater perception). This change just makes things a little more user friendly as it means that players don't have to provide storylines for low-level / enhancement talent workers who, in reality, probably wouldn't have storylines (or be expected to).

[Adam Ryland]

#50: Ending the journal

 

So, with the game coming out tomorrow we've reached the end of the journal - I hope it's helped get people prepared for the changes you're going to see and given some insights into the thought process that goes into the design.

 

As you'd expect, the past week has just been spent polishing the game, solving some last minute minor bugs, and tweaking some values to give the best results. As always, it's impossible for us to catch every single bug, but I'm confident you're going to be playing a very stable version tomorrow.

 

To tidy up some last minute things:

 

- The new TEW2020 subforums will be going live later today so that people can prep their diaries, etc. For those of you who are new to the forums, these are located a little further down the board. This is also where you will be able to get fan-made database and graphic updates.

 

- As a general reminder, if you find issues with the public beta please post them in the TEW2020 Technical Support forum, not in random threads in the main forum - I know it takes a few extra moments to change forums, but it makes it much easier for me to keep track of things, and if you're posting errors in the main forum, where there's likely to be a ton of traffic, there's a good chance I may not see them.

 

- As it's always asked a lot during the trial week, I'll emphasise that any save games you start in the trial / public beta CAN be continued when you purchase the retail copy. You don't need to do anything, they'll be right there and playable after you upgrade.

 

- Finally, please try and be extra considerate and respectful of your fellow posters during the next few days. Emotions tend to run high on release days in normal times, but with everyone being stir crazy from being in lockdown it's going to be extra crazy on the forums for the next few days. If everyone goes that extra mile in regards to behaviour, we're all going to have a better time.

 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the game tomorrow!

 

- Adam