Idol Manager

Factsheet

Developer:
GlitchPitch

Location:
Russia / USA / Spain

Release Date:
TBA

Platforms:
PC, Mac, Linux

Press / Business contact:
contact@idolmanager.net

Social:
twitter.com/idolmanagergame
idolmanagergame.tumblr.com

Idol Manager is a business sim about conquering the entertainment industry using any means you deem necessary.
In development for PC, Mac and Linux

Description

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. Their crowning personal achievements can be your greatest commercial successes, but their emotional meltdowns and PR nightmares can spell financial disaster for your company.

It's not just the idols you have to worry about. The world is full of gossip magazines, super fans, and rival groups, all thirsty for a scoop on the latest scandal. There's a lot of people who want to tear you down and are willing to play dirty, but try not to let it get to you. It's not personal, it's business.

Features

Decide how to deal with crises including gossip, vandalism, stalkers, or threats directed at your agency and the pop idols you manage.
Manage relationships between the different idols in your group, as you deal with cliques, internal feuds, and bullying.
Grow your fanbase by varying your tactics and appealing to a wide variety of demographics.
Produce singles, hold concerts, organize huge TV events and overseas tours to capitalize on your group's popularity and bring in revenue.
Develop your agency's building. Start with simple offices and dance rooms to produce content and train your idols, and end with your own cafe and theater to create a steady stream of revenue. Hire and train staffers to help deal with logistics and keep your agency running smoothly.
Discover substories - chains of events and visual novel segments, many of which are triggered by your play style. Each substory can play out in multiple different ways based on your decisions, often causing serious consequences for your playthrough.

History

Max started working on Idol Manager in 2014. Max was an avid follower of the Japanese idol scene, but he noticed that all of the games and anime focusing on the Japanese idol industry showed only a cute and idealized version of pop idol life. He wanted to make a game that included the rawness and drama that made following real idols so interesting. With that in mind, Max began developing Idol Manager as a business simulator that would provide players with a variety of choices, with a focus on showing realistic consequences and avoiding moralization to create an experience where the player never feels that there is one "right" answer.

In 2015, Aiwa (artist) and Kuiper (script writer) joined the team. Like Max, Kuiper finds the real pop idol industry in Japan more interesting than the cute sanitized version that is often presented in games and anime, and he aims to depict the industry in a way that shows the fun and lively side of pop idol life without painting over the more ugly and unpleasant parts of showbiz.