Hello Designers, Engineers, and Entrepreneurs!

Right in time before the joyful (and playful) holiday season starts, we are happy to announce that Good Company v0.12 is available! Our big update introduces two new gameplay elements that have been requested by our community for a while now: "Competitors and Assignments!"

Both freeplay features are completely optional, but we are confident they can elevate your playing experience. Why? Well, Competitors and Assignments not only add more challenge to Good Company, on several levels, they also aim to improve the liveliness of the game. Let us know what you think!

Those of you who enjoy playing the campaign will be happy to know that we have added Level 9, "The Machinery". This level focuses on the use of automation, namely machines as well as Mergers and Splitters, wrapped in a wholesome story about producing toys for charity!

We are very curious about your feedback for new content in Good Company, which also includes some Quality of Life improvements, updated balancing and, of course, bug fixes. We have prepared all the details below in the update notes. As always, don't hesitate to get in touch about any questions or issues.

As you might know, after each major update for Good Company, there are some important things for players to consider, e.g. regarding save games. Please read this post for details.

We hope you enjoy playing Good Company v0.12 and we wish you a safe and happy time in the last weeks of 2021!

All the best,
Your Chasing Carrots

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Update notes v0.12

Campaign

We have added Level 9 "The Machinery" to the campaign in Good Company! Join your companions Linda Beck and Bob Lazor in a remote facility, where they need to set up a mainly automated production for toys to support a Children's Charity. Under your leadership, of course!

• Level 9 introduces machines, as well as splitter and merger segments for conveyors
  
• Set up a production that incorporates automated manufacture and logistics
  
• Learn to work with only a limited amount of employees

Competitors

Good Company v0.12 introduces Competitors for an extra layer of engagement and fun! A mix of familiar and new characters make the Freeplay mode way more dynamic if you choose so. They not only compete with you for market influence but also in other areas. Keep an eye on your rivaling companies, stay ahead of them or surpass them eventually by carefully developing your business:

• Use the Freeplay settings to decide if and how Competitors should participate:
  
  • Each competitor has their individual background, strengths and weaknesses
    
  • Pick up to three out of nine available competitors
    
  • Select parameters for how challenging competitors should act
  
  
• During your Freeplay session, Competitors have options similar to players. They can:
  
  • enter a market with a new product
    
  • improve their products
    
  • remove a product from a market
    
  • increase production of a product
    
  • progress market phases (at difficulty setting ‘barks’ and above)
    
  • unlock new markets (at difficulty setting ‘bites’ and above)
  
  
• Competitors will comment on their actions and on yours, to make the experience feel more personal
  
• Your and your competitors' performance gets evaluated in the following categories in the new Company Rankings panel:
  
  • Production - production steps completed per year
    
  • Finances - value of the company assets (net worth excluding tech)
    
  • Innovation - value of the unlocked progress (tech, business development, etc.)
    
  • Happiness - happiness score of each company
    
  • Prestige - success points generated per year
  
  
• After each in-game year, the most performant company gets announced

Assignments

Another new feature coming with Good Company v0.12 is Company Assignments. Just like Competitors, they are completely optional, but depending on your preferences, they can improve your play experience:

• Use the Freeplay settings to disable or increase the frequency of Assignments
  
• Assignments will be issued by a set of preset clients
  
• Competitors will participate in Assignments
  
• An Assignment tasks you to manufacture products or modules within a given time
  
• The requirements for each product type vary and scale with the market
  
• Place special pallets to deliver the goods to, as requested by an Assignment
  
• An Assignment can request one of the following item types in various tiers:
  
  • Products
    
  • Modules
  
  
• You can check Assignment details by clicking on the phone icon in the upper-right corner
  
• The first company to fulfill an Assignment gets rewarded a certain amount of money, Success Points or Research Data, depending on the Assignment's difficulty
  
• If you and the Competitors are unable to fulfill the complete delivery in time, the Assignment fails

Other

• Changed Freeplay milestones to quarterly products sold instead net of worth
  
• Activated Christmas decorations
  
• Added dynamic ToDo-Lists for certain campaign levels for better overviews/lists
  
• Updated in-game manual with Machines and Conveyor Splitters/Mergers
  
• UI for toggling normal pacing, fast forward, and pausing the game has been improved

Balancing

• Product demand is no longer affected by demand settings, base demands are fixed
  
• Product demand base was generally increased
  
• Every activated competitor increases the demand on each market, depending on the competitor difficulty
  
• Module-based demand has been increased (+50%)
  
• Market difficulty has been lowered
  
• reduced amount of minimum features
  
• feature maxima have been increased
  
• Market pacing now also depends on competitor amount
  
• each competitor adds to the required products sold
  
• the general effect of this setting has been lowered

QoL

• Minimap for better orientation:
  
  • Use the new button in the upper left corner to toggle the minimap
  
  
• Keyboard mapping can be changed in the options menu

Bugfixes

• Characters don’t glide anymore after hiring
  
• Level 4: some hard locks have been solved where UI was not accessible after loading a game
  
• Buildable price reductions were reset on load in Free Plays
  
• Courier skills were not properly updated when employee was unassigned/assigned as courier
  
• Fixed "Blocked Exits" happiness debuff incorrectly being active