CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience news & patch notes

Hey everyone, I'm back with another update! This time it's the long awaited cloud saving plus various stability fixes. I'm never giving up on this thing. Hoping to have some big news for you all soon! ^-^ - Danny -

Changes and new stuff

• Cloud saving has now been added!

Balancing

• Reduced difficulty for busking on the subway
• Comic Books give more happiness for new issues, but price is slightly more

Bug fixes and improvements

• Improved how interactables wait for your approach before interacting with them, interactables no longer wait forever and activate when near if you interact with something else. The short story is that it is now easier to cancel clicks.
• Added extra snappiness to various elements while playing with a controller
• Fixed the starving button possibly not working with mouse
• Fixed the mouse cursor possibly still showing while playing on a controller when switching rapidly between mouse and controller
• Fixed a bug that could cause you to not be able to enter buildings without pausing and unpausing, alt tabbing etc
• Fixed Restaurant appearing closed when unable to enter due to low hygiene or being drunk
• Fixed day labour truck following you after declining a pay raise
• Fixed some soft lock bugs that could occur mid-late game
• Fixed jobs not allowing you to work until exiting the menu sometimes
• Fixed dog’s hunger showing as 0 temporarily until the first hunger tick right after getting a dog
• Fixed white squares showing in the true ending for addict and mental illness characters
• Improved true ending timing and pace
• Fixed some issues with perk awarding in the late game
• Fixed some icons appearing huge in some popups (bread roll)
• Fixed: When buying newspapers from the paperboy to show the next city event on the same day you get a city event, it would instead show the event you just got instead of the next upcoming one. It now correctly shows the next event.
• Fixed begging in front of other homeless trying to bed taking more reputation than it should
• Some other minor stability fixes

Hey everyone, it's time for another update! More polishing and bug fixes/request fulfillments this time and some hefty balancing changes. A bit about me, things aren't great over here. CHANGE doesn't make as much as people might think; it's been enough to squeeze by each month but I also gave a load of it away and its getting to the point where I probably can't keep doing this. I suppose that's my fault for not releasing new games in time and just working on this one for so long, and I still want to add to this game, but the reality is I can't afford it. In fact... I may be about to lose it all. Delve isn't looking good. I may have to shut things down and I don't know what's gonna happen to CHANGE after that. I don't wanna sing a swansong just yet, if just ONE big streamer does a play of the game before the end of the year that would literally be enough to save CHANGE and the company and me. You can also help by spreading the word or maybe trying out the Living City DLC? Still, I'm so grateful that we even got to this point, so many other great games get buried on steam, and I'm here with thousands of people experiencing what we made and that's amazing and humbling. It's been something truly special that's almost taken a full decade of my life, and all the messages of people saying how affecting the game is has kept me going. We can still do this, just gotta hope for lucky break. I'm finishing up a post mortem right now, so you can all read the full story behind CHANGE soon. I hope there'll be more updates to come Danny

Changes and new stuff

• Controller - Y/Triangle is now mapped to the EAT button on the bottom right that shows when hungry, B is mapped to various Stop buttons, etc, various other UI elements on controller are better mapped and feels more intuitive
• Taxi hailing whistle SFX added when hailing taxis

Balancing

• Increased amount of paperwork given by the paperwork boost custom effect in the Living City DLC
• Removing the Dirty Clothes or Injured maladies now gives 1 happiness
• Increased the base minimum time between police spawns a little bit (they should be around almost as much, they just won’t appear practically immediately after the last one)
• It’s harder to get the “Haggard” Malady
• Depression now prevents you from working/studying if happiness is equal to or less than 30 instead of 40
• Various trades are better balanced and usually more favourable
• Bliss gives a bit less happiness
• Significantly reduced chance of finding silver bracelet in trash
• Certain negative night events cause more happiness drain

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed a case where you could still get warmed in winter in shelters with the no heating status
• Fixed “Go to park” option when talking to other homeless being bugged after moving areas
• Fixed still being able to move cursor around in shelter menu while night event was showing on controller
• Fixed vehicles possibly driving through the sky during the intro cutscene
• Fixed cursor alignment being displaced after parts of the UI are removed in various menus on controller
• Lowered placement of bus stops and increased the delay before input is allowed on the bus UI, to help with misclicks
• When haggling with other homeless for day labour, their speech bubbles are no longer obscured due to bad placement
• Controller support - Made the gambling UI in the Arcade building easier to use
• Fixed a crash that could occur if a controller disconnects in the options menu
• Fixed police scolding you for warming up at trash cans that are on fire after police funding event level 1 (They still don’t like it when actually starting fires)
• Search button now hides when clicking on payphones if you’ve already searched that one that day
• Floating cash gained text more prominent/better timed when searching payphones
• Fixed a bug that could allow you to search trash cans that were on fire
• Slightly increased payphone hitbox size
• Fixed a bug where deselecting “Fast start” after having it enabled and skipping the intro scene could cause the intro start texts to show when you next moved areas
• Fixed a bug where homeless characters in the park could have talk options you haven't unlocked yet
• Fixed alt tabbing while using controller causing a graphical error with the cursor until you pressed a button
• Fixed a bunch of issues with the Taxis
• Fixed staying in shelters not warming you up sometimes
• A bunch of other little fixes, tweaks, SFX additions, general polish

Hey everyone! It's me again! This time around we're just focusing on your reported bugs and general polish, plus one minor change to make paperwork grinding feel less... grindy. Sorry it's been awhile since the last update, full disclosure; my computer broke. It got hit with a surge some months ago and I've been replacing parts paycheck by paycheck only to find it needs more parts. Back up and running again now though! I've been reading all of your feedback and reports, please do keep 'em coming! I still have some requests/reports to get to, but now that game is playing better, I may even turn my head to more content soon... after cloud saving that is. Anyway, I gotta get back to work, I hope you all enjoy the latest update! ^-^ - Danny -

Changes and new stuff

Day Labour now awards 1 paperwork, (chance to award none on bad events). This will reduce the overall late game feeling grindy a bit and allow you to gain work experience outside of the employment system

Balancing

Inflation city event is now harsher Reduced number of pedestrians on the street a bit, as with all the new characters walking around these days the city is feeling a bit full. This should help with the missclicking Increased crime level rate required before welfare doesn’t let you in

Bug fixes and improvements

Fixed job application successes giving a perk which then threw you out of the job screen nulling the application success (really sorry about that one) Fixed a bug that could cause your welfare appointments to be -x days in the past Fixed a bunch of other welfare bugs Fixed menus in the mobile phone scrolling in the wrong direction Fixed public toilets not kicking you out at/after 8pm if waiting in there past then A bunch of other minor fixes and tweaks

Hey everyone, just a little hotfix patch here to deal with some of the reported issues, keep the feedback coming! ^-^

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed click movement being bugged with mouse after clicking on an object to interact with it
• Improved stick sensitivity when playing with controller
• Fixed perk popups causing bugs when applying for jobs
• Fixed some tooltips in the character customiser not showing, namely the ones describing the hope bar
• Fixed some buttons in the character customiser being unresponsive (minus cash, defaults button, etc)

It's finally here! CHANGE is now fully playable on controller! Hey folks, it's me again (And hello to our new players too), how've ya been? How in the hells did almost a year go by without an update?! Well, it turned out that adding controller support meant re-writing a ton of code in the game, since it wasn't designed for controllers originally, a lot of stuff had be torn out and re-done. Of course, making changes to a lot of code for one feature caused a shedload of bugs, and they needed to be fixed. So It took a lot longer than originally planned, sorry about that. I've also been spending time on work contracts to keep things going as well as on my secret-for-now other project that I'll be revealing soon! (Maybe I should be banned from using the word "soon", slap my wrist) At least during this time I was also able to make a load of other fixes and improvements to CHANGE, and I actually have even more night events coming in an update soon. One thing I wanna mention before I go, did you guys know about the Living City DLC? It adds a lot of new content including soundtrack lofi remix, loads of new perks/items, customisation, new buildings, etc. It's on sale right now, why not give it a go? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33562450/73b7aea5c32f4ff2e696a996940ca40a35b7e122.png https://store.steampowered.com/app/1845520/CHANGE_The_Living_City_Expansion/ I want to thank you all again for all the support you've shown me and this game, things have been a bit tough financially lately, but I have hope I'll get to keep making these things. ^-^ Until next time, -Danny-

Changes and new stuff

• Controller support! Both Xbox and Playstation controllers are now supported. Most other controllers should still work but haven’t been tested.
• Some new night events added
• Quality of life: You can now right click (Or press B/Square on controller) to exit menus and stuff rather than hitting the LEAVE or RESUME button

Balancing

• WARNING! Your city WILL regenerate with different buildings because of this update! Sorry! - decreased spawn rate of police stations, more shops instead
• Addiction has been changed. The final and worst malady you get for abusing each addiction for a long time is now permanent, but it also takes longer/is harder to take addiction to that level. Base happiness gains from alcohol and cigarettes are also reduced by 1.
• Welfare takes a bit less happiness
• During winter, there’s now a low chance to come across a trashcan that’s already on fire to get warmed. Usually there’s two each day somewhere in the city
• Nerfed some busking perks, mainly SHOWOFF(slightly lowered bonus) and MUSICIAN(Lower chance of triggering). Also base busking income nerfed very very slightly.
• Novel item’s happiness boost is now boosted by the bookworm perk a little
• Trade options with others on the streets now auto reroll after making a trade
• You are no longer locked out of the bank from losing residency
• Notes while busking have a slightly bigger hitbox
• Base hygiene decay rate lowered significantly while working
• Minimum movement speed increased. This isn’t a boost to default walk speed, it's just that debuffs that affect walk speed (low happiness, injury, freezing, etc) aren’t so crippling when you have a lot of them at once

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed a typo “shleter” in one of the night events
• Fixed a circumstance where unlockable buildings weren’t spawning sometimes when loading back into a game
• Fixed click skipping when the main menu is fading in possibly causing it to be stuck with a white overlay
• Fixed Novel item not using up time
• Fixed cases where you could get multiple perm/special items from trading
• Fixed some issues with taxis
• Fixed some bug around welfare appointment times
• Fixed some menu transitions being a bit slow compared to others
• The “OPEN ALL DAY” Library event has now been appropriately named “OPEN LATE”, because it’s always meant it closes at 7pm rather than 3pm. I mean technically that’s the end of the day and the start of the night, but hey.
• Fixed some minor bugs that could occur with talking to Joe and maggie at the park, namely the wrong talk options showing for your current relationship level with them.
• Fixed shop item generation favouring DLC items a bit too much
• Fixed a crash/softrlock that could occur during a night event
• Fixed city regenerating a new city when loading into game
• Fixed library saying “we’re closed after 3pm” when it’s actually closed because of pandemic closing times during pandemic mode.
• Fixed the “Tarp” item showing wrong item info in shops
• Made some UI improvements to the character/run customiser in the DLC.
• When asking for directions via a person or your residency/welfare cards/phone, the directions shown are now much more obvious and stay up longer
• Restaurant worker speech is more reactive/apt for your situation/stats

Aha, bet you weren't expecting this! The main new thing here is Taxis, plus a load of fixes and quality of life stuff. Controller support and cloud saves next, I promise. ^-^ Thanks again to everyone's feedback, keep it comin' and I'll keep on improvin'! On another note, I'll be at WASD in London this September with CHANGE, if you're gonna be there too, come say hi! Alrighty, that's it for now, I'll be back with more news on other projects soon too. Now, BEHOLD THE NOTES! - Danny -

Changes and new stuff

• Added Taxis. These can be clicked on when parked or passing by, if your hygiene is high enough you can pay to travel quickly in one direction until you hit stop. So it’s sorta like the bus but with more control and potentially more expensive. Your crime will increase if you can’t pay the whole fare at the end of your journey, and they may even call police.
• Patch notes button in main menu changed to button displaying additional dlc/content you don’t have. These patch notes here are much better anyway.
• Made it more obvious/easier to use different organisations with residency in shelters. You cannot apply to another shelter from the same organisation while already a resident at one, but full resident rewards are given for staying there. You’ll see the RESIDENT text in blue at shelters that are run by the same organisation but aren’t your actual main resident shelter. This should help massively with being locked down in one area in the mid/late game.

Balancing

• Sort of a bug fix but also balancing, paperwork gained from applying for jobs (even failing an application is good for farming paperwork until you can get one), now also gives its paperwork bonus when you get the job as well, not just when failing. This should take off a day or two’s worth of paperwork farming time in a run.
• Inflation city events are more severe
• The difficulty of stealing multiple items in a row in a shop increased. First item steal chance in a shop each day is unaffected.
• Busking on the subway is more difficult, makes sense, since it’s a moving train and the rewards can be greater.
• Begging perks are earned a bit faster, especially from non typical pedestrians
• Slightly reduced xp gained for shorter runs (less than a few winters survived). Don’t worry, a decent run will still get you through a few levels at once, just not like… 8.
• Street vendors are more rare. You’ll still see some pretty much every day, just not several types everyday. The discount has also been very slightly reduced. They still have a good chance of appearing in the emptier street areas though.
• Increased spawn chances of bus stops and benches a bit
• Housing assistance in the welfare office is a bit more effective. Now adds +2 days to the residency stay counter in a shelter if going for residency instead of 1, and reduces rental price by 3% instead of 2%. (Even more if you have the notepad item)

Bug fixes and improvements

• ATTENTION! YOUR CITY MAY REGENERATE BECAUSE OF THIS: Tweaked city generation code to make identical buildings not appear on the same strip as much
• There’s more car traffic during rush hour. This doesn’t affect anything, it’s just visual, and a nice hint for when rush hour is on besides the other things. This was actually always meant to be happening but there was a bug.
• Beer is now represented as a few beers in the icon.
• Fixed being able to interact with certain menus when you shouldn’t be able to, like being able to leave welfare office while waiting
• Fixed being able to busk on subway with only a licence and not a guitar if you had a guitar but lost it
• Fixed a bunch of other issues with busking on the subway
• Fixed a bug that caused your player level to not update from previous run visually after beating a run
• Fixed bonus item falling from vending machine popup having wrong title
• Fixed issues with arcades perma-banning you after being caught looking for change in machines a lot, even after moving areas
• Fixed certain custom stats such as hygiene not working in character customiser
• Improved some clock timer popup timings
• Finally fixed the Perk Collector achievement
• Fixed a crash that could occur in night events
• Fixed Juice not working in flask

Hey everyone, I'm back with another update! I'm still goin'! ^-^ Bad news first, controller support is still in progress, there's a few things that just don't feel right yet playing that way, but I'm almost there. So, why's it been so long since the last update? Well I'm currently working on multiple things, not just CHANGE, and the time is soon approaching when I can show off some teasers. But not quite yet... There's also of course the other ports like the mobile release of CHANGE, which is coming in the next few months. The last thing is I've been quite unwell for some of the previous months, but doing better now so should be firing out updates more often. Anyway, this update is all about reducing the mid-game grind a bit, as well as a load of bug fixes and other improvements. I've still got a bunch of your suggestions/reports to get to, don't worry I'll get to any remaining issues soon! Please do keep up the feedback! :) - Danny -

Changes and new stuff

• Two minor NPCS from the dlc are now available in the base game, namely the guy sometimes seen on a bench and the sandwich guy. I think this adds some value in variability within the streets to the base game while not taking too much from the DLC, since it still has tons of other characters, buildings, perks, items, customisation, remixed lofi soundtrack, etc.

Balancing

• Base study gains increased, basically it's way less likely you'll only get 1-2 study
• Residency gives +1 more paperwork, bank account gives +3 more paperwork
• Max xp for a run is now 1800 (you can break past this cap with customisation/hope modifiers in the dlc), and xp calculation for runs is generally improved
• Juice costs more
• Lvs 25-27 now require 750 xp rather than 500
• Welfare office drains happiness a bit faster
• The dog loses hunger a little more slowly, even more slowly while working/studying/waiting.
• Hunger loss ever so slightly reduced while working
• Changing core stats such as starting cash, hunger, etc, now has less effect on your hope level in the customizer. Happiness and study still affect hope more though, of course.

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed some generation cases that caused the city to regenerate on load with a new layout (THIS FIX WILL PROBABLY CAUSE YOUR CITY TO CHANGE ONE LAST TIME ON LOAD IF PLAYING IN PROGRESS SAVE)
• Fixed speech bubbles disappearing when trading
• Fixed a bug that could cause the true ending to not show when you had met the requirements
• Fixed unlockable buildings (BAR, SUBWAY, etc) not generating when loading back into a game or changing city sometimes
• Fixed things that award random perks (such as bill’s teaching or EUREKA/BURNOUT) sometimes awarding special/incorrect perks or an addiction.
• Fixed one of the customisable traits having the wrong unlock text (beat game without recycling > beat hard state challenge mode. This still unlocked before if you beat hard challenge, only displayed text was wrong)
• Fixed still being able to eat trash food with picky eater perk even with food in inventory
• Fixed library book showing as a tradeable item
• Fixed flask item containing drink from previous run still when you get one in a new run
• Fixed being caught stealing not causing crime increase
• Fixed Maggie’s tip special perk only working first day
• Fixed a bug that could cause volume settings to change after completing a run
• Fixed characters not taking you to park
• Fixed abandoned having option for giving directions even when your rep wasn’t high enough yet
• Fixed silver bracelet being a tradeable/buyable item. It should only be found in trash

Hello again! Some of you were nice enough to point out some more bugs and stuff, so here's another mini patch! Back again soon! ^-^ - Danny -

• Fixed some new items not being buyable in the shop or showing wrong info in shop
• I also spent some time working on the pedestrians and the hitboxes for begging from them, so now it should be much harder to accidentally click on one when you were going for scrap. Let me know how it feels!

Hey everyone, sorry it's been awhile! Here's another patch giving some much needed love to the game, still to come is controller support, mobile version, cloud saves and more languages! Oh, and of course, there's also some new games I'm working on... more news on that soon hopefully! ^-^ - Danny -

• Fixed welfare! (For this time, I think/hope)
• Fixed more issues with new items in the shop
• Fixed a few freezing issues

Hey everyone, got a new patch finally done that fixes most of the major issues (especially with the new content). Still got some work to do on welfare, but I'm making progress! Should have yet another update out later this week. ^-^ - Danny

• Fixed various issues with new items
• Fixed freezing issues if your player level got to a certain amount

Hey guys! So I managed to add some more bugs with all the new content, so here's another patch of fixes! (I've also been secretly doing other mini patches in the meantime). Keep the reports and feedback coming guys! We're so close to making this game perfect... See ya soon! - Danny

• Fixed buildings and things buildings contain being regenerated on load
• Fixed some crash issues
• Fixed city changing on reload
• Fixed shelter charity/conditions changing on reload
• Fixed quit button in main menu

Well, I keep saying I’m done with this game, then I go and do something like this. It’s another big content update! For both the base game AND the Living city dlc! Sorry it took so long, had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life that threw a spanner into the works, and the trouble with being solo on this right now, is I can't tap someone to replace me when I'm out of sorts. But, we're here now! So what's been going on lately... Well I went to EGX with CHANGE, that was fun, especially getting to see some of you in person. I shall have to rise from my hermit cave of darkness/code to come meet ya more often! Then I had flu.... And about a week after that got covid... Then had a breakup... (things repaired since) Now I'm moving because I can't afford my rent anymore, but that's not so bad. I really should live somewhere with heating anyway. Winter is coming... So yeah, sorry it's been longer than usual and I've been a bit silent, but I'm back and full of fire now! So here's a massive update as a reward for all your patience. Next up I'll have some news about the MOBILE version of CHANGE, as well as maaaaaybe a trailer or screenshot of our NEXT GAME... I've actually got 2 games in development besides change now... Thanks again for all your support and feedback guys, we may yet turn CHANGE into a sleeper hit if you guys keep sharing the game... every share helps! Please keep telling your friends so we can keep the game studio (me) alive! ^-^

Changes and new stuff

• We’ve added 27 items! These can be unlocked by getting through the new player levels you’ll need to beat with EXP by playing. One of them… is a MAP!
• The base game now has: 10 New items & max player level increased to 25!
• The Living city now has: 17 New items have been added & max player level increased to 32!
• Added a NO CHALLENGE button to the challenge selection menu, and updated a few other bits of UI in the DLC menu sections.

Balancing

• Slightly increased begging perk earn rate
• Fixed searching trash causing barely any hygiene to be lost
• Spending time in the Arcade or restaurant now provides warmth
• When you beat a run, you now get 400 bonus xp

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed the sun wiping out the screen during heatwaves when playing in EXTREME WEATHER challenge mode
• Fixed DLC perks not displaying names
• Fixed the parent and child walking backwards
• Made an improvement to the Special/Perm item inventory, items are now ordered based on how often you use them, so the items you use the most/daily will always be near the top and you don’t have to scroll around so much
• Fixed challenge mode buttons not displaying as completed until you deselect them
• Fixed some of the newer food items not being detected as food to show the starving quick eat button when starving
• Fixed some issues with speech bubbles dismissing too early sometimes on interrupt
• FIXED WELFARE!
• Fixed some medical/utility items possibly showing in certain circumstances before you unlocked them
• Fixed street savvy showing as a perk selection twice sometimes
• Fixed Big pasta pots being endless (sigh)
• Fixed still being able to use some welfare office options when your crime level is too high
• Fixed final perk for perk collector achievement
• Improved timing for welfare clock popups

Hey there, here's another mini patch with more improvements and fixes based on your feedback, including a 4th slot for shops! Be back soon! ^-^ - Danny

Changes and new stuff

• Added a 4th slot to shops that shows a particular use item permanently. (This is often particular items needed for certain runs like dogfood, alcohol, sanitaries, sandwiches etc)

Balancing

• Reduced dog hunger decay when studying/working/passing time a bit
• Slightly increased city density, so more buildings spawn on average and there’s less walk time between buildings on average. (WARNING: This means your city will generate differently if continuing a run)

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed issues selecting new perks with certain customisation/challenge/character selection combos
• Fixed Slow player perk as final perk being bugged

Hello again! You've been great reporting any remaining issues, so here's another patch of fixes! I'll be back soon! ^-^ - Danny

Bug fixes and improvements

• Minimum amount to gamble in the arcade is now £2, since that’s what it is in the menu…
• Paperwork tooltip in jobs menu now displays higher up so it’s not cut off
• Fixed the trading menu not updating after rerolling the tradeable items with the Lucky Coin item until you close the trade popup and ask to trade again with that character
• Fixed Welfare office being assigned when player doesn’t have welfare after moving areas
• Fixed Unlocks for challenge modes and challenge mode completion still being reset!
• Fixed the new hygiene decrease rules via trash not working as intended

Hello! I’m sorry I stopped putting out updates for over a month, here's a big one to compensate! Also, there’s been some developments… I'd like to begin by announcing that the price of CHANGE will be increasing a little bit sometime in Autumn. Not much, but I do feel that CHANGE has a lot of content now compared to when it first released, and it's currently going for lot less than many indie games with less content. Still plenty of time to buy the game at the current price though! On news and developments: First of all, I’m sorry to say that Jack, the composer for our games and co-designer/founder will be taking a break from Delve Interactive for a while. It’s been a lot of hard years for us, years that have really taken their toll on us both. Don’t worry, he won’t disappear completely, maybe working on a little something here and there, but he will be taking a step back to focus on other things and I truly wish him the best and will always be ready to welcome him back. Let us all raise a toast in his honour for all the beautiful music and work he’s done! The other development that slowed me down a bit this month was catching a bad cold, then after two days of wellness I caught covid and now I have long covid it seems. Both the covid and long covid have been pretty mild for me, mainly just needing an extra nap every now and then, but I’m back to working now! Anyway, that's all from me for now, onto the patch notes! Still got some requests and things to fulfil, so I've got at least a few more patches in me for CHANGE. Unless the game explodes in popularity... tell your friends about it! ^-^ - Danny P.S New game announcement next month...?

Changes and new stuff

• Certain texts have been updated/improved
• (LC) These are really bug fixes, but since this content is now working it may come as a surprise to some players:
• Fixed one of the new homeless characters not functioning as they should (the bearded one with blondish hair). He makes begging less successful in his area and may berate you if your reputation isn’t very good. He may distract the police if your reputation is high. He does other stuff too…
• Subway busking is now working! (All because the “Buy busking licence” button was hidden due to a bug…)

Balancing

• Slowed down the default pace of time a tiny bit more.
• Made various changes to homeless reputation and your relationships with Joe, Bill and Maggie, making it easier to build friendships with them and sooner.
• Various jobs have additional work hours (more time used, but also more pay), have slightly lower paperwork requirements and slightly higher study requirements
• Successful job applications increases paperwork more
• When cheap items come up for trading, you’ll have to give over more on average, so you can’t cheat the previously broken system by trading 2 snack bars for a winter coat or something. Now it’ll probably take as much as, ahem, 5 snack bars…
• Jobs with lower paperwork requirements have a much higher chance of showing in the job office when you don’t have much paperwork yet
• Base begging success chance slightly increased, but pedestrians who notice you commit a crime will be less kind/generous
• Pedestrians carry a tiny bit more cash on average
• Reduced base hunger loss over time while studying in library a bit
• Searching trash now takes a little less hygiene from you when below 50 hygiene. It takes more when at full hygiene.
• Updated the amount of perk points required for new perks at certain levels, mid-late game perks are earned slightly faster
• When bargaining for day labour, your competitors won’t keep offering to do it for less until it’s just not worth it
• Significantly increased the number of benches that spawn in cities
• Hunger/happiness ticks can no longer happen within the first and last few minutes of each day, so you won’t tick over just as you enter/exit a building on time at certain times
• The previous patch reduced how long you remain drunk for quite a bit. Added a few seconds to how long you are drunk for this time.
• Having the freezing status has a tiny bit less effect on walk speed
• (LC) “ALL ALONE” Challenge now has way less people on the streets
• (LC) You now need a minimum of £3 to start gambling in the arcade
• (LC) The fence will be tradeable if you’ve been arrested once, regardless of reputation
• (LC) Dumpsters now only have 3 uses by default, as intended

Bug fixes and improvements

• NIGHT EVENT CHANGE - The game now remembers what night events you’ve seen the most across runs, and makes those events less likely to show in the future so that rarer events have a better chance of showing, and making runs more unique overall.
• (LC) Fixed the 3rd shop item possibly being a newspaper token or silver bracelet, which would break stuff
• (LC) Fixed the 3rd shop item showing it was discounted by a newspaper token when it wasn’t
• (LC) Fixed the charity assistance in the welfare building possibly pointing you to shelters with no current event that would have an event the next day instead
• (LC) Fixed being able to enter the gambling menu in the arcade when you didn’t have enough to actually gamble, causing stuckness
• (LC) Fixed the wise trader sometimes breaking if you had max perks or near max perks
• (LC) Fixed challenges not being set as complete after completing them
• (LC) Fixed xp bonuses/negatives from custom games not always working
• Fixed the True ending not always showing under certain circumstances
• (LC) Fixed newspaper coupon not showing what item it discounts when you hover over it in the inventory, as well as some other newspaper coupon related bugs
• Fixed a bug that could cause you to be assigned a random job when moving areas under some circumstances
• Fixed the daytime marker under the time getting stuck
• Some little extra improvements for immersion, the fence and dealer characters won’t talk with you while police are nearby
• Fixed pedestrians not speaking when reacting to crime
• Fixed getting stuck zoomed in if certain popups or events happened at the start/end of the day
• Fixed Music starting near the end of tracks too often
• Fixed being able to reselect an already selected character, which just made the char name text unhighlight
• Fixed cases where starting a new run after abandoning a challenge one could have you start the new run with the previous run’s selected challenge
• Fixed issues with arcade ambience/music being heard when moving to another building after going to arcade
• Fixed the Illness cured popup showing text for Injury cured popup
• Fixed tooltips from the pause menu still showing after closing it
• (LC) Fixed “Go to park” option incorrectly showing for Abandoned character in street when talking to them
• (LC) Fixed Addict character in street using text “Ah I shouldn’t but i’ll take it” after talking to them first time
• (LC) Fixed z positioning of some new street characters
• Fixed issues with perk collector achievement and max level busking perks. Lots of things have changed or become available in terms of changing the perk cap over the last several updates, and busking doesn’t have as many perks as the other categories. The max cap for busking is lower if you increase the max cap too much in a custom game to compensate for this, up to the limit of how many busking perks actually exist.
• OFTEN music mode now plays music… more often.
• Updated sfx mixing, so sounds sound better
• The dogs walk speed has been improved so he can keep up when you have loads of walk speed buffs
• Fixed food stamp icons incorrectly showing in shop sometimes
• Fixed the MARTYR perk icon having crime colours when it’s a begging perk
• Fixed beg reactions in the subway showing broken text in non english languages
• Fixed flask item showing a water bottle icon when it contains nothing
• Fixed charity events reading “in 2 days - in 2 DAYS” twice
• Fixed not being able to hear the guitar when playing it
• Tips in the loading screen now stay up for a minimum time to make them more readable
• Fixed text of map buttons in phone menu
• Fixed music mix/mode text in the options menu initially reading as the wrong mode text
• Fixed cigarettes not showing a proper description in various menus
• Fixed the music mode button being hidden when initially loading into the main menu
• Fixed being able to spam the rest button in shelter to get additional hunger
• Fixed shelter regular perk also applying to shelters with the same company/owner
• Fixed more issues in some translated text in certain languages
• Fixed inventory not being sorted correctly when first opening it
• Fixed perks not being scrollable until you visit other left side menus
• Fixed Defaults button in character customizer causing you to not be able to add traits

Hello again! As promised here's a new patch, complete with more night events and a bunch of other improvements. Still got a few more things to come in yet another patch, stay tuned! - Danny

Changes and new stuff

• (LC) Added a “Defaults” button to customiser, so you can easily reset everything
• Over 20 new night events have been added!

Balancing

• When competing for day labour, you can’t just accept the new values if someone bargains for their own work, you have to change your bid.
• Pedestrians walk slightly slower. While this makes it easier to not beg accidentally, it does reduce crowd volume a tiny bit.

Bug fixes and improvements

• Improved clock icon timer timing in popups
• Fixed getting stuck at water fountain with the pristine perk (YEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!)
• Fixed various issues with welfare appointments
• Fixed main character not doing their end day speech
• Fixed title of talking ui being too big when talking to certain characters
• Fixed certain characters having options to take you to the park when they shouldn’t
• Directions shown for buildings now stays on screen longer, like when using the phone map or asking someone
• Fixed some cases or events where a random perk could be awarded and this could possibly be a dlc perk when you don’t own the dlc, which would break quite a few things…
• Fixed various issues with challenges and unlocks in the character customiser
• Fixed the welfare office mentioning your hygiene is too low, when it’s actually your crime level being too high that’s stopping you getting in
• Fixed issues with popups causing a hang if they occur right at the end of the day
• Fixed winter happiness decays effects occurring in certain new buildings
• Fixed multiple versions of the same story character type showing up in one day (like seeing two veteran characters in the same day)
• Fixed certain hygiene effects not restoring as much hygiene as they should when you had increased your max hygiene
• Fixed the 3rd shop item bugging out
• Fixed more issues with the parent and child pedestrian
• Fixed some new item icons being too small compared to the rest
• Fixed some typos

I'm back again with yet another patch of improvements, bug fixes and implemented feature requests! Here are your patch notes, I'll be back again soon with more... the next patch has new content too! ^-^ Until next time, Danny

Changes and new stuff

• If you are friends with both Joe and Maggie and have joined their syndicate, sometimes they’ll give you some minor items if you pay over the average into the pot
• Updated the new item icon on the bag
• CLINIC UPDATE: The clinic is one of the least used buildings in the game and has been in need of an update for awhile, even though it is one of the minor buildings. Here it is:
• If you have particular maladies like being on your period or illness, the clinic may give you a free item to help with it once when you visit.
• If you don’t have any of the item on sale in the clinic within your inventory, your first purchase will come with a free extra. This can only trigger once per day.
• The pool of items that clinics sell has been increased slightly.

Balancing

• Perks are earned Slightly faster at various levels
• (LC) The first welfare appointment now occurs 2 days later rather than 5. However, it’ll take longer to get welfare again if you lose it by being arrested or anything like that.
• (LC) Welfare now gives even more based on how many appointments you’ve had, and the maximum possible cap has been increased.

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed the red car graphical bug
• Improved click boxes for pedestrians and scrap to make accidental begging less of a thing, working on some new control schemes as feedback suggests though!
• Increased base volume of guitar sfx
• Fixed that sitting homeless character’s positioning so it didn’t look like they were floating sometimes
• Various optimisations have been made, so the game uses up 100-300 mb less ram at all times
• Fixed some cases where you couldn’t increase hygiene past 100 even though your max hygiene was more than 100
• Further improved bus positioning when dropped off
• Bus: res shelter button now takes you to in progress shelter if you have one, so you don’t have to be resident before it shows in the bus menu
• Fixed toilet bugging out late in the day
• Fixed vsync issues, vsync options have been removed, but now it’s set automatically based on your hardware.
• (LC) Fixed parent and child moonwalking
• (LC) Fixed not being able to move after begging from the parent and child (Woops, forgot to add these fixes too when I first posted the patch notes)
• (LC) Welfare system has been made more obvious in various UI.
• (LC) Also fixed some welfare appointments bugs
• (LC) Small bell - Fixed this bugging out the inventory.
• (LC) Added bus option to current welfare office and arcade
• (LC) Fixed unlocking stuff for challenges and character customiser
• (LC) Fixed challenge mode being turned off if you loaded back into a saved game after going back to the main menu

Another patch here, finally got that black screen bug sorted, so that should be all good now. Also made some optimisations to reduce ram usage. Got more patches still coming! ^-^ Danny

Hey guys, sorry again for the bugs that were introduced with the DLC launch, here's a patch for a lot of the base game issues! I'll keep coming with more patches until the game is perfect, will have a few more done this week. The game isn't usually like this, but adding more and content does make it harder to not add more bugs along the way! A real shame our recent review score has been cut in half because of this, and we'll never hit overwhelmingly positive now... but I guess I should have tested more. It'll all be smooth again soon though! Still got more fixes and a little more content coming up, stay tuned! Danny

Balancing

• Paperwork now affects job success more positively
• Base Happiness drain when studying/working decreased

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed the first building in the middle of the city where you start always generating with the same buildings
• Fixed some black screen/crash bugs that could happen when continuing a game
• Fixed the ending not loading or causing a crash on low end computers, due to animation frames not being properly compressed and using too much memory (This was a bug from an engine upgrade)
• Fixed the minus xp bug, and if you load into the game after this patch with minus xp you’ll get a level up as a sorry!
• Fixed happiness loss ticks happening on benches as though you were working

Hey everyone, So it's obvious that the launch of the DLC has fixed a lot of bugs! ...and introduced a load more. Thanks to all your feedback and reports, I've got a bunch of hotfixes up in the last week, but I've still got plenty of work to do. It's hard testing every variable in a game with hundreds of perks, items, events and characters that just multiplied all the different variations of a run with the new customisation system even more, when you're only one person. Still, no excuses, I'm working on more patches and should have everything running smoothly again this week. And then I'll continue to make improvements until I'm satisfied. As an apology, I've got a little more content to be included in the base game on the way too. ^-^ Back soon with more patches! Danny

Got more fixes here, and more coming! You guys are really doing great with all the feedback and critiques. ^-^

Bug fixes and improvements

⦁ (Living City) Fixed time affecting start effects (slow, fast) having swapped effects and doing the opposite of what they say ⦁ (Living City) Fixed some start effects behaving as though they hadn't been unlocked once you equip them, stopping removal ⦁ (Living City) Fixed the welfare office thinking you already have an assigned office at the start ⦁ Fixed main character saying "I don't have any more..." instead of usual day end text at 9pm ⦁ Fixed silver bracelet find popup having the wrong buttons ⦁ Fixed some overlapping UI

Phew! Alrighty, here's another patch with some much needed fixes, keep the feedback coming and I'll keep making updates. :)

New Features & Big Changes

⦁ (Living City) Welfare office UI updated, so you can see which one is your assigned office. Various popups/texts related to welfare also updated. You also get your welfare card immediately after siging on rather than when you turn up to your first appointment.

Balancing

⦁ Fixed jobs/study/welfare taking more happiness than it should, this is actually more of a bug fix ⦁ (Living City) The hope levels of some stat changes have been updated (hygiene affects it way less for one) ⦁ (Living City) Abandoned doesn't give good directions until you have a slightly better reputation

Bug fixes and improvements

⦁ (Living City) Fixed not being able to remove start effects after adding them ⦁ (Living City) Fixed a bug that could cause gambling in the arcade to pay out too much ⦁ (Living City) Fixed a lot of issues with the Arcade ⦁ (Living City) Fixed various start effects not resetting when starting a new game ⦁ (Living City) Fixed some start effects not activating correctly with certain combos ⦁ (Living City) Fixed being able to change stats even when your hope bar is full or empty, which would let you take it past the min and max ⦁ (Living City) Fixed some silver bracelet rewards showing as a vendor item ⦁ (Living City) Fixed stat changes possibly being set to 160 ⦁ (Living City) Fixed crime increases in the customisation menu increasing hope instead of decreasing it

Got a bunch more fixes done this morning, audio and various bugs have been fixed, I'll be back later with another patch! ^-^

Well it looks like there were some teething issues for those who downloaded the new patch and dlc within the first few hours of launch, so I've done like 4 hotfix patches since then that fixes... a bunch of stuff. For anyone having an issue with crackly sound, closing and reopening the game is a short term fix until i have a solution. Too tired for full patch notes right now, gotta get some sleep, but I'll be back tomorrow with more patches! I hope everyone is having a good time exploring all the new stuff. ^-^ Danny

It's time! After a ton of work over many months, The Living City is now available for purchase! Check it out! Or better yet... wishlist or buy it! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1845520/CHANGE_The_Living_City_Expansion/ As I've mentioned before, this expansion comes with new buildings, 80 new items and perks, new characters, a lofi remix of the soundtrack that can be toggled in the options menu and a massive customisation system that unlocks if you have at least 3 playable characters including poverty. Also... here's a big update for the base game too! Details on that are further down. I'll be keeping an eye on things like a hark as always and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback on our massive expansion to CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Expensive! It's been a hell of a ride and truly humbling to hear all your stories about how our little game has inspired you to care for the homeless... Maybe I'll have some news on the next game next....? -PEACE- Danny

Changes & new stuff

• New music options! You can now choose how often music is played, even on a random loop of the tracks if you like.
• Various updated UI
• New “Abandon run” button added to in-game options, drains 100 happiness instantly allowing you to unlock things based on how far you got (ending before your first winter doesn’t give much...)

Balancing

• Some special passive items have been increased in price. With all the new ways to earn cash that have been added over the years, some things just make it too easy to fill your pack with every item.
• Anytime you buy an item from a vending machine, there is now a small chance an extra item will fall down
• The base perk cap for all categories has been increased by one. Sorry to anyone going for that max perks achievement… I recommend making friends with Bill. Though the perk earn rate at various levels has also been adjusted.
• Charity events happen slightly less often by default
• Pedestrian base generosity/begging chances reduced by about 3%
• Suit pedestrians have a tiny bit more cash on average
• The granny shows up more rarely and pays out 10% less on average
• Restaurant prices reduced, some effects give better bonuses
• Drunk effect lasts for a bit less time (remember you can get sober faster if you sleep on a bench!)
• Negative work buffs/traits now also cause you to lose a little happiness when you get them, positive ones give happiness when you get them
• Bus stops spawn more commonly and also drop you closer to where you’re going
• Clothing street vendors are rarer, and street vendor discounts aren’t quite as good (still much better than shops!)
• Gaining a positive work trait/buff at a job offsets previous warnings more
• Water fountains are slightly more common
• Criminal Record has less effect on paperwork at max
• Various building generation chances have been better optimized, this will mean that your current run will have a different layout after installing this update! New runs will be fine.
• Day labour billboards are more common, but base day labour risks increased. Perks that affect day labour are a bit more effective. Asking for less also reduces risk more. Additionally, competing with other homeless for the same job now works more as intended, so you can’t just accept the job when someone undercuts you.
• Streets are generated more densely packed with buildings on average, and buildings are less likely to show up near others of the same kind. Additionally, bad luck spawns have been mitigated so you won’t have runs with the nearest library/shelter being miles away
• Slightly increased base busking earnings, but also slightly reduced effectiveness of some busking perks
• Reputation now decays by 1 per day
• Police are a tiny bit more likely to be kind
• The emptier street layouts are much more likely to have street vendors with discounts, vending machines, payphones, etc
• Bliss addiction takes 2 days longer to get rid of. Other addictions take 1 day longer.

Bug fixes and improvements

• Fixed bugs that could occur when using public toilets late in the day
• Fixed some translation bugs in certain menus for certain languages
• The flask now has an icon for the drink it contains
• Fixed study continuing to seem to scale your salary in the ui after you’ve already gained a job
• Banking withdraw/deposit buttons are more intuitive and less buggy
• When returning to the main menu from the game, logos are skipped and the transition is faster
• When using the bus to get to a shelter, this will no longer take you to shelters that are closed down if any are.
• Fixed paperwork values in the jobs office not updating after working a shift until you exit and re-enter
• Improved scrolling sensitivity/speed in inventory, perk menus, etc
• Fixed tooltips that normally show when hovering over things in the bag menu from showing while in the street and not actually hovering over a ui item with a tooltip
• Fixed a bug that could cause some of the scratchcards you find to count as being paid for when you actually found them in the streets/in trash sometimes, causing happiness debuffs on use when it shouldn’t
• Fixed library events occurring/showing even when libraries are closed on the first day of summer
• Fixed various instances where the options in certain night events would bug and both read as “OK”
• Sped up the transition/timing when using the bus before you can move
• Improved background building artwork
• “Love” perk updated, to make it clear it’s more dog related
• Made more optimisations for faster loading and smoother gameplay
• Fixed popup title being incorrect when item is confiscated
• Fixed the one of the homeless you can trade with levitating
• Fixed a bug that could affect charity day start times with certain perks after changing areas
• Fixed the “Well prepared” start bonus icon being too small
• Fixed study bar ui not filling properly until you get some study after loading
• Improved pedestrian spawn code, so they don’t spawn so close together all the time
• Improved scrap click collision so you beg accidentally less often
• Fixed text on mouse mode button not changing to reflect new mouse mode
• Adjusted pitch bending for the minor fanfare, so it’s less piercing
• Fixed certain perks/effects that increased the number of items you find when you do find items in trash not triggering 100% of the time
• Fixed happiness losses possibly occurring with certain perk/item setups while spending time in laundrette, toilets or park
• Fixed city not always generating correctly with welfare cuts city event at level 2 or higher
• HAHA! The fountain washing bug is fixed! It was the deodorant’s fault this whole time…

Hey guys!!! It's finally time to reveal the DLC in full! Without further ado, here is the store page and of course the trailer for The Living City expansion: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1845520/CHANGE_A_Homeless_Survival_Experience_Living_City_Expansion/ Remember to hit the wishlist button! Every time someone wishlists, Steam is a bit nicer to us. ^-^ Almost done with the base game patch too, see you next Friday for release day! Danny

Hey everyone, apologies for the lack of updates! So I've been crunching like hell to get everything done to release the game, but due to some internal hiccups we're gonna have to delay "The Living City" DLC expansion once more. And, to be honest, I could really use a little rest from crunching to keep working at a decent quality, and I pretty much do everything. Sorry! Our new release date is April 29th! ...For sure this time! I hate to break promises to you guys, but I promise the wait'll be worth it! The expansion really does add a ton of new content and variability, plus more ways to play how you want. In the meantime, as a little gift for being patient with me, I've got that new base game patch landing in the next couple of days that has a little bit of new content and a bunch of other improvements/fixes/feature requests. Also, here's some preview shots of the DLC! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33562450/83808900c8c6bc430e99b4e12d434e38889b902c.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33562450/9e65dae33e2a4436ed06eabf44a9fa76e4a31435.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33562450/6a419f2104e26447e03a801c2c365e3f5674edb6.png And with the risk of yet again sounding like a broken record, I'm almost done with the trailer and store page which will be up soon! I'll be back with another announcement when it's all ready for ya. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33562450/713cc677d572af5434b89a8ed30c5e98af9f6d98.png That's all from me for now, back soon with the new patch and maybe some other stuff. ^-^ Danny

Hey everyone! I'm baaaaaack. Sorry to keep you waiting, but it's been a little while since I gave a proper update and I wanted to keep you guys in the loop. The DLC shall be titled "The Living City expansion" , and it includes a ton of new features. More on that below our base game roadmap, I don't want to spoil too much, but lower down you can see a summary of most of the main features. The store page for The Living City will be live soon! Remember to check back for our new trailer and official release date! Oh, and remember to wishlist! It really helps with the steam algorithm (Oh dear I sound like a youtuber or something...) ^-^ We're almost good to go with everything, first off here's a full list of our remaining plans for CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience:

UPCOMING BASE GAME FEATURES & IMPROVEMENTS

March

• Some new night events! including events specific to certain story characters
• Ability to call the dealer and find out where he is
• Additional music options, so you can play with less silence if you wish
• Flask will show what item it has via an icon
• And of course some balancing adjustments and bug fixes from all the new content

April/May

• Cloud saving
• Controller support
• Mobile/tablet port

Summer 2022

• French, Japanese & polish support (It may not be all 3, it depends on how how much we can afford)

Autumn/Winter 2022

• Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and any other remaining languages we've announced that have been left out.
• Maaaaaaaybe some other ports (can't confirm anything about this yet)

(New languages and things could come out sooner, but for that to happen we'd need to sell a lot more copies in the short term)

THE LIVING CITY EXPANSION

IF you thought this game had a lot of depth before, you're in for a treat. UPDATE: Apologies, but we've had to delay it a bit. The expansion will now be releasing April 9th. Sorry! Release Date: March 2?th (full date will be on the store page when it's up! Get those wishlists ready!) FEATURES

• A huge run/character customisation system! Balance your "Hope" by choosing your story, starting cash, starting perks, maladies, reputation, etc as well as selecting from a ton of new unique starting effects that are unlocked by completing various objectives. This doesn't offer graphical changes to your character beyond the predefined character looks we already have, just want to be honest about that.
• 2 New buildings, a welfare office and an arcade! Plus new street layouts and street events
• The homeless stories/characters you don't play as, will become unique interactable characters in your run
• 64 new perks!
• 14 new items!
• 9 unique challenge modes for experienced players, can you survive on the streets in "Extreme Weather" or during a "Pandemic"?
• LOADS of new npcs and other homeless with unique interactions!
• Subway busking!
• New street vendor, new vending machine and a bunch of other new unique street interactables
• A Lo- fi remix of the soundtrack, that can be toggled in the options!

As for after all this released, it'll be the next game. More on that in... a little while. Are you as excited as I am? Back soon with a live store page for THE LIVING CITY! - Danny