Hello folks! Where on earth have I been for the past month? Due to an unforgettable change, a new recruit to the studio who arrived on December 31, 2023, I had to take paternity leave. As you can imagine, as a new father, my working hours were reduced to zero during her first month of life. Well, that's it for the explanations, now let's talk about the upcoming version of City Game Studio, v1.18.0. Among the new features on the menu is an overhaul of the consoles. Each component will have a quality attribute. Quality ratings will range from 1 star for poor quality to 5 stars for excellent quality. Component quality will influence the rate of console returns. The better the quality, the fewer the returns. You can improve the quality of components by doing research, and you'll end up with better-quality components, albeit at a slightly higher price. That's for console components. Currently, it's easy to release a console and make money with it. With the redesign, I plan to change several key elements. First of all, the number of sales, i.e. market share, will be influenced by the quality of the console, its price, the size of its catalog, but also by your community. Then there's the marketing campaign and exclusivity. You'll be able to negotiate exclusivity contracts for games published in your game catalog. By doing so, you can guarantee that high-quality games will only be available on your console, boosting public interest. As far as games published on your console are concerned. From now on, independent publishers outside the game map will be able to publish games on your console. There you have it for consoles. Turning to the specialists. First, let's talk about producers. At present, a producer increases team productivity and is needed to make AAA or big games. From v1.18.0 onwards, producers will specialize in one or more game genres (1 to 2 genres max). They will give you additional information on specific genres. In other words, not only will the gauges be more precise, but you'll also know whether the selected genre fits well with the selected console or with the selected theme. Speaking of HR. These currently allow you to manage your employees' schedules. With v1.18.0, HR will also change the look of the studio UI, allowing you to see at a glance how happy and productive a studio is. Shopping talk! Furnishing studios isn't always easy, even with automatic furnishing. That's why I'm planning to change a few things in the automatic furnishing system to make my studios more compact. I'll have to do a lot of work on the interface, but I think you'll like it. Here's what I've planned for v1.18.0 in broad outline. In addition to that, I'll be redesigning a few things, like the reviews in the magazines or the websites, to make them more useful and pretty. In the meantime, I wish you a great week. Cheers Xavier aka Binogure