Project manager SIM news & patch notes

Hey everyone!

And straight to the main point. As you've probably noticed - I'm releasing the game into Early Access on July 30. I didn't exactly plan this from the start, but the moment I began getting feedback on my demo, I realized that developing a game together with players is way more fun than doing it alone XD.

Especially since I'm a solo developer. I've been working on the game for more than 8 months now, and already I can't balance everything on my own - even though I've only implemented the early game out of everything I have planned. Right now players are leaving me tons of feedback that I really need. Thank you so much! Without you, there would be no Project Manager SIM.

And now I'm going to drop a very long and very dry article about what's changing in the game for its Early Access launch and how it'll differ from the demo. I'll go through all the categories one by one (that's how the tasks were sitting in my task tracker), regardless of scale or importance.

TL;DR - what's changing for Early Access (for those who don't want to read the whole wall of text):

• Market influence - a new mechanic: every month the world rolls a die across 4 axes (economy, clients, hiring, HR climate). You'll have to wait for the right moment.

• Clients came alive - reputation is now separate for each one, and employees like/dislike different clients (a bonus or penalty to mood and efficiency).

• Support projects reworked and fixed - proper XP, clear rewards, their own section in the UI.

• Burnout now reacts to your decisions - crunch and denied vacations/raises build it up; rest and bonuses bring it down.

• A harsher, fairer economy - the boss takes a monthly cut, dividends are paid daily, a new goal (save up for your first car), projects are more varied (juicy ones and flat-out bad ones), and the project limit goes up to 10.

• A living office -- a lounge with a TV, a foosball table, an AC unit, and "Employee of the Week."

• Hiring reworked - salary no longer gives away skill, and candidates now have office demands.

• 12 challenges, 33 achievements (on Steam), and a leaderboard.

• …and a drift mode hidden in the settings. Don't ask.

Now, the detailed and dry version. Let's go:

A new market influence mechanic (the seeds of it):

I decided the game was missing some unpredictability XD. The world around your company should feel alive (at least not static). Starting from the second month, every month the market rolls a die across four axes, and each can be "good," "normal," or "bad":

• Economy - affects the budgets of new projects and support rates (+-15%).

• Clients - how many projects per week are even available to you.

• Hiring - candidates' salary expectations and the size of the pool.

• HR climate - the overall mood and efficiency of your whole team (+-10).

Reworking clients:

Clients are an essential part of a project manager's job. I haven't given this area enough attention yet, but the first steps are already here.

Employees like and dislike different clients. Every worker has interests, and they affect their sympathy toward a client: a techie geek loves an IT startup but frowns at a construction firm; a finance-bro is happy with a bank but can't stand media. While an employee works for "their" client - +10 mood and +10% efficiency; for a "disliked" one - the opposite. I haven't fully polished this mechanic yet, but it'll form the foundation of a future sales office, where you'll be able to choose which clients to focus on. For now, experimenting.

Support projects:

Support contracts in the demo were, to put it mildly, raw. I didn't add anything fundamentally new - rather, I refined and fixed them:

• Time and XP are now counted correctly - the specialist's work and tickets show up in reports, just like regular projects. For each closed ticket the worker earns XP, and the PM gets XP for a completed contract.

• A clear reward. For every week of support worked: +2 reputation points for the client, +2 to global reputation, and +1 boss trust. Previously a successful contract could give nothing at all.

• Overdues and termination are now separated: the payout penalty is based on this week's overdues, while contract termination is based on the total limit across the whole contract.

• Bugs fixed: a fired specialist no longer "haunts" the contract; a new offer from a client now appears right after you buy an upgrade or finish an old contract (instead of waiting for Monday); Customer Support is now always a contractor (being a freelancer broke their progression); fixed the weird log text when no specialist is on site.

• Support projects moved into their own section (at the top, with a header), both in the lists and in the boss's selection window. Plus there's now a dedicated size filter - SUPPORT.

Burnout - expanding the mechanic:

• It grows from "bad" decisions: crunch +3, denying a vacation +8, refusing a competitor's offer without a raise +5, denying a raise +5, publicly scolding a junior +4, unpaid leave +3, denying a day off +1.

• It drops slower than it builds up: vacation −8 on return, a bonus −5, a paid day off / sick leave −3, and time on the lounge sofa in front of the TV also reduces burnout.

Economy and rebalance:

Everything is now both more logical and meaner.

• The boss takes his cut every month. Instead of the abstract "bring in profit" quest, there's now a real tax: at the end of each month the boss deducts a fixed sum, and it grows month over month. Fail to earn his "cut" - you go into the red and risk bankruptcy.

• Dividends drip in daily. Your share of the company's income no longer waits for the end of the month - it's paid out daily, like a salary. Feels more right given the current situation.

• A new life goal - save up for your first car. The win condition is now clear and human: reach a personal balance. The road there is a 4+ hour run. Or longer. Or even more than one run.

• Severance pay is now predictable - exactly half a month's salary. No more roulette when firing someone.

• Projects can now be good or not-so-good. I reworked generation: margin and deadlines are two separate axes. Sometimes you get a fat contract, sometimes a mediocre one. And the deadline now correlates with the volume of work, instead of always hitting the same "floor." The project economy should now look more real and alive.

• The project limit is raised to 10 (via a new skill tier), so the scale of your company is no longer the ceiling.

But I really tried to make the balance more varied. If you look at the demo - all projects were always more or less "average." Boring. Now you can take a genuinely bad project, or you can wait for the big fish. And there are more projects overall, so now you can afford to pass on some.

Office and employees:

I added new furniture!

• A lounge area - a sofa and a TV. Idle employees zone out in front of the TV, restore energy, boost their mood, and slowly shed burnout.

• Foosball table - yes, you can now play football in the office! Idle employees play in pairs; the winner is happy, the loser is bummed, and playing together brings the team closer.

• AC unit - a nice +5% efficiency for everyone.

• Employee of the Week. Buy the honor frame, and once a week you can name your best worker: they get +10 mood, +10% efficiency, and +10 loyalty. But be careful — those who rank higher by points may start to get jealous. The week's hero's portrait proudly hangs in the frame on the wall.

I also drew additional hairstyles, accessories, hats, and stuff like that. It's all the foundation for an "inventory." Unfortunately I didn't manage to implement that mechanic in time for EA. I still don't quite understand how to introduce and balance it properly. Put it off for later.

Hiring:

• Hiring is reworked. A candidate's salary is no longer tied to their skill - the price rolls within their grade's "band." That means the price tag no longer gives away skill, and the "Talent Assessment" skill finally has meaning: without it, you only see a blur. Now you really can hire a "meh" employee for a lot of money - look closely.

Again, I'm doing this so the player pays more attention to details and makes decisions. The reasoning is the same as with the project rebalance.

• Candidates now have office demands. A senior might want a coffee machine, a kitchen, or a lounge - and until you have them, the "Hire" button is disabled, and the requirements are highlighted right on the card.

Interface:

A batch of usability fixes - here are the main ones:

• Filters in project selection and in the employee list (by client, size, role).

• Reworked (finished) shops for clients and the boss.

• Hints during project selection - including a clear explanation of how many tasks you need to overdue to fail a contract.

• Frozen columns in the Gantt plan. Now, when you scroll the timeline, the key columns stay in place - no more scrolling back and forth.

• Deadlines are counted in working days. "3 days left," where two of them are Saturday and Sunday, no longer misleads you.

• Context right in the event window. When a client asks for extra work or a junior makes a mistake - you immediately see which project it is, how much progress it has, and how many working days are left until the deadline. Deciding is easier now.

• A boss idea is now noticeable - the icon and the line blink bright red, you can't miss it.

• Bottom panels no longer open "underneath" other windows and no longer switch into each other without closing the previous one.

• And dozens of little things: scrolling in the hiring menu with 5 candidates, a bigger boss window in the mornings, a centered menu in windowed mode, roster avatars with hats and accessories, the "Assign" button without that dumb highlight frame, full point numbers in the day summary, and much more.

Challenges, achievements, and Steam:

• 12 challenges — special scenarios for those for whom simply winning isn't enough. Just for yourself for now. But it's more interesting this way.

• 33 achievements for all sorts of mechanics — from your first thousand to peeking on someone in the toilet. And they all sync with Steam! (Challenges are only tracked in-game for now.)

• A Steam leaderboard — compete for who reaches the goal the fastest. Fewer days — higher rank.

One easter egg to finish:

At one point I was fixing several bugs for a couple of days and they just refused to get fixed. I've generally been sleeping way too little since I started working on this update. At some point I added "Experimental features" to the settings. Now you can enable "Drift." The player starts behaving like a car at 5x and 10x speed. DON'T ASK WHY I MADE THIS.

There you go.

As you can see, there are a lot of changes.

For those who played the demo - you won't find a new game when EA launches. But you'll find the same one, only better and more varied.

And now a bit about what "package" the game will ship with in EA. Let me note upfront: I believe I've only implemented the early game so far. And not even fully, it seems. But I tried to build this early game to give the player a challenge - and to make them study the game in order to beat it. The game has a core loop that underpins the whole concept and mechanics. There's about 4–6+ hours of gameplay there (after that it's a sandbox). By the way, at least 20 people played the demo for 10+ hours XD. I have no idea how they did it.

Hello everyone!

Well, next week is going to be a big one — Steam Next Fest is about to begin. I want to show off a little bit of what I managed to finish right before the festival.

What's new in Update 0.45 (TL;DR):

1. We can finally touch grass!

Yes, the "outside the office" area is now live. For now, it’s purely a decorative change, but I’ve already planned a lot of cool things to do outside. However, all of that will have to wait for future updates.

While the area is quite small at the moment, eventually, employees will have their own vehicles, hang out outside, hide from you behind the building, and do other fun things.

2. You can be buff now (at least in the game).

Since my game heavily relies on the character you play, I’ve started working on giving them more individuality.

Now you can customize your appearance (you don't have to be bald anymore!) and add unique character traits that affect the gameplay. For example, you can choose to be smelly — which is incredibly important, obviously. Or you can take some courses before starting the game. You can even finish GOOD courses.

3. Football and sprinting with Shift.

I don’t actually like football in real life. Want to know how the ball ended up in the office? Players kept telling me there was nothing to do while waiting for the boss, a new project, or something else. So, I figured, why not just drop a football into the office?

But players wanted more. They asked for goals. So, I added goals. According to the lore, the boss loves football, which is why he decided to set up goals for the employees (the boss doesn't actually know this yet, and there isn't much lore to begin with). Now you can score a goal, and confetti will fly everywhere!

And do you know why the goals are inside the office? There's a whole outdoor area now, why not put them there? Sounds silly, right? Well, they are in the office because now you can use the ball to smash things! (Right now, you can break a desk or a coffee machine, but I’ll add more breakable objects later).

Ha, how do you like that, stupid desk!

4. Slight adjustments to employee behavior.

Employees no longer just spawn inside the office. Now they appear outside and walk in. They also arrive at different times instead of spawning exactly at 09:00. It feels much more realistic this way.

5. Minor UI and tutorial tweaks.

I’m continuing to work on the FTUE (First-Time User Experience) and the interfaces. Every time I touch them, I realize there is still a massive amount of work left to do. But I'm moving forward, even if it's in small steps. I won't go into too much detail here.

6. Fixed a number of bugs found by players, including:

• The ball wouldn't hit objects at 5x speed or higher.

• An error involving the player's desk trigger during the tutorial.

• The log didn't clear when starting a new game. Also, purchased desks wouldn't disappear unless you restarted the game.

• Removed duplicate icons in events.

• Fixed the description for the "Motivate" skill.

• Fixed the notification message when a freelancer leaves.

• Plus, a lot of other minor tweaks that players didn't notice, but I did. There are still plenty of bugs left in my backlog, but they don't seem to be high-priority right now.

There wasn't much time for this update, and I had to do a lot of drawing, so the update didn't turn out massive. But I really enjoyed working on it. I love that I can finally start focusing on the SIM aspect and breathe some life into the game.

The demo has already been updated, so go ahead and try out the new version! Thank you all so much!

Hi everyone!

This is a momentous day for me because I've taken another step forward. It might not be a huge one on an industry scale, but it's incredibly important to me personally!

The Project Manager SIM demo is officially out, and I really hope you enjoy it. Since the playtest began, I've significantly improved the game—both in terms of mechanics and visuals. None of this would have been possible without your feedback, for which I am immensely grateful.

Now, I am eagerly awaiting your first impressions of the demo. I have a clear roadmap for the game's development, but I would really love to add the things that you, the players, expect from the game.

Here is what is already implemented in the game:

• Two types of projects: Traditional and support projects—each with their own unique mechanics.

• Deep hiring system: Employees have personalities, traits, relationships, moods, and efficiency levels, making every NPC feel alive and interesting.

• Team interaction: Praising, reprimanding, handing out bonuses, and much more.

• IT industry realities: Burnout, vacations, days off, sick leaves, salary raise requests (and denying them!), as well as competitors headhunting your top specialists!

• Loyalty system: Your team's attitude towards you directly impacts their efficiency.

• Reputation and clients: Building relationships with clients and earning global reputation.

• Relationship with management: Completing monthly tasks from your boss and accumulating loyalty points.

• Comfort and productivity: Upgrading the office and improving employee workspaces.

• Random events: A multitude of different events that suddenly impact gameplay.

• And much more that is hard to list in text.

The demo features 90 in-game days, which should take about two hours to complete, maybe a little more.

I have attached a link to a feedback form in the game's main menu, and I would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill it out! I’ll also be happy to chat with you in the Steam discussions here.

Thank you so much for your attention and support! If you enjoyed the demo, the best reward for me as a solo developer would be adding the game to your Wishlist.

Thanks again for your attention and support!

Hey everyone!

The playtest ended 2 weeks ago, and all this time I've been going through the feedback you left. Thank you all so much, it gave me a lot to think about and tweak.

In this update, I want to share what I've managed to get done for the demo release, which is scheduled for May 20th.

What's new in Update 0.44?

For the last two weeks, I've been focusing on making my game a bit easier to understand and a bit prettier for the players. Let's start with the main thing:

1. I slightly redrew the in-game graphics:

I added shadows, drew the furniture in a bit more detail, and created textures for the floor and walls. In general, I flexed my creative skills as best I could. I tried to give the game a bit more depth.

I actually enjoyed the drawing process for Project Manager SIM (even though I usually don't like to draw). In the future, I plan to draw more objects and play around with the lighting to better convey the office atmosphere.

2. Looking for a different approach to UI:

In the feedback, I often saw comments that many things in my game are unclear. I agree with this. You know how it is: when you make something yourself, every tiny detail makes perfect sense to you, but to others, it doesn't.

Many also noted that the UI is sometimes very boring and unexpressive. I tried to fix this, so far only using three interfaces as an example. I added more UI chips, color accents, prominent headers, and additional tooltips with hints. Ideally, all these things should help the player better understand the mechanics without having to dig into the encyclopedia.

3. Updated the trailer and store page description:

You can already watch the new trailer on the game's store page. I think it looks much cleaner now and does a better job explaining what the game is about and what you need to do in it.

4. Tweaked the game balance:

Based on your feedback, I adjusted a few things:

• The number of skill points per level for the player.

• The amount of experience required to level up.

• The cost of some items from the boss.

• The amount of loyalty points and the duration of boss events.

• Removed the degradation of loyalty and relationships between employees over time.

5. Changed the UI for Support projects:

I'm starting to play around with presenting projects as a Kanban board instead of Gantt charts. So far it's going well, although I plan to keep working on this interface. Considering that I plan to add other types of projects, a working Kanban board will definitely come in handy.

6. Fixed a lot of bugs, both minor and major.

The Demo drops on May 20th!

I am currently making the final adjustments to release the demo on May 20th. For those who participated in the playtest, there won't be a ton of changes to the mechanics, but the updated graphics and balance might offer a fresh experience.

I'll be waiting for all of you to come and play! As before, the demo will feature 3 months of playtime. There is currently enough content in the game to fully spend that time in it. I wonder if anyone will actually be able to complete all the boss quests?

A quick tip from the developer:

By the way, after the playtest, some of you asked: how do I complete the first boss quest for profit? Earning $1000 in the first month seems impossible, but it is totally doable.

The main expense is salaries, right? So the first thing a player should care about is: don't keep people on the payroll if there's no work for them! The game is specifically designed so that it doesn't guarantee you projects for all the employees you've hired. It is quite possible that you go to the boss on Monday, and he simply doesn't have any projects for Business Analysts for the whole week.

• At first, it's better to use freelancers. You can fire them without severance pay at any time as soon as the work for them runs out. And you can always quickly hire new ones.

• You should only hire contractors when you've gotten a little stronger. Wait until you get more global reputation and the boss brings 10+ new projects every Monday (check the Clients screen). Ideally, the simple project type should be unlocked with some clients—then you're almost guaranteed to provide a full workload for your contractors.

• And one more thing: should you hire contractors whose dismissal will cost you a pretty penny when you don't even know what they're like yet? No, you shouldn't. It's better to invest at least one point in the "Reading People" skill first. A single hidden trait like fragile can be fatal...

In short, look for the ways, they are out there!

Thank you all for your attention, and a huge thank you for your support!

Hey everyone!

Update 0.43:

Over the past two weeks, I've whipped up a new update and I want to release it on Steam tonight (already did it), so that someone can try it out over the weekend during the playtest. Right now, I'm trying to pay more attention to player feedback, while not forgetting the direction I originally wanted to take the game. Here is what came out of it:

1. Interaction with employees Now we can not only hire and fire employees, but also do a bunch of other stuff with them. Namely:

• Praise

• Scold

• Send to training

• Give a paid day off

• Send on unpaid leave

• Give a bonus

2. Workplace improvements Now we can buy someone a second monitor or a desk plant. Software subscriptions for employees have also been added. And an AI subscription: +15% to efficiency, but -50% to experience gained from projects.

3. Loyalty to the player (the PM) Did you ever refuse your employees when they asked for a day off? Or scold them when a junior messed up a project? Well, now they will start disliking you for it. An employee's loyalty directly affects their mood and efficiency.

4. Changes to client relations Previously, client relations grew simply when we completed projects for them. Now, you can grow client relations more deliberately.

Complete projects, earn loyalty points, and spend them on the client you like the most. Now every client is a mini-shop.

5. The most important thing — a new type of project. Tech Support. I plan to add other types of projects to make the game more fun. I started with what seemed to be the most understandable and straightforward: Support projects.

• Step 1: Unlock the new project type with any client (buy it for 15 loyalty points).

• Step 2: Take a new support project from the boss. Choose the strictness of the SLA and the contract duration.

• Step 3: Hire a new employee.

• Step 4: Clients call customer support and generate a certain number of tickets per day.

• Step 5: Assign the appropriate employees to the tickets, close the tickets, and get a fat paycheck at the end of the week. Or get hit with penalties for overdue tickets.

• Step 6: .....

• Step 7: Profit.

6. And various minor tweaks. I adjusted the balance a bit, added several new sounds, removed collisions and employee shaking, and fixed a bug where the game would freeze after an hour. Basically, a lot of little things that affected the overall impression of the game.

There is one problem — the encyclopedia and the tutorial at the beginning are slightly outdated. I haven't had the time to deal with that yet, sadly. But I will definitely fix everything for the upcoming demo.

Thank you everyone for playing, sharing your feedback, and supporting the development! It really means a lot to me. Have a great weekend and enjoy the playtest!

Hi everyone!

First of all, I want to thank all the playtest participants! It means the world to me because it helps me improve my game.

How did the first week of the playtest go?

Not great, but incredibly useful. About 49 people played the game over the week. That’s a good result for me, considering this is my first playtest ever. There are about 200 more people who requested access, but they aren't exactly in a rush to play :)

But, there are a number of problems that are really bumming me out. I looked at the Steam playtime reports and saw this:

• ~17 people left in the first 1–10 minutes — that's 35% of the testers.

• ~11 people left in 10–20 minutes.

• By minute 30, ~70% of the audience is lost.

• After 60 minutes — only a few individuals (1–2 people).

Oof. I have a problem.

Barrier 1: "What do I do?" (0–10 minutes, ~35% loss). This is the most critical one. A person jumped in, looked around, didn't understand what to do / didn't get hooked, and left. This is a problem with onboarding and the first impression. Additionally, during this process, I found out I have a bug in the tutorial. If you move too slowly, you run out of time to finish it, and you literally can't continue playing. Boom.

Barrier 2: "What's next?" (10–30 minutes, another ~35% loss). The person finished the tutorial (seemingly), hired their first employee, took a project - and didn't see a reason to keep going. This is a problem with the early gameplay hook; there's no "carrot on a stick" pulling you forward.

It feels like a median playtime of 16 minutes for a tycoon game is a total disaster. And while there were people who kept playing, their numbers are insignificant. It especially stings because this is the reaction from r/tycoon users on Reddit (the bulk of the playtesters came from my successful post there).

The Google Form feedback is helping much, it does give me some ideas.

Yeah, yeah. I am defeated. It seems my mechanic of "waiting" for the boss isn't really clicking with anyone. But, by the way... the people who rated the game highly didn't complain about it.

Guys, if you are participating in the playtest — please write down why YOU PERSONALLY closed the game in the first 15 minutes! You would be helping me out a ton. And if you fill out the feedback form in the main menu — I'll be over the moon.

So, what's next? It's obvious — back to work.

Below are the details for the update I just pushed to Steam. I tried to take your feedback into account and fix the game at least a bit.

1. The most important thing. I got rid of the boss waiting mechanic. Now we can take projects instantly. But there's a catch. Starting from the third day, the boss turns into a very busy person and comes to the office whenever he wants. And leaves the same way. I tried to keep the time-management aspect without stopping you from playing. Now you have to "catch" the boss. I haven't removed waiting for HR yet, I'm not ready for that. But the player can always hire an HR manager and skip the wait.

2. Tweaked the tutorial again. Well, not exactly tweaked. More like I fixed it. Now you don't have to wait around, which was causing people to run out of time. And on the first card, I explicitly state that the tutorial must be completed by 16:00. If you don't make it - you get fired. I know it's a stopgap solution, but I don't have time for a different one right now.

3. A bit more variety. In this update, I'm rolling out new bodies for employees. It doesn't affect gameplay, but it looks cooler. There are now 5 body types.

4. Encyclopedia. Many things in the game aren't intuitive or clear. I added an encyclopedia where I slowly plan to describe the mechanics. For now, it only covers the basics.

5. Improved the top panel. Now, when hovering over a value, you'll get a small tooltip. The game speed buttons look prettier now, too.

6. Emojis for Linux. Added a font to the game that should now correctly display emojis on non-Windows systems. A small thing, but a nice one.

7. Slightly changed the projects window. Added more info there to make it easier to navigate. But, as always, it only becomes useful after unlocking certain skills. Now you can directly see the efficiency and "average progress points per day from a specific employee" right in the window.

8. Lots of minor UI tweaks, texts, pauses, and so on. Short changelog:

• Added a loading screen.

• The game now pauses automatically when you are on the boss's project selection screen, the hiring screen, and during all events. But not on the active project screen (i dont know why).

• Added spacebar hotkey to pause.

• Enlarged the "Start Project" button and made it pulse.

• Enlarged the "End Day" button and made it pulse.

• Fixed boss event descriptions. Added more info on the actual effects they give.

• Added a status bubble above an employee when they have no work.

• Added visualization for the player leveling up (toast notification + bubble).

• Reworked the text in the tutorial a bit.

Bottom line:

I've already uploaded the new build to Steam. It is now version alpha 0.42. I am also opening playtest access to everyone right now. Join the playtest! As you can see, I take player feedback seriously and I am genuinely trying to make my game better.

Also, check out a video recording of the playtest that one of the participants uploaded. Support colleague with a like!

Thanks everyone for your attention!

Hey everyone! So, I'm finally launching my first playtest ever. It's pretty nerve-wracking.

I've already conducted some closed local playtests and tweaked the game based on the results, but those testers might have had a personal motivation to smooth things over and avoid giving harsh negative feedback (and no, it wasn't just my mom testing it!).

That's why it's so important for me right now to see how the beginning of my game resonates with a real audience.

What's inside the current build? Content-wise, it's a version that I treat as my "demo".

• Core mechanics - check.

• Main type of projects - check.

• 2-3 hours of gameplay - check.

• Bugs - ...also check (most likely).

What do I expect from playtesters? The truth. How does it play, what do you like, and what annoys you?

I've added a button linking to a Google Form right in the main menu. It has a few general questions that I'm most interested in right now. The form is available in two languages, since the build itself already includes English and Russian localization.

I will also be absolutely thrilled to hear any ideas you might suggest. My entire Miro board is already packed with plans and features, but, as you know, there is no such thing as too many good ideas!

So, wish me luck - and give Project Manager SIM a proper test!

Hello everyone! I’m back with another devlog and a new update. I’ll also have a small announcement at the end. But let's start with the update.

I’ve managed to get a lot done during this time, so I’ll keep the list brief so I don't bore you to death:

UPDATE:

Burnout and Mood:

Now employees have a burnout meter. Burnout accumulates when an employee spends a long time in a sad or miserable mood. And since I rebalanced the mood bonuses, this happens more often than I'd like. Also, employees can now arrive at work in different moods, instead of always defaulting to "neutral".

New Traits and Personalities:

• Ambitious - Gains experience faster, but always asks for the upper limit when requesting a salary bump.

• Sickly - Gets sick and takes sick leave more often, but asks for 15% less salary than the average employee.

• Ambivert - The most stable employee ever. Gets no mood bonuses or penalties from chatting with colleagues. Also immune to certain boss events.

• Tarot Reader - Hated by geeks and finance bros, but gets along fine with the alternative folks.

• Food Thief - Might steal someone else's lunch during break time, which baaaadly ruins their colleague's mood.

Crunches:

Because what's work without staying until 8:00 PM? Of course, if a project is going down the drain, a real PM needs the ability to ask colleagues to work late for the good of the company. The only thing is, they'll show up the next day with a penalty to energy and mood. But who cares about that, right?

Reporting:

I love reports. I love numbers and Excel spreadsheets. So now we have a financial report and an HR report. I'll definitely keep expanding the reporting system, but for now, I can only brag about this basic version I managed to put together.

But you can't just access the reports that easily. You'll need to level up the corresponding skills. Which, by the way, have also increased in number.

Office Development:

Yep. Now the kitchen, coffee machine, and corporate psychologist aren't available by default. You have to buy all of them. And it will cost you not just money, but the Boss's Trust as well. I also added a few more interesting upgrades there that should make the game a bit easier.

A quick note on the "Boss's Trust" resource. The key thing in my game is that the player isn't some Hand of God like in typical tycoons, nor are they the big boss. The player is a hired PM carving their path in this fun industry. The number of actions the player can do on their own (without the boss's approval) isn't actually that large. Earning the boss's trust isn't too hard, though: just agree to his crazy ideas, successfully complete projects, hit monthly goals, and hire people the boss likes.

New Tutorial:

Based on local playtests, I changed the tutorial. Now the game tries to teach you how to play using a standard card-action system. I wouldn't say it's a 10/10 yet, but it's definitely better than it was.

HR:

People told me it's stupid when the player has to stand over the HR manager while they look for candidates. And yeah, it really was stupid. So I removed the HR manager HAHAHAHA. Now the player stands there and looks for candidates themselves. BUT. Now, through office development, you can hire an HR manager who will search for candidates on their own and not block the player. Yay.

And a bunch of little things:

Lots of minor balance tweaks regarding costs, buffs/debuffs, projects, employees, and so on. I also added various pop-ups, visual elements, confetti for successful project completion, new sounds, and a bunch of other small details. The game feels a little better and more fleshed out. Thank you all for the feedback! Okay, I think I dragged out the update section a bit.

Announcement:

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but my current plan for the game is: Demo in May. Next Fest in July. Early Access in the summer.

I've already spent some time in Reddit threads discussing why this plan might be somewhat flawed, and I realize all the risks and how wrong this approach might be in some aspects, but it feels like I'm not ready to back down from it right now.

So, in April, I will be hosting my first-ever Steam Playtest. And if you want to participate, add the game to your wishlist right now!

Thank you for your support!

Hello everyone!

And here I am again with a devlog. Right now I have the opportunity to actively work on the game, and I realized that I can roll out small updates every 2-3 weeks. You can't add a massive amount of content in that time, but implementing a base for a new mechanic + fixing a few bugs + tweaking the balance after testing is totally doable.

I'll stick to this approach for now, considering the list of things I plan to add to the game is only growing.

A lot of interesting tweaks made it into this update. I won't keep you waiting:

1. The Boss. This is the main character and chaos generator. Now he can invent game events that will "improve" the player's life for a while. There are 5 of them right now. Here, for example, is one of those events. Familiar, isn't it?

2. The Goal. Why are we even doing all this? Because we love our job? Hell nooooo.I had to add some motivation to the game, so now the player's goal is to buy a super expensive car.

To do this, I introduced the concept of a "salary". In the first month of work, it's not motivating at all — only $1000. But later we will be able to spend the boss's loyalty points (which we get for completing his tasks for the month) to increase it.

But be careful. Your salary is also deducted from the office budget.

3. Suffering. Because what's office life without suffering, right?

• Crunches. Yep, want to make your employees stay and work until 8:00 PM? Be my guest. Just don't forget about the mood penalty for 48 hours and the loss of efficiency the next day.

• Onboarding. Now employees have to adapt to the company (-10% efficiency for a week after being hired) and to the project (-20% efficiency during the deep dive into the project on the first day).

• Morning Mood. You don't always come to work glowing with happiness, do you? Well, neither do your employees. Now an employee can show up in the morning in different states, which will affect their work for the whole day.

• Burnout. Our favorite word. Now, if an employee stays in a sad or miserable mood for a long time, their burnout level will increase. And burnout will directly affect their efficiency. Keep your workers happy!

Right now, the core loop looks like this: you have a task, let's find out what's going to stop you from completing it. Maybe someone got sick? Or maybe a request for time off? Or maybe competitors will poach someone? Or maybe the boss will freeze hiring? Or maybe someone just smells terrible and ruins the mood for the whole office?

While I'm continuing to work hard on the base mechanics, it feels like I already have a playable build that can provide a couple of hours of gameplay. So I'll slowly start thinking about Steam playtests and maybe releasing a demo version.

And by the way. Thank you for 500 wishlists! Your support is incredibly important to me, and I truly feel it!

Hi everyone! A huge thank you for your interest in Project Manager SIM.

While the game is getting ready for a full launch, I'm actively running closed playtests, making tweaks, and working on major content updates in parallel. And today I want to tell you about the first of them - the Relationships and Characters update!

I'm making all these additions with one important goal in mind. In my opinion, any good simulator needs a stage of "contemplative gameplay." In Transport Fever 2, we space out watching the trains once all the routes are set up. In Rimworld, we meditatively study colonists' stats. My game lacked this kind of content so far, and during the waiting periods, there wasn't much to look at.

But what is the most important, unpredictable, and fun thing in any office? That's right - the people! That's exactly who I decided to focus on at this stage of development.

Here is what awaits you in the new update:

• Character Traits and Quirks. Is your new employee a jock, a geek, or maybe a furry? An introvert or a toxic guy who forgets to shower? Now employees have unique traits that directly affect their mood and the team atmosphere.

• Dynamic Relationships. The office is a web of intrigue. Employees interact, gaining or losing "Relationship" points. Who will become best friends, and who will be sworn enemies? Get productivity bonuses from a well-coordinated team or lose progress points due to office wars.

• "Neighboring Desk" Mechanic (Seating). A smart PM knows who to sit with whom. Keep enemies away from each other. Move the smelly employee to the corner. And for heaven's sake, do not seat a misogynist between two women if you don't want a fire in the office.

• Hire Types (Freelancers and Contractors). Now you can choose the format of cooperation. Freelancers are short-term mercenaries: easy come, easy go (without the ability to level up). Contractors are a long-term game: they grow with the company, but firing them without a solid severance package won't work.

• Micromanagement ("I'm Watching You"). Many managers' favorite management style is now officially in the game! You can stand right over your employees' souls with impunity, and they will get a temporary efficiency bonus under your strict supervision. Well, maybe not entirely with impunity... Just get closer to your working colleagues.

• Style and Hairstyles. Bringing beauty to the open spaces. Added 3 new hairstyles for men and women (now only the player is bald in the office).

• New Random Events. Office routine is broken up by new events - sudden resignations, aggressive headhunting from competitors, vacations, and much more. Life is in full swing!

QoL Improvements and Tweaks:

• 10x Time Speed. Waiting won't be so agonizing.

• Free Camera. While you are having a meeting with the boss, you can freely fly around the office using WASD and unhurriedly study all the sections and charts in the bottom panel.

• In-game Event Log. What used to end up in the Godot engine's system output is now displayed on the screen! All the most important notifications about office life are right in front of your eyes.

Support the Development! I'm continuing to actively work on the game. If you like the direction Project Manager SIM is heading, please add the game to your Wishlist! For me, as a solo developer, every wishlist is a huge support and the best motivation to make the simulator even cooler.