STONKS-9800: Stock Market Simulator News

• The game will no longer crash when exiting to the main menu from the bar or the stock market.
  
• Still trying to fix the poker issues.
  
• You can no longer manage your company via hotkeys while on vacation.
  
• Dividend yield now displays correctly on the portfolio page.
  
• Improved the instructions for creating fan translations and added new customization features, making it more user-friendly for Asian languages.
  
• Tweaked the colors of some card suits for better readability.
  

Hi everyone!

It's been a year since I launched STONKS-9800: Stock Market Simulator in Early Access, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who's joined me on this journey to improve the game. Just so you know, TERNOX isn't a company. It's just me, working solo, occasionally outsourcing some graphics to bring our ideas to life. This has become my biggest project, and honestly, it's been quite a ride keeping up with it.

Over the past year, STONKS-9800 has expanded massively:

• Enhanced company management and a CEO mode
  
• The ability to interact with everyone you know
  
• Golf, an arcade hall with a shoot'em up game and gachapon, poker, fishing
  
• Yakuza events, financial regulations, and much more
  
• The game even got a Korean translation!
  

[previewyoutube]https://youtu.be/8Yv3hHMvxLs[/previewyoutube]

I'm incredibly thankful for all the player feedback which has helped make the game more user-friendly and enjoyable.

[h2]What's next?[/h2]

I underestimated the scope of the updates. I hoped to be ready for a full release after a year, but we're not there yet. In fact, this year won't see the full release either, and I'm falling behind on my update schedule again.

So, I'm updating the roadmap once more.



Already in Update 0.4:

• New mini-games including golf, arcade games, and fishing
  
• Direct interactions with the Yakuza and through employees
  
• A city map that allows travel to various new locations like parks and temples
  
• Companies can now go bankrupt, merge, or be acquired
  
• Random event mode, annual business rankings, and plenty of smaller updates and news
  

I'll continue to improve stability and add minor enhancements in 0.4, but I also want to share my plans for the major 0.5 update.

[h3]Expect in 0.3:[/h2]

• A rhythm-based karaoke mini-game featuring my own tracks styled after retro PC-98 sounds
  
• Claw machine mini-game, allowing you to win toys for Amy and others
  
• Enhanced competition among companies in the same sector, giving you a clear view of your rivals
  
• The option to start a charity or research fund to utilize the endless billions if you're particularly successful
  

Future plans (not necessarily in 0.5) include a more comprehensive dating simulator.

In Version 0.6, I plan to introduce commercial real estate, which will offer higher profits but at a higher cost. This update will be dedicated to that expansion.

Afterwards, I'll focus on the story mode, which will be the foundation for the full release from Early Access. The full release might be a bit pricier, and will feature new characters to compete against or befriend.

I appreciate your patience as timelines can be tricky. Thanks again for your support. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I enjoy making it.

If you're not ready to play in Early Access, I understand. Please consider adding the game to your wishlist and waiting for the full release.

- New achievements on Steam;
- Updated poker hand calculations;
- Now the numpad also work for switching between tabs;
- Small changes to the comfort calculation, the indicator also no longer changes instantly, but still changes quickly every day;
- Fixed the calculation of the dividend yield on the company window;
- Fixed a bug that caused extremely comfortable individual houses to have a half-star comfort rating (they were actually very comfortable);
- Fixed a bug where the last company on the portfolio page was sometimes not displayed;
- Fixed a bug where the main menu of the game could be blocked by the city map;
- Some fixes to the calculation of the correctness of poker combinations;
- Various other fixes aimed at improving the stability of the game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]New:[/h2]

• New Mini-Game: Fishing on Vacation
  
• New Mini-Game: Secret Poker (Texas Hold'em)
  
• Direct dealings with the Yakuza: you can order them to take out rivals, shake up certain financial sectors, and even buy your way out of their wrath at any moment.
  
• New Vacation Outfit for Amy
  
• You can change the color palette of the interface, with additional color sets and the option to create custom palettes by editing the file "data/palette.png"
  

[h2]Quality of life:[/h2]

• You can now adjust the daily expense size by clicking directly on the scale, not just the + or - buttons.
  
• The right mouse button now functions as Escape in most menus (making it more convenient to play one-handed).
  
• News about changes in high-ranking positions will now display the portrait and information of the individuals.
  
• Stock price charts now show more consistent numerical values.
  
• You can now navigate the "Advisor" tab and "Milestones" menu using arrow keys on the keyboard or gamepad, and the Escape button returns to the previous screen.
  
  These changes are part of my gradual effort to make the game fully operable using only the keyboard (which will also improve gamepad controls) as well as only the mouse.
  

[h2]Fixes and Other:[/h2]

• Added crash notification system: if the game crashes, you will be prompted to send me a report (currently works only on Windows).
  
• You can no longer purchase real estate or cars while on vacation.
  
• You can no longer buy suspicious companies.
  
• Fixed a bug where a new company going public (IPO) had incorrect data from another bankrupt company (e.g., you were already in debt with short stocks).
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash when exiting to the main menu.
  
• Fixed a bug where characters had two first names instead of a first name and a last name.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could start the next day during the Board of Directors meeting by pressing Enter.
  
• Fixed a bug where the name of an illegal company could repeat.
  
• Fixed a bug where the player could instantly lose the CEO position after engaging in illegal business.
  
• Amy no longer leaves with each new dialogue line.
  
• Players who have been waiting a long time for company responses can finally send new purchase offers (after some time).
  

- From now on, a player will be dismissed from the position of CEO and the board of directors of all companies when he goes to prison;
- Going to jail has a stronger impact on reputation;
- The average value of a stock in the portfolio is now reset to 0 if the player has sold all shares,
- Fixing visual glitches on MacOS on scrollable messages;
- Fixing a bug that caused companies to become NaN (HOPEFULLY);
- Other bug fixes,
- Probably new bugs.