- Dev-Diaries #4: Health, Unity and the next chapter of "Software Company" - 8 January 2024
Dear "Software Company" Community, The new year has begun, and I would like to take a moment to reflect on the past months and share the challenges I've faced. First and foremost, your support has been invaluable, and I owe you an explanation for the lack of updates and communication recently. A Year Full of Surprises and Challenges: The past year has been a rollercoaster of surprises and challenges. I was deeply impressed and, to be honest, surprised by the positive reception of "Software Company." Your enthusiasm, feedback, and participation have exceeded my expectations, and I am truly grateful for your ongoing support. Personal Challenges and Temporary Setbacks: Amidst the highs, I've experienced unexpected lows. Personal health issues, including a mild heart attack, have impacted my ability to provide regular updates. Your understanding during this challenging time means a lot to m…
- Dev-Diaries #3: Bigger Office, Better Experience! - 17 July 2023
Hey there, dedicated "Software Company" players! First of all, I wanted to take a moment to - AGAIN - express my sincere gratitude for your unwavering support and enthusiasm throughout our early access journey. Your dedication and valuable feedback have been instrumental in shaping the development of the game and making it the small success it is today. I'm thrilled to provide you with an exciting update on the current state of the game and give you a sneak peek of what's to come. If you're new to "Software Company", let me give you a quick rundown. It's an early access game available on Steam that allows you to experience the exhilarating world of managing your very own software company. You get to hire talented developers, create cutting-edge software, expand your office space, and navigate the challenges and triumphs of the software industry. Now, let's dive into the juicy details of…
- Patchnotes v0.8.6.12 - 30 June 2023
Last Smaller Update before the Next Content Update! Fixes Fixed an issue where some back buttons would not lead to the correct window or wouldn't do anything at all. Fixed overlapping fonts in certain UI windows. Resolved an issue where some news texts displayed a standard "lorem ipsum" message instead of the actual news text. Changes NEW: Added the display of the total development costs, total advertising costs, and the total profit of a game to the individual game overviews. Keep developing and stay tuned for the next content update, which will include the new office building! Thank you for your continued support! Regards, Sascha
- Hotfix 0.8.6.111 online! - 18 June 2023
Hotfix 0.8.6.111 online! Just a quick fix for some problems when trying to call a new employee, when you want to hire them. I will be taking a deeper look into this issue in the upcoming week to implement a "cleaner" solution. For now, calls should be made correctly though - with the small downside, that the "worker cam" stays deactivated and the window where you would see the employee's image during the call mostly stays black. But calls can be made again, wich was more important and broke the game in a way. Enjoy. Warm regards, Sascha
- Patchnotes for Hotfix 0.8.6.11 - 17 June 2023
Some quick hotfixes for minor yet annoying problems: Fixes Fixed an issue where certain close buttons for UI windows didn't work properly. If you are still experiencing issues, I kindly ask you to send a bug report either via the game's Discord server or the Steam community page. Resolved scaling problems in the alert window that resulted in pixelated text on some resolutions. The issue has been fixed, resulting in much crisper text on lower resolutions. Corrected an issue where the "My Games Overview" window was offset too far to the right on certain systems. It should now remain in its intended position. Rectified button color inconsistency on the UGN website, where some buttons didn't change colors when selected or hovered over. Fixed an issue where the user settings save file appeared in the "Load a Game" save games list. Saved games are now sorted based on the last time they were p…
- Patch 0.8.6.1 is online! - 10 June 2023
Patch Notes - Version 0.8.6.1 Greetings, fellow game developers! I'm thrilled to present the latest patch for "Software Company", where I've been hard at work fixing bugs, implementing exciting features, and incorporating valuable feedback from our passionate community. Let's dive into the details of Version 0.8.6.1. Bug Fixes I've resolved an issue where certain buttons were unresponsive, ensuring smooth navigation and uninterrupted gameplay. I've tackled problems related to UI font scaling and tooltips appearing out of place, resulting in a visually cohesive and polished user interface. Previously, reviews were only generated when players accessed the review page directly. Now, reviews will be correctly instantiated when browsing the UGN Website, creating a more realistic game environment. Enhancements and Additions To assist you in improving your game design skills, I've added helpfu…
- HOTFIX 0.8.6.01 online! - 22 May 2023
---- HOTFIX 0.8.6.01 --- - FIX: UI-Windows for the "Create a new project"-Tab now stay on screen.
- Patchnotes 0.8.6.0 - The first content Update is here! - 22 May 2023
Changelog - First Content Update Hello players! I am excited to bring you the first content update for "Software Company". This update includes various fixes, changes, and new features to enhance your gameplay experience. Thank you for your continued support and valuable feedback. Here's what's new: Fixes Fixed an issue where multiple of the same resolutions were displayed in the resolution settings dropdown. Additionally, the minimum resolution for the game is now capped at 1280*720 pixels. Addressed a bug where some data was carried over from a previous game when starting a new game after returning to the main menu. Resolved an issue with loading saved games from the in-game load menu. Players can now correctly load saved games without having to go back to the main menu or quit the game. Fixed avatar generation for all character models. These avatars will be used in various areas thro…
- Dev-Diaries #2: The first Content-Update is around the corner! - 16 May 2023
Hello, Software Company players! I'm thrilled to bring you the latest developer update for the highly anticipated content update, version 0.8.6. As you know, "Software Company" is currently in its early access phase, and I want to express my gratitude for your incredible continued support and valuable feedback. Your passion for the game has been the driving force behind my continuous efforts to improve and expand the experience. One common theme in your feedback has been the desire for more content. I've heard you loud and clear, and I'm excited to announce that significant progress has been made in resolving the savegame bugs that have been causing frustration among players. I'm happy to inform you that these issues are now almost completely fixed, ensuring a smoother and more seamless gaming experience. Your progress is now in safer hands! Now, let's delve into the key features of the…
- Changelog: Hotfix 0.8.5.142 - 23 April 2023
—— Hotfix 0.8.5.142 —— Nothing fancy this time. Just getting rid of some minor annoyances. Enjoy! #Fixes Fixed an issue where some UI Elements (e.g. buttons for hired employees, graphics on the UGN-Page) were not loaded correctly or missing completely after loading a saved game. Fixed an issue where calculations for calculations for sales data for finished games from AI Companies was slightly more linear after loading a saved game, then it should have been.
- Mini-Patch 0.8.5.141 - 21 April 2023
—— Patch 0.8.5.141 —— #Fixes Fixed an internal logic problem whren creating savegames. #Known Issues In some cases, data gets carried over from a previous game, if the player returns to the main menu and from there starts a new game. (Workaround: Quit and restart the game, if you want to start a new game) When loading a saved game calculation for sales data for finished games from AI Companies is slightly more linear, then it should be. Your savegames from 0.8.5.14 and above will work fine. No need to start fresh. Enjoy the game!
- Hotfix #4 is online! - 20 April 2023
Attention: To ensure that some changes take effect, I recommend starting a new game when updating to version 0.8.5.14. Save games made before this version of the patch may not load correctly, and while they might still work, they may result in unwanted glitches. If you encounter any issues with save games made before this version, please note that I may not be able to provide support for them. I always strive to make older saves still viable with each patch. However, depending on the changes, it is possible that older saves will stop working from time to time. I aim to keep these occasions as rare as possible. To avoid confusion with older save files, I suggest going to "C:\Users\Your Username\AppData\LocalLow\InkDev Studios\Software Company" and deleting any save games stored there (files that end with *.dat) before starting the game for the first time after the update. #FIXES: Fixed s…
- Quick Hotfix 0.8.5.135 - 18 April 2023
—— Hotfix 0.8.5.135 —— Quick “sneaky” fix for some smaller issues & improvements. #Fixes Fixed some more small problems when loading a saved game Fixed an internal error, that triggered unnecessary functions when clicking on the “Open UGN”-button. #Changes AI Companies do now hire new employees more frequently. You will have to stay on your heels to get the best programmers, before your competitors do. When you enter a name for a savegame, you can now only use alphanumeric characters. This prevents savegames from getting corrupted, when unusual characters where used.
- Patchnotes 0.8.5.13 - Fight the savegame issues! - 17 April 2023
Hi everyone, With today's patch 0.8.5.13, mainly more annoying save game problems have been fixed. NOTE: Saved games from version 0.8.5.12 and above should now load correctly. However, some values might be different due to the implementation of fallback values for previously unsaved or incorrectly saved data. It is recommended to start a new game to avoid any potential issues when continuing a save file from before version 0.8.5.13. Further i highly encourage you to restart the game before loading a savegame for now, to make sure saved data is loaded correctly. #Fixes Fixed the "Quit game" button in the main menu. Fixed a bug that caused incorrect values to display for workers on the "Overview & Statistics" page. Fixed several issues related to loading saved games, including: Correctly loading game scores for released games. Properly loading data for hired staff members. Ensuring that s…
- Dev-Diaries #1: Fixes, Fixes, Fixes! - 16 April 2023
Dear players and video game entrepreneurs, It has been exactly 3 days since "Software Company" was released on Steam. These have been stressful, but also amazing 3 days. On release day, the game even managed to secure the first place among EA releases for a few hours. A small success that I absolutely did not expect. I want to thank you not only for giving "Software Company" a chance, but also for taking the existing bugs and glitches in stride and helping me eliminate many of them with constructive feedback. Currently, there are still some bugs on the list that need to be fixed, but thanks to the numerous helpful insights into your save games and logs, these problems will soon be a thing of the past. To keep you as up-to-date as possible on the current state of development, there will be regular dev diaries like this one. In them, I will report on things I am currently working on, bugs…
- Hotfix #2 is online! - 14 April 2023
Hello everyone, First of all, thank you all for the amazing last 24 hours. I received many nice messages and helpful reports regarding bugs and glitches. So, without further ado, here are the problems I fixed for now. The hotfix should be online as you read these patch notes: ## —— Hotfix 0.8.5.12 —— #Fixes - Fixed an issue where some entries in the research trees had no "available" date set and could not be researched. - Fixed an issue, where the stats for programming, sound, graphics and design where set to 0, when loading a saved game. - Fixed an issue where the "Review" page was skewed on some resolutions. - Fixed an issue where the buttons in the "My Games - Overview" disappeared upon opening the window. - Fixed an issue where the tutorial got stuck when asking the player to set the game size to "C". The tutorial should now continue once the player sets the game size accordingly. -…
- REMINDER: TEst-Keys will be invalid as we approach Early Access! - 13 April 2023
Dear volunteer testers, I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for all the hard work and dedication that many of you have put into testing my video game. Your feedback and suggestions have been indispensable and have helped to shape the current state of the game into something very special to me. As we move towards the start of the Early Access phase in a few hours, I wanted to inform you once again that the keys for the test versions will no longer be valid. I understand that this may disappoint some of you, but it is necessary to ensure a smooth and successful launch of the Early Access version of the game. Thank you once again for your valuable contributions to this project. You have helped to make this game the best it can be, and I hope that someday you will enjoy the final result as much as I do. With sincere thanks, Sascha, Ink Dev Studios
- EA-Roadmap for "Software Company" - 10 April 2023
Dear Players, I'm excited to share with you the roadmap for the Early Access release of my game on Steam. As a solo developer, my goal is to provide a comprehensive plan for the next several months of development that will enhance the overall user experience and increase player retention rate through monthly updates with new features and bi-weekly updates with minor fixes. I expect the game to be ready for final release after 6-9 months in Early Access. Here's a breakdown of the key features and improvements I plan to implement, along with specific milestones and dates: April-May: Addition of one more map: I'll include the first additional map shortly after release. This map was already planned to be included in the first EA-release but didn't quite make it. I'll make sure you guys will have the ability to buy a bigger office not too far after release, where you can hire more employees.…
- Software Company Early Access release announcement! - 9 March 2023
Hello everyone, Since everyone is eager to know when Software Company will finally be available, I will keep it short: Software Company will be available in Early Access on April 13th, 2023! You can find all the information on the Steam store page of the game. In addition to this announcement, I have also updated the store page with a fresh set of screenshots, with more coming over the following weeks leading up to the EA release. I want to thank you all for staying interested in the game and for your patience with the last delay. You guys are awesome, and I am really happy that I can finally present the game to you soon! Stay awesome! Regards, Sascha
- Infos for the upcoming playtest of Software Company - 8 February 2022
Hello everyone. The playtest of Software Company starts today at 6pm CET. So, I want to take the opportunity to answer some frequently asked questions and explain what is to be expected in this playtest. First of all: There WILL BE bugs and that's one thing, what this playtest is for. Finding as many bugs as possible and fixing them. So if you are scared of bugs, this playtest may not be your cup of tea and you might want to wait and take a look at the game, when it is released. To make identifying the reasons for bugs easier, Unity's own debug-console is active in this playtest version. If you encounter a bug and you want to report it, it would be great if you could provide a screenshot of the error message displayed in the console. The console can always be closed, if it becomes disturbing or is in the way of an UI-element. How much of the final game is in the playtest-version? The pl…
