The February update for Idol Manager is now live! If you joined the beta program by backing the game through Backerkit or buying the game on itch.io, to manually update you can head over to the game's itch.io page to download the latest version.

If you run into any bugs, or have suggestions or feature requests for things you'd like to see us add to the game, the best way to let us know is via the beta community forum. Thank you to the many players who have already stopped by during the beta to report bugs or suggest new features!

Here's what's new in Idol Manager Beta #4:

Features

Updated save system

You can now manually save the game via the pause menu, and load individual save files. (The game still auto-saves every 10 seconds, labeled as [auto] when you go to load a save.) Manually creating a save file allows you to start a new game without losing progress on your old playthrough.

New staffer added: Stylist

Stylists work in dressing rooms. Similar to how coaches can raise an idol's "dance" or "vocal" stat through training, stylists can improve idols' visual parameters  (cute, cool, sexy, pretty). Unlike dance and vocal practice, sending an idol to the stylist costs no stamina, but "styling" takes x4 longer than "dance" or "vocal" training.

You can manually assign stylists to raise a specific visual parameter, or select the "highest stat" or "lowest stat" option to have them automatically choose the highest stat or lowest stat for the idol they are working with.

Female player character added

You can choose a male or female manager when starting a new game.

Improvements

Doctor changes:

• You can send an idol to a doctor to restore some of her physical or mental stamina 
• Doctors can automatically pick up injured and depressed idols for treatment
• Doctors reduce hiatus time more efficiently 
• Doctors automatically send idols on hiatus after treatment
• Salary for doctors is now twice as expensive as other staffers 

Singles changes:

• You now gain new fans by releasing singles 
• High buzz and fame increase sales
• There's a penalty to sales if formation's fame level is lower than usual (e.g. sales will be lower when an established group releases a single with a bunch of new idols)

Buzz:

• You don't gain passively gain new fans through high buzz anymore. (You can still lose fans if your buzz is too low.)
• Added a tooltip that shows how much buzz is added daily from your contracts, how quickly your buzz is decaying, and how much buzz you need to not lose neutral fans (positive fans need less buzz, negative fans need more buzz)
• Buzz decreases slower

Concerts:

• When adding a song to the playlist: single's center is automatically selected as the center for the concert performance
• When original center idol is centering her song at a concert, her minimum "skill value" is 80

Misc. changes:

• You can cancel an idol's hiatus by "paying" 30pt mental stamina. You can't cancel a hiatus if the idol is injured.
• Mental stamina can't be less than 0pt now 
• When idols are at 0 physical stamina, they used to spend 1 mental stamina point for each 1 physical stamina point. Now they spend 0.5 mental stamina for each 1 point of physical stamina they would have spent.
• Lowered stamina cost of higher level business proposals 
• Increased loan limits 
• Internet shows are cheaper and bring in more new fans
• Changed some daily activity upgrade requirements (e.g. give a concert in every country to upgrade Promotion to lvl 8) 
• Removed tooltip delays 

Bug fixes

• Fixed: idols not loading mid training 
• Fixed: staffers' auto training settings not loading 
• Fixed: New single release - Upgrades screen overflows Fame screen when there are too many upgrades or if you click too quickly 
• Fixed: Values in business proposals are rounded properly (no more x0.6969696969) 

Thank you to everyone who has supported Idol Manager so far! We look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest update in the beta community forum. Our next update will be focusing on the relationships system. We'll be making an announcement in early March to provide a more detailed roadmap for the future of Idol Manager's development.