New Orleans Update - Succession, Training Overhaul and Reworks
[p]In the last devlog we talked about Roadmap, Trade and Stable ownership and expanded Breeding. [/p][p] [/p]![]()
Showcase of interaction screen [/p][p] [/p][p]We're exploring ways to extend the system further with more cinematic scenes and events.[/p][p]One of players story "I just did a speedrun to get married, then found out they had a lover just after I dropped millions on the wedding and we adopted a child together. So I murdered them and left the world to the newborn who has our double-barrelled name and a business to run! Pure Cinema. I never imagined that the game I could write that about would be HRM..🤣".[/p][p]If you generate stories of your own, we would love to hear them, so please do share those![/p][p]A secret system was added, allowing secrets to be discovered, traded, or used in legal actions, with public criminal secrets carrying consequences. NPCs can challenge or taunt the player into wagers involving cash or horses.[/p][p]We also added additional social content, including journalist questions, staff worry events, adoption events for married couples, random trait events, and multiple gameplay toggles allowing players to disable violence, legal drama, relationship drama, random events, and CPU-initiated social behaviour. As next, we want to create traits for horses and bring more random events.[/p][p]Looking ahead, we plan to expand random events and traits for horses. [/p][p]If you prefer to focus purely on racing and management, social system can be fully disabled in the settings.[/p][p]![]()
Example of event during poor financial situation[/p][p] [/p]![]()
Preview of weekly program builder and presets [/p][p] [/p][p]![]()
Preview of yearly program builder with presets [/p][p] [/p][p]Alongside training, we added a nutrition system where players create recipes from hays, grains, and supplements that affect training effectiveness. A care system was added in a similar way, allowing possibility to define care recipes and assign them to horses.[/p][p]![]()
Showcase of Nutrition, build your own recipes or choose from presets. [/p][p] [/p][p]Training logic was refined so horses over six years old can still gain condition under the new system. CPU training behaviour was made more consistent and less spiky, and overall skill gain was reduced slightly for balance.[/p][p]We added time trials to the training page as a first version of performance testing outside of live races. Sprint and pacing training now gradually influence a horse's preferred distance over time.[/p][p]Horse progression was expanded with maturity styles of early bloomer, average and late bloomer, which determine how quickly a horse reaches its potential and how it declines later in its life. Peak indicators were added to horse profiles to show whether a horse has reached its maximum potential. To improve balance at the late game, the ability required to reach five stars was capped at 380 ability. [/p][p] [/p]![]()
Preview of steel, rubber, titanium and gold shoes[/p][p] [/p][h2]Betting[/h2][p]Betting was moved into its own sidebar category, separating it from racing and making it easier to access. Betting interaction was refined with percentage-based quick bet buttons, improved currency updates, corrected label ordering, restored standings bet labels, and odds visibility improvements.[/p][p]Getting summaries were added to race results, and cancelled or injured races now correctly refund bets. We also added small optional betting side-activities, including a slot machine and horse loot boxes, available through betting page.[/p][p]![]()
Preview of separated betting category and side-activities[/p][p] [/p][h2]Prestige[/h2][p]A new stable prestige system was added, where stables gain prestige by winning awards and G1 races. Prestige rankings are visible in standings, and the most prestigious stable at the end of the year receives a special awards and cash prizes. [/p][p]![]()
Preview of horse's individual award and stable's award.[/p][p] [/p][h2]Tables, UI and Interaction Improvements[/h2][p]We refactored the table system, replacing the old tables with new implementation that loads faster and supports freezing columns, resizing columns, multi-sorting, persistent column widths, column alignment settings and context menus for horses, persons and stables.[/p][p]Tables now remember filters and sorting more reliably, support copying data directly into spreadsheet programs, and allow copying full tables via header context menus. [/p][p]Context menus were expanded to support staff negotiation, scout assignment, training effort changes, and universal trade shortcuts. [/p][p]We also added quick save with CTRL+S, quick load with CTRL+L, improved command menu functionality and number formatting with spacing for large values.[/p][p]![]()
Overview of table management[/p][p] [/p][h2]Breeding, Genetics and Population Control[/h2][p]We continued refining breeding systems by improving visibility of breeding ability in horse descriptions and the top bar. Maturity styles and peak skill indicators further expanded long-term breeding and development planning. [/p][p]Birth rules and imports were fixed to correctly respect selected aging and birthday settings, including edge cases where ages could become negative or juvenile races were missing.[/p][p]We fixed inbreeding detection issues, clarified breeding-related exports to indicate that only DNA data is exported, and corrected multiple coat generation issues including champagne, sooty, amber champagne mane and tail colours, and pintaloosa patterns. [/p][p]Population control was overhauled with a more aggressive culling system for low-quality male horses while retaining females longer to support breeding depth. Culling parameters were exposed in new game creation and settings. Newgens now enter the world in yearly batches to concentrate population between ages 0 to 5. [/p][p] [/p][h2]Performance, Engine and Technical Work[/h2][p]Significant performance and stability work was done since last devlog. This includes reducing log noise, optimising hiring and scouting in large saves, aggregating historical data yearly to reduce save size by up to 80%, improving database migrations, and making simulated auctions and race registration more efficient. [/p][p]The audio system fully transitioned to the in-house Chirp system, replacing unstable third-party solutions and improving long-term stability with our own made system. [/p][p] [/p][h2]Stability and Fixes[/h2][p]Since last devlog, we fixed a large number of crashes, save corruption issues, table rendering failures, incorrect sorting, broken UI states, invalid save folder names on Windows, betting bugs, training inconsistencies, staff assignment errors, rage registration issues, coat rendering problems and multiple migration related cases.[/p][p]Issues related to owning multiple stables, pin cleanup on horse death, sponsorship payouts, notifications, looping audio, race previews and economic summaries were also fixed. [/p][p] [/p][h2]Roadmap[/h2][p]![]()
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Social System and Succession
[p]We added a full succession system, allowing players to form relationships, get married, have children, and view family trees directly from persons profiles. Children grow up, inherit traits, gain skill when finishing school, and contribute to long-term world continuity.[/p][p]The first version of person traits was introduced, affecting skills and outcomes of social events. Alongside this, we added social interactions and events for persons, including hostile actions such as suing or attempting murder, which NPCs can also initiate toward the player. [/p][p]Training, Nutrition and Care Overhaul
[p]We added a completely new training system that replaces the old approach with weekly training programmes and yearly schedules that horse are assigned to. Training programmes can be exported, imported and shared with other players.[/p][p]Racing Logic, Grading and Rating Overhaul
[p]We've done a major overhaul of the grading and rating systems, shifting racing progression to be primarily rating-driven instead of grade-restricted. Grades were simplified to better match real-world structures, G1, G2, G3, Listen and Open.[/p][p]Ratings are not the main factor determining what races a horse can enter. G1 races require rating of 115, G2 110, G3 105 and Listed 100. Ratings are gained by winning races, with race time being a significant factor in rating changes. After each race, the rating change is shown in results, and rating history +/- is visible in past result tables. We also added "peak rating", which is displayed across horse profiles, multiple tables, and the breeding page. [/p][p]Race generation was reworked to follow a more pyramid-shaped structure, with G1 race being rare and allowance and open races being more common, reducing the number of empty races. G1, G2 and G3 races now always generate for all SMILE distances instead of just a single distance.[/p][p]We also exposed race generation parameters and rating system parameters both during new game creation and in in-game settings, allowing everyone to tailor progression and world structure.[/p][p] [/p][h2]Race Engine, Harness Racing and Farriery[/h2][p]We continued work on the new race engine, moving the experimental engine into the main branch so it no longer blocks regular releases while development continues separately. Known limitations remain around pacing and grouping, but we have stronger foundation for future fixes and improvements.[/p][p]Harness Racing received multiple fixes and improvements, including crash fixes at race start, corrected horse ordering and Z-axis issues, improved behaviour behind the starting car, corrected gate logic, and reduced excessive hoof step audio. Harness racing was made slightly more organic, though significant issues remain and are being worked on.[/p][p]We added horse shoes and activated farriery skill, which has a small effect on training and injury risk for now, with racing effects planned later. Shoe visuals were added and simplified so horses now use a single shoe selection instead of separate front and back shoes. Farriery UI issues were also fixed.[/p][p]Discord Server
[p]We have member count of over 900 already. If you have suggestions, ideas or something else you want to talk about, it's a great platform and an easy way to reach us. Join the server here![/p]
What’s next
[p]We have planned for Early Access phase to last around six months, but as game development often goes, things tend to take longer than expected. We will confirm the final game's release date once we've made more progress during Early Access. [/p][p]Development is ongoing, and we will keep you updated on our progress. We are continuously working to enhance Horse Racing Manager, and your feedback is invaluable. Our goal is to make this franchise the most realistic horse racing simulator in the world. Your support is crucial for us and greatly appreciated. [/p][p]Follow Horse Racing Manager Here![/p]