Saloon Simulator News

[h2]First of all - happy New Year!
[/h2]We wish both you and ourselves plenty of free time to enjoy games and other passions, as well as many great releases and exciting discoveries in the months ahead. We’ve just returned from our holiday break, refreshed and ready to jump back into work on Saloon Simulator with renewed energy.

In the update you can download today, you’ll find several brand-new mechanics designed to make running and expanding your saloon more engaging while you wait for the next chapter of the story.





In the previous update, you got to know all four employee roles: the cook, waiter, cleaner, and bartender. Starting today, you can do more than just rely on their help - you can also customize how each of them looks.



For every employee role, we’ve prepared six outfit sets that you can freely mix and match to create your own combinations.





After finishing the Early Access storyline, we felt the game was missing a more meaningful progression system. That’s why we’ve introduced Reputation.

You’ll earn Reputation points by working for the saloon, and reaching higher Reputation ranks will unlock rewards. We’re still expanding the reward pool, but starting today you can already earn a small financial bonus - and, more importantly, Mr. Locke’s permission to renovate additional guest rooms.

This system also comes with a new complication. It’s been a while since you last paid tribute to Mr. Locke, and it’s time for our “creditor” to remind us of our debt. Once a week, you’ll need to set aside part of your earnings to cover another payment.





Alongside the legal Reputation system tied to running your saloon, we’re also laying the groundwork for a criminal reputation system that will arrive soon. It will be connected to the underworld mechanics - dismantling wagons with W., moonshining later on, and now, pickpocketing.

A drunk customer in your saloon may lose all their valuable belongings - straight into your pockets. Just sneak up behind them and transfer their goods from their pockets into your bag. Simple, right?





Of course, if you get caught in the act, you’ll have to defend your good name with your fists.
Prove your endurance and reflexes, and you’ll be able to keep everything you managed to steal.



Thank you, as always, for your support, feedback, and enthusiasm - it truly helps shape the direction of the game. We warmly invite you to share your thoughts in the comments or join us on Discord, where we’re always happy to chat and answer questions.


See you in Blueberry (and on Discord),
Krzysztof “xardi” Marchewka
on behalf of the Glivi Games team

Hey there!
Today we’re releasing the biggest update since the game entered Early Access. It introduces two new employees – the waiter and the cleaner – along with the full hiring and training system for all staff members. With this update, the core functionality of the employee system is now complete.

In the next patches, each employee will receive their own unique appearance (our artists are still working on those), voice acting, reaction lines, and the option to customize their outfits.





A new member has joined your saloon crew: the waiter!
Make sure the pots contain the right meals (either prepared by you or by the cook), and the waiter will handle the rest: serving dishes, collecting payments, and keeping the tables clean.

Pay close attention to their stats, though!
Waiters with low proficiency are more likely to serve customers the wrong meal, so a bit of training might go a long way.





Dust and sand will always find their way into a saloon, especially with guests coming straight from the outdoors. That’s where the cleaner comes in.
From the moment you hire them, the cleaner will take care of your floors and keep the entire saloon tidy.



[h2]1. Recruit[/h2]
Head over to the station and interact with the job board. There you can browse applications and choose employees who match your needs and budget. Pay attention to “ambitious” and “promising” applicants – they may start with lower stats, but they learn much faster, making them more valuable in the long run.



[h2]2. Welcome[/h2]
A hired employee will start working as soon as you open the saloon. You can’t talk to them just yet, but you can observe their work and decide whether they might benefit from some training.



[h2]3. Pay[/h2]
Employees need to be paid every day.
You can pay them manually – just walk up to a worker, left-click, and choose “Pay” from the management menu.
If you’d rather not think about it every day, you can turn on automatic payments, but make sure you have enough money in the office safe.

[h2]4. Train[/h2]
If a worker makes too many mistakes or works too slowly, you don’t have to fire them immediately – you can send them to training, which increases one of their stats. To do this, click on the employee, pay their daily wage, and then choose the training option.



[h2]5. Give Us Feedback![/h2]
Please share your impressions of the employee system, either below this post or on our Discord.
Let us know what you think about the balance between wages and income, and tell us what you’d like us to adjust or improve!

[h2]New Furniture[/h2]
As always, we’re adding a fresh batch of furniture items you can use to decorate your saloon.
Be sure to check out Addie’s expanded selection of cosmetic items!



Thank you so much for your support, feedback, and involvement – it’s what keeps us going.
As always, we invite you to join our official Saloon Simulator Discord.
It’s the best place to stay up to date with the latest news, share feedback, and chat with the developers and other players.



See you in Blueberry (and on Discord)!
Krzysztof “xardi” Marchewka
on behalf of the Glivi Games team

We want to thank you for your continuous support and involvement in the development of Saloon Simulator! Your feedback means the world to us – it’s thanks to your suggestions that we decided to focus the past few months on expanding two major systems: employees and progression (in our case, Reputation – which we’ll be showing you soon). Both are meant to make the game more engaging even after you finish the main story.

We try to release at least one small or medium-sized update each month, but we’d also love to stay in touch with you more frequently. That’s why we’re starting a new series of short posts that will appear between updates. In each one, I’ll introduce different members of our team, share what we’re currently working on, and give you a little look behind the scenes.

This first entry will be a bit different from future ones. The Steam Awards are just around the corner, and we’d like to kindly ask you to nominate Saloon Simulator for the Outstanding Story-Rich Game category.



From the very beginning, our goal was to create something that goes beyond the usual boundaries of simulator games. We’ve always believed that a good Wild West story doesn’t have to revolve around a sheriff or a gunslinger – sometimes adventure begins with sweeping the floor of a ruined saloon and pouring a few drinks. Many of you told us you were surprised by how much story depth and how many interesting characters you found in Blueberry – and we couldn’t be prouder of that.

A nomination in this category would help us reach more players who love narrative-driven Wild West adventures but might not usually give simulators a try. Your votes would mean a lot to us!



This week, we’ve sent our testers the biggest update since Early Access launched – the Worker Update. All the main features of this system are now complete; we’re currently polishing the UI and fixing the remaining bugs.

[h2]Artists
[/h2]We want customization to go beyond furniture – soon you’ll be able to dress your employees too! Our 3D artists are currently working on clothing items that you’ll be able to mix and match to create unique outfits for your staff.

[h3]Employee customization
[/h3]


Customization won’t be available in the upcoming patch yet. We’ll add it a bit later, as soon as our artists finish all the core models.


[h2]Programmers and designers
[/h2]It’s finally time to give you a small sneak peek at the feature our programmers and designers have been developing for over a month now:

[h3]Moonshining[/h3]

To earn extra money for paying off Mr. Locke’s tribute, you’ll be able to expand your business with a brand-new side activity. Even though Saloon Simulator takes place before Prohibition, large-scale moonshine production (especially when you’re not paying taxes) can be a rather profitable venture. We’ll reveal more details later, but we can already promise that this will be one of the most complex and exciting mechanics in the entire game.




That’s all we’ve got to share today! As soon as our testers give us the green light, the Worker Update will go live. Once again, thank you all for your incredible support and feedback. Please consider nominating Saloon Simulator in the Steam Awards – and stay tuned for more news soon!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back to writing some dialogue lines for our employees… after all, what kind of worker wouldn’t stop for a chat every once in a while?

– Krzysztof “xardi” Marchewka, on behalf of the Glivi Games team

[h2]Dear players,
[/h2][p]We’re continuing our presentation of new employees!
This time, a new member joins your saloon crew – the cook. Once you open your saloon, she’ll appear in the kitchen and wait for your instructions.

[/p][h2]The Cook [/h2][p][/p][h2][/h2][h3]Before she starts cooking, the cook needs to agree on the menu with you. Meet her in the kitchen and talk to her by right-clicking.[/h3][p][/p][h2] [/h2][h3]From her recipe book, you can select up to three dishes – one from each category: sweet, salty, and spicy. In the cooking queue on the right side, you can decide how many times she should prepare a given dish again after the pot becomes empty.[/h3][h3]
[/h3][p]
The cook is the most interactive of all our employees so far.
We’re really curious to hear your feedback – let us know how it feels to run the saloon when the cook takes over your kitchen!

Both the cook and the bartender will appear in the gameright after you finish the main storyline.[/p][p][/p][h2]What’s next for the employee system? [/h2][p]The full employee system will include:[/p]

• [p]A total of 32 employees (8 for each role: cook, cleaner, bartender, and waiter). Each will have their own model, voice*, and short bio so you can get to know them a bit better.[/p]
• [p]A job board where you’ll be able to hire new staff members.[/p]
• [p]The ability to send them for training to improve their skills. [/p]
• [p]A flexible payment system that lets you decide whether and how to pay your employees (though unpaid workers won’t stay for long!). [/p]

[p]Most of these features are already in early testing – we’re working hard to bring them to the game step by step in upcoming updates. We’ve designed the employee system in a way that allows us to easily expand it with new features and mechanics over time, so this is far from everything we have planned.

*The next VO recording session for actors is planned for early 2026, so in the patch that introduces the full employee mechanic, the workers won’t have their voice lines recorded yet. [/p][p][/p][h2]New Furniture Set[/h2][p]As I mentioned last month, with every update we want to introduce a new furniture set to the game. Today we’d like to present the “Relic” set. We want there to be plenty of furniture options so that each of you can design your saloon to your liking. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]However, it’s hard to fully enjoy decorating when the process itself isn’t as smooth and satisfying as it could be. We’ve been thinking about revisiting the furnishing system at some point, and we’d love to hear what you think about it. Do you enjoy the current setup? What could we improve? Are there any games you think do customization really well that we could take inspiration from?[/p][h3]
Share your thoughts in the comments![/h3][p]
As always, we invite you to join our official Saloon Simulator Discord.
It’s the best place to stay up to date with the latest news, share feedback, and chat with the developers and other players.



See you in Blueberry (and on Discord)!
Krzysztof “xardi” Marchewka
on behalf of the Glivi Games team[/p]

[h2]Dear players,[/h2]

We’re excited to present another small patch that should make Freeplay more enjoyable after you complete the story. Originally, we planned to take a longer break from updates and focus on developing the entire employee system from the ground up—but the bartender addition already feels like a fun and impactful change, so we’ve decided to share it with you a bit earlier.

[h2]The Bartender Employee
[/h2]
In today’s patch, you’ll get a first look at our employee system in action: the bartender.
He’ll appear in town once you’ve finished the main storyline and will come help you serve your guests.

Please treat his current presence as a first preview of the employee system.
Right now, the bartender:

• Serves drinks
  
• Collects payments
  
• Keeps the bar counter clean
  
• Refills the ice bucket
  

However, we’re still working on the full hiring system. That means:

• You can’t upgrade his skills yet
  
• You can’t choose between multiple bartenders
  
• He won’t ask for a salary (very kind of him!)
  
• You can’t talk to him just yet
  

We’re actively developing these features and will add them step by step in future patches.



We’d love to hear your thoughts on how the bartender works.
We’re testing different systems for hiring and managing employees, and your feedback would be extremely valuable to us.

• How is it working alongside the bartender?
  
• How fast should he be?
  
• How often would you like him to show up in the saloon?
  

[h2]Selling Furniture
[/h2]
You can now sell furniture items in the game.
To get rid of an unwanted piece, open your Furniture Inventory (by default, press O), hover over the item tile, and click the new “Sell” button.



[h2]New Customization Items
[/h2]
We want every update—even the small ones—to include new customization items for your saloon.
Our artists keep coming up with fresh ideas, and each month we’ll be adding new furniture items you can buy from Earl, Addie, or Charlie.
Make sure to check out their latest stock!



As always, we invite you to join our official Saloon Simulator Discord!
It’s the best place to stay up to date with the game and get quick answers to your questions from both the team and the community.



Thank you so much for your continued interest and for sharing your thoughts on where Saloon Simulator should go next.
We want to grow this game in a direction you’ll truly enjoy.
Thanks for being with us — and see you in Blueberry (and on Discord)!

Krzysztof “xardi” Marchewka
on behalf of the Glivi Games team

⚠️ [h3]PSA: Lounge Furniture Bug[/h3]
We discovered a small issue in the patch that just went live:
You can now purchase Lounge Seats and Lounge Tables from Earl... but we accidentally added them a bit early. The option to actually unlock and place lounges in your saloon isn’t available yet—it’ll likely arrive in the next patch. Thanks for your patience!