TEW IX Developer's Journal Discussion Thread

[FellaLibby]

Kinda wish there was a pre-order because I'd pre-order this today. I don't even do that for other games but GDS games are the exception.

[HurkaDurk69]

Excited for the beta, hopefully some more in-game editing can be done(release X from contract, change from only events > all, lock skills, make someone unkillable/never retire. etc etc) 

[Jaysounder]

Super excited, I probably put 3k+hours into 2020 and the booking committee sounds like such a great feature.

Some other changes/features that I'd love to see in TEW:

• More economy control in setting up Eras. We should be able to edit merch and attendance on top of TV/PPV buys. I'd also prefer a % rather than "default", "lower", "higher", etc.  There were some very cool mod ideas, one of which I think was supposed to start in 1903, but merch sales completely break long-term saves. Every company ends up swimming in money once they hit small. (Maybe also limit merch size based upon company size). Larger Merch levels should cost companies money if both the economy and wrestling index is low.
• Owner's should take dividends from their company if it is profitable and there should also be a feature to reflect a companies life cycle (growth, stagnation, cashing-out).
  • Growth: owners will not take dividends and may even do cash infusions to help their company afford more expensive talent contracts to expand quicker (owners who are more wealth and like to flash cash should be more aggressive with spending). Aggressive owners who love the business should be able to go through multiple growth phases if they are not satisfied with their companies overall pop.
  • Stagnation: The owner is content with their overall company size and will start taking appropriate level dividends, no more cash infusions.
  • Cashing-Out: the owner is looking to retire, dividends will increase to potentially unsustainable levels until an appropriate buyer is found. Owners will ramp up the dividends before it is announced that they are looking for a buyer, which should also take an extended period of time (2-5 years overall). Owners who are in the cashing-out phase should be wiling to sell even if their company is not in a deficit. Company revenue and cash on hand should affect the price they are willing to sell for.
• Worker relationships:
  • Worker should be able to make requests to the booker. EG, I'd like to main event a PVP, be in a feud with X worker, form a tag team with X. Fulfilling their request increases moral while ignoring it will decrease it. The lower the worker pop the less often they should be to make requests. Perhaps also add an option to prevent workers from making requests at all but it will decrease lockerroom morale a bit.
    • We should also be able to generate a worker request in the 'talk to worker' menu.
  • We should be able to trade promises, EG I want to take the 2nd level belt off of you, but in exchange for putting over X for that title, you will get a feud for the primary title and main event a PPV. I know that we can pay people off to offset them being unhappy with a finish, but I feel that more negotiations like this would be much more enjoyable.
    • A worker's personality should affect what they want in return. Mercenaries should really only want money, but Driven workers will expect to be elevated up the card.
  • Social groups similar to Football Manager. Rather than workers have a flat "friends", "best friends", "simmering" relationship status, relationships should be more dynamic. Workers should form cliques based upon those tags, personalities, and age. EG mentors will pull their mentee into their clique, younger workers are less likely to join a clique full of veteran workers, etc. Each clique should have a 'leader' who shapes their cliques relationship with other cliques based upon their relationship levels/tags. EG Shawn and Bret have separate cliques in 1997, workers in their respective cliques will lose relationship with the other clique due to Shawn and Bret's animosity towards each other. Low relationship between cliques should affect overall backstage moral. This should also help clean up the backstage relationships tab, which for larger companies is just an endless scroll bar.
• Gimmicks:
  • Each worker should be able to save up to 2 gimmicks (face and heel) allowing them to return to a former fan favorite gimmick after an extended period of time. Saved gimmicks should slowly refresh over a period of time and will eventually recharge back up to its highest fan reaction level (legendary/great/etc). EG Undertaker returning to his Deadman gimmick after being Biker Taker for ~4 years. (nothing feels worse than a legend getting a 'poor' gimmick role when having them go back to a previously successful gimmick). 
    • When changing gimmicks offer the player the option to either save the gimmick or replace one of the worker's 2 saved gimmicks
  • Gimmick points/ new refresh system: rather than a button to refresh a gimmick, gimmicks should debut relatively plain with few to no tags. A new road agent note should be added to build gimmick points (GP). GP can be spent to refresh and add new attributes to a worker's gimmick. The overall idea is that the worker is growing their character over time and adding new ideas/themes, rather than just debuting with an over the top gimmick. When refreshing a gimmick, a positive and negative tag should have to be added. EG Mankind becoming Corporate Mankind, a tag is added which boosts his Charisma and one which lowers his Menace. New tags should be added to affect all attributes (even in ring, while maybe unrealistic, I view it like Taker adding MMA gloves would give a small boost to his brawling skill). 
    • The road agent note should also prevent storyline heat growth (mentioned below) for balance reasons (otherwise why wouldn't you put this tag on every angle). The longer the angle the more GP generated, with short angles generating almost no points. I would also have these angles receive a small penalty as they are potentially less exciting.   
• Product mechanics/gameplay:
  • Storyline heat overhaul: Storylines should never be able to get top level heat after 1 angle. Instead matches and angles should build up heat over time with a new road agent note being added to spend the heat to improve the match rating, signifying the end of the feud. Adding tainted finishes or draws could increase heat more than a clean finish and a higher level of heat should cause inexperience or inconsistent workers to perform worse as they struggle to perform up to the hype levels.
    • Penalties for not having enough storyline should build up over time rather than be instantaneous. This would be to prevent immediately receiving a penalty following a major PPV in which multiple storylines conclude.
  • Products preferring gimmick types: Products should have 2-3 preferred gimmicks and 1-2 hated gimmicks. Fans will be less likely to have a negative reaction to preferred gimmicks but will be more likely to reject hated gimmicks. EG an ECW product should prefer gimmicks like Unstable/offbeat, Badass, and Legitimate, while they should hate gimmicky/cartoonish. There should be a chance for heels to turn hated gimmicks into legendary gimmicks, like Foley going anti-hardcore in ECW.  
    • Over saturated gimmicks should give a penalty as the workers with the same gimmick start to "blend in with the crowd". The cap should be based upon company size or number of hired workers.
  • New worker/returning legend attendance pops: If your company hires a worker with more pop than the company, the worker should gain a tag which causes an increase in attendance/TV views on shows that they appear on for 1-3 months. Similarly for legends, maybe defined as workers who have worked for a given company for 10+ years, should provide a smaller pop when they return after an extended absence. 
  • Either as an Era option or just in general, but workers should be more proactive about moving companies if they feel they are too low on the card or are just racking up losses. Ideally this would be to help reflect the territory days when workers jumped around more often. I would also remove the 'on-going' contract option as it seems that rival companies only look to steal workers when a contract is expiring. 
  • Attendance based upon worker pop: adjust attendance to equal something like 60% company pop and 40% split between your top 5-8 booked workers for the area a show is being run in. This gives bookers a bigger benefit to expand in new regions and push workers who are popular in their home zone. (My current save I have a worker with 99 pop in all of Canada, but I'm only drawing ~300 people because I only have 20-30 pop, it feels like a country legend would/should be a bigger draw).
    • Maybe another option could be to separate out show scores by regions so that running a show in a lower pop area does not tank pop in your primary market (which can also cause you to lose TV deals and cripple storyline heat).
• Broadcasters:
  • TV deals should pay flat fees rather than ad %, more realistic and makes it easier to budget. It would also be cool if broadcasters would approach companies with deals to create a bidding war between companies of similar sizes to see who will take the lowest deal.
  • Broadcasters should have a viewer count expectation instead of a show score expectation. Rather than 3 strikes and your dropped, broadcasters should first impose penalties, then reduce the contract by ~6 months, and finally cancel the contract. This should take ~3 months of poor results before a broadcaster is willing to drop a company.
  • ~30 minute viewer ratings. Post show we should get a little graph showing viewer count, with the idea of encouraging booking a show to keep viewers engaged during the full duration. Lower rated angles/matches should be able to reduce overall viewers, as they change the channel and don't return, while higher rated one's do the opposite.

Sorry, this list is way longer than I thought it was going to be when I started typing it out... I just love TEW.

[Teh_Showtime]

Big hang up for my mod I was working on in 2020 was that the game didn’t handle big stars in a startup promotion very well since it was relative to the company and not the rest of the roster. I desperately hope something changes with that 

[jesterx7769]

Thanks Adam!

Excited to see how CE works in game

Glad for the custom backdrops

 

 

- ability to control workers we send to our child companies (i.e. push/handle future stars over current jobbers there)

- any improvement to multiplayer somehow please

- Product narratives have been added, please bring back the option to create our own so i can make a sex appeal bonus + high quality wrestling promotion

- Show type of interview/talk show segment as those are very popular now

- Social Media management, ideally for workers and companies but atleast for companies as its such a big aspect now. this also helps smaller/indy companies who may rely on social media/streaming compared to traditional ways

[Speedy2332]

I really like the booking team idea. I always wanted my staff to have more purpose. It reminds me a bit of the council system from the Crusader Kings games

[RaptorMcFly]

24 minutes ago, jesterx7769 said:

 

- Show type of interview/talk show segment as those are very popular now

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean on type of segment? 

[Historian]

1 hour ago, jesterx7769 said:

 

- Show type of interview/talk show segment as those are very popular now

 

Assuming you mean the ol' Piper's Pit style where a worker is hosting a segment with other workers, you can essentially already do this.

[Astil]

Do they mean the more "set" based pre shows. Or like Talking Smack.

Also pretty good first feature there.

[Marcos25063]

Man, I had to get back for this one, I still playing 16 and I was just thinking of finally buying 20, but I'm glad I didn't, I'm hyped!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Crackdd]

One thing I would love to see, but it's a long shot is an update to contracts: Right now, someone like the rock will only sign to either anything out of ring, where he will show up for every show, or anything that involves in ring, but only show up for events. I'd like a hybrid. Like yeah im only going to book you to actually wrestle at summerslam, but at least come to a couple raws. Not sure how hard that would be to implement, or if that's already an option and I have somehow missed it. 

[beatingstuff88]

THe big thing i'd love to know: Will there be an "overhaul" to the way big foreign wrestlers are presented in a different area if brought in on an alliance loan?

Because with the way TEW is now its impossible to do a "forbidden door" style event. Because a guy who is huge in japan carries none of that over to other game areas and as a result, no one in your company wants to lose to them, and lets be honest, in the current day and age this just isn't how things work. Hell if needed, tie it to the top 500 or something, but popularity across boundaries should be more dynamic

This would also tie in to the borrowing workers feature, currently theres no reason for companies to have a talent trade if they are in different game areas, because they will never let their star come over since they get "nothing in return" even though the guy may be your biggest star and have 70 pop in the US

Edited July 1 by beatingstuff88

[Iceman90]

This is a much different style question than many others. Will there be updated media formats in this version? GIF is an old format at this point. Supporting PNG blends the best of GIFs transparency (PNG also allows for semi transparency) and JPEG's high resolution into one format - often with a better filesize if optimized properly.  WebP is another great option, but I am sure it's too new for you to support in this version.

Edited July 1 by Iceman90

[piccamo]

27 minutes ago, Crackdd said:

One thing I would love to see, but it's a long shot is an update to contracts: Right now, someone like the rock will only sign to either anything out of ring, where he will show up for every show, or anything that involves in ring, but only show up for events. I'd like a hybrid. Like yeah im only going to book you to actually wrestle at summerslam, but at least come to a couple raws. Not sure how hard that would be to implement, or if that's already an option and I have somehow missed it. 

This is already how events only contracts work. They can be booked for angles on TV but can't be booked to wrestle. But then they can be booked for both angles and matches at the event.

[lifterpuller]

I have two requests, though I understand that I am but one tiny voice in a sea of hundreds:

1. A bit more clarity in the language of backstage meddling predictions. "Okay, X and Y says it's extremely unlikely to result in anything, but X and Z says there's extremely little chance of anything..." Which is more extreme, you know?

2. Being able to assign specific match types as main events to events. Like, the main event for the Royal Rumble event has to be a Royal Rumble match, not just a 30 man battle royal, stuff like that. Likewise, being able to specify something like "OK, at the main event of the CMLL Aniversario every year, someone WILL lose their hair/mask" that the AI would actually uphold even if you're not playing as CMLL.

Edited July 1 by lifterpuller

[Captain Kayfabe]

What a pleasant surprise to see when I logged in to the forum today!

This. Already. Sounds. Amazing.🤯

[lifterpuller]

Oh, also, please more types of social media scandals than just bullying that one poor 12-year-old.

[Peria]

Extremely excited for this! Huzzah!

[benjirino]

I was literally thinking yesterday morning that we're about due a new one and here it is! Day one purchase as always!

[KingAj]

Can I just say very tongue in cheek how unfair this is, just had a newborn so I'll have no time to play this for quite sometime....but im looking forward to this. Excited!

[PandaWan71]

The only thing I'm afraid of is how the game will look when it comes to the graphics, I saw that the game will be the same resolution as TEW 2020, I assume you won't be able to get the game in fullscreen, (I know that was said a lot of times and sorry to dig out that discussion) and I really hope that the game will look more modern, compared to the other upcoming fantasy booking games.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm pretty excited for the game too, I know that the gameplay will be great and can't wait to try the beta!!

[TheWho87]

4 minutes ago, PandaWan71 said:

The only thing I'm afraid of is how the game will look when it comes to the graphics, I saw that the game will be the same resolution as TEW 2020, I assume you won't be able to get the game in fullscreen, (I know that was said a lot of times and sorry to dig out that discussion) and I really hope that the game will look more modern, compared to the other upcoming fantasy booking games.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm pretty excited for the game too, I know that the gameplay will be great and can't wait to try the beta!!

If you're expecting a "modern look", look at the history of TEW releases and get disappointed, that's pretty much the main USP they all have over TEW.

[MisterSocko]

Will you be able to preset creative teams in the editor?

[angeldelayette]

I just came here to say squeeeee!  I am so looking forward to the new TEW!  More than that, I am looking forward to the new Cornellverse!  I can't wait to see what changes were made to each company, especially USPW.  Thank you, Mr. Ryland!

[MattRouq]

What an amazing news ! I've been playing TEW 2020 since day one, probably have over 1k hour. I'm so excited to see how all my favourite C-verse wrestlers have been doing !