DEAR NEWSBEARERS!
Today, we’re happy to share The Press Rolls On Update with you all.
The test period has come to an end, we want to thank everyone who took part. Your feedback, player data and bug reports gave us a lot of valuable insight and helped us fine-tune several parts of the update before today's release. But please, stay critical, and community input will always be monitored.
In order to communicate clearly about the present, but also the future of the game. A new roadmap post-1.0 will be part of an upcoming blogpost.
What does this update bring?
A More Tailored Challenge
Our new difficulty settings for every game mode have now been battle tested.
Come in for a more relaxed experience, with more room to decorate and build at your own pace. Or choose the hard mode for a steeper challenge. These modes don’t only change the starting money but affect: Tag sales amount, risks, loaning, wages and more. With this update, we hope to give players the freedom to choose the experience that suits them best.
When starting a new game, players can now select a difficulty after choosing a game mode:
Easy
Normal
Hard
Each difficulty is available in every game mode, with one exception: first-time players in Introduction mode will only be able to choose Easy or Normal. After completing that first run, Hard mode will also become available for Introduction too.
Specific leaderboards
There are new game modes, difficulty and ending specific leaderboards.
A new achievement called: All Press No Brakes has been added to award those who complete the decade in hardmode!
10 Extra News, created by our community
Following the Leaderboad contest we ran in December last year, the winners got the opportunity to create their very own in-game stories. After some curating and translation, we finally managed to bring them into the game! (Most are located in Europe, so focus your efforts there if you want to find them)
A more detailed wrap-up of the contest will be part of the upcoming blogpost in a few days.
Balance Changes and Improvements
Alongside the new difficulty settings, this update also includes a range of balance adjustments and additions based on both internal work and community test feedback.
Trait changes
Anointed Pen now gives a 25% XP boost and adds one quality star to obituaries
Nocturnal now gives a 25% XP boost when the employee is working in the dark
Skillful now only counts unassigned skills toward extra quality stars, instead of all skills
Known issue: the description for Anointed Pen does not yet reflect its new effect. This text will be updated in the next build and included in the next localization batch.
Perception Rules changes
Across all difficulties, several rules have been adjusted to make more playstyles feel competitive:
Risk Buzz now gives 10K sales per taken risk instead of 7,500
Illustrative now gives 20K per illustration tag instead of 15K
Hot Topic now gives 5K sales per flame tag instead of 2K
Early Edition now reaches a maximum of 48K if you print within the first hour of Sunday, double its previous maximum
Category Balance now yields 30K per set instead of 25K
These changes were made because Informational strategies often stood out as the strongest option. We wanted to strengthen other approaches so they feel more rewarding and viable.
New Deco Objects + a new Shop
Upgraded typesetting desk
Just like the linotype boost the typesetting desk, this desk does for your reporting desk. Increase task speed! And it comes with a neat typewriter.
Standing lamp
Because after the ceiling, wall, and desks surface, the floor wanted one too, and it looks great.
Extra anti-noise objects
Prison door - An extra thick door that blocks all noise. (Unlocked via the Mayor chain in the prison hub)
Folding screen - Decorative room divider that looks good and blocks even more. (Blocks more than noise)
Small Sound Panel - That fits between the page modules like the air-vents!
Acorn Hall (Map hub)
Acorn Hall offers decoration objects that players may have missed on the calendar. These items come at a high price, but they provide a way to complete collections and achievements without needing to restart a tower.
Christmas objects adjusted
The wreath and snowflake wallpaper have been adjusted to be more inline with the other objects.
Bug fixes and small improvements:
Sweeping and trash prioritization fix
Old news exploit patched
Now, everything that sits in your tower for more than 2 weeks will get the old news tag. One week later the item will disappear.
The Flower Vase layer issue fixed
Breaking news wrong hot topic tag fix
Trait modified perception not visible on completed story files fixed
Polish line break issues fixed
Priest truck quest - Meal and Food crate prioritization fixed
Infinite money exploit with stairs and printer belt fixed
Bribe quest strip requirements not showing text in Chinese fixed
For Community Test Players
For those who joined the Community Test: thank you again for helping us shape this update.
And good news, even though we will close the Community Test once this update rolls out, you will be able to keep building without needing to leave your progress behind because your saves just keep on working in this live version.
We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who joined the Community Test and shared their thoughts with us. Your feedback helped us tweak and improve this update in meaningful ways, and it continues to help guide the future of News Tower.
And so the press rolls on!
We hope you all enjoy this new update.
