Endless TV Tycoon

Hotfix with three items: • AI networks were sometimes scheduling shows way too far into the future. They now keep things within a normal planning window. • Establishing a new room right after adding a new office level could fail. That workflow now behaves correctly. • After building a new office level, the screen no longer stays at the same position — it now scrolls to the bottom as expected.

Network episode acquisition costs were missing from the Weekly Financial Overview. They’re now visible again.

Shows still in pilot evaluation no longer appear as schedulable, since only their pilot episode is completed.

This update introduces the New Episode Production System—a major upgrade that changes how episodes are created from the ground up. It also lays the foundation for the upcoming Critics & Viewer Reviews feature. And there’s even more good news for everyone: Planned Show Endings is now free for all players. *** New Early Access Features These features are available to Ultimate Pass holders as a thank-you for supporting this indie game’s development. They will become free for everyone once the next Early Access feature is released. ** Creative Direction System The biggest addition in the new production system is Creative Direction. These new parameters define the style, tone, and feel of your episode—and whether it matches what viewers actually want. This gives you far more control over how your shows feel—not just how much you spend on them. There are 12 new episode parameters, grouped into four categories: • Creative Identity: Tone, Humor Level, Realism • Performance & Rhythm: Pacing, Acting Style, Music Style • World & Look: Visual Style, Location Style, Set Style • Storytelling: Structure, Narrative Density, Dialogue Style Every genre has its own recipe for success, so part of the challenge is discovering what works best. ** Heat Map Feedback After each produced episode, you’ll see a heat map showing how close your settings were to the ideal values. Getting close brings you better results, and hitting the sweet spot earns you a star, marking the perfect match. Audience taste isn’t static, though. Trends shift. When that happens, you’ll get notified during End Week, so you know it may be time to adjust your direction. That’s where Last Known Values comes in. A second heat map shows what worked earlier—usually close, but not always perfect anymore. ** Budget vs Creativity For the first time, smart creative choices can outperform pure spending. Episode Scores now depend just as much on Creative Direction as on traditional production spending. This means: • A low-budget episode can still perform well if the creative choices land. • A high-budget production can carry weaker creative decisions. Episode production becomes more personal, more experimental, and far less predictable. *** New Free Features This update also includes a large set of improvements available to everyone right now. Production Experience Upgrades • Fully Redesigned Episode Production Screens: One of the most-used screens in the game has been rebuilt with modern controls and a cleaner layout. • Episode Summary: The top of the Produce Episode screen now shows a quick overview of the episode’s key attributes, including finances. • Start Production—Faster: The Start Production button is now immediately visible, so you can begin without unnecessary scrolling. Production Spending • Existing parameters have been reorganized under the new Production Spending category and grouped into: Key Talent, Supporting Cast, Production, and Post-Production. • These improve quality reliably—but each increase costs more. Visual Improvements • Talent Hiring Screen Upgrade: Already-hired talent is now visible, making comparisons easier. • Sleek Sliders: Remaining parameters now use faster, cleaner slider controls. Smarter Decision Support • Impact Hint: Each spending parameter now shows how strongly it affects quality for the selected genre. No more guessing what’s actually worth the money. • This replaces the old Consultant system, which has been removed to reduce clutter—and reduce budget pressure. • Rebalanced Costs: Spending parameter costs have been reviewed and adjusted for more realism. Misc Improvements • Knowledge Base and Tutorial updated have been updated. • Rare crash when scrolling the episode list very quickly has been fixed. *** Planned Show Endings — Now Free This previously Early Access feature allows you to end your shows on your own terms—whether you’re running a studio or a network. Happy TV empire-building!

This hotfix addresses a few issues introduced with the new Episode Production System: • Updated episode budget calculations to properly account for higher actor salaries • Resolved a screen reader accessibility issue affecting sliders • Fixed a bug causing incomplete email & social follower messages

This hotfix improves the End Week experience and resolves a usability issue: • You can now tap anywhere on End Week events to dismiss them after the End Week process finishes. • Resolved a bug where quickly scrolling after tapping End Week could leave the interface stuck due to the footer moving off-screen.

Corrected a freeze occurring after initiating a room establishment action (introduced in the prior hotfix).

This hotfix includes the following improvements: • Network difficulty settings now display correctly on the Load Game screen • Improved difficulty setting layout • Fixed Edit All Episodes affecting already ordered episodes in certain decision events • Toggle switches updated with a new custom style • Performance improvements

This update brings more control over promo images for your shows — features many players requested: • Use your own custom promo images! Ultimate Pass holders can now choose images from their Photo Library for both new and existing shows. After selecting an image, you can pan and zoom to create the perfect crop. • Prefer a cleaner look? You can now turn promo images off entirely. This option is available in the Main Menu settings and directly from any show’s promo image.

This update includes two important fixes and one small addition: • Custom show promo images now appear correctly in the Schedule list and Time Slot screens. • Fixed an issue where, after pitching an existing show to a new network — or receiving a switch proposal from one — the budget for the newly proposed season could be calculated using the previous network’s preferred number of main actors, resulting in a budget that was much lower than intended. • Added info about custom show promo images to the What’s New screen.

This update brings a few quality-of-life improvements: • Custom show promo images now appear correctly on the Decisions screen in the Briefing Room. • Improved accessibility on the Episode Production and Building screens. • The Network Detail screen is now more concise, so the “Select Network” button is visible without scrolling when starting a new show. • When money is set to unlimited, the Building screen now shows an infinity symbol instead of a cash amount.

This update introduces the long-awaited Critics & Viewer scores with written reviews. *** Critics & Viewer Scores and Reviews — New Early Access Feature Your episodes are no longer judged by a single number. The old Episode Score has been renamed to the Quality Score, and now every aired episode also receives a separate Critics Score and Viewer Score — both ranging from 0–100. And they don’t always agree. Some episodes look perfect on paper… then get completely roasted by critics. Others are chaotic messes that viewers absolutely love. Different genres, styles, and creative decisions can lead to very different reactions — and honestly, that’s exactly the kind of TV industry drama the game needed. If the gap between Critics and Viewer Scores becomes large enough, the episode becomes Controversial. Controversial episodes can spark extra attention and boost future viewership. Critics and viewers now also leave short written reviews for every episode, giving you a better feel for how your creative decisions actually landed. During End Week, airing episodes now appear as expandable events. Expanding them reveals for every episode: • Critics & Viewer Scores • Controversial status • Written Reviews • Viewership • Rankings Previously, only the best-performing episode of a season showed viewership and rankings data. Now every episode gets its moment in the spotlight. You can also review Critics & Viewer Scores, Reviews, and Controversial status anytime from the Episode Detail screen, and some of this data even on the Episode Lists, and Show Detail screens. Most of these features are currently part of Early Access. Ultimate Pass holders can use them right now as a thank you for supporting the game’s development. The features will become available to everyone once the next Early Access feature arrives. *** Creative Direction System — Now Available to Everyone The other major recent addition is the redesigned Episode Production system with Creative Direction. These new parameters define the style, tone, and overall feel of your episode — and whether it matches what viewers actually want. For the first time, your creative decisions matter just as much as your budget. There are 12 new episode parameters, grouped into four categories: • Creative Identity: Tone, Humor Level, Realism • Performance & Rhythm: Pacing, Acting Style, Music Style • World & Look: Visual Style, Location Style, Set Style • Storytelling: Structure, Narrative Density, Dialogue Style Every genre has its own recipe for success, so part of the challenge is discovering what works best. * Heat Map Feedback After producing an episode, you’ll see a heat map showing how close your settings were to the ideal values. Getting close improves your results, while perfectly matching a parameter earns a star. Audience tastes also evolve over time. When trends shift, you’ll be notified during End Week so you know it may be time to rethink your direction. To help with this, the Last Known Values heat map shows what worked previously — usually still useful, but not always perfect anymore. * Budget vs Creativity For the first time, smart creative decisions can outperform pure spending. This means: • A low-budget episode can still perform well if the creative choices land. • A high-budget production can carry weaker creative decisions. Episode production is now more strategic, more personal, and far less predictable. The Episode Production screen has also been fully redesigned with: • a cleaner modern layout, • a production summary at the top, • less unnecessary scrolling, • impact hints for spending parameters, • and a more practical talent selection screen. *** Custom Promo Images — New Premium Feature Ultimate Pass holders can now use custom promo images for their shows. Choose images directly from your Photo Library for both new and existing shows, then pan and zoom to create the perfect crop. Happy TV empire-building!

This update includes behind-the-scenes improvements and polish.

This update includes another round of behind-the-scenes improvements and polish: • Improved game analytics to help identify ways to make the game better and grow the player community. • Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause blank text to appear when showing social follow and community join options.

This update includes two quality-of-life improvements: • During natural disasters, delayed actions no longer generate individual messages. Only the disaster notification itself will be shown. • The Vote on Features screen now includes options to cast or withdraw 100 votes at a time.

Welcome to a brand-new first launch experience! Starting your TV empire should be fun, quick, and frictionless, so I've completely redesigned the way new players begin their journey. • New players now skip the Main Menu and jump straight into a short comic-style introduction that sets the stage for their rise in the television industry. • After the intro, you'll only need to name your studio before starting your first game. No extra setup screens, no unnecessary decisions. • Fresh installs now always begin with a TV Studio on Easy difficulty, making it easier than ever to learn the ropes and start creating hit shows. • Existing players can rewatch the comic slides anytime from the Main Menu. • Starting a new game is now faster for everyone. The game setup process for returning players has been streamlined into a single screen, reducing clicks and getting you back into the action sooner. Lights, camera, action — your studio is waiting!

Fixed an issue where scrolling very quickly through the Episode List could cause the game to freeze when a show had many episodes.

This update brings four improvements: • Show renewal chances have been rebalanced, making renewals more likely on the ‘Fair’, ‘Good’, and ‘Slapping’ difficulty settings. • Renewed shows are now less likely to receive a final-season order, meaning their next season is less likely to be their last. • Fixed an issue where viewer and critic scores and reviews appeared on the Episode List and Detail screens before an episode had aired. • Fixed an issue where hiring many showrunners and starting multiple episode productions in quick succession could temporarily leave you stuck on the action selection screen.

Fixed an issue where the Network disregarded the Studio’s Flashback Episode and Two-Part Finale requests during Propose End Show.

Fixed an issue where a new network ordering an additional season could unintentionally change the main cast size of previous seasons.