Howdy, everyone. It's time for another weekly update. This one's less new content and more improving systems and features in-game presently to more align with player expectation. We'll also touch a bit on what to expect in Chapter One. Let's tuck in: [b]Changes to the Hunger system[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/5058cdcb5ee0dfb6cbf8a9c9573a78c5ade2b2f9.png[/img] It's Only Money started life as more a crime simulation game, as opposed to light hearted and ridiculous world it exists as today, as such there's a lot of systems that players feel at are at odds with their understanding of the world and game at large. Hunger has been one of these contentious systems. We stand by our decision of developing IOM's city and experience to be more than set dressing, or a shell of where you just so happen to do crimes - but we also want to move in unison with the demands of the players who are enjoying playing around in Rockhaven. We want you to learn store locations, to interact with the various items in-game, to manage your character and their well being, but we don't want to blindly force players to engage in a way that they don't find fulfilling. To that end, we're now looking at ways to reward players who engage with these systems, instead of them being punishing quotas you have to meet. The first system to fall in line with this kind of thinking is Hunger. You'll notice with this update that the hunger wheel is now divided into four pips. Eating food will fill the wheel as usual, but every time you pass one of the pips thresholds, you'll now get a bonus to your attack power. So, there's no overt negative for going hungry for awhile, but if you manage to keep a full belly, you'll hit a wee bit harder. A reward for all that eating. The attack increases are as follows: 0-25 Slice 1: No benefit 25-50 Slice 2: +2 Attack (Full) 50-75 Slice 3: +5 Attack (Very Full) 75-100 Slice 4: +10 Attack (Perfectly Full) Additionally, you'll notice that higher quality foods impart the "Eating" buff (more on buff visualisations in a bit!). The "Eating" buff speeds up your inherent HP regeneration for 5 seconds. So, if you need a quick burst of HP, eating good food is a great way to do this. Lower quality foods like Chunkum Fish, or the MayorMart Food Puck do not impart this bonus. No matter where your hunger wheel sits, you will ALWAYS recover HP slowly, unless a debuff explicitly determines otherwise. [b]Sleeping gets an overhaul, too[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/09d08945f441db55b9791489ca1c178f56355b45.png[/img] Getting tired in IOM caused a debuff which negatively impacted your max health, among other statistics in game. It's clear, this was an annoyance for a lot of players. Given our exploration into the mantra of "rewarding rather than punishing", the Tired mechanic was a perfect candidate for this glo-up, too. There is no longer a negative impact for choosing not to sleep. If you do choose to have a wee nap on a park bench, or a bed you've placed in a property, you'll instead get a range of 10 minute buffs that help your character get after it more effectively. [b]Rested[/b] (Park benches)- Increased HP regen by 1 per second, +10 max stamina [b]Well Rested[/b] - Increased (Normal quality beds) HP regen by 2 per second, +20 max stamina [b]Perfectly Rested[/b] (High quality beds) -Increased HP regen by 3 per second, +30 max stamina, decreased Hunger drain by 10% [b]Exposing Buffs/Debuffs[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/93bbbf1ea3326780a15d5c219652385036491933.png[/img] Another thing we wanted to focus on in this update is better surfacing information as it happens. While there's still work to do in various facets of the game, this week we chose to focus on Buffs/Debuffs as they pertain to items. Item cards, whether looking at them via a Kiosk, or highlighting an item in your inventory will now show what perks fire off for using an item. Additionally, a UI element will activate on-screen when a buff or debuff is applied to your character, and what it entails. [b]Weapon UI[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/d583b26a980627c68e1d11be04b2330d11fc14bb.png[/img] Whenever you have a weapon equipped, or you're simply using fists, there's now an exposed numerical value that shows the inherent damage of said fists or weapon, plus additional damage from buffs, as well as remaining weapon durability. The last hit before a weapon breaks does double damage, so stacking the aforementioned buffs with a final hit can be a devastating one-hitter-quitter technique on the streets of Rockhaven. More work on weapons is being done, specifically to highlight other statistics weapons have, such as block pass-through (overflow) damage, which will come in a later update. [b]What about Chapter One?[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/9d755dc25d1ec55b12ceea847148f7fd1987a784.png[/img] As mentioned last week, Chapter One is in full development swing, with some exciting prospects for the future of It's Only Money. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1415220?emclan=103582791472344331&emgid=3692437468657641578]Last week we introduced Maude[/url], one of the Mayor's Elites, and the primary antagonist for Chapter One. She controls the first business you and the Undercitizens will aim to crush and takeover. We've got a slew of missions in the pipeline, a new business HUB to manage, the aforementioned takeover and of course, a new Crookbook multiplayer game, which leads us to the next point: [b]Crookbook games going forward can be played Single-Player[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/4777fed07f2477fdf09c9b65988e7a92d95742c3.gif[/img] Chapter One will introduce our latest Crookbook game, [b]Gorb Rush[/b]. Set atop a tower, you and 3 other combatants will use Gorbs to smash each other off the edge, while dealing with an ever shrinking arena. One wrong move and you're over the side hurling toward an uncomfortable landing. Our first Crookbook game, Prop Hunt, required you to have at least one other friend in a session with you. For a lot of folk, this wasn't appealing or possible. Gorb Rush is fully playable on your own against 3 AI, and it's our intent for that to be the case with all Crookbook games going forward. Additionally, it's our intent to go back and do work to bring Prop Hunt into this new single-player standard, but for right now we're focusing on the new content, so no firm dates on that yet. So, who are these AI you'll be competing against? [b]Your Homies, previously known as Tenants[/b] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42822923/d2e7e9fb3dc78b9772f7eeaeebbbb61e582e3039.png[/img] Chapter One revolves around doing stuff with your Homies. Who are Homies? What are Homies? Well, they exist in Chapter Zero under a different name: Tenants. It's a word we've fallen out of love with, as it doesn't ultimately represent our ambition for them. In Chapter Zero, you move Homies into a safehouse and have them watch over it, but they don't amount to much more than that as of yet. With Chapter One, hanging out with your homies in the open world, doing missions with them, assigning them to business HUBs, or as previously mentioned, playing Crookbook games with and against them will earn them EXP and grow their star level. With every star level, they'll grow more powerful in one of three categories Attack - The amount of damage they do Body - The amount of HP a Homie has Mind - Determines the cooldown of their assigned ability When a Homie is housed, they'll also gain additional strength in these categories. So to recap: "Tenants" will become "Homies" in Chapter One. You can hang out with them in a multitude of ways, in businesses, in missions, in the open world, and everything you do with them will level them up, and make 'em tougher. You'll need them to be as strong as possible when going after Maude and successive Mayor Elites. Don't worry about the change affecting any of your previously homed Tenants: We expect the changes to be seamless. [b]Additional Fixes: [/b] - Fixed Home Sweet Home Accolade Tracking - Further reduction of hunger drain rate (an additional 10%) - Fixed Eviction costs not applying - Rebalance of Food Items weight/price/overall effectiveness As always, we appreciate the feedback, the bug reports and we hope these weekly peeks into what to expect from Chapter One to excite you as much as it does us. Have a good weekend, everyone!