New trailer

[previewyoutube=aZz_eP2lcUE;full][/previewyoutube] Software Inc. has entered its beta phase, which warranted an update of the now 5 year old trailer.

Major changes

• Added add-ons, which are extra products that can be developed and sold for a software or hardware product
• Added software updates, which allows increasing the tech level of a product to extend its life, and updates are now required to release bug fixes
• Added subscription-based software
• Added lead designers, who heavily impact the sales and marketing efforts of a product and have demands to boot
• Added hardware design system, so each hardware product's look can be customized
• Overhauled hiring with a limited hiring pool that refreshes every month
• Overhauled employee traits, there are currently 30 traits
• You can now have up to 4 founders when you start a new company
• Overhauled utility values and prices and added more ways to generate and store electricity
• Overhauled product reviews, you now get 3 reviews from various reviewers that focus on specific aspects of the product and company
• Improved rectangle room building and added wall dragging tool
• Overhauled notification system and look, issue messages now stick around until they are fixed
• Added bikes, body odour and bathing
• Save files, blueprints and some settings are now synced with Steam Cloud

You can still play Alpha 11 by switching to the legacy branch in Steam, click here to see how. Alpha 11 save files are compatible with Beta 1, but won't take advantage of many of the new features, like add-ons and hardware designs.

New price

With the release of beta 1 the price of Software Inc. goes from $14 to $16 (Depending on your region). The plan was always to increase the price of the game as it neared completion. This would make the game cheaper the earlier you bought it, as a reward for backing it early. The game is now 5 times bigger than I originally planned and I've been developing it for 7 years, rather than the 3 I initially planned for. Your support and feedback, and my enjoyment of developing Software Inc. has motivated me to continue improving on the game for so long, and it has made the game so much larger than what it would've otherwise been. Now it's at the point where I'll be spending most of my time polishing what is there, rather than expanding on it (I won't rule out feature creeping completely, though ;). This includes finishing up some game mechanics that aren't quite there yet, like digital distribution. And I'll finally be pushing towards actually finishing the game. Thank you so much for sticking with me all this time! But also thank you for not sticking with me all this time, but just playing it a couple of times 3 years ago and forgetting all about it, I still appreciate the support!

[ 2022-04-11 20:07:07 CET ] [ Original post ]