Walk of Life News

[p]Howdy![/p][p]Three blogs? In one week? Is this some sort of ablogalypse? No! We're just excited to tell you what's coming up! Today we'll be revealing the next role you'll be getting your hands on:[/p][h3]The Senior![/h3][p][/p][p]Out of the first five roles that were visible within the game, we've received the most requests from people that just can't wait to get their grubby hands all over the senior. This wrinkly old maverick may be a bit past the primetime of life, but they've still got some tricks up their sleeves. [/p][p]The senior is the first role in the game that sports a notable downside. The senior moves slow. Real slow. Choosing your pathing for each round is going to require some planning, or you'll end up finding yourself running out the clock without having eaten for the round. The senior is also not much for working, as work takes a lot more time than it does for the young whippersnappers.[/p][h3]Pension Checks[/h3][p][/p][p]Thankfully, the Senior has a rather enormous ace up their sleeve in the form of Pension Checks, which will arrive every two rounds. These checks are absolutely huge and will feel like you're practically winning the lottery on a regular basis. Since working is not a great use of your time, these huge pension checks can help you interact with systems such as education, pets, the stock market and buying furniture without having to spend time working.[/p][h3]Complaining[/h3][p]The Senior also has access to a new action called Complain, which has unique effects based on where its used. If you complain at the Landlady, you will reduce your next rent payment, but if you complain at the job office, you'll permanently increase the cash granted from your pension checks! The senior can only complain once per round, and can't complain in the some location two rounds in a row. Try to find the best places to complain each round to get the most out of the role![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The senior is being released with an experimental stamp as we think it's a little undercooked compared to the other roles, but we hope you have fun with it regardless. There are some wrinkles we won't be ironing out, as the senior would cease to be a senior if we did, but let us know what you think when the patch drops, which will be any day now![/p][p]Until next time![/p]

[p]Back with another blog for the blog combo! Work on the next content update is well under way and we just HAD to tell you guys what we've been cooking. You are our favorites, after all.[/p][p]Global Events are a feature we really enjoy as a way to spice games up and make them distinct from one another. There aren't too many of them in the game right now, so we've decided to put two game-changers in with the next patch, which is just around the corner.[/p][p]Let's take a look![/p][h3]The Tourist Invasion[/h3][p][/p][p]Oh no! A cruise ship has landed in Calicornia, bringing a horde of annoying tourists with it![/p][p]The tourist invasion global event brings legions of obnoxious tourists to town that will visit new locations every round, blocking them off for players to use. This could spell disaster if they block off a key location you need to access at a crucial time, such as the job office after you lose your job or the bank when you need to withdraw some cash.[/p][p]This event is meant to throw a spanner in the players' plans and force them to adapt to a new strategy if a location they desperately need is closed off. We also like it thematically, as many of us know first hand just how annoying it can be when tourists start to discover your favorite locations in town.[/p][p]As with all global events, the tourists will be represented on the map itself with tiny tourists standing in front of the location snapping pictures, but also in the form of the cruise ship itself! [/p][p] [/p][p]The gang at Porcelain Fortress is located in Iceland, so annoying tourists were a pretty easy source of inspiration. Speaking of easy sources of inspiration, here's another one that we could design from first hand experience![/p][h3]Economic Crash[/h3][p][/p][p]The economy has crashed! Stocks are plummeting! Jobs are at risk! Prices are up![/p][p]During the Economic Crash global event, every single player will lose their job! This might not sound like a big deal, as applying for a job in Walk of Life is trivial, however, the jobs available in the job office will be limited to tier 1 and tier 2 jobs only! That means as a CEO you might have to go back to flipping burgers, at least temporarily.[/p][p]In addition, prices of stock will drop dramatically and prices will increase in locations such as Clucker's and the Gym. If you can't afford Clucker's, don't panic! There'll be a soup kitchen in the park to keep you sated until things get better! The line is a little long, though...[/p][p]
[/p][p]That's it for now! No more soup for you! [/p][p]See you in the next blog![/p]

[p]Hello again![/p][p]We hope all of you are enjoying zooming around Calicornia in the transportation options we introduced in our last update, as well as investing unwisely in the Stock Market to see your hard-earned money disappear to appease the bankers. We're aware that the new systems require a bit of tuning and we'll be making some fixes to them in the next days.[/p][p]But we're not here to tell you about some tweaks to existing systems - yawn-o-rama, am I right?[/p][p]We're here to tell you about some of the new stuff we're working on! Specifically a system that we feel is a bit undercooked at the moment. Raw, even, and not in a "this dude is raw!" sort of way, but more of a "this chicken is raw and I'm going to die" sort of way.
[/p][p][/p][p]So far, the education system has mostly been a gating mechanic to unlock more advanced jobs and to gain score at the end of the game. The system is boring, shallow, and doesn't offer any interesting choices.[/p][p][/p][p]To spice things up, we will be introducing diploma courses in our next update — a new feature for each school tier that will give you different benefits, but will not impact your scoring or access to jobs. The different schools of education will also be shifted into different chambers, where you will have access to each education tier as well as the diploma courses you can take.[/p][p][/p][p]Completing each education tier will reward you with a diploma from that school which you can use to purchase access to a special diploma course. Each school will have two diploma courses, randomly set up at the start of each game, that you can select between, as these courses will cost you the diploma. If you’re not interested in completing these courses, you can always head to the pawn shop and pawn your diploma for some extra cash, but this will allow other players to purchase your diploma and use it to enter a course themselves![/p][p][/p][p]So why bother with these diploma courses if they don’t offer any score or further your education? Well, each one will offer you a special trait that will benefit you in the game, be it extra salary, decreased attribute hits for working, or decreasing the time it takes to manage your beloved pet to name a few. [/p][p]We have also added requirements to the more advanced school tiers, where in addition to completing the preceding school to start the next one, you will also need to have certain things in your home to participate in the more advanced classes. A computer is required for the 2nd tier of education, and a computer and the home library is required for the 3rd tier of education. How annoyingly immersive![/p][p]This is just a preview of one of the things dropping with the next update, so stay tuned! Until next time, you can wonder about where you will encounter the following action:

[/p][p]See you again, sooner than you'd prefer![/p]

[p]What is up, party people?[/p][p]It's been three weeks since Walk of Life launched into Steam Early Access, and we're grateful for the reception you've given us so far. We're pretty certain you'll enjoy the game even more with our first new content update, dropping today!
[/p][p][/p][p]The Bots, Stocks & Automobiles update brings about plenty of new stuff for you to play with. While some of you amateur detectives may have already deduced what's in store by looking at the patch title and cover photo, let's do a quick rundown for some of the students that require extra attention.[/p][p][/p][h3]Transportation is Now Available in Vexcorp![/h3][p][/p][p]Many No Time to Relax veterans were baffled by the lack of transportation options in our launch build, and were sure to let us know in detail using letters cut from magazines. To ensure the safety of our families, we have made three transportation options that are accessible at everyone's favourite tech company, Vexcorp. Have fun zooming around![/p][h3]Pawn Makeover[/h3][h3][/h3][p]As we were designing the new transportation options, the pawn itself felt a bit dated, so we decided to give it a makeover. We've given its vacant face some emotion to it, as well as new animations for when it's idle and moving around the map. You'll also see the pawn riding around on whatever transportation option you've bought. How immersive is that?[/p][p][/p][h3]Stocks![/h3][p][/p][p]Stocks are back, baby! Another sorely missed by many, the stock market is open for business, giving players another opportunity at making some big bucks with wise investments. Keep in mind that unlike No Time to Relax, you'll have to sell them manually this time around.[/p][h3]Adventurer Leaves Experimental[/h3][p][/p][p]The Adventurer has been available in a very messy state for a while, but we think the role is now ready to join the Workaholic and Hoarder as a standard role. You'll notice a fancy new experience bar you'll fill up every time you complete a quest, leading to level ups just like in all those RPG games you guys seem so crazy about. We'll be making further iterations in the coming weeks, but for now, happy adventuring![/p][h3]Items and Inventory Clarity
[/h3][p]Did you know that Walk of Life has an inventory system? Well, it's always been there, hidden within your avatar. Not very intuitive. That all changes today! We have added an inventory icon, tailored to every single role, which will lead you to your inventory when clicked. Furthermore, every time you gain an item to your inventory, you'll see it pop up to your screen before flying into your backpack.[/p][h3]AI Improvements[/h3][p][/p][p]If you've played against our CPU player recently, you may have noticed that it's dumber than a bag of digital rocks. After sending it to computer school, the CPU player has received a firmware update and is now much smarter. Try it out![/p][h3]A Whole Bunch of Tweaks and Changes[/h3][h3]These illustrated bullet points are getting a bit stale, so we'll just dump some of the other changes we've made in text format. We hope you all enjoy the update!

Version: 0.43.1[/h3][p]* Adventurer Role major update. They now have a fancy XP bar and are no longer Experimental.[/p][p]* Bot has received a firmware update and is now much smarter.[/p][p]* The Stock Market is now open at the Bank. Sell sell sell!!![/p][p]* First iteration of Transports are now available to purchase from Vexcorp.[/p][p]* Regions for online play! Choose from: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America or South America.[/p][p]* New map Pawn (that includes the new Transports).[/p][p]* Each Role has their very own backpack (click it for access to the character sheet)[/p][p]* Much better clarity when receiving items and furniture (see them fly into your backpack!).[/p][p]* New Animated NPCs![/p][p]* All six players now fit on the score screen (can't wait for the new score screen...)[/p][p]* Added sell hand icon on actions that are sell actions.[/p][p]* Pets can become sad again.[/p][p]* Networking systems updated.[/p][p]* Some role balancing to accompany the Adventurer release.[/p][p]* Dead-end Jobs now give 1xp.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug with Fishing Frenzy event where getting the special fishes was almost impossible.[/p][p]* Pawn starts at right location when save data is loaded.[/p][p]* Fixed some quests that were bugged and did a balance pass on them.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug where other players could finish achievements for you in online games.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug where time was not correctly set on clock when rejoining an online game.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug where game could stall when rejoining an online game and your Pawn was currently moving on the map.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug where rejoining players in online games were told that they had disconnected and now had control of their player.[/p][p]* Fixed a bug where NPCs were invisible when rejoining an online game and the current player was inside a location.[/p][p]* We are no longer only showing English messages for the Workaholic and Hoarder.[/p][p]* Fixed localization bugs with the Mayoral Global Event[/p][p]* Added missing art for some reports/events.[/p][p]* Lots of balancing, small bugfixes and tweaks.[/p][p]* Updated credits[/p]