Dev Diary 4/2023: Show Status Overhaul

In The Next Update of Endless Studio...

While developing the Switching Shows to Different Networks feature for the next update, we realized something important. ☝️

There are just too many "technical" production statuses for the shows right now, like "Looking for Network" and "Evaluating Network Offer" and whatnot. And with the new update we intended to introduce even more of these to keep track of all the possible ways a show's life can go... this started to get very confusing and hard to follow! 😰

Instead we took a step back and came up with a much better way to keep track of each show's journey. This allowed us to simplify the statuses to just 4 basic phases, which are very in line with the way things work in real life: Brainstorming, In Development, In Production and Ended.

We even created a little flow chart to illustrate all this:

You can see in the image that pitching is possible for shows that are still In Development, like when you start a new show, but also when your initial pitch fails and you want to try to pitch the same show again. This is new and it will be available to all players when the update hits.

Then, you'll have the ability to pitch a show that is In Production, such as to find a better network for a successful show. And finally, you'll also be able to pitch a show to a new network that is Ended, because it got cancelled by its previous network. These two new options will initially only be available to our Level 2 Supporters as part of the Early Access perk of the Tier 2 subscription, but after the next update is released, everyone will get it.

And as mentioned in the last Dev Diary, there is one more situation where you can switch your shows to a new network, but because of the unexpected status overhaul we had to postpone that work to next week and that's when it makes sense to tell you about it… so stay tuned, still! 📺

Feature Voting Status Report

Second week results for the First Feature Voting Phase are in. Endless Studio's biggest fans, who chose the Level 2 Supporter Subscription, used their power to vote to elevate the following features to the Top 5:

• Spin-offs, Franchises, Reboots: 52 votes
• Critics & Awards: 40 votes
• Negotiating Renewal Offers: 21 votes
• Planned Show Endings: 14 votes - Up 1 position!
• Managing Your Own Network: 12 votes - New in Top 5!

If you haven't yet but would also like to vote for features you want to be developed next, subscribe (or upgrade) to the Level 2 Supporter Subscription! Voting will conclude with the next update, and then we'll announce a winner and start a new voting phase.

That's it for now, have a great weekend and fun building your studios! We’ll keep you updated on all developments, so stay tuned! 📺