And when I spent some research points to raise a stat, then changed my mind and reloaded a recent save, the stat increase was still there. Saving a game and then loading will clear your promoted idol selections and the income history of your theater. On some occasions, when A and B were hosting a show together, B would be replaced by another copy of A. For example, idols hosting shows will be automatically replaced when they get injured or are otherwise unavailable. I also encountered several small, frustrating issues where I wasn’t sure if there was a problem with the interface or with the actual numbers being calculated. So splitting stamina into two separate stats seems like a pointless overcomplication. But no matter how big of a workload they were under, mental stamina rarely dropped below 100, and only then because of breakups. I had a challenging time keeping physical stamina up, as your recovery options are limited and, for the most part, can’t be targeted at specific idols, just whoever’s stamina happens to be lowest. Mental stamina is another case where the description of the mechanic doesn’t seem to match how it actually works. (Is this a programming oversight or social commentary?) Setting everyone’s salary to ¥1 will make them periodically complain, but as far as I can tell, they won’t quit, you won’t get bad publicity, and you’ll still get the best employer award every year. It takes a while to build a reliable, steady income, and if you borrow money to cover upfront costs for, say, a concert that bombs, it’s easy to get caught in a cycle of debt.īut here’s where I discovered a major balance issue: budgeting becomes a lot easier when you just don’t pay your idols.

Money management can be callous early on. You’ll also need to manage your idols’ stamina - too much work can lead to injuries, which require several months of recovery time - hire coaches to train their singing and dancing skills, and keep an eye on the relationships between the girls, as interpersonal conflict can lead to a poor group performance. Each of those nets you money, which you’ll need to pay your rent and employees, and fans, to gain more eyes on your next project. The management gameplay of Idol Manager consists of hiring idols - which have randomly generated appearances, names, and stats - and putting them to work on shows, singles, concerts, ad campaigns, and other business contracts.

Idol manager rival