Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 1 Popular Post Share Posted July 1 I'm pleased to officially announce that the newest game in the TEW franchise, Total Extreme Wrestling IX, will be released by Grey Dog Software in just a few weeks. Additionally, the ever-popular developer's journal will begin today in order to reveal what new features and changes you can expect. The public beta of TEW IX will be released on Saturday July 27th. For those unfamiliar with this, the public beta is free to play and offers a fully functional version of the game but with a limit on how many months of in-game time you can play. This allows you to "try before you buy" and gives us the opportunity to address any installation or gameplay issues before the game goes on sale. The full retail release of TEW IX will be one week later on Saturday August 3rd. The price will be $34.95. Frequently Asked Questions Q Why is it called TEW IX and not TEW2024? A We've decided to make this change to the naming scheme because having a year in the title is generally used to denote an annual release. As there are several years between modern TEW releases, we felt a switch to numbers would be more appropriate going forward. Q What will the licensing situation be? A The game will be under the QLM license system that Grey Dog Software has been using for the past couple of years. As those who have used it will know, this is a much easier to use and more convenient system than the old Elicense system that was used in the past. Q Will I be able to continue my TEW2020 save games? A No, as they are two separate products. As usual, a converter is provided so that TEW2020 databases can be converted to work with TEW IX. Q What new features and changes will there be? A The Developer's Journal starts today and will be used to reveal new features and changes. There will be at least one entry every weekday between now and the game's release. As usual, a lot of the changes come directly from posts that people have made in the Suggestions forum over the past four years. Q Is this an entirely new game? A TEW IX uses the same base as TEW2020, so you'll recognise the general layout and concepts - this is because there's no sense in "reinventing the wheel" when we already have a very popular, stable basis to work off. The new features and changes are applied on top of that foundation to enhance and expand the game. Q Will there be a Mac version? A No. Grey Dog Software only produces Windows-based games. Q Will I meet the minimum requirements? A Although TEW IX is significantly bigger than TEW2020, if your computer is able to play the latter, you will definitely be able to play the new game too. Q What times will the release be? A To avoid a large spike in traffic and the problems that causes, we will not be announcing an exact time for release. It will, however, be handled by Grey Dog Software and so be on US time. 85 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 1 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 1 Welcome to the first day of the TEW IX developer's journal. The way this works is that every weekday between now and release you'll get a journal entry detailing some of the additions and / or changes that have been made since the previous game. As we've got over 200 items to get through and only four weeks to do it, this will differ from previous journals in that every day will be consist of multiple reveals rather than concentrating on just one. There is no particular order to the reveals, but I'm going to sprinkle in several more minor reveals to each day rather than giving a long list at the end like I normally do. Let's get started with today's entry. Day 1 Booking Team / Creative Energy And Ideas Each company can now optionally have a booking team of up to five people. This team is there to assist the head booker in carrying out their duties. At the start of the night of a show, the booking team meets (even if it's just the head booker working alone). Each member is rated on their Booking Skill and generates a new concept to the game, Creative Energy (CE). The higher the skill levels and better the team work together, the greater the levels of CE they will be able to generate. Some CE is automatically spent on the show to fulfil the basic creativity requirement of putting on a wrestling event (the longer the show is, the more CE is required), with a penalty incurred to your final show rating if you don't have enough. Whatever CE is left over is "banked" and can either be saved to be used on future shows or spent on Creative Ideas, which we'll cover in a moment. The booking team is a high-pressure environment and will act as a "hot house"; that is, relationships will tend to act as if they're on steroids, with people who would normally be mildly friendly really bonding and people who'd normally be slightly antagonistic becoming enemies. This means that while you can stuff your booking team with lots of members in order to try and generate more CE, you run the risk of creating more drama; having a chaotic booking team full of people playing politics, particularly if splits develop, can really harm how well it functions. Additionally, people will be always take quite a large morale hit if you kick them off the team, so you have to be careful about who you select - keeping a close eye on the personalities involved and existing relationships is key. Smaller teams have the disadvantage that they don't have as many people contributing CE, but they can be slightly easier to manage and get bonuses (particularly for someone working alone) to simulate greater levels of focus. Overall, finding a balanced, well-adjusted booking team can be a great boon for a company, whereas a dysfunctional one can cause a lot of issues. This makes for a fun game-within-a-game and adds a new dimension to TEW. Oh, and did I mention that people can also request / demand to join the team, get annoyed if their political rivals are on the team, etc, so that you potentially have to navigate tricky backstage politics that have lasting consequences? It's one of the ways that the backstage environment will feel more alive than in previous games. Going back to the Creative Ideas, these are essentially purchasable "booking aids" that can be deployed to give certain effects. The available choices are Creative Finishes, Angle Ideas, Gimmick Ideas, Storylines Ideas and Character Ideas. Each costs a certain amount of CE and then can be used in-game. For example, you might deploy a Creative Finish (via a road agent note) to a big match to try and boost its rating a little more, or use a Gimmick Idea to increase the chance of someone's new gimmick being more successful. Each idea comes with a success rating that tells you how much of a gamble it is (if the gamble doesn't pay off you may actually experience a penalty from using it), an expiry date which you have to use it by, and can also have a random restriction applied to it, such as only being able to be used on a specific worker in a specific situation. When you purchase an idea you can name it so that it's easy to keep track of what you have available to you at any point in time. Overall, these features work together to better simulate the backstage politics of wrestling, make the locker room environment more vibrant, and give some fun extra mini games to help you feel more like you're actually sitting in the booker's chair. Worker Ideas Tying in to the Creative Ideas feature described above, creatively-minded workers on your roster can now come up with their own ideas that automatically get added to your arsenal of stored ideas. You don't have to purchase these, they come for free, but (naturally) are restricted to being used on that worker alone. Of course, if a worker comes to you with a Creative Finish that just happens to be restricted to only being used when he wins, that does mean you might have to change your booking plans.... New attributes have also been added to the game so that more (and less) creative workers can be simulated. Locking Child Production Values By popular request, you can now set whether your child company is autonomous or not when it comes to changing their own production values or relying on you to do it for them. This gives you greater control and allows you to stop situations where they're behaving in a way you don't want them to. Backdrops / Stable Backdrops / Alliance Backdrops / Brand Logos And Backdrops Many people like the GIF picture packs that allow custom backdrops to appear behind a worker's picture in game. Previously this was limited to just being the company logo, but this has now been expanded to allow custom backdrops that are specific to the company, stables, alliances and brands. (These have separate subfolders within the Pictures folder to allow them to be easily distributed.) This allow a greater degree of control over how the game looks for each company. Product Narratives By request, several new narratives have been added to allow a company's product to be updated / evolved over time to match reality. This is particularly useful for those making historical databases. Random Broadcasting Slot Length By request, database makers can now set broadcasting contracts to have random lengths rather than needing to pick a specific expiry setting. 123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 2 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 2 Day 2 The Inner Circle Each company can now have an inner circle; this is a series of optional roles that you can hand out to people on the roster. The benefit of this, outside of the effects specific to each role (which we'll get to in a moment), is that it can improve your relationship with the person chosen, positively impact their morale, and build loyalty. However, like the booking team, removing someone from a role will hurt their morale and can lead to ugly scenes, and you'll also have to deal with the politics of people getting upset if they're not chosen, if someone they dislike gets a plum role, etc. The roles are: Locker Room Leaders: You can have up to five different locker room leaders, and this replaces the old system whereby locker room leaders happened outside of your control. The LRL are the core workers who are known to have the booker's ear. Their impact on the locker room is heightened, which can either be a pro or con depending on who they are and their current status. Having two locker room leaders who have become rivals can be really damaging to the locker room environment as they jockey for prominence. Good LRL tend to be well-respected, positive role models and the booker generally will take care of them because of the potential negatives if they get unhappy. They also need to have experience of being in the ring, so they should be an active wrestler or a retired one. Chief Enforcers: You can have up to three enforcers and they are the ones who impose discipline on the backstage area, which if they're doing it well will have the effect of lowering the chance of fights breaking out, people turning up late, etc. The downside is that the power may go to some people's head and negatively impact their behaviour over time. On top of that, they're more likely to fall out with those who misbehave. Good enforcers need to be tough and should be well-respected. Head Of Talent Relations: The HOTR is effective a buffer (or human shield!) between you and the locker room. If the position is filled, they automatically handle all but the most major locker room incidents on your behalf and any blowback goes to them, not you. The major downside is that you hand over some of your autonomy; you no longer get a choice of how most incidents are handled and so you may end up with outcomes you wouldn't have chosen (although they'll never suspend or fire anyone without consent). Additionally, by their nature, the HOTR has an outsized effect on the backstage area and if they're doing the job poorly it can have massive ramifications. A good HOTR should be well-respected, have a professional or people-oriented personality, and not have an active in-ring role. Due to the added responsibility and workload, holding this position brings about much higher wage demands. Morale Officer: The morale officer is in charge of keeping the backstage area happy. The benefit is that their own positive impact on the locker room is amplified, they lessen the penalties of anyone who feels isolated, and they increase the chance of positive events happening. The downside is that if they become unhappy it will have a much worse impact than usual and can spread quickly to other people. Also, they may clash with unhappy or negative people. Good candidates have people-oriented personalities and strong morale. Senior Road Agent: The SRA is in charge of the road agent corps and making sure the booking team's instructions are carried out (if you only have one road agent then this position has no effect). The person chosen gets regular morale boosts for being in power and will tend to develop positive relationships with the booking team. The downside is that the power can go to some people's heads. A good SRA is good at their job and has a professional or people-orientated personality. Due to the extra workload, this comes with higher wage demands. Senior Referee: The senior ref is in charge of the referee corps and is responsible for making sure the ring crew sets everything up pre-show. If you only have one referee, this position has no effect. The person chosen gets regular morale boosts. There aren't really any downsides unless other referees get jealous. A good candidate is skilled at their job and has a responsible personality. Due to the extra workload, this comes with higher wage demands. Head Men's Trainer and Head Women's Trainer: The trainers are responsible for running pre-show training drills for the less experienced workers in the respective divisions. This can help boost basic skills and makes it more likely that they'll take on a mentor role. Good trainers need to be solid in-ring workers and generally have professional or people-orientated personalities. They do not need to be part of the division that they're training. Due the extra workload, this comes with added wage demands. Travel Organiser: This role is responsible for arranging the travel and accommodation for workers who are not local. The benefit is that they get regular morale boosts for being given responsibility. The downside is that they may annoy other workers if they are irresponsible or screw up. This role is only available for Medium sized companies or smaller as bigger companies have admin staff to handle this. A good candidate has a steady personality. The role comes with added wage demands due to the extra work. Stooge: A 'secret' role, the stooge is the booker's eyes and ears backstage. The benefit is that the stooge can report on happenings that otherwise might be invisible to you and they are likely to develop a bond with the booker. The downside is that they must be kept happy, as if their morale becomes low their relationship with the booker may deteriorate and they can start spreading hurtful rumours. There are no particular skills needed for this role, but as it's an underhanded position finding someone willing to take it on can be problematic...and you have to be careful who you ask! This feature is another that adds to making the backstage environment and politics more lively and engaging than in previous games, and adds some extra decisions, wrinkles and knock-on effects for the booker to have to deal with to keep things interesting. Note that this is not limited to the player-controlled companies, the AI will make use of this too and you'll see regular stories on the website as the positions change or lead to incidents. Elimination Order Road agent notes can now be used to give precise instructions for the order of elimination in matches. This includes battle royal style matches like the Royal Rumble. You can either fill in every single elimination (e.g. getting compete control over exactly who the eliminations unfold) or just fill in a few and let the game fill in the rest. This has been heavily requested in the suggestions forum and gives those who are detailed-oriented the extra control that they want. Increased Name Sizes By request from several database makers, the maximum name size for companies and alliances has been raised from 40 to 50 to allow some real world situations to be correctly handled. Generic Venue Capacity Generic venues now have an in-built capacity figure based on the region that they're located in. This was by request from several people, and means that venues in smaller regions, such as Hawaii, can no longer get unrealistically huge attendance levels. Note that this applies to generic venues; you're still able to create your own custom venues that break these capacities if you want them to. Enhanced Promises Workers can now promise to put other people over in angles as well as in matches, giving more flexibility to the system and adding some extra detail to the booking section of the game. Team Bonding A new team bonding option has been added when addressing the locker room prior to an event. This brings together the key members of the roster (you, the major stars, the stars, and the locker room leaders) to try and build team spirit. This can build strong friendships and loyalty in a good environment with the right personalities, but if there are any cracks in any of the relationships then this can expose them and make things worse. Independent Show Frequency The frequency of independent shows in each game area can now be adjusted, both at the database level and during individual save games. This includes being able to disable them, selecting from a range of options going from Very Infrequent to Very Frequent, or choosing to use a Smart Selection which creates an optimal level based on the number of available workers in that area. This was another change that has been heavily requested in the past. Vocal Fans And Company Size When deciding whether the fans will turn against a worker, the company size is now taken into account; this means that smaller companies will have slightly more tolerant fans and not expect such high minimum standards. This is something that was requested by a few people. Owner / Booker Narratives New narrative requirements have been added that allow a narrative to only be triggered if a certain worker is owner or head booker of a company. This allows things like company name changes linked to who is in charge at that point in time. Extended Bankruptcy Grace Period New companies now get a grace period of three years from their founding, not one, before their financial performance becomes relevant to any bankruptcy calculations. This makes it fairer for newly-generated companies as they have more time to become established and start to turn a profit, and is better for the gameplay as I don't think anyone particularly likes seeing new companies come and go so quickly. 114 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 3 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 3 Day 3 Geo Tags A new system, 'geo tags', has been introduced to companies, events and locations in order to allow an easy way for database makers to subdivide the game's regions and create more realistic restricted access for where companies go. This allows, for example, a Glaswegian company to be limited to only running shows in Glasgow while at a small size, rather than them showing up all over Scotland. As this system, despite being quite simple, can be quite difficult to explain when you don't have the game in front of you to see it in action, I've done a detailed description below that includes a follow-along example. (Please note that I use "venues" in the following text; to be clear, this refers to the whole system, so venues and locations are covered.) Each venue may have up to five geo tags of up to 30 characters each. If used, they allow the venue to be situated within specific sub-divisions of a region. For examples, let's make three venues in the Southern England region with their geo tags in brackets: Lambeth Hall ('London', 'South London', 'Lambeth'), Chelsea Arena ('London', 'West London', 'Chelsea') and London Pub (no geo tags). Companies and events work in exactly the same way. Each can (optionally) have one geo tag defined for each of the first three company sizes; Insignificant, Tiny, and Small. If a tag is given, this means that - at that size - the company should not be venturing outside that regional subdivision. To continue our example, you might have a company that is defined as 'Lambeth' (at Insignificant), 'South London' (at Tiny) and 'London' (at Small). This would simulate the company slowly expanding as it got bigger. Note that sizes above Small do not have geo tags; that is because once a company is above Small then they would naturally not be restricted below the regional structure. The way the system functions is that if the company is at a size that has an associated geo tag, the AI will only be able to go to a venue that either has the same geo tag OR has no geo tags at all. (If the company has no geo tag at that size then they have no limitations on where they can go.) So, looking at our earlier examples: At Insignificant size, our example company would be able to go to Lambeth Hall (because they share the tag 'Lambeth') or London Pub (because that venue has no tags at all). It cannot go to Chelsea Arena because that venue does have tags but does not share the 'Lambeth' tag. At Tiny, our example company can again go to Lambeth Hall (because they share 'South London') and London Pub (no tags), but still can't go to Chelsea Arena. At Small, our example company can go to Lambeth Hall (shares 'London'), London Pub (no tags), but now CAN go to Chelsea Arena because that also shares 'London'. Once past Small, the company can go to any venue within Southern England as it is no longer bound by the geo tag system. If an event has any geo tags then that is what is used for the calculation, not the company's; if an event has no geo tags filled in then the company's are used instead. This means that you can set it up so that certain events can break the company's normal restrictions (e.g. maybe you have a show that is intentionally an anomaly, like a London company heading down to the Edinburgh to perform an annual show each summer). It is important to note that this only applies to AI booking (the user is free to go wherever they like, whenever they like) and is automatically ignored if an show has been assigned a fixed location. In order to make life easier both for database makers and people setting up things during a save game, whenever there's a place to fill in a geo tag you will find an icon next to it; clicking this brings up a master list of all the geo tags currently in the game, together with information on what they're currently linked to. You can then just click the one you want to automatically fill it in. This takes away a lot of typing and also removes any chance of typographical errors. To summarise, this is a very simple system to use - it's literally just text tags - but it means that you can effectively subdivide any of the game's regions into as many smaller subregions as you want, giving database makers the option to make it as super-detailed and geographically precise as they want. Once in place, this means that you can create very realistic simulations of how small companies grow. It's entirely optional - just leave the tags blank and you've turned it off - and can also be on a region-by-region basis (for example, you could apply this to some regions and not to others without any issue). Real Heights And Weights By popular request, instead of size categories workers will now use real heights and weights. Heights range from three foot to eight foot. The weight range is from 75 to 800lbs. As a natural consequence of this, everything that used to refer to size categories - such as the weight limits on title belts or the search facilities - is now also switched to use the new system. This gives a more realistic feel to the game, makes it easier to get a sense of how big a worker is, and allows a finer degree of control. The converter will automatically 'best guess' appropriate values for TEW IX based on the 2020 size category used. This means that databases will be usable without requiring any editing but, for obvious reasons, it does mean that database makers will need to put in some significant work in order to get everyone to their exact real height and weight if they want absolute precision. There are editing tools to help with this, which will be described in an upcoming journal entry. Adjustable Weight Division Tying into the previous change, the junior heavyweight limit for each company can now be set to a specific weight. This allows different companies to operate slightly differently if wanted. Toned Down Politics By request, the departure of workers into politics has been toned down in terms of its frequency. Additionally, there is now a three month warning period before the worker actually leaves. Training Facility Weights Training facilities can now be set with minimum and maximum weights for graduates, allowing database makers to have a finer degree of control over which students come out of each place. Expanded Belt Descriptions By request, the available space for writing profiles for title belts has been quadrupled, now standing at 1000 characters. This allows people more room to refer to the belt's history, former champions, etc. The CornellVerse / Pictures This isn't an addition or change, but some people asked about the Cornellverse / default data and so I'll cover that here. The CornellVerse will move forward two years, meaning that it will begin in January 2022. The reason I decided not to go all the way to 2024 is that I thought the four year jump was too much when we did that previously, and I know a lot of people like to be able to see things evolve over time. Two years seems like the sweet spot where you're getting forward progress but not missing out on the rookie years for new workers, not seeing wholesale roster changes that alter a company's identity, not losing a ton of legends at once, etc. Additionally, the old "blue background" style renders will no longer be used. Instead, everyone has been re-rendered using AI to give the game world a much fresher and cleaner look. As I know some people have strong feelings on AI content and don't like to use it, I will also be making available a version of the default data that is set up to use the old style renders. This will not be an official part of the game (and therefore won't be in the installer) but will be made available via the forums on release day. However, please note that if you use this pack then there will be some picture gaps, at least to begin with, as obviously any character who is brand new to TEW IX doesn't have a corresponding old render. I'm sure some fans will continue to provide "blue background" content going forward for those who prefer that style, it just won't be something that will be officially supported. 94 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 4 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 4 Day 4 Real World Calendar In a change I'm sure will be very well received, TEW IX will be switching to a real world calendar. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the game has been in development for well over eighteen months; one of the big tasks that required so much time was ripping up the underlying architecture and changing everything to work with a different calendar. As you'd expect, this has knock-on effects on pretty much every aspect of the game. To be absolutely crystal clear, this is game-wide, so everything from birthdays to the scheduling of events has now changed to reflect this. As this uses Windows' in-built calendar system, it can handle multiple formats. For example, you can type "July 4 2024", "2024-7-4" or "4th July 2024" and it will understand what you're referring to. However, it is recommended that you use the international standard of "YYYY-MM-DD" to avoid any chance of ambiguities. Wherever a date input is found, you'll find a calendar icon - clicking this will launch a pop-up calendar so that you can simply click the date you want rather than having to always type it. As with the heights and weights from yesterday's journal entry, the converter will automatically "best guess" when turning a TEW2020 database into one for TEW IX, and the result will be playable immediately, but this does mean that if database makers want absolute precision this will mean quite a lot of work. As before, there are tools to help with this task and these will be discussed in a future entry. I've talked about this a lot in the past, but one of the main reasons that the TEW series didn't use a real world calendar previously was the difficulty in running a flexible event scheduling system (that worked for every company type) when months had an inconsistent number of days without events ending up "drifting" out of place over time. To address this, I've introduced what I think is quite an elegant and easy-to-use system. We'll now delve into that. The New Scheduling System, Bi-Weekly Events & Avoiding Holidays For each event, there are now five settings that work in harmony to make up the scheduling system. The first is Schedule; this is what you're familiar with from the previous games, telling the game whether it's an annual event, weekly, etc. This governs how the event will move forward in time. The selection of choices has one that is new to TEW IX, and that, by request, is "bi-weekly". The second is Positioning. This can either be "Exact Same Date" (meaning that the event retains the same date each time; e.g. you can set an annual Independence Day event to always happen on July 4th) or a selection from a range that includes different combinations of things like "First Monday Of The Month", "Fourth Sunday Of The Month", "Last Friday Of The Month", etc. This allows the event to be oriented properly within the month. The third is Positioning Shift, which can either be No Shift or a +\- value going from 1 to 31 Days. This works in conjunction with Positioning and acts as an adjustment. For example, if you wanted a show to happen on Black Friday then you could use Positioning of "Fourth Thursday Of The Month" and a Shift of "+1 Day" to create the effect of "the day after Thanksgiving" (for those who aren't following why this is needed, it's because the "Fourth Friday Of The Month" is not necessarily the day after "Fourth Thursday Of The Month" as it depends on what day the month begins on). The fourth is Base Month, which is exactly as it sounds - it tells the game what month to "anchor" the event in so that it doesn't drift out of synch. Finally, there is Avoid, which can either be turned off or you can select from a list that includes things like American Holidays, British Holidays, etc. This allows the database maker to add a little extra bit of realism by making sure the event doesn't land on a major holiday (the holidays are in-built, for reference, and what they cover is listed in game). For example, if you set it to avoid American Holidays and had an event set to be on the "First Thursday Of The Month" with a Base Month of July and that happened to fall on July 4th, the game would know to push it either a week ahead or behind (context dependent) in order to avoid that date. Once you (or the database maker) has set the event up, it rarely needs looking at again - everything will be handled automatically by the game in terms of moving the schedule along as time passes. As with all the other entries, the converter will automatically "best guess" the correct settings via the 2020 data and will be playable immediately; those who want absolute precision will need to do some editing, and again there will be tools to help with that which will be discussed in a later entry. In summary, by using these five settings it means that you can guarantee that events happen where they should and won't end up drifting around over time whilst still retaining all the flexibility of scheduling that you had from the previous game. To address something that I imagine will be asked: the inherent edge cases (such as having an event set to be on the Exact Same Date of February 29th) are all handled in various context-specific ways - the various rules for these are covered in-game. Multi Day Events As the name suggests, Multi Day Events are to cover situations where a show takes place across two or more successive days, such as how modern WrestleManias work. The way this works is quite simple; you just have to give all the events involved the same Multi Day Event tag, such as "WrestleMania". If events are on successive days and share the same MDE tag then they are considered to be part of the same series. Any number of events can be linked this way, but they must be from a single company. They do no need to be held in the same place each night. A series is considered to have started when the first event with an MDE tag is run and it ends the next time an evening completes when that company did not run an event with that tag. When a series is active, any worker complaints about missing that event are 'suspended'. When the series ends all the suspended complaints are reviewed and appropriate action taken. For example, if Wrestler A was annoyed at being left off the first event but was on the second show then the initial complaint would not take place as he understands that he ultimately was used. However, if Wrestler B was annoyed at being left off the first show and didn't appear on any of the subsequent evenings either, his complaint would activate and it would be made more powerful (because not only wasn't he on one event, no spot was found for him across the entire series). To be clear, this works both ways - e.g. if someone is on the first show but not the subsequent events, they'll understand that they have been used and won't complain. Additionally, MDE comes into play when calculating how many shows in a row a worker has been left off, all the shows in the series count as a single event for all appropriate calculations (such as working out if the company is over-using PPV), and the overall ratings for later events in the series are compared to what came before; the crowd can become annoyed if the quality dips over time. This simple system therefore allows you to properly simulate modern multi day format shows with a minimum of effort. On This Day Tying into the new calendar system, the website now has an On This Day section. This lists different important things that have happened on the current day in history, like legendary matches, births & deaths, and title changes. These can also be preset in the editor for database makers who want to add history to their game worlds. Other TV Dates The scheduling system for Other TV shows has now been upgraded (as well as being brought into line with how events are scheduled) so that database makers have a lot more precision over exactly when they run. This allows much more realistic TV schedules to be simulated. Venue List A full list of venues and locations in each region is now available from the game world screen. Previously there wasn't an easy way to see this information, so this may help some people. Mass Editing Dates The mass editor has been upgraded to allow a lot of date-related things that were previously not available, such as when a contract starts, to be done. Anniversary Reminders The Personal Assistant will now alert players if any of the company's significant anniversaries are coming up in the near future. For example, it might tell you that next month is the 10th anniversary of the company being founded. This can be useful for remembering to put on special events to celebrate. Improving Cardio By request, the user can now apply pressure on workers to improve their cardio using the post-show speech system. Importing Lineages By request, the editor now supports being able to import individual title lineages. Importing Movesets When importing movesets there is now a setting to simultaneously import any moves that are contained within them. This is a little quality of life change that saves database makers from having to do it manually. Random Starting Absence Time Starting absences can now be given a value of Random for their time remaining. This was requested by some database makers who didn't like having to pick a specific date. 99 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 5 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 5 Day 5 Company Awards A much-requested addition, companies now have their own individual end of year awards to compliment the familiar 'global' version. These work in exactly the same way as their global cousin in that they're decided by the AI dependent on the stats from the previous twelve months. Additionally, these awards have been folded into the criteria for getting into a company-specific hall of fame (e.g. winning some of them helps you qualify for induction). Previous years' company awards can be added via the editor to add flavour. Title Records Taking advantage of the new calendar system, every title now has a Title Records button which gives a host of (hopefully) interesting stats. The include top tens for workers with the most title reigns, the longest single title reign (i.e. in days), the longest combined title reigns, the most defences within a single reign, and the most defences across all reigns. For tag titles, these are additionally broken down into both individual and team versions. While it's mostly cosmetic, we've found during testing that this is actually quite a fun thing to look at, especially if you're into stats. Touring Contracts Touring contracts return to the game with a more intuitive and robust design that takes advantage of the new calendar system. Workers will get signed in the lead up to tours, head over to the country in question when the tour begins, then stick around until the tour is over. The decision-making AI has also been overhauled so that the wrestlers are better at understanding the unique situation of being on tour. There's also now some background AI that means workers won't be quite so promiscuous when it comes to working for anyone and everybody - they'll tend to be linked to a specific company, at least while they're actively being booked. This simulates a degree of loyalty and is also better for gameplay as it means more wrestlers get to go on tour rather than having it hogged by the same few people. Global Skill Comparison A new feature in the skill comparison screen allows the user to see an analysis of how the workers' skill level compares to that of the rest of the world. For example, if you look at Aaron Knight's Psychology in the default database you would see a report that "Of the 2,440 other workers who are eligible for comparison on their psychology, 60 are considered better and 10 are considered equal; Aaron Knight is therefore considered to be in the top 5%." You can do this for any of the different skills and it's a useful way to evaluate potential signings or those who are already on your roster. For those newer to the game, it's also a handy way of getting to grips with what constitutes a good level. Hiatus Warnings By request, workers going on hiatus now give a one month warning period before they depart. This allows the player (and AI) time to book them appropriately, like getting titles off them. Owner Specialisms / Booker Specialisms By request, potential owners and head bookers can now be set to specialise in men's or women's wrestling, affecting what companies they'll try to take over / apply for jobs with. This allows database makers to add a bit more realism. Narrative Title Belt Status New narrative effects have been added that allow title belts to be activated or retired. This has been requested by a few database makers so that historical scenarios where a company's roster of titles changes over time can be simulated. Cutting Child Companies Loose The user can now choose to 'cut loose' any of their child companies; this means that they become independent. This is something quite a few players have asked for over the years as it means you can get rid of a child company you no longer want / need without having to actually kill them off and lose all their history. Customisable Opening Website The automatically generated "day one" content for the website (i.e. what you see when you first start a brand new save game) now only appears if there is no narrative-driven content to display. The reason for this is that it means that database makers can (optionally) entirely customise the opening website with relevant stories if they want. Like the intro screens, this is just an extra way to put a unique stamp on a database and to immerse the player in that particular game world from the get-go. As stated, this is totally optional - by not putting any narrative content in, the game will revert to the familiar stories. Romantic Checks By request (admittedly from a grand total of one person, but at least he'll be pleased to read this), the data check has been upgraded to flag up contradictory romantic relationships that may have slipped through. 93 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 5 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 5 NB As a reminder to people who might be experiencing the developer's journal for the first time, please note that there are no entries on weekends. The journal will therefore continue on Monday. Enjoy your weekends! 🙂 50 1 2 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 8 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 8 Day 6 Angle Overhaul The old angle system was fine but it was really starting to show its age and so the entire angle system has been overhauled for the new game. Firstly, pre-written angles have been removed entirely as they were too fiddly, un-intuitive and limiting. In their place, each angle is created at the time of booking, with the process being streamlined to be as user-friendly as possible. The first big change is that each angle can now consist of anywhere from one to five parts. Each part has the following settings: a name, a length (in minutes, with the sum of all the lengths giving the angle its overall running time), a location (in the ring, backstage or outside broadcast), a type (angle, interview or video), a status (live or pre-taped) and a content type (from a range of options that includes things like Hype, Serious, Comedy, Storyline Development and Surprise). Obviously some of these have inherent limitations, so a video is always pre-taped, for example. Within each part, you can assign workers and give them specific roles (from a large range of options that include things like Cutting A Promo, Fighting, Attacker, Victim, Segment Host, and Selling An Injury) - the role you assign them allows the game to understand what they're meant to be doing and work out how they should be rated. Unlike the old system where you could only use a small number of workers, there is now no limit at all on how many workers can be assigned to each part, and you can have people appear, disappear and change roles between the various parts. Next, there are road agent notes that you can apply; this is what you're familiar with from TEW2020, albeit with some new ones debuting. You also have the option whether to let the game create output text based on what you've booked or write your own, with the latter being useful for immersion purposes and for those who make diaries / YouTube videos and who want custom text. If you write custom text, this replaces any generated content and is what you'll see when the angle runs. The booking system is super flexible, so you can move parts around, copy them, delete them, copy workers from one part to another, etc, with single clicks. Additionally, there's a "quick add" mode that allows you very quickly make the basic angles that almost all companies tend to use (like brawls and hype videos), thus saving you a lot of time. With this new system in place, it gives the user a ton of flexibility and scope for being creative and avoids the rigidity that the old system had. By separating them out into parts, it also means that you can "flow" angles much better and don't need to resort to booking multiple different segments to achieve real world effects. For example, you could quite easily have an angle start with one wrestler cutting a promo in part 1, have him become the victim of an attack by a rival in part 2, have their respective partners hit the ring to kick off a brawl for part 3, then have an authority figure appear on the big screen and make an impromptu tag match in part 4, all of which can be done very quickly. As the game can "understand" what you're trying to achieve from the part's details and the roles you've assigned, it can then figure out appropriate ratings, giving you a very intuitive system that can be used to simulate just about anything you can think of. External Editing To aid database makers, a new external editing system has been introduced for almost all the sections of the editor. The way this works is that it takes your current data and creates a database file which isn't password-protected, where all the various columns have easily identifiable names (rather than the sometimes non-intuitive ones used internally by the game), and where the data is displayed in an understandable format (e.g. there are no codes being used, you'll be seeing text; so, for example, you don't have to know / work out that the internal code for 6'0" in height is 37, you'll just see it written in feet and inches). There's no ID numbers to remember or keep track of, instead it works by name matching - so if you're adding in a new relationship between two people, you just have to type in their names rather than going and finding out what their internal ID number is. You can then take that database and do editing using your preferred software, such as Microsoft Access. Once you've made the changes you want, you can then import the data back into the game - TEW will automatically run all the necessary error checking and make sure that you're not introducing any problems or incorrect settings, flagging up where any problems occur so that it's easy to go and fix them. The game comes with a separate document, a "master list" of sorts, that lists all the different options for each piece of data. Database makers can therefore also have this open as a quick reference guide and just copy and paste text in to ensure accuracy. All of this means that you can make use of the tools that external software provides, such as being able to edit multiple records at once, sort columns of data into specific orders, make comparisons, etc. It also makes group project work a lot easier, as you can divide up the work - for example, one person could handle relationships, another handle events, etc, and because you're working with names rather than ID numbers, you won't run into trouble with having to keep track of what state the database is currently in, nor do you need to worry about overwriting someone else's work. For example, whoever is in charge could just take the relationship data from whoever worked on that and solely import that, ignoring anything else. Overall, this should take away a lot of the effort in making databases, particularly in the "grunt work" that takes up the majority of the time. Enhanced Mass Editing The in-game mass editor has been beefed up with a lot more available options; every aspect where it is viable to allow mass editing is now covered. This can also be of great benefit to database makers to speed up the process of making and editing databases. User-Defined Title Names The potential new title names that the AI can generate, which were previously in-built, is now an editable section. This allows database makers greater control over their scenarios. Single Use Injuries By request, injuries can now be set as being single use, meaning that each worker can only sustain them once. This allows things like appendicitis to be simulated. Older Relative Mentors Older family members can now act as psuedo-mentors to their younger relatives without needing to be explicitly set as mentors. This saves a little bit of work for database makers and adds a nice touch of realism. New Owner Goals Several new potential owner goals have been added to increase the potential pool size. (NB I'm not going to list what the new features are as I'd like people to find out about them on their own during gameplay.) Owner Goal Specifics When viewing owner goals, the text now gives specifics on how you are doing (where that's appropriate information). This makes it much easier to understand what you have to do to achieve the goal and removes any of the guesswork or mental calculations that you had to do previously. Canvas Opinions When signing workers, the user now has access to a Canvas Opinions button that allows them to poll the locker room to see if there are any notable reactions to the proposed contract offer before they go ahead with it. This can be useful for avoiding surprises and just adds some extra realism. Sex Scandals By request, the sex tape scandal has been reworked to become simply a generic sex scandal, thus allowing it to be used to cover a wider variety of real world situations and no longer be limited to a small range of possible years. Automated Merchandise Cut When editing contracts, an 'Automatic' value can be given to the Merchandise Cut section. This means that the game will calculate an appropriate value at the start of the game, saving the database maker from having to figure out the best setting to use. 98 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 9 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 9 Day 7 Enhanced Eras The eras feature has been beefed up to offer a much finer degree of control over a lot of the figures that are used in the behind-the-scenes game engine. The categories this covers are: Wage Demands, Sponsorship, Attendance, TV Viewership, PPV Viewership, TV Revenue, PPV Revenue, Merchandise Income, Marketing Expenses, Admin Expenses, Misc Expenses, Show Costs and Venue Hire. For each, you can set a percentage of between 1% and 500%, with 100% being the default level. So, as an example, if you set PPV Revenue to 1% then whenever an event is on pay-per-view and the revenue is calculated the result will only be 1% of what it would be under normal conditions. 100% would mean it'd be as normal. 500% would make it 5 times greater than normal. This therefore allows database makers a lot of control over how the game runs and can allow historical / fantasy scenarios to be constructed. Era Specific Contracts In addition to what was discussed in the previous entry, era can now also be used to set whether written contracts are enabled or disabled. If disabled, they can't be offered at all. This may be useful to some database makers constructing historical scenarios such as the days of the territories. New Battle Royals By request, a number of new battle royal configurations have been added; any number of competitors between 10 and 60 can now be booked. Automatic Renegotiations To close an annoying loophole that has existed for a while, when a worker retires or comes out of retirement the game now automatically triggers a limited renegotiation process for each of his or her contracts. This prevents the situation where a worker's wage and / or primary usage are set at a value that is no longer appropriate to their status, but does so without requiring a whole new set of negotiations to take place to make things right. These automatic renegotiations happen on the same day, are dealt with in one go (rather than needing to wait for offers to go back and forth) and don't allow others to come in and make steals. So, for example, if you lock down your main star on a $100,000 a month contract and he retires a few weeks later to become a colour commentator, you're not stuck with a vastly overpriced broadcaster - instead you'll get to renegotiate for a fairer amount (or release them, without incurring a huge bill). Historical Rosters And Champions In an addition that has proven very popular with the testers, the alumni section (from a company's profile) now has a second section where you can pick a specific historical date; if you do, it will show you who the roster and champions were on that date (by using the dates contained within the employment and title histories to calculate it). As well as it being interesting to take a stroll down memory lane, this also has a secondary benefit for database makers as it means there's an easy way to compare / check historical data. Wrestling School Affiliations Companies can now affiliate themselves with wrestling schools. This takes the form of them paying part of the school's running costs in return for getting first refusal over the graduates. This just adds an extra touch of realism and is useful for companies who may not have the funds to actually open their own facility. Move Descriptions Wrestling moves, including tag team finishers, can now have an (optional) short text description attached to them. This displays when viewing the move in-game. This is particularly useful for fantasy databases and for wrestlers who have not acheived much fame, as it saves having to use up biography space to explain what a move is. (To answer the question in advance: yes, the default database does have this filled in so that people no longer have to open up Wrestling Spirit to find out what moves are meant to be.) Team And Client Relationships As they are likely to spend more time together than normal, tag team partners and manager-client duos are now more likely than normal to develop a personal relationship - whether good or bad - over time when they are in the same backstage environment. This adds a little more realism to the game world. 83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 10 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 10 Day 8 Request Call Up When playing as the booker of a child company, the player can now choose to contact the parent company (whether the parent is controlled by the player or AI) and request that they consider calling up a worker. This is something that's been requested quite a lot. It adds some extra realism and also allows those who want to play with an eye on producing talent a little more control. Import Job History From within the editor, the user can now import job histories (either individually or in batches) from one worker to another. This was requested by a couple of database makers as a way of speeding things up. It's particularly useful for tag teams who have moved around together, as it means that once you've completed one partner you can just then choose to import all of their job histories in one go to their partner. Increased Diversity In order to better simulate the real world, a range of new diversity-related settings have been added to workers. These include: Gender ID: This has the choices of Cisgender Male, Transgender Male, Non-Binary Male, Other Male, Cisgender Female, Transgender Female, Non-Binary Female, Other Female. Note that the male and female versions of Non-Binary are purely for behind-the-scenes purposes (as the game needs to know which of the two "paths" they take for things like physical development and retirement ages); whenever this text tag would be seen during gameplay it would simply be shown as Non-Binary without further elaboration. The "Other" terminology is designed as a catch-all for any definition that doesn't fit into any of the other categories - if anyone would like to suggest a better name for this, you're welcome to make suggestions in the discussions thread and this may be incorporated pre-release. Overall, the new Gender ID settings are mostly used to add a little more realism, for searching, and for the handful of calculations where gender is important (like what awards they qualify for). In almost all cases, all that really matters from an in-game perspective is whether they fall into the male or female "paths" that the game has. A worker's Gender ID setting does not change during gameplay and there are era settings that can be used to control the percentage chance of what Gender ID newly generated characters can have. Pronouns: The choices are He-Him, She-Her, They-Them, He-Them, She-Them. This is purely a cosmetic touch and affects how text relating to that person is shown. Note that I've specifically made this section easy to alter, so if there are further categories that people particularly want, this is something that can easily be patched in post-release. Sexuality: Either Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual, Asexual, Pansexual. These settings are primarily for relationship calculating purposes, but some products may use this data (in conjunction with the gender ID) - for example, LGBTQ+ friendly products may explicitly look at it when choosing who to hire. The converter will automatically assign the Cisgender Male / He-Him and Cisgender Female / She-Her settings based on the gender the worker had in TEW2020, so in the vast majority of cases database makers will not have to do any extra work to incorporate these changes. Men's And Women's Divisions The way women's divisions used to work has been expanded, providing the same set of options but for the inverse - i.e. women's wrestling companies that have men's divisions within them. Additionally, there is now a Tiny size that can be applied. This was something that was requested a few times. Gender Competition Each worker now has a "Competes Vs" setting that can either be Any, Men's Division Only, Women's Division Only, Primarily Men's Division or Primarily Women's Division. Additionally, each contract now has a "Competes In" setting that is either Unassigned, Men's Division, Women's Division, or Unrestricted. The contract setting can't contradict the worker's overall setting, but doesn't have to permanently be on a single choice - for example, you might set a female wrestler to Primarily Women's Division and have her contract set to be in the women's division, but move her to the men's division for one-off matches or a specific storyline. These two settings work in conjunction with a company's men's and women's division settings so that the game knows who to hire, who they're competing against, etc. This means that you can simulate pretty much any real world scenario and have quite a lot of flexibility to move people around based on the situation. By adding this, this covers some of the real world scenarios that were previously not able to be simulated properly. Note that the converter will automatically set male competitors to the men's division and female competitors to the women's division; as such, other than a handful of edge cases, database makers will not have to do any work at all with regarding to setting this up. Expanded Awards The end-of-year awards - both the overall and company-specific versions - have been expanded to have male and female versions of each (including the non-wrestling awards like Manager, Referee, etc). The converter automatically takes this into account when moving awards from 2020 to the new game. Gender-Specific Hiring Rules When assigning hiring rules to a company, they can now be set as to whether they apply only to male competitors, only female competitors, or both. This gives database makers a finer degree of control and means that limits on things like weight make more sense. Same-Sex Marriages For realism purposes, same-sex marriages cannot happen during gameplay prior to the data that they became legal (based on the area in question). This doesn't affect preset relationships via the editor. Gender And Divisional Searches By request, tag teams and title belts can now be searched by gender and men's / women's division limits. Road Agent Experience Road agents can now continue to build their experience rating just from doing their job. Previously, once they'd retired from active competition they couldn't build up experience, which meant that some people - especially those that retired early - were very limited in how good they could become. More Precise End Dates When setting the end dates for things like excursions, scandals, starting injuries and starting absences in the editor, there is now a much wider range of options to choose from, including being able to pick a specific date. This gives database makers a finer degree of control. 67 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 11 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 11 Day 9 More Realistic Avatars The way the user avatar functions has been made more realistic, removing the more overtly "gamey" elements like the user talents and the iron fist / velvet glove system. In their place, the game instead uses the avatar's personality, skills and attributes for evaluating how they interact with people and what their ability level is. Additionally, it keeps track of their decisions and actions in order to figure out how they'd be viewed by other people and what their reputation would be. The end result is that you've got a more realistic system where it should feel more like you "are" the avatar and, as it's all handled by the game without the user needing to do anything, it's a smoother process that requires less work from the user. Mortal Avatars In previous games the user avatar has always been immortal, a situation that was necessary for coding reasons. As this is obviously unrealistic and the code reasons no longer apply, this has now changed and the avatar will eventually pass away. However, they do get special protection in that they aren't eligible for random deaths and can't die before the age of 66 under any circumstance; these special conditions are to stop it ruining games by having your avatar suddenly die when you're in the middle of something. Once you get close to the point where your avatar is eligible to die, the game will explicitly warn you and recommend that you utilise the next feature to be covered... Changing Avatars ...which is the Change Avatar button. This is available from the Options screen and can be used whenever you want (i.e. you don't have to wait for your avatar to get old in order to use it, it's available all the time, even if you just want to change things up). This gives you the following choices: New Avatar: Either Selection or Regeneration. If you choose Selection then you choose an existing character as your new avatar (exactly as you do when you start a new game or choose to add a new player). If you choose Regeneration, your new avatar is created by applying the normal regeneration process on the old avatar. You get to pick the name, picture and biography, and can also select whether it's a legacy character (if you do choose to be a legacy character then you start with a relationship to the old avatar). Career: Either Choose or Replace. If you select Choose then you either select a company to work for or choose to be unemployed (again, exactly as you do when you start a new game or add a new player). If you choose Replace then your new avatar simply replaces the old avatar in the job they had; any existing storylines, pre-bookings, stables, etc, are all retained, so it's a direct continuation. Old Avatar: Either Retire, Normalise or Normalise & Release. Choosing Retire means that the old avatar leaves the business immediately. Normalise means that the old avatar becomes a normal AI-controlled character and keeps whatever their current status is, including remaining on the roster of the company they were booking. Choosing Normalise & Release is the same as Normalise, except the old avatar is released from whatever company they were head booker of. You still retain your user-specific features (like your user log, shortlist, etc) after changing the avatar as it's a continuation of your journey as a player rather than a hard reset. Note that if your avatar does die before you choose to change, the game will then not be able to continue until you pick a new avatar (or leave the game, in multiplayer scenarios). Overall, this new system gets rid of the unrealistic nature of the avatar mysteriously being immortal whilst giving you much more flexibility over being able to change characters whenever you want. It also means that you can very easily create a legacy, with your original avatar potentially being succeeded by their children (and potentially grandchildren). The Change Avatar button is also really handy if you just decide you want to move on to a different company for a fresh challenge, as you no longer need to go through the process of adding new players, having old players leave the game, etc. Avatar Wealth If the user's avatar has a Wealth rating of Rich or greater, they will automatically be able to donate some of their personal funds when founding a new company. Previously this was a feature that could only be used by AI characters. This is just another little move towards better integrating the avatar into the game world rather than being an exception. Gimmick Memory When a worker leaves a company, the fans will remember their gimmick for three months - if the worker returns within that time period, the company has the option of restoring the gimmick in the state it was when they left. This is especially useful for workers who are likely to make several one-off appearances (such as local workers or alliance trades) as it means you don't have to restart from scratch each time. It also means that if someone happens to land upon a great gimmick, you've not lost it once they leave - you could resign them in order to capitalise on their good fortune. Crowd Heat Display The crowd's heat level is now shown on screen when displaying a show's segments to the user. This makes it easier to follow along with how it's altering over time and makes crowd management a little easier. Wrestling And Crowd Ratings For added detail, the match output screen now lists the individual wrestling and crowd ratings for the bout as well as the overall rating that you're familiar with. This is just a little extra detail that some people have requested. Editing During Booking The in-game editor is now available during the evening phase of the game so that you can make edits during the booking phase if you want to. Power 500 Placeholders & Alternates By request, the power 500 editor now allows placeholder text to be added - this means that workers who aren't in the database can be included. This is particularly useful for historical data. Additionally, the text can be used to create alternate names for workers, allowing them to appear with an alter ego or a past identity. This all just gives database makers a little extra control. Company Editor Sub-Screens By request, the company editor now has sub-screens that allow the user to alter events, title belts, tag teams and stables. This makes editing quicker as it removes the need to go to a different section of the editor. 82 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 12 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 12 Day 10 Media Scrums Brand new to the game are media scrums, which is where the user, in their capacity as head booker, sits down and fields questions from the wrestling media. These are only available for companies of Medium size or larger, only after 'normal' intent events, and only if morale effects are enabled. Participation is entirely optional and there's no penalty for skipping it, but once you choose to start a scrum you must stay until you've answered all the questions in order to stop you being able to easily avoid tough ones (there is a limit on how many can be asked, so you'll never face an overwhelming amount). Each question has three different flavours / text versions (to add variety) and can have between 2 and 5 (pre-written) answers to choose from. The reason to take part in a media scrum, other than for fun, is that it can give you the opportunity to boost the morale of both the locker room and individual workers based upon your replies, as well as building relationships with your roster and improving your own reputation - in fact, media scrums are one of the only ways that you can build your reputation as a booker without needing to book great shows. The downside is that you may be asked tricky questions and 'bad' answers can lead to morale issues, complaints, or even ruin your relationships with people if you throw them under the bus. The questions asked and the list of potential answers are all contextual, and can be based on the event that just ran, recent important happenings in the game world, upcoming events, what your rivals are doing, etc. Some answers are explicitly positive, neutral, or negative regardless of context, but many can have different impacts depending on the situation and the people in question. The members of the media remember previous answers and can react negatively to inconsistencies or outright lies, and can also follow-up on previous answers (either in the same media scrum or a later one) if they sense a juicy story. In some cases, especially if the user is clearly lying, this can lead to very difficult follow-up questions where it may not be possible to avoid negative effects. When you choose an answer you'll sometimes get instant feedback telling you of its effect, while other times the effects may be more subtle and you may have to look out for clues as to how people have reacted or what the consequences were. Other answers may simply be so neutral or uncontroversial that they do nothing - in fact, sometimes giving intentionally boring platitudes as answers may be the best way of surviving! In order to avoid the obvious trap of repetition, there are over 270 possible questions in the game for release day and it's been set up so that it's easy to patch in additions post-launch. While you're obviously going to see some quite often - the 'standards' like asking how you felt an event went, for example - the sheer amount means that there's plenty of scope for finding new content even when you've been playing the game for quite some time. Primarily this is designed to be a fun feature to play around with, but it also adds some realism, gives you some new (and more subtle) tools to interact with your locker room, and adds to the sense of you actually being the head booker and needing to deal with being a spokesperson for the company. Attendance Levels Attendance levels at the higher levels have been slashed across the board, particularly for events, with the importance of the event now being far more important to the calculation than in the past. Truly massive record-breaking attendance levels are now locked to only the most prestigious events. This brings the figures more in-line with reality - so in real world mods, for example, you're only going to be seeing huge 80,000+ attendances for shows like WrestleMania - and means that building up historic / legendary events for your company becomes key. Owner-Booker Relationships The relationship, if any, between an owner and the user's head booker is now more important as it impacts the type and difficulty of the owner goals given. This is another realism touch that is designed to make the user's avatar feel more a part of the game world and less like an exception. Toggling Graduation By request, the graduation of AI-generated rookie workers from training facilities can now be toggled via the Options menu. This, along with some other settings, allows all character generation to be turned off entirely if desired, which can be useful for databases that have a large supply of pre-made rookies. Company Headquarters Companies can now build themselves a physical headquarters via the investments screen. A company with a HQ gets some minor benefits to their prestige and influence. Companies can be preset to have headquarters via the editor. Physical Hall Of Fame As an addition to the list of possible investments, the player can now choose to build a physical hall of fame building (with a requirement of having at least a minimum number of people inducted before this can happen). Having one gives the company some minor benefits to their prestige and influence. Companies can be preset to have a hall of fame via the editor. Developmental Reports The developmental screen now includes detailed text scouting reports on each worker, giving the user more data with which to gauge whether the worker is ready to be called up or not. Attribute Additions Many brand new attributes that were requested over the past four years in the suggestions forum have now been added. I'm not going to list them out here, instead leaving them for the player to discover once the game is out. Database Summary By request, the editor now has a summary screen for a quick overview of how many items are in each category (i.e. the number of workers, the number of broadcasters, etc). This info hasn't been easily available in one place since the editor changed to the new style so may be of use to some database makers. Broadcaster Coverage Comparisons The broadcaster coverage editing screen now allows for on-screen comparisons with other broadcasters and also adds a cloning process that can be applied to quickly fill in the information by coping another broadcaster's details. These are just little extras to make life easier for database makers. 90 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 15 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 15 Day 11 Relationships The relationship system has been overhauled to make it deeper and more realistic. Instead of each relationship being limited to a single type, each is now divided up into four parts. Family Relationship: This can be None, Sibling, Parent, Cousin, Grandparent, Aunt / Uncle or Distant Relative. Personal Relationship: This can be None, Mutual Respect, Friendship, Deep Friendship, Like Family, Strong Dislike, Open Hostility, Hatred or Mutual Loathing. Romantic Relationship: This can be None, Dating, Engaged, Married, Broken Up, Permanent Split or Divorced. Mentor & Protege: This can be Yes or No. This new system thus allows more complex dynamics as you have a multi-faceted relationship. The game calculates whether a relationship is considered positive or negative based upon the different factors, which are weighted in different ways, and can also focus on one specific element if the context makes that more appropriate. On top of the above changes, relationships are also now deeper in the way they evolve. There are hidden values behind-the-scenes that keep track of the interactions between two people and it is these that govern whether a relationship type changes. For example, two people with a Mutual Respect personal relationship might have several positive backstage encounters before they build up enough points to trigger the move up to Friendship (with any negative interactions obviously taking away points in the meantime). Of course, there are also incidents and interactions that immediately give a lot of points and can lead to quick changes where appropriate. This system therefore means that relationships happen more naturally and organically, as oppose to the old way that tended to be all about quick changes based on one-off triggers. As usual, all of this can be preset via the editor and is filled in automatically when you convert a 2020 database. Company Tribute Shows By request, the tribute show feature has been expanded and now allows shows that are specifically a tribute to a company rather than an individual. These run the same way, except they are limited to featuring wrestlers who worked for the company in question for at least a six month stretch at some point during their career. These can occur naturally during gameplay or be preset via the editor. Cash Talent Trades The ability to offer cash incentives during talent trades returns to the game, this time with the inner workings / AI upgraded to be much smarter and more flexible. Owners And Head Bookers The business and booking skills that each worker has have been upgraded in the way they function and change over time, giving them a more realistic feel and making them more consistent. Additionally, as hinted at in a previous entry, the user avatar now uses his character's business and booking skills rather than having a separate reputation. This, again, makes the avatar more a part of the game world and less of a weird exception to the normal rules. Call-Up Alter Egos When a worker is called up by the AI they can now have alter egos applied to them. If the player is doing the calling up, they will be automatically asked if they want to apply any 100% chance alter egos that exist (any that are less than 100% can still be applied manually, as normal). This was requested by a few people to simulate real world situations where a worker moved up from development onto a main roster and changed their gimmick name, such as when the Shield debuted in WWE. Annual Backup For additional safety, an optional annual (in-game) backup can take place. If turned on, at the end of the year a copy of the database is saved in a separate folder. This means that in the rare situation where a game gets corrupted or lost, there's an opportunity to recover at least to the start of the current year. AI Graduate Hiring Training facilities now have a setting so that, when they are controlled by an AI company, the likelihood of each graduate being signed changes. This can either be set so that they just automatically hire every graduate (useful if the company and training camp are explicitly linked, like how Chikara used to be) or just increasing the chance of it happening by different amounts. This gives database makers a little extra control. Player-controlled companies remain how they were, with the player able to make the decision on a case by case basis. Masked Gimmick Names By request, the worker name section has been expanded to allow masked gimmick names to be included. These work just like regular names, in that they can be assigned to males, females, and / or different nationality grouping, but also allow the colour of the mask to optionally be specified. This ties in with an addition to the free pictures section where a mask colour can optionally be specified for each picture. If either are filled in, the game will match them up. So, if you gave a potential masked gimmick name of "Red Death" and set the mask colour to red, it'd only be eligible to get a free picture of a masked character which has also been specified to be red. Reworked Deathmatches The deathmatch-related products have been reworked, losing the requirement of needing a quarter of their matches to be of that type and instead gaining a special bonus for when they do put on deathmatches. This brings it more into line with reality, as well as offering the user more control over how often and when they deploy deathmatches, balancing the injury risk with the rating gains. Improved Rookie Generation The code that governs the generation of AI-created rookies has been upgraded to give added realism to their stats. In particular, the fundamental skills (basics, selling and safety) tend to be much higher on average and also have a a lower minimum level (i.e. you'll rarely see anyone who is truly diabolical at the fundamentals if they went through training). Those that get a strong opening psychology stat also automatically raise their fundamental skills to at least match that level. This means that less rookies will be complete deadbeats and more of them will be get to be useful members of the indy scene, at least, within a few years. 75 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 16 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 16 Day 12 AI Backstage AI-controlled companies now have the same backstage events, locker room relationship dramas, and morale-changing incidents as those run by players, with corresponding stories on the website, meaning that the game world acts and feels far more alive than in previous games. This also means that the AI is more impacted by negative personalities than before, making it more of a level playing field with the users' companies. Additionally, this means that things like no-shows, suspensions and firings now come into play for the AI too, which means that the game's landscape shifts over time and will lead to more roster comings and goings than before - this helps keep things fresh. European Changes & Renaming Scandinavia By request from some of the European players, the European game regions have been slightly rejigged to be more realistic. The new set up is Western Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands), Iberia, Southern Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Turkey), Southern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia), Central Europe (covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Northern Europe (replacing the Scandinavia name; covers Sweden, Denmark, Norway, etc), Eastern-Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, The Baltic States), and Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc). Additionally, two new language types, Germanic and Slavic, have been introduced to improve the realism in Europe. The converter automatically handles all of this, so it requires no extra work for database makers. Indian Regions By request from a couple of Indian fans, the India game area has been rejigged slightly. The new set up is Eastern (Kolkata), Northern (Delhi, Kanpur), Southern (Chennai, Hyderabad) and Western (Mumbai, Pine). The converter automatically handles all of this, so it requires no extra work for database makers. Auto Booker Title Matches When using the auto booker either for an entire show or only matches, the user can now specify whether title matches are allowed to be booked or not. This was requested several times. Seasonal Weather Effects Seasonal localised weather effects can now occur and impact shows, such as lowering potential attendances or stopping out-of-town workers from reaching the venue in time due to travel chaos. There are multiple types of weather, ranging from flooding to wild fires. These are locked to certain seasons in certain regions for realism purposes. Auto-Fill Tag Team Finishers By request, when a player adds a new tag team there is now the option to auto-fill their finisher text by looking at any existing tag team records for that duo. This is just a quality of life change that saves a little time and typing. Move Set Narratives A new narrative that allows a worker's moveset to be updated has been added, as per a request from a database maker. This allows a character to be evolved over time, which could be useful for real world databases in particular. Corrupt Picture Check A little quality of life addition, the user can now run an automated check to identify any corrupt image files that may be in their picture folder. This saves the need for using trial and error or searching through thousands of pictures to find the culprit. This is useful as there's a couple of picture packs floating about that have corrupt files in them that can cause issues. Female Retirement Ages By request, retirement ages for female competitors have been raised significantly all across the board in order to better reflect reality. 73 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 17 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 17 Day 13 Enhanced Narratives The narrative feature has been greatly expanded and upgraded in order to give database makers a greater degree of control over the game world and allow a wealth of new options. Firstly, narratives can now be set to take place over a span of dates rather than just a specific day. For example, you could create a narrative to take place between 17 July 2024 and 27 July 2024; for each day within that span, the narrative could potentially occur (based upon its Chance Of Happening percentage setting). There's no limit on how large or short the span can be, and you can of course set both the start and end dates to the same date in order to fix it to a specific day. Secondly, the narrative requirements now work in the same way as narrative effects - in other words, you can add as many (or few) requirements as you want, rather than just having a restricted set like you did in the previous game. This means, for example, you can set it so that multiple different companies or workers need to be in certain conditions in order for the narrative to trigger. This allows database makers to have a much finer degree of control. Thirdly, there are a ton of new requirement and effect types included to give even more control. By popular demand, these also include a wide range of effects that allow the changing of names, initials, and pictures for various items. For example, if you were doing a historical real world database you could now have the WWF change to the WWE partway through, including updating their logo, all the belt names, etc. Ultra And Super Spillover To improve the handling of foreign stars, workers who reach high levels of popularity within a game area are now eligible to receive bonus Ultra Spillover or Super Spillover into foreign markets. Whether these are active or not can be set via the current era, with Ultra Spillover being on by default. Both are triggered if a worker's average popularity in an area is at least 75. If Ultra Spillover is active then the worker gets 15% extra to their regular spillover into other areas, with a further 15% when they reach 80, another 15% at 85, etc. Super Spillover works he same way, but with 5% rather than 15%, giving a slightly gentler bonus. To take a real world example, if you had a 1980s Hulk Hogan reaching 95 popularity throughout America, without this system he'd only be spilling over a maximum of 20% of his popularity into other areas. With Ultra Spillover, this would be ramped up to 80%, meaning that he'd be up to 76 in Canada / Mexico / British Isles and 71 in Japan just from spillover alone. To take a more recent example, this would allow someone like Shinsuke Nakamura to come into the WWE and already be at a fairly decent level of pop due to his status in Japan, as oppose to coming in with hardly any pop and needing to be built up for a long period of time before he could be considered useful. This system helps simulate major foreign stars being able to come into other markets without requiring extensive building up by boosting their popularity levels to show a combination of word of mouth and their status elsewhere. Product Additions & Changes Sixteen brand new products that were requested via the suggestions forum have now been added. I won't go into their exact details here, but the names are: British Sportsmanship, San Ring Circus, Lucha Crash TV, Calgary Realism, Episodic Wild West, Punk Rock Lucha, Lighthearted Lucha Libre, Ultimate Deathmatch, Rainbow Entertainment, Combat Sports, British Strong Style, Epic Story Puroresu, Wild West Strong Style, Urban Strong Style, Rainbow Hardcore, and Family Friendly Lucha Libre. Additionally, many of the requested changes to products that already existed have also now been made, such as altering their requirements or ratios. Optional Oversaturation By request, oversaturation penalties (where a company gets penalised for running too many shows in the same region in a short space of time) have now been made optional. Looser Loyalty By request, the loyalty mechanic has been tweaked to not be so restrictive. Older workers, under some circumstances and when faced with a particularly attractive offer, may be willing to break their bond of loyalty and leave their 'home' company in order to head elsewhere. This helps to simulate some real world situations. Charitable Donations Via the investments screen, companies can now make charitable donations to try and gain morale boosts and other benefits. The amount donated and the cause chosen affect what potential boosts are available and how powerful they may be. This was by request, and gives something else for companies to spend their profits on. AI companies can also make use of this. Free Picture Searching By request, the free pictures file can now be searched on a variety of criteria in order to make finding appropriate pictures easier. 71 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 18 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 18 Day 14 Career Goals This is something that has been requested pretty often in the suggestions forum over the years; every worker can now (optionally) have a specific career goal to work towards. Whatever their current goal is impacts their behaviour within the game world, such as affecting who they want to work for and how they evaluate contracts. A worker's current career goal can alter over time as his or her circumstances change and can also be preset via the editor. The selection of possible goals include: basic wants like Fame, Money and Stability that really affect their contract demands; more general desires like Social (wanting to be with their friends), Wanderlust (wanting to explore the world) and Novelty (wanting to work for companies they've never worked for before); those that relate to how they see themselves contributing to the game world like To Entertain, To Wrestle, or wanting to achieve Hardcore Notoriety; and a series of goals that relate to wanting to work in specific game areas, such as Americanophile, Luchaphile, or Japanophile. Each goal can be one of three levels, with the higher then level the more the career goal impacts their decision making. These new goals add to the realism and make characters feel more three-dimensional. As they change from game to game, it also means that you should see more variance about which companies different workers end up working for. Alliance Loans In previous games there were restrictions on how many times within a set time frame that the same worker could be loaned via an alliance and how many times a company could loan workers from a specific other company. These restrictions have been completely removed for the new game. This gives a big boost to how useful alliances are and opens up the possibility of making much heavier use of outside talent on shows. The AI also takes this into consideration and will generally be more proactive about working with their alliance partners. Training Facility Styles Every training facility can now optionally be set to only teach certain styles. If set, any AI-generated graduates can only have styles that match the facility (workers who have been preset via the editor do not, as that's up to the database maker). For example, you might have a facility designed for smaller workers that only teaches the Luchador, High Flyer, Technician Flyer and Daredevil styles, therefore avoiding the potential for a Hardcore wrestler to graduate and spoiling the immersion. This gives database makers further control over the game world and adds to the realism. Hiatus Attributes By request, new attributes have been added that help control why and how often a worker may go on hiatus. Additionally, successful older workers can potentially develop these new attributes during gameplay, simulating them beginning to prepare for life after retirement. For example, they may develop the Political Interest attribute to indicate they're dabbling in politics. Alternatively, a database maker may give someone the Wrestling Is Secondary attribute that says that wrestling is not their primary career / source of income and that they'll regularly take a hiatus to return to their main career, which could be useful for some real world situations. More Expansive Hiring Rules By request, many of the hiring rules have had their form altered so that the database maker can give specific values rather than having to pick from a pre-written selection. This gives a greater degree of control. This includes things like Nobody Under X Years Old, Minimum Weight Is Xlbs, Minimum Brawling Is X, etc, where X is the value that can be set. Contract Overview The office screen now includes a new contract overview section that, as well as giving a snapshot of the player's contract, allows the user to view details for other companies too. In particular, this gives the user the ability to look for upcoming expiry dates with potential talent steals in mind, something that has been often requested in the past. Tackling Addictions And Bad Behaviour Two new choices have been added to the list of options when addressing the locker room before an event - Intervention and Call Out. As the names suggest, this is either staging a locker room intervention to try and get someone to deal with their addiction, or calling someone out in front of the locker room over their bad behaviour. These give the user more tools when it comes to tackling addiction and bad attitude / behaviour respectively and allows the user to be more proactive in the way they handle the locker room. Picture Pack Defaults Picture packs now have a Default subfolder in which the user can (optionally) put graphics for things like the images that come up when a worker picture or logo is missing, the backgrounds that go behind GIF pictures, area logos, etc. If the item is found in this folder then the game uses them rather than the 'normal' version found in the skins folder currently being used. This is a small quality of life change as it means that if database makers want to have specific custom graphics, they don't have to put up an entire skins folder for download, they can just include a small batch within this new Defaults folder. Contract Editor Quick Fill The contract editor now has a 'quick fill' option that allows a contract's details to effectively be copy and pasted from another contract already in the database. This is a quality of life change that makes it far quicker to fill contracts in and just helps speed up the process of editing. 74 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 19 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 19 Day 15 Pre-Show Build Up (Just a note, but I'm aware that the first two entries may be a bit hard to visualise without actually being able to experience them directly; apologies in advance if they're not clear enough. I've done my best with the descriptions!) When the user enters the evening phase to book a show, what they encounter has now been totally redone in order to make it a little more structured and to remove some of the annoying loopholes / immersion-breaking logic issues that were previously present. This takes the form of seven steps, taken in sequence, with a clear purpose to each. They are as follows. Give The Night Off - In this first step the user can choose to give (or more accurately, "to have given" - it's assumed that this is happening well in advance of the show) any number of people on their roster the night off. This gives them advance warning that they are not needed (which is always a neutral action and does not impact their morale negatively) and so they don't travel to the venue. People given the night off are (obviously) unavailable to book for the show, don't have any impact on the locker room (e.g. they cannot influence the atmosphere, become involved in incidents, etc), and won't complain about being left off the show. Because you've told them in advance they're not needed, they are free to work any other show taking place that night, whether for a company they also work for or an independent gig, instead. This can be useful if you want to keep a bad influence out, have more wrestlers than you can use and want people to be able to gain experience elsewhere, or don't have plans for someone and want to avoid them getting upset about not being used. Anyone you don't give the night off is considered to have travelled to the show and is backstage - this removes the illogical situation in previous games where people you didn't use on the show could go and work elsewhere even though they've already had an impact your backstage area. You can right click to skip this step entirely, and if you never see yourself using it you can also set it to be auto-skipped via the options menu. Venue Selection - This is the same as you're used to from the previous game. The difference is that once you've chosen your venue you cannot then go back and change your mind later. While it's true that this means you've got less flexibility than the previous game, the reason for this change is that it both removes the illogical nature of somehow moving the entire show to a totally different region (or even time zone) on a whim even when incidents have happened and also means that it opens up some new possibilities, because it means that the game can take into account where you are, which we'll cover in a moment. Finalise Broadcasters - This is the same as you're used to from the previous game. This is done at this stage so that the game can take into account the broadcasting status for incidents and bookings (e.g. if this is a big pay-per-view then that will be taken into account for people's behaviour, whereas a non-televised event would be treated differently). Pre-Show Incidents - This is a new section that takes advantage of the fact that the game knows where you are in the world and what level of show it is (i.e. pay-per-view, TV, etc) and doesn't have to worry about the situation changing out of nowhere. Pre-show incidents tend to involve your local environment, so this can be dealing with (the previously announced) weather conditions, workers who are flying in having transport issues and not being able to make the show, problems with the venue itself (like security alerts), equipment going to the wrong place, etc, etc. The idea behind this section is to make things more realistic and to throw some spanners in the work occasionally to make you have to change up your booking. Booking Team Meeting - The booking team meetings were covered in detail in a previous entry, please see there if you need a refresher. Locker Room Incidents - These are similar to the incidents you're used to from previous games, but upgraded. Because the game now knows where you are, this opens up the ability to generate incidents involving workers from the local region (for example, you might get a local worker turn up requesting to be able to hang out backstage with their friends (potentially in breach of your locker room rules, so you'll have to make a decision on whether to make an exception or not...) or a worker turn up backstage and ask if you might give them an opportunity to be on the show), plus there's also new incidents to add to those you're familiar with. Additionally, because these now happen in sequence it means that knock-on effects can occur, so your handling of one incident may effect what comes after. Overall, I think the trade-off of no longer being able to change your venue once you've made up your mind (which, to be fair, was pretty unrealistic anyway) is well worth having a much richer variety of things that can happen in the pre-show and locker room incident sections. Address The Locker Room - This is what you're familiar with from the previous games. Most of these steps allow single-click responses (for example, you can right-click Venue Selection to accept the AI's recommendation, or right-click Booking Team Meeting to have it handled automatically) and are auto-skipped if unneeded / inappropriate for the situation, so it's quite user friendly. Once you've completed all seven steps, then you move on to the booking section that you're familiar with. Overall, this new design allows for more content and adds realism while making it a lot more user-friendly to get through. Post-Show Round-Up For consistency, the post-show section now also follows the same concept as the pre-show that we just described, being a series of stages. They are: Address The Locker Room - This is the post-show speech section that you'll know from previous games. Injury Review - This gives an overview of any injuries that were suffered during the show. Financial Report - This gives a financial breakdown of how the show did. Popularity Recap - This gives a breakdown of how the company's popularity has shifted (if any) from the show. Media Scrum - This was covered in a previous journal entry. As with the pre-show system, there's single clicks and automatic skips to make this section as user friendly as possible. The additions of the injury review and financial report were requested a few times in the suggestions forum just as quality of life changes too. Custom Divisions By popular request, each company can now have custom division names rather than having to select from a pre-written selection. They function in the same way as the pre-written ones did, so once you've assigned someone to a division you can search by it to make booking / roster management easier. Figurehead Heirs The Figurehead section has been upgraded with the addition of Figurehead Heirs. This is an optional position which can be given to someone who is explicitly being groomed to become the next figurehead at some point in the future. This allows for some degree of succession planning and long-term strategy. The advantage of having a heir is that they can serve their "establishment period" while in the heir position, meaning that they can hit the ground running when they get promoted up to be the figurehead and be immediately effective. The downside is that figureheads and their heirs have an inherent tension that can lead to arguments and possible relationship issues. Block Taping Pay Discounts Workers who are being paid per show and working multiple shows in a single evening will now work for discounted pay, accepting less money in exchange for a lot of work at once. They get full pay for the first show, get 25% less for the second, 50% less for the third, and 75% less for any subsequent show. This makes block tapings far more viable as effective cost-saving measures for companies and therefore make it easier for smaller companies to thrive if they are having money issues. Finance Reworking A lot of the financial modelling in the game has been redone in order to better balance things. To do this, we've taken several of the most popular databases and run long-term simulations with them to establish a system that broadly works for everyone. Obviously it's impossible to create a system that works for every scenario - there's simply too many different possible combinations of company types, sizes, rosters, etc for that to happen - but I'm pretty pleased with the results we're getting. In particular, a lot has been altered to tone down how much profit the major companies are making. In conjunction with the previously-announced ability to alter the figures used in some of these calculations via eras, this should provide a better basis than any previous game in the series. Furthering Storylines When checking whether enough storylines have been furthered at the end of each show, the game now also takes into account whether any of those storylines actually had dramatic stakes - it does this by looking to see whether one or more people had their success level changed. This stops the loophole / exploit where you could just put a storyline in a holding pattern where nothing ever actually happened. One-Sided Storylines Very one-sided storylines, where one person or side is completely and utterly dominant now 'leak' heat over time to simulate how boring they would be for the fans. New Dispositions As well as the existing Babyface/Heel and Tecnico/Rudo options for dispositions, companies can now also pick Hero/Villain and Blue Eye/Heel. The former might be useful for those writing fantasy databases, while the latter is there for real world situations like old-style British companies. These were requested by a couple of database makers. Subscription Broadcaster Profits By request, the profit margins for subscription-based broadcasters have been slashed to stop them being so powerful. This ties in to the aforementioned tightening up of the financial model. (NB: I know some people have wanted them to be changed so that they lose money, to be closer to reality, but I decided against this as I think this would not work from a gameplay perspective - I don't think anyone would use them if they always lost you money when you could just use a different broadcaster instead, so that change would have effectively just made the feature useless.) A Note On An Alteration A few days ago I went through the new Ultra / Super Spillover feature. I had feedback from a couple of people who wanted to see it altered to widen its scope, so I've made that change for them. So, it works exactly the same way as before, except that it now has additional tiers at the 60, 65, and 70 popularity levels. On Ultra Spillover these given an extra 5%, on Super Spillover these give 2%. This means that even mid-level foreign stars will receive some degree of additional popularity. (Note that anyone below 60 is still getting the normal 20% spillover, that doesn't change.) 76 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 22 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 22 Day 16 Organic Biographies The organic biography feature (for those unfamiliar, this is where the game creates and updates a worker's biography as the game progresses rather than sticking to a static pre-written version) has undergone a significant change in that the content is now created "on demand" whenever a specific biography appears on screen. While this is an invisible change in terms of what you, the user, will see, its significance is that this completely eliminates the loading time bump that they used to create. This means that databases that make use of this feature will have much improved performance in their between-days loading times. AI Managers By popular request, AI-controlled companies now make use of managers in the same way that a player would - i.e. you'll see managers take on new clients, drop old clients, etc. This helps make AI-controlled companies feel more realistic and makes managers, who were mostly sidelined in previous games, take on a more important role. Visible AI Pushes When viewing an AI-controlled company's roster, the user can now see (where appropriate) lines of text that identify how the AI is currently planning to use that worker. For example, you might see that an older worker is "Being phased out due to declining skills", that a young up-and-comer is "Receiving a push as a rising talent", or even that someone has ended up "In the dog house". Previously this information was hidden. The effects of these pushes is that it increases or decreases a worker's "score" when the AI is calculating who wins matches, so they make people more or less likely to be the victor. As such, this change adds a little bit of extra colour to the game world. Owner \ Booker Histories In a feature that has been requested numerous times, histories are now available that keep track of the owners and head bookers that a company has over the course of their lifetimes. These work exactly like the employment histories for workers that you'll already be used to seeing. They can be preset via the editor and happen organically during gameplay. You can view these histories when looking at a specific company or worker, with the company version giving a chronological look at who has held each position. This is useful for the people who enjoy getting a lot of tracking / historical data. Cheap Finish Effects The AI around cheap finishes (such as count outs, DQs, Dusty finishes, etc) has been upgraded so that they are now better taken into account with regards to how they affects wrestlers. Most importantly, this includes how it impacts their willingness to accept defeats; this allows more subtle booking strategies, as you can nudge someone into taking a defeat by making it a cheap finish rather than a clean one. Free Picture Mass Add By request from several database makers, free pictures can now be mass added. This is done by ticking off a number of pictures from a list and applying the same settings to all of them at once. This dramatically speeds up the creation of mods, especially if the database maker has subdivided the pictures by name in advance. Improved Job Hunting The user can now apply for other jobs without needing to quit their current position first - they only have to leave their current employer upon accepting a new offer. This is just a small quality of life addition that makes the process smoother and more user friendly. Belt History Record Names By request from several database makers, when adding multiple title belt histories in a row the record name will now automatically update each time to take into account moving to the next order number. This is another quality of life change that saves the database maker time and clicks. Suggest Stable Name By request, the ability to get suggested stable names has been added. This works the same as the existing features whereby you could get suggested names for workers or events in that the game will look in the stable names file and pick one that is appropriate for the situation. Auto Title History Removal When starting a new game, title histories that illegally start or end in the future are now automatically removed from that save game's data. This saves the user from potentially having to do a lot of manual deleting. This is another quality of life change that is particularly useful for those databases that have had their starting date moved backward in time. 68 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 23 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 23 Day 17 Setting TV Location By popular request, television shows can now have their location fixed to a specific area, region, and / or venue, just like events. This is useful for many real world scenarios where a company had a specific place they always held their tapings. As usual, this can be preset via the editor or done in-game, and, like events, the user is not restricted to following the instructions if they don't want to. Geographical Title Belts In another often-requested addition, title belts can now be set to only be defended in specific areas and regions. As well as all the usual areas and regions, there are also several specific preset combos of common sense groupings that can be used, such as North America, America & Canada, America & Mexico, the Commonwealth, or Japan & Hawaii, which cover situations that might occur in reality. This change allows several real world scenarios to be simulated that were previously impossible to do. Clashing Coverage The broadcasting 'clashing coverage' block (which used to prevent you showing content on two broadcasters where they had overlapping coverage) has been modified to take into account the difference between PPV vs non-PPV content. This gives the system a little more subtlety and allows companies owned by a media entity more options and flexibility; for example, an American company owned by a TV station could now try and get a contract with a PPV broadcaster to broadcast their events in the US, which previously would have been an unavailable option. Broadcasting Failure Blocks By request, the blocks from negotiating a new broadcasting deal because of a recent failure have been modified; instead of a blanket ban, it now applies only to broadcasters of the same size or bigger than the one that was involved in the failure. This allows companies a little more wriggle room as they can "regroup" on a smaller broadcaster and work their way back up. This stops the situation where a company could effectively be doomed by one failure and just gives the game more realism and subtlety. Pre-Booking Availability By request, the pre-booking screen now has an Availability calendar on each screen, making it easier to see when different workers will be missing. This is just a little quality of life change that means the user doesn't have to either constantly swap between screens, memorise information, or write a bunch of stuff down. Avatar Pay In keeping with the theme of trying to make the user's avatar feel more a part of the game world, the avatar now earns a wage, unlike previous games where they effectively worked for free. The amount is automatically set to the avatar's estimated value at the start of each show. The game also keeps track of career earnings in the user section, should that be of interest. Attribute Templates The attribute editor now has a list of potential templates to allow database makers to more quickly deal with workers who fit into a certain stereotype. Options include things like Underdog, Comedy Worker, and Hardcore \ Garbage Worker. This is a quick quality of life change to speed editing up. Additionally, I've intentionally left this very easy to alter, so if database makers want specific additions patched in, this will be something that can be done. Pay-Per-View Overuse The pay-per-view overuse penalty system has been reworked, making it less restrictive for companies running a weekly or bi-weekly schedule and also adding in a e-mail warning message if the user is being penalised, which avoids the situation where some users were getting dinged but didn't know why. This makes the entire system more realistic, user-friendly, and gives more scope for players to experiment with different schedules. Adding Tribute Shows Via the Options menu, the user can now view all the existing tribute shows (and their details), together with the ability to add new ones or remove ones that are no longer wanted. This gives the user a little more control over the game world, as well as giving an easier way of viewing information that was previously limited to the editor. 66 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 24 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 24 Day 18 As we still have a lot of content to announce and only three days of the journal left, the next two days of entries will be 'shotgun' style - that is, they'll consist of lots of medium and minor-level additions and changes, mostly culled from the suggestions forum, done rapid-fire style. The final entry on Friday will then return to normal. Searchable Handbook The in-game handbook has been upgraded to allow it to be fully searchable. For example, you could type "tour contracts" and it will return any entry that contains that phrase. This makes finding things much easier. Loading Screen Profiles An option to turn off random worker profiles on the loading screen has been added, together with separate folders so that appropriate skins can be created. This means that artists can make some creative artworks to appear during the loading process without needing to accommodate the worker's picture, biography and stats. Beefed Up Searches By request, many of the search facilities, particularly in the editors, have been enhanced with new options to allow more precise searching. In particular, you can now filter by precise worker skills in the main editor. Death Dates Specific death dates for workers can now be given, removing the need to look it up or use part of their biography to store the information. These can be preset via the editor and are filled in automatically during gameplay. They are optional so this does not require extra work for database makers unless they want to use them. Background Graphics Toggle Background images can be toggled for those who are not using GIF format images. This both saves loading times and was requested by some people who found that it created a 'flashing' effect on roster screens. Audible Clicks By request, clicking buttons now plays a short sound to give the user feedback. This can be disabled via the top menu if desired. Auto Text Selection For ease of use, text boxes now automatically highlight their contents when clicked, making it quicker to type in replacement text. This is especially helpful when editing as it saves a ton of time. Avatars As Mentors By request, the user's avatar can now act as a mentor for other workers. Broadcaster Upgrade Costs When the user goes to invest in increasing the coverage of a broadcaster, the player is now given information on what the new costs / profit margin would be if they go ahead with the change. This helps take away the guesswork that previously existed and helps with financial planning. Other Sports Commentators When the AI generates new commentators, there is now a chance that they will explicitly come into wrestling from within other sports. This doesn't impact anything other than their biography, but adds a touch of extra realism. Contextual No Shows When deciding whether to no show an event, workers now take into account the context of how important the show is. This means they're far less likely to disappear before a major show and lose out on a big pay day or chance of massive exposure. Unmaskings The Picture Changes section now includes a new trigger, Unmaskings, which allows a character to automatically switch to a non-masked picture. For reference, the default database comes with quite a large selection of unmasked versions of characters to take advantage of this. This helps prevents the immersion-breaking situation where someone loses their mask but retain a masked picture. Tag Match History The various tag team screens now have a Match History button just like the single worker screens. Tournament Matches From the tournament screen the user can now get a list of all the confirmed matches that are still left to book. Other TV Show List The main broadcasters screen now includes a section giving information on the non-wrestling TV shows that are currently active and affecting the game world. Improving Microphone Skills The user can now mock workers' microphone skills during the post-show speech section in order to try and motivate them to improve quicker (obviously at the cost of potentially souring your relationship if you do it too much). Contextual Worker Names The worker name file now has both a record name and an actual name; this allows the same name to be used in different contexts, such as being a forename in one culture and a surname in another. This just tidies up a loophole / logic gap that used to exist. Ultra Flashy Finance By request, owners now have an additional finance option, being able to be set as 'Ultra Flashy'. As the name suggests, this is the same as the existing Flashy option but with everything boosted up even further so that the owner will be borderline reckless about flashing the cash. Hall Of Fame Induction Control By request, inductions into a player's company's Hall Of Fame are now optional. The player will be mailed when an induction is due and can make the choice of when the worker or team is inducted (if at all). Previously you didn't get a choice if the person had achieved all the qualification criteria. 63 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 25 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 25 Day 19 Removing Children From Alliances If playing as a parent company, the user can automatically expel or remove their child companies from alliances when required. This removes the aggravation of not being able to do so that previously existed. Inactive Title Warning The player's assistant will now flag up if an active (non-annual) title has not been defended for more than two weeks, helping to avoid people forgetting about lesser belts. Monthly Legal Costs Monthly legal costs, based upon the month's profits, have been added to help stop large companies from amassing great fortunes too easily. This is part of the aforementioned measures to try and make the financial system more realistic. Separate Stable Logos By request, stable logos now have a separate folder in which they're stored (as oppose to being in with the company logos), making things easier to organise for database makers. Renaming Large By request, the Large company size has been renamed to Huge in order to make it easier to identify on the scale. Spillover Application By request, when editing popularity the database maker can now automatically apply spillover with a single click. Public Broadcasters By request, the broadcasting term 'free-to-air' has been renamed to 'public' in order to be clearer to people in countries where that term isn't regularly used. Scripted Dialogue Setting The ability to set the default on whether angle dialogue should be scripted or improvised has been added to a company's product in order to save the user time. Setting Hiring Rules The player can now alter the hiring rules for their own company via the office screen. Previously you'd have to visit the editor to do this, so it's just a small quality of life change. Marketing Costs To help better balance finances, general marketing costs are now no longer a flat fee, but instead are based upon the company's popularity in each region. This brings it in-line with how sponsorship works and, because it scales by popularity, helps lessen the ability of larger companies to amass huge fortunes while not handicapping smaller companies too much. Eye Candy Match Upgrade How eye candy matches are dealt with has been upgraded, with new attributes added, a better refusal / acceptance system, and more subtle handling that takes into account the company's gender settings. Alter Ego Settings Alter egos can now be limited to "North America", "America and Canada", or "the British Isles and Europe" on top of their existing options. This gives them a little more flexibility. Picture Changes What used to be known as the Agers section of the editor has now been renamed to Picture Changes for clarity and to allow it to be expanded to cover more than just ages (such as the aforementioned unmaskings). Picture Change Settings The Picture Changes section now has extra settings that allow additional control over how the change is applied to the worker's default picture and / or each contract that they have. For example, you could set that it only impacts contracts which are currently using a specific image, or where the contract name and the worker name match. To take a real world example of where this might apply, you might have a situation where you have the worker as an unmasked Glen Jacobs but his WWE contract as Kane and want to switch his Kane image to use a more modern look; using the new controls you'd be able to update his contracted image without affecting his unmasked default picture by having it only impact contracts where the image contains the text "Kane". This gives a lot more flexibility and accuracy for database makers to play with to make sure that their changes are only affecting exactly what they want them to target. Editor Name Search The 'name search' facility, which used to only be available via the in-game website, is now available via the main editor as well; this can be useful for finding characters under alternate names. Play By Play The old Announcing skill has been renamed to Play By Play to better clarify that it does not cover ring announcers; as a result, the Announcer role is now officially known as Play By Play Commentator. Tax Breaks A new special effect for the Morality Wrestling product has been added, allowing tax breaks due to their educational / religious nature. Alliance Screen Control The user can now apply for membership, or handle alliance-related business as an existing member, directly from the alliance screen as well as from the office. This is just a quality of life change to save some clicks. Additional Event Postfix An additional event name postfix has been included, 'short year', which would show the year 2024 as '24 for example. Clearing Up Moves By request, a mass edit ability to remove all moves that are not currently assigned to a move set has been added, allowing the database to be quickly cleaned up if needed. Picture Folder Check A tool for scanning picture folders has been added to Database Details in the editor. In the unlikely event that the user is having problems installing a pack, this tool will help flag up where any potential issues might be, such as having put it in the wrong place or misspelled a subfolder's name. Injury Duration In Emails By request, when a worker sustains an injury the resulting e-mail will also state what the likely duration of the injury will be. This saves going to a different screen to look it up. Easy Tour Removal A new button has been added to the Redo Schedule screen that allows tour events to be quickly removed; this is ideal for the players who want to play in Japan but don't want to go through the process of having to deal with lots of smaller events, as it means there's a single click solution that leaves you with just the big events to do, effectively switching you to a traditional 'western' model. 66 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Adam Ryland Posted July 26 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 26 Day 20 Celebrities In previous games, celebrities were limited to being unnamed optional extras for events; for TEW IX, by popular request, they are now named characters who can interact fully with the game world. They are added to the Workers section, meaning they can be modeled in the same way as any other character, and are identified by a Celebrity field - which can be A-List, B-List, C-List, D-List, Z-List or Fad - to show how big of a star they are. (Fad would be a low-level celebrity who is only active for a short period of time - a "flash in the pan" if you will.) If a worker is set as being a celebrity, they gain certain special rules. The main one is that having them on a show automatically boosts the attendance, with the size of the boost relating to their celebrity level - e.g. an A-List celebrity will bring in a lot more people. Their level also affects how often they'll sign deals and what their demands would be, the minimum size of company they'll deal with, how long they'll remain actively available to accept bookings, etc. Additionally, celebrities have some special restrictions on their usage and interactions (for example, their popularity doesn't get affected by how they're booked, they don't become involved in backstage incidents, they will only sign one deal at a time, etc, etc) to keep things realistic and stop them being exploited. A full list of the celebrity rules is included in the game's handbook. Because they are part of the Workers section, and therefore have access to the same stats, attributes, etc, as normal characters, there's scope for database makers to simulate all sorts of different celebrities. For example, you can make celebrities who are able to take part in matches (you could even make celebs who will be willing to take part in deathmatches via the attribute system), who are purely there as personalities, who can be used as colour commentators, etc. This should allow pretty much every example where a real world celebrity has been in wrestling - whether that's Raw guest hosts, singers doing the national anthem at WrestleMania, or stars actually getting into the ring - to be simulated. Celebrities can be created in-game (and can regenerate, just like any other worker) and there are options provided to toggle this off if people don't want them in their game worlds. It is very important to note that the celebrity feature is specifically designed to simulate people from outside the wrestling business and NOT workers who have transcended the business. To take a real world example, you probably wouldn't want to be setting The Rock as a celebrity - if you did, he'd be subject to all the special bonuses and restrictions and you'd end up with behaviours that you probably don't want. Adding this feature opens up some new gameplay avenues, allows real world situations to be simulated that previously weren't possible, and adds to the general realism of the game world. Minis By request, 'mini' competitors are now integrated into the game world. A worker counts as a mini if they're a male competitor of five foot or below, or, a female competitor of four foot ten and below. There are special attributes that can be assigned to workers to alter their categorisation (i.e. either making them a mini when they don't qualify or removing the mini status if they do) for cases where the predefined limits don't work. If a worker is considered a mini then they'll generally be kept separate from non-mini workers for booking purposes. Each company can optionally have a male and / or female minis division, which can be assigned a size category to tell the game how many workers should be part of it (similar to how women's divisions used to work). Additionally, titles can be set as being exclusive to mini divisions. If a company does have a division, it'll be booked as being separate to the main roster. Of course, the player is free to mix and match, so there's nothing stopping you from booking a mixed match where a non-mini teams with minis; workers are aware of the difference, however, so a non-mini may complain if asked to lose to a mini. As with celebrities, this adds to the realism of the game world and allows real world scenarios to be simulated that previously couldn't be. Specifying Amount Of Falls By popular request, new road agent notes have been added for multi-fall matches to allow the user to book specific amounts of falls for the winner and loser. So, you could specify that a two out of three falls match ends 2-1, for example. Removing Companies When starting a new game the user is now given the option of removing companies beforehand (including those that have already gone out of business or are yet to debut); this can be useful for speeding up loading times or if the player is only interested in a small selection of companies, and removes the need to edit the database itself. Graduation Editing Adding or modifying graduates in the editor is now a much quicker process, with a mass add feature and the automatic filling in of appropriate dates by referencing the worker in question. This is just a quality of life change to help database makers. AI Talent Hunters By request, the AI hiring has been upgraded to make them significantly better at identifying and actively going after young talent with excellent potential rather than primarily sticking to going after established workers. This makes the AI more competitive and helps keep the game world fresh as young stars are much less likely to get stuck working the independents. Owner Imbalances The game can now recognise when there are too few potential owners in an area and can address this by generating new entrepreneurs. This is designed to prevent the situation that can occur where some databases don't come with enough valid owners to actually found any new companies, leading to stagnation. Tag Team Name Ages By request, potential tag team names can now be given minimum and maximum ages to give more accurate results. For example, you could set "Youth Energy" to require both members to be under 25. In-Game Edit Schedule Company schedules can now be redone via the in-game editor; this can be useful if the user has already made some progress only to find that a company was mistakenly not given any events by the database maker, as previously this scenario would either mean scrapping the save game and starting again or going through the time-consuming process of taking over the company and doing it manually. Daytime Timeslot By request, the Afternoon timeslot has been renamed as Daytime to allow for morning TV shows to be covered. General Tinkering / Improvements Finally, just a general note that over the course of the extensive play-testing we've done there has been a lot of tinkering, editing, and improving done 'under the hood'; so that's the underlying mechanics of the game, the numbers that are used behind-the-scenes, as well as the functionality of some buttons and screens. Some of these changes may be very subtle and might not even be noticed (for example, some screens have just been reorganised to reduce the number of clicks needed to do common tasks), while some are more overt and will obviously impact gameplay (like the increased speed that young workers learn skills), but you should generally find that a lot of the rough edges from 2020 have been smoothed off. None of these changes are really worth individual journal entries, but as the cumulative effect is to make the game feel far more polished, and because it means that some strategies from 2020 may be more or less effective, I just wanted to finish by highlighting it. That now concludes the developer's journal. Hopefully most people found something they're excited about and are looking forward to tomorrow's release! We'll finish by going through some final clarifications and announcements. Public Beta Release & How It Works - The public beta will be released tomorrow, 27th July. We will not be announcing a specific time for the release. However, as Grey Dog Software will be handling the release, note that it will be on American time, not British. - The public beta will follow the same format as previous years; the game will be fully-featured but you are restricted to playing the months of January to March. You can play as many save games as you want and those save games can be continued past March with the retail version. The full editor is available with the public beta if people want to work on databases. - For those not familiar, the point of the public beta is primarily to give you an opportunity to "try before you buy" but also to fix any installation problems and other bugs that may have gotten past the testing team. If you do have issues, please go to the Technical Support forum (slightly further down the board) to make a post so that we can address your issue. - As with previous editions, I'm happy to try and patch in (reasonable!) suggestions that people have, whether that's in-time for the retail release or after. If you have something you'd like to see changed, please use the Suggestions forum, which is slightly further down the board. - As a closing note on the release day, we'd ask that everyone tries to stay polite and respectful on the forums. It's been great to see how the majority of people have been so positive and tolerant of other people's views during the past four weeks of the journal and we'd like to see that continue. Inevitably a release day raises the temperature slightly with people getting excited, and equally inevitably there will be some people who turn up intentionally looking to cause mischief and arguments - if this does happen, please try not to get dragged into flame wars and nasty arguments, just allow our large moderating team to handle things. There's a Report button at the top of every post that you can use to draw our attention to things. Retail Release & Price Announcement As previously announced, the retail release of the game will be the following week on Saturday 3rd August. This will follow the same procedure as the public beta in that we will not be announcing a specific time and it will be Grey Dog Software handling it so it'll be on American time. We can confirm that there will be no price increase and that the game will retail for $34.95. (As normal, previous games in the series will drop in price a few days after release.) As previously mentioned, this will be released under the QLM / FastSpring licensing system that we've been using for the past couple of years, which is much more user friendly than the old Elicense system. It works in broadly the same fashion in that you'll receive a license code upon purchase and just have to type it in to active your game. Licensing and unlicensing takes seconds and you can now do it manually via their website (e.g. you don't need access to a machine to deactivate your license, so if you're unlucky enough to suffer a hardware failure or lose your laptop, you no longer need to send us e-mails or wait around, as long as you have your code you can do everything yourself). If you do have any issues or questions about the licensing system, there will be a FAQ pinned to the top of the Technical Support forum to help you out. And that's where we'll end this journal series. Thank you for all the interest and support you've shown over the past four weeks, it's been fantastic to see the community coming together so much, I hope everyone enjoys the new game! 90 16 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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