Hi I am a new purchaser here

Loving the game so far! Lots of good potential and fun.

I have  beta 19 feedback (directly dealing with this version's concerns) after playing for almost a solid day now:

• The interface that notifies us that the idol stamina is a bit tiny... it'd be cool if you have some sort of key or feature that allows us to quickly see the detailed status of the idols that are important to us (especially since some of them are quite needy)
• Better notification system would be super beneficial since it is easy to forget the tasks that are done when playing in a super productive manner (a suggestion I have is to use a notification dot system i.e. red dot for things that are done, yellow dot for things that need our reply such as when managers land deals etc)
• It gets confusing when trying to choose the stylist in terms of which skill they are best at... can we have some sort of way to customize it for example a sexy/cool stylist can be designated <insert> color? It would also be beneficial for the other roles too so we don't confuse between production and coaching
• Speaking of coaching, wouldn't it be good to have rooms for education? That way idols can improve their smart and funny stats similar to how they can improve their vocal and dance skills
• To expand on the above, it could be pretty cool if they also have better chances of getting bonus stars during world tours if they have a higher stat... because so far getting 5 stars in any country is pretty darn hard or at the very least super unclear
• Currently it is extremely difficult to get any single promotion for the employees... perhaps it is okay to make the growth rate of the employees a bit faster?
• Some of the achievements are quite troublesome to achieve especially the 6 maxed out stats because idols lose stats as they age and the training time to get some of those back to 100 is tough
• I think that the manager should have an option of focusing on landing certain types of deals (sexy/cute/pretty/cool) because sometimes, trying to land a specific gig takes years... it also makes sense if we are intending to focus on a specific market but to not have control of this is kind of strange
• It can be hard to earn money in this game without the Y button haha would it be a good idea to create a merchandise section in the building (similar to how companies do it in real life) in order to have a section that is providing constant base income (I mean we are providing a salary, but there is no constant stream of cash despite making a portfolio)?
• It would be a very attractive feature to be able to allow us to change the portrait styles of an idol in game (as in, we can change their hair color and type etc) like a simple version of sims when visiting the stylist... people love customization and it isn't going to hurt to have different new skins and styles as DLC content on steam in the future (rather than finding the save file to change stuff up)

Should I make another post on things not related to version 19 but still ideas on the game overall?

It's be cool if

You could hype up digital releases (as let's be honest when was the last time you bought an actual music CD). In my opinion, hardcopy CDs should be more popular among hardcore fans as it could be considered "merch."

Also, the event where someone pretends to be one of your idols and you send a cease-and-desist, it'd be nice to have a follow up option to sue the imposter.

Gonna offer up that going from "reach level 2 of promotion" (ie release a first single) to "top the monthly sales chart" (ie sell over a million copies) as requirements for two sequential story beats is way too tall of an order for players since million sellers don't happen within your first year of play unless you REALLY speedrun it and play optimally (Even then it would take a dozen singles or several months and TV drama upgrades to get a million seller)

(Also I get wanting to keep the new features and systems fresh but I'd like to know what they are if I'm supposed to play the game this long to get to the next story part. I was interested in what the new features are but the chart-topper requirement was enough to put me off trying to experience it.)

I'm afraid the 'Continue' button in the Main Menu might cause some confusion now that we have two game modes. Maybe it could be beneficial to add some sort of indicator that would allow players to know whether they'd be loading a Story Mode save or a Free Play save upon clicking on 'Continue'.

Some issues I am finding with the new build: 

1.) The "random photo" is still on some idols you can hire. Considering this is no longer in the game...(at least Idt it is) not sure if you need to change the bonus or not.  And one idol I did have that had this bonus, said that "negations for photographs are always successful." However, when I "negotiating" it kept failing. I am not sure if this feature was for the assistant who makes the deals or what...but that maybe confusing to new plays who think it's referring to the negotiation button. 

2.) Can we PLEASE have a way to advertise digital releases? I remember back in the old builds, we had  this ability (with the fake scandals, etc.) I don't even bother with them anymore b/c unless it's the very beginning of the game when I'm broke, it doesn't help me build the idol group. 

3.) So, for the ad campaign, when I release some singles, the spinning wheel no longer pops up. On some releases, it does pop up. I'm sure it's a bug.  

4.) I like getting idols with lower stats and building them up (it's just the way I play :P I enjoy it). However, is there a way we can train the idols first before they debut? Like, have the ability to put an idol we hired under training and then do a "debut" campaign or something? This is just an idea that I am sure is not original buttttt I wanted to suggest it XD 

5.) I am enjoying the new build so far :) Keep up the good work! I am looking forward to the release. 

(WARNING: spoilers for the ending of the rival's route. I don't think itch has spoiler tags, unfortunately. Beware, those who have not finished the rival's route of the main story.)

1. Out of sheer morbid curiosity, I romanced an idol and then went on to pick the sex tape option for the rival route. I'm surprised that the idol I romanced didn't acknowledge it, and in the case of marrying her (which I assume means the relationship goes public), surprised that it wasn't more of a scandal or outright career-ender. Was that overlooked, or will it be added later, or was it not included for simplicity's sake?

2. This is more of a self-indulgent suggestion that might be out of the game's scope, but would it be possible to romance the rival? Maybe as a post-1.0 DLC or update? I find the rival's chemistry with the player incredibly compelling and I'd love to have something a bit more permanent than the apparent one-off at the end of the rival's route. Unless more rival events happen in chapter VII, in which case I'm a dunce.

3. Some of the idols' dialogue when you fail to influence them to delay graduation feel unnecessarily harsh. I had one accuse me of never caring about her, and that felt a bit over the top considering I had level 4 friendship with her. Just say you owe me nothing more lmao. Maybe the possible dialogue could be based on friendship and/or romance level? "You never cared about me anyway" feels a lot more appropriate if you only have level 0-1 relationship with the idol.

Lastly: I love this game so much. Even if you ignore all the above, I still think this is a damn good game with a damn good story.

If this is already in the game, ignore me!

Can we fill in the senbatsu election spots to 15? 

Can we have rooms to increase smart and funny?

I like the idea of being able to change the girls' outfits and hair. Maybe that can have something to do with the stylist?

1) View stats when members graduate (don't really know whether I want to push an idol's graduation back when I don't know their stats; also would love to see money made and other detailswhen idol actually graduates)

2) Easier way to see member’s wishes (auto-talk) (once I have a lot of idols, checking wishes individually becomes tedious)

3) See existing contracts when doing business proposals (see whether idol stamina cost per week/how many shows and contracts already has) 

4) Action cards become something if unused
5) Excess research points (after maxed out all choreo/genre, want to do something with it)
6) Election benefits (more than just fame, possibly company assigned, affect girl's mental stamina in long run)
7) Sort by number of fans
8) Show sister group with most fans
9) Randomly assign proposals
10) Dishes transfer with girls (if member changes group, dish stays with the other sister group)
11) Show election rank on profile
12) Easier to see idols on hiatus
13) show time in company
14) Number of members by sister group name
15) Stats on formation
16) Sort by overall stats
17) Don’t auto replace if on hiatus
18) Upgrade spa - more members, more stamina
19) Singles continue to sell

20) See which members are close to winning awards (hard to keep track of variety show/pretty queen)

21) show what audience sister group is targetting

22) more promotional stuff (release group videos)

23) easier training (training is pretty tedious right right now especially with a lot of girls, maybe be able to assign training by sister group)

i have played this game mostly in relaxed mode but i have a couple of things that would make me enjoy the game even more; 

- it would be nice if you can make a group even if you dont have 10 members, or at least after you unlocked the first sister group talk

- for the sake of telling girls apart (if youre like me and run companies with 10 groups) it would be nice if you could give girls member colours that show up as their name font colour and/or as a dot or line on their small picture

- and i know this one would be a huge thing to implement so i dont expect much of it, but it would be nice if you could swap outfits so you can make groups look cohesive without going through 50 auditions to find similar girls of good stats. another way is to allow the player to select which kind of girls to get in that audition (and save that until its changed again)

- it would be great help if you could hire someone to write lyrics

Actually. I might as well put down all of the suggestions and ideas I have.

• An ability to do a promotional period. Where they can promote on shows and do performances.
• An option to pick to release a mini-album that will take longer to make than a single. It could make you more money.
• An option to pick to release a full-album.
• An option to add a Music video alongside which can have a budget slider for how much you're willing to spend on the MV.
• An ability to create your own genre that can grow in the industry.
• An ability to buy a license to cover another artist's song that can earn you more fans from the fanbase.
• A situation where a former idol will accuse another idol of bullying and harassment.
• An ability to release songs in other languages (like how K-Pop have English and Japanese Releases to help reach out to a larger fanbase)