Release Date: 2020-12-30
Developer: Kuiper – Steam – Kickstarter – Itch.io – Website
Censored: No
Version: Beta v20
OS: Windows, Mac, Linux
Language: English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian

Overview:
You take on the role of manager at a small (but growing!) talent agency. As you cultivate and train the newest generation of young pop stars, you’ll have to decide who to hire and who to fire, who gets promoted when things go well and who gets reprimanded when things get sour. The personal lives of these young celebrities are a part of your business, and the life of a pop star isn’t always a happy one.​

Beta v20
Story mode

The game’s story is finally here! When starting a new game, you have the option to play in “story mode” or “free play.”

The “free play” mode functions the same as previous beta builds have acted — the only story events included are the early events with Fujimoto and Rival. (As with previous builds, the “new game” menu has settings that give you the option to skip things like the intro dialog, policies dialog, and so on.) Any save files you have from previous beta versions will exist in “free play” mode. To play in story mode, select “story mode” from the main menu to start a new game.

“Story mode” is the version of Idol Manager that has been our goal from the start: you’ll progress through several “chapters” by completing various criteria, and along the way you’ll make choices that will lead to one of a variety of possible endings. Most of your advancement through the story will be based on the tasks system that was introduced in September’s update. (Not all endings are necessarily good! If you want to have a career that lasts longer than the events of the story, keep that in mind when making important decisions that could affect your career and the future of your group.)

There’s lots of new features and gameplay systems bundled in the new story events, and this is normally the part of the announce post where we’d detail them at length…but we’d prefer not to spoil them and let you discover those moments along the way during your time with the game’s story mode.

Romance

When socializing with other adults, you have the option to flirt and potentially explore romantic interest. (Not everyone is receptive to attempts at flirtation, and flirting attempts can easily backfire, so tread lightly!) Spend enough time kindling that romantic interest, and you may be able to spend more time socializing with them outside the office in a variety of venues. Of course, becoming romantically involved with people in the workplace is the kind of thing that has been known to end careers, so be careful…

More events and substories

Even if you don’t play the game’s new story mode, there’s still lots of new story moments for you to encounter during your time with Idol Manager, including conversations that will have effects on gameplay.

The effects can be positive or negative, and there are lots of ways to trigger them, which is all the more reason to be careful with how you’re running your group: if your company’s finances spend too much time in the red, or you have too many explosive scandals, you might have a moment of reckoning…

Other changes
Rival gender

You can now choose the gender of the rival character when starting a new game. (This is now chosen independently of your player character’s gender.)

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