Dear Merchants,
We have hit the 10 days mark since launch and our team is still glued to our desks tracking data, looking at your late game setups, checking Steam reviews and community discussions. This patch is a big one as we spent the last few days completely overhauling the early game pacing, cleaning up some clunky UI menus and optimizing the backend so your shops run much smoother as they grow.
Your breakdown of economy issues and progression roadblocks has been incredibly precise. Thank you for taking the time to report them! It gives us the exact blueprints we need to keep making this simulation tighter and more rewarding with every single patch. You spoke and we listened.
Here is the full breakdown of today's changes:
Performance & Balance:
Implemented performance optimizations across the board.
Rebalanced customer flow/density throughout the entire game. The number of customers in the early game has been significantly reduced for a smoother entry curve.
Removed all employees (except the Stocker) from the research tree. They are now available to hire as soon as the Beastmaster is unlocked.
The research tree now only contains upgrades for staff capacity and employee working speed.
Cleaners no longer target the same dirt spot simultaneously.
UI & QoL Improvements:
Added an autosave feature during day transitions.
Added descriptions for upgrades.
Added 7 new info cards: Town Upgrade, Shell Game, Horse Racing, Beastmaster, Shop Expansion, Price Panel and Price Panel & Warehouse Interaction.
Added Base Combat Power to be visible under heroes' daily expenses.
Added a placement grid to the warehouse.
The Warehouse Table now displays depleted items as "0". You can either purchase more using the "Buy" button or completely remove the item from the list using the newly added minus ("-") button.
Added item names and rarity based text colors to the warehouse/label item selection menu.
Added rarity based colors to items in the hero equipment screen.
Slightly increased the lighting in the store’s main room to make night experience more comfortable.
Fixed a bug where a hero's combat power wouldn't update after their consumable items were used up during a mission.
Added invisible walls near the port area to prevent boxes dropped by thieves from falling into the sea.
We are pivoting straight onto the next set of priority fixes from here. If you run into any weirdness or have some economy balance notes to share, we will be tracking the Steam Forums, Reviews and hanging out in the Discord channels as usual.
If you want to stand by us as we continue to shape and expand the game, please take a quick minute to leave a Steam review! ✨
It takes less than a minute, but it ensures we have the backing we need to keep making your shopkeeping experience better every single day. Thank you for sticking with us! ❤️ [dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/4086760/Arcane_Merchant/"]
Best wishes,
