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Walk of Life News

Dev Blog: PVP and Player Interaction

[p]Yohoho![/p][p]The next update is still in the oven and starting to smell really nice. We’re excited for players to get their hands on the Drifter role and enjoy some of the UI improvements we talked about in the most recent dev blog. However, that’s not the only thing we have in store for you![/p][p][/p][p]A lack of player interaction is a common complaint we’ve received from players who enjoyed ruining each other’s day in No Time to Relax. We’ve been working on an optional system that introduces a slew of new options, allowing you to throw a spanner into the works and disrupt the plans of your fellow players.[/p][p][/p][p]When PVP mode is enabled during game setup, players will accumulate PVP Sausages over time. No questions, please.[/p][p]PVP Sausages can be brought to the raccoons in the Park, where they are used as currency for the four PVP actions available at launch.[/p][h2]Send Goose[/h2][p][/p][p]You may have had an unfortunate encounter with the infamous and ill-tempered goose during a life event, but now you’ll have the chance to use it for your own purposes! The Send Goose option is a new and updated version of the Lock Building action from No Time to Relax, with a bit of a twist. When the action is used, a targeted location is immediately locked and remains unaccessable until the beginning of your next turn.[/p][p]The goose may only lock one location at a time. If another player has sent the goose to block a location you desperately need access to, you can spend your own currency to move the goose elsewhere. To get the most out of the goose, you should wait until the target player has spent all of their PVP Sausages and is unable to pay the goose to move again.[/p][h2]Tarot Reading[/h2][p][/p][p]What do the fates have in store for you? The Tarot Reading option forces all players to draw a unique report card at the beginning of their next turn, including the player who initiated the action. Most of these are pretty bad, with a select few having positive effects.[/p][p]The Tarot Reading introduces a bit of chaos into the game, and multiple Tarot Reading actions can stack, so a lot of players using this action can really swing the game into unexpected directions. We recommend using the Tarot Reading action when you're behind and have little to lose.[/p][h2]Impose Curfew & Raccoon Raid[/h2][p][/p][p]These last two options share some similarities. Imposing a Curfew will enable a mini-global event for 2 rounds where every player must end their turn by going to sleep or be forced to pay a fine the round after. [/p][p]Initiating a Racoon Raid will similarly enable an event functionally identical to the crime wave event, but obviously orchestrated by the racoons. [/p][p]What make these actions fun is that the player initating these actions will receive a cut for all the cash stolen from other players during these events. If your fellow players don't watch out, you'll walk away with a lot of their hard-earned cash!
[/p][p]Keep in mind that these are just the first PVP actions available as we want to test the waters a bit. As things settle down, we hope to implement more wacky ways to mess with each other and turn Walk of Life into a truly interactive game.[/p][p]That's it for now. See you in the next blog![/p]

Dev Blog: What's in the Bag?

[p]Happy new year![/p][p]The gang at Porcelain Fortress is back in the development mines, hard at work on the next update which will be hitting your game later this month. As we mentioned in the previous dev blog, we are working on a bunch of stuff, but one that we didn't really talk about was clarity. [/p][p]There's still a bunch of not-so-intuitive stuff in our game and we're working on making things more clear, especially for newer players. Our inventory was an incredibly well hidden feature until we added the role specific backpacks to the interface, and now we're overhauling the character sheet to be better looking as well as more informative.[/p][p][/p][p]Behold! This is the new character sheet (along with a brand new player avatar!) where you will find everything you need to know about your equipment, your traits as well as the role you're playing. Depicted here is the unreleased Drifter role, along with a short description of how the role functions.[/p][p][/p][p]The Drifter is the mysterious stranger who shows up at the workplace, turns things around, and then vanishes as quickly as they arrived. The role rewards the player for working for short spurts at a job before getting fed up and wanting to find a new one. As an added bonus, after getting fed up with a job, the perks from that job will linger for a while, allowing the Drifter to have multiple job perks at the same time. Neato![/p][p]But back to the character sheet![/p][p]Your equipment will cover your transportation method and clothing, while items will be stuff such as fish and lottery tickets which take up space in your inventory. The various traits you accumulate throughout the game will show up on the right along with a description for each of them.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Many people have found scoring to be a little confusing in their first games, so we've added a tab to the character sheet where you will find a handy score guideline, detailing the ways you can get score throughout the game. Fishing and Stocks have made their way under the 'Other' section next to the Pets, but it's unlikely we'll sort scoring out for those systems for the next update.[/p][p]That's it for now! LATERS.[/p]

Holiday Dev Blog: What's next?

[p]Hohoho![/p][p]Consider this your holiday card from Porcelain Fortress before we stuff ourselves full of the seasonal foodstuff that makes this time of year so very merry. We're taking a little break over the holidays, but here's a quick peek at what you can expect in the fast approaching updates.[/p][h3]Longer Games[/h3][p][/p][p]Walk of Life's most requested feature by far is the option of longer games, oftentimes by players who like to play the game by themselves and find it frustrating when their journey through life is cut off short. We hear you guys loud and clear, and are planning on allowing for 50 round games in the coming update. [/p][p]We're also looking at the possibility of adding a marathon mode where the game's end is determined by factors other than rounds, but you'll have to wait a bit longer for that. Let us know in the comments if you have any expectations to what a mode like that could look like.[/p][h3]PVP[/h3][p]Many players have been disappointed with the lack of direct player interaction in the game, and we are working on implementing a system where you can start messing the plans of other players in a more direct way. [/p][p]This game mode will of course be optional, so those of you that prefer a peaceful coexistence with your fellow players needn't worry. The PVP system will be released in chunks, but the first few weapons in your armory should be arriving shortly.[/p][h3]Bot Difficulty Settings[/h3][p][/p][p]When the game launched, our bots were pretty dumb, and would often get stuck in a loop where they spent entire rounds just washing their hands. We corrected this behavior by putting them through robot school, where they passed with flying colors, and may have become a bit too smart, especially for newer players.[/p][p]We'll be adding difficulty settings to the bot players soon so you can tune it to how hard you'd like to stomp, or be stomped by (if that's your thing - we're not juding.), our bots. The option of adding multiple bots and bots for online is also in the works, but is a bit further off. Stay tuned![/p][h3]New Roles[/h3][h3][/h3][p]We've been pleasantly surprised with how well the four roles in the games have landed so far. While perfect balance is very hard to attain in a game with as many variables as Walk of Life, every role is performing quite well.[/p][p]There are several roles on the drawing board, but we don't want to release any of them until we think they're up to par with the ones in the game right now. A new role will be hitting the game in the next update: the Drifter. More on this mysterious stranger soon![/p][h3]Just More in General[/h3][p]This is a pretty broad category, but we're working on more of pretty much everything. More life events, more global events, more quests, more items - you name it! We want this game to be absolutely packed with silly stuff to make your games memorable, and the next batch of content will be hitting the game with the next update. [/p][p]We've already said too much. Go enjoy your holidays, we'll be back with more intel in January![/p][p][/p]

Update 0.44.5

[p]A small update, mostly featuring bugfixes.[/p][p]Changelog:[/p]
  • [p]More clarity in the Location Info Box! Now showing score information and more![/p]
  • [p]Stocks should now recover faster after a Economic Meltdown global event.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where after pressing Deposit in the bank the Info Box would display some weird text.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where stock prices were not correctly saved, which could cause weird behavior after loading a game.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where the Senior Role would not receive their pension after rejoining an online game.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where the host in an online game could have different scoring outcomes than clients.[/p]
  • [p]Avatars are now correctly stored in save games.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed it so text better fits Role Cards and the Scoring Machine in languages other than English.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed some missing localization strings.[/p]

The Old School Update

[p]Ahoy![/p][p]We're back with another content update! There are plenty of new things to keep an eye out with the new patch, but here are a few highlights!

Before we get started: we'll be taking down the demo today. We feel it has served its purpose and the gap between the game and the demo has gotten too big with newer versions for it to be an honest taste of the game.[/p][p]Now onto the new stuff![/p][h3]New Role - The Senior[/h3][p][/p][p]The Senior may be a bit past the prime of their life, but this old slugger still has a couple of tricks up their sleeves. What the Senior lacks in movement speed and work efficiency, they make up for with pension checks that arrive every couple of rounds! Try the unique Complain action in various locations to make the most of the Senior's grumpy old energy![/p][h3]Education System Revamp[/h3][p][/p][p]The education system was feeling a little lackluster, so we've added a new mechanic to spice things up. Upon finishing a tier of education, you'll receive a diploma which you can use to choose between one of two unique traits. These traits have various effects, ranging from increased movement speed to reducing the attribute loss from eating at Clucker's. If you don't feel like selecting either of the traits offered, you can always pawn the diploma, but keep in mind that other players could buy it themselves![/p][h3]New Global Event - Economic Crash[/h3][p][/p][p]When the economic crash global event begins, several effects take place. First, every player loses their job. Secondly, the job office will only offer jobs from tiers 1 and 2. Thirdly, the prices of everything at the Mall and Clucker's will go up and stocks will plummet. Finally, a soup kitchen will be available in the Park to offer players in need free food, but keep in mind that the queue is quite long![/p][h3]New Job Perks[/h3][p][/p][p]Some of the workplaces that were missing a perk have received one. Working at Moo Moo Mart will allow you to nab one free lottery ticket per round, the Mall has a lost and found box you can rummage through, and the Academy has a complimentary coffee for the staff. Try out the new perks and discover new strategies! Lost and found meta incoming?[/p][h3]New Score Screen[/h3][p][/p][p]Finally, the score screen has received an overhaul and is now presented in the style of a game show! Say hello to your new, omnipotent late-night host![/p][p]There's a bunch of other changes which you can find in the notes below! Now get out there and have some fun!
[/p][h2]PATCH NOTES
[/h2]
  • [p]New Role: The Senior! Collect your pension, yell at clouds and complain about the taste of the water at Cluckers.[/p]
  • [p]Role Update: Adventurer! Level up to get new Traits.[/p]
  • [p]New Global Event: Economic Crash. We're gonna party like it's late 2008.[/p]
  • [p]New Education System. Completing a course line allows you to now choose a new Trait to boost your play.[/p]
  • [p]New Job Traits. Getting a job at the Academy, Moo Moo Mart or the Mall now rewards you with sweet traits, making those locations extra enticing to work at.[/p]
  • [p]New Score Screen! I'm not going to lie, it looks pretty awesome.[/p]
  • [p]Bot update: Bot now interacts with Pets, Global Events, Transports[/p]
  • [p]Added thematic decorations to the Location UI.[/p]
  • [p]We now show a nice visual when you get a new Trait.[/p]
  • [p]Game now remembers your avatar choices from previous games.[/p]
  • [p]Reduced clutter of Location UI.[/p]
  • [p]Updated localization for all languages.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug with the clock not syncing correctly sometimes when rejoining an online game.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where the first time you entered a location, if you were unemployed and the game was not in 16:9 aspect ratio or in windowed mode you could trigger a bug by hovering over the edge of the screen, over the clock.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where you could join an empty online game shortly after the owner left the lobby. This would cause all sorts of problems if you then tried to play that game.[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug where the game could freeze in online after the event cards.[/p]
  • [p]Now correctly syncing location panel scroll view state in online games.[/p]
  • [p]Score for quests reduced[/p]
  • [p]Higher tiers of education require furniture[/p]
  • [p]Flash sale discount increased[/p]