I frequently forgot to keep my idols working on a daily basis, partly because it wasn’t always clear that the day had rolled over. The game operates in a real-time style, but the UI lacks feedback and some tools that would make it easier to keep up with the blizzard of tasks that pile up. Just like how the idol industry has its own rougher, darker, uglier side, Idol Manager isn’t without its own flaws. Should you stand by your idols if they get caught on a date, despite your agency’s no-dating policy? The content can get somewhat dark, and for the most part doesn’t shy away (too much) from acknowledging the seedier side of the scene. This tests not just your agency, but your stance as a player. Things like whether to spend extra to put one of your older idols into special physical training to help her keep up with her peers’ more youth-oriented choreography.Įven infamous scandals can pop up from time to time. But even in Free Mode, minor events will pop up, often presenting players with a decision to make or a dilemma to solve. The Story Mode includes a start-to-finish plot, anchored by a few pre-built characters and events. Idol Manager also keeps things spicy with bits and bobs of narrative. You can even date some of them! Though you risk scandal doing so, or worse, lose the trust of your idols, if you make an unwanted romantic overture. You can interact and socialize with your idols to get to know them better. Idol Manager plays with its social and personality aspects in some clever ways. It’s not all budgets and moneymaking, though. I doubt anyone will come away from a session of Idol Manager thinking that real-life idols don’t work very hard. All these things just scratch the surface of what idols do to make their daily bread. Let’s not even get into trying to throw together a concert, an ad campaign, or launch a show. And all the while maintaining the routine of daily maintenance and performance. You have to queue all those tasks up, one by one, with your different staffers to get them done. It involves composition, choreography, production, marketing, and even a bit of prophecy, as you scour the sales charts and trend indicators trying to find a winning formula. Just releasing a single song is a multi-step endeavor. Glitch Pitch has done a great job of expressing, through the game’s mechanics, just how much work and “hustle” idols need, even for mundane activities. That’s where the magic of Idol Manager started to take hold. I eventually found a groove, and took Starfleet Command further up the charts towards stardom. I bankrupted my company multiple times, often spiraling into debt as my idols struggled to sell even a dozen copies of their awful singles. Despite a hefty initial investment from my benefactor, my first few runs of Idol Manager were disasters. Glitch Pitch was not kidding when it added a caveat to the default difficulty level, noting that most players will take some time to work out a sustainable playstyle. All of those rooms need staff to operate them! Which, of course cuts into the budget.Īnd the budget is everything. I later splurged on a break room to keep them rested and a dressing room to help them doll up between gigs. We also needed a recording studio to put together my group’s tunes, and a dance studio to keep them practiced and work on choreography. My beginning unit, Starfleet Command, needed an office for me and another office for my production assistant. Players will build out their Idol Manager agency with a mix of facilities. The non-idol staff feel even more interchangeable, getting a single sprite each. There’s little variation to the idols’ faces, or even default skin tone. That being said, after a few rounds of auditions, I felt like I had seen the limits of the game’s character design variety. Each also has their own set of attributes (like cuteness), goals (like being in center position during a concert), and quirks (like a complete lack of shame).Īll these parameters help the idols of Idol Manager feel more like individuals rather than simple tables of stats. It’s kind of like the randomized squaddies one gets in a typical game of XCOM. For the most part, though, each idol feels deliberately generic. Players can tweak a few things here and there, such as editing hairstyles and nicknames. These are NPCs that are procedurally generated by the game, with randomized faces, personalities, and appearances. And only women, unfortunately, as by default Idol Manager doesn’t allow you to run a male or mixed-gender operation.Īt the core of Idol Manager are, of course, the idols. And from these humble, shady roots will spring the next generation of world-shaking talents.
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