Hey everyone, it's Slick, your local Red-Repressed dev.

5 Year Plan has received some extra content that is almost ready for release, so I thought it would be a good idea to explain the changes that are on their way. Firstly though, I would like to welcome my good friend Waltzer to the team. He has joined the project, and with a game design background, has provided fantastic help in fleshing out my ill-thoughted ideas and guiding the game into a great direction. His work has been influential for my (now our) future vision, and I hope his contributions will be recognised in the upcoming updates.

Now that is out of the way, what's new hey?

Well, heaps actually. Although this update reflects heavily on reimagining existing ideas, the total changes stand tall, marking the conclusion of Alpha 1.0.0. There is just a touch more playtesting to perform, then it will be ready for your starving hands and eyes!

The largest change has been the introduction of Construction, the new way to create buildings. Originally buildings only cost money, but now they also can require construction products like trees, wood and bricks. These products are distributed via storage facilities, including the newly added City Centre (for now just a place for Citizens to live and products to be stored, but watch this space!). The change to utilise Construction products was to reinvigirate expansion, and tie the production of goods more heavily into the mechanic. In addition, the use of storage facilities to distribute the products will help to promote intricate, clustered factories and cities, more closely resembling the hustle and bustle of real-life towns.

Another huge shift has been through the changes to the Political Compass and Public Opinion. Previously, the Political Compass felt more like an inconvenience than an interesting mechanic. Similarly, Public Opinion (while thematically consistent) allowed you to just completely ignore aspects of the game, such as looking after your citizens. Careful discussion with Waltzer has helped guide these systems into more interesting features. The Political Compass now more accurate reflects the real version, and provides the player bonuses for being in different regions, such as improved production while on the Right, improved research when playing as a Libertarian, improved Citizen loving as a Leftie, or an advancement towards military might when acting as an Authoritarian (ooo, hint at future updates!). Your choices as the player throughout the game will shift you along the Political Compass, tailoring your experience to the way you want to play, and aligning yourself with like-minded Nations in the process. Public Opinion and Citizen influence have also grown in importance, but most of these changes are in the Design phase, but will be implemented soon (wow, another hint, so cool!).

Finally, through playtesting, we identified some core issues with the game; Man, it is way too hard! Constant demands for new export orders or the loss of lives as punishment was far too egregious. My initial inspiration for the game was Plate-Up, a tough production game where producing goods was all that mattered. Since then, 5 Year Plan has matured into something grander (and more complex!). These changes have also been part of a broader discussion on the game's purpose, particularly how you win, and how you lose. These additions will push the game in a more replayable direction, akin to the (for example) Science or Military victories present in games like Civilisation. I look forward to showing off these changes when the time is right, but for now I will leave it here as a small taste of what is to come.

If you would like to get in touch with us or other fans (yes, we do have at least one) feel free to join our discord https://discord.gg/KTS8SXbS

Your feedback and thoughts may just be an invaluable contribution to the game, so make sure to speak up!

Slick

P.S. full list of changes below:

• Construction
• Building Hotbar (to easily access your commonly used buildings)
  
• Changes to Political Compass
  
• Rework of Public Opinion
  
• Removal of mandatory export orders
  
• Removal of Lives system
  
• Plenty of minor playtest improvements
  
• Plenty of bug fixes