v1.2-2

Changelog — v1.2-2 (bugfixes)

Another small bug-fix patch on top of v1.2-1.

Fixes

The acrylic-in-build bug

• Frosted glass now works in the production build, not just npm run dev.
  The production CSS minifier (Tailwind v4 / Lightning CSS) was dropping the
  standard backdrop-filter and keeping only the -webkit- version — which
  Firefox/Gecko ignores, so built panels rendered see-through. The blur is now
  declared inline in index.html (with both prefixes + !important), where the
  minifier can't strip it, so .glass-panel frosts correctly in every build.

More research that actually does something

• Wired up more previously-inert research nodes so they stop charging XP for
  nothing — Cost Reduction (cheaper upgrades), Hiring Pipeline (cheaper
  staff), Bulk Procurement (extra bulk discount), and Crisis Management
  (bigger event cash rewards) now apply. (Only Staff Development/XP-gain is
  still cosmetic — coming next.)

Leveling

• Finished the "spending XP can't lower your level" fix from 1.2-1 — the two
  highest-traffic XP sources (blending a shake, and buying a single shop/hire)
  weren't recording lifetime XP, so a level could still slip after spending.
  Both are fixed now.

[Can be ignored]

• Version — bumped to 1.2-2 (package.json + page title).

Teasers for v1.3 (subject to change)

The big stuff

• Prestige. Hit Level 20 and rebrand — wipe the slate for permanent multipliers and unlock the next tier of content. New game-plus, basically.
• Eternal Upgrades. Spend prestige tokens on perks that stick forever (start with cash, cheaper ingredients, faster XP…).
• Ingredients. Your blenders now burn through supplies. Run dry and production stalls, so keep the pantry stocked.
• Staff roles. Put your crew on making shakes, restocking, or managing — or let the game auto-balance it.

Deeper systems

• Pick-any-combo orders. Customers can ask for any combo you've unlocked, not just whatever's loaded in your blender.
• Research that branches. Some nodes need others first, and you can master one track for a big bonus.
• Riskier contracts. Rush jobs and organic gigs with real trade-offs — and a penalty if you blow the deadline.
• Staff that specializes. Train past Level 3 into Speed, Quality, or Morale, with team-wide synergies.

Quality of life

• Marketing campaigns you actually run — pay for a promo, get a timed boost, wait out the cooldown.
• Payoff math on the card. See the +$/s and how long a purchase takes to pay for itself before you buy.
• Sell a location back for most of what you put in.
• Sortable/filterable lists, an "while you were away" recap, bulk buying, and number-key tab switching.

v1.2-1

Changelog — v1.2-1 (bugfixes)

Bug-fix patch on top of v1.2 to restore missing UI components, resolve styling layout errors, fix gameplay/economy bugs, and bump the project versioning.

Fixes

Gameplay & economy

• Upgrades you buy now actually work. Income and the global multiplier were
  cached without watching research / staffTraining, so buying research or
  training staff did nothing until something unrelated changed. Now they apply
  immediately.
• Leveling no longer regresses when you spend XP. All XP you earn now counts
  toward your permanent level total, so spending XP on research/training can't
  drop your level.
• Upgrade double-click no longer undercharges. Buying an upgrade recomputes
  its price from the current level, so a fast double-click can't grab a higher
  level at the cheaper price.
• Power-ups can't be duplicated. Activating a consumable only grants its buff
  if a unit was actually used (fixes a double-click free-buff).
• VIP customers rebalanced. Their reward was wildly overpaid (5 minutes of
  income) — now a fair ~45 seconds. Their notifications also linger long enough
  to read.
• Auto-event banners clear when the effect ends instead of lingering on
  screen forever.
• Money-milestone celebrations show once ever per save instead of re-firing
  every time you re-cross a threshold.
• Equipment Fire Sale event now actually grants the discounted upgrade it
  advertises.
• Seasonal flavors stop spamming the "unlocked!" notification for a flavor
  you already unlocked in a previous year.

Stability & saves

• Corrupt-save protection. A save that fails to decrypt is preserved instead
  of being overwritten with a fresh game, and loaded saves are bounds-checked
  (location count + malformed data) so a bad file can't crash the game.

UI & display

• Acrylic panels — .glass-panel (Stats panel, Music Player, and all other
  glass cards) now uses a corrected frosted "filter" (blur(18px) saturate(160%)
  • slightly more translucent fill) so they read as real acrylic glass instead
    of flat translucent boxes.
• GUI / Text scale — "Auto" now genuinely fits the UI to your screen, and a
  dedicated "100%" option sits alongside it (for both GUI and Text). Fixed-size
  scales no longer fight the auto-fit.
• Customer reviews read like real people. Reviews no longer praise and pan
  the same visit in one breath — each review keeps a single mood, and the clunky
  AI-style connectors ("That said…", "Additionally…") are gone.

[Can be ignored]

• Version — bumped to 1.2-1 (package.json + page title).

Teasers for v1.3 (subject to change)

The big stuff

• Prestige. Hit Level 20 and rebrand — wipe the slate for permanent multipliers and unlock the next tier of content. New game-plus, basically.
• Eternal Upgrades. Spend prestige tokens on perks that stick forever (start with cash, cheaper ingredients, faster XP…).
• Ingredients. Your blenders now burn through supplies. Run dry and production stalls, so keep the pantry stocked.
• Staff roles. Put your crew on making shakes, restocking, or managing — or let the game auto-balance it.

Deeper systems

• Pick-any-combo orders. Customers can ask for any combo you've unlocked, not just whatever's loaded in your blender.
• Research that branches. Some nodes need others first, and you can master one track for a big bonus.
• Riskier contracts. Rush jobs and organic gigs with real trade-offs — and a penalty if you blow the deadline.
• Staff that specializes. Train past Level 3 into Speed, Quality, or Morale, with team-wide synergies.

Quality of life

• Marketing campaigns you actually run — pay for a promo, get a timed boost, wait out the cooldown.
• Payoff math on the card. See the +$/s and how long a purchase takes to pay for itself before you buy.
• Sell a location back for most of what you put in.
• Sortable/filterable lists, an "while you were away" recap, bulk buying, and number-key tab switching.

v1.2

Strider657's Milkshake Mania - v1.2

Finally, v1.2 is out with new features!
Teasers (subject to change): Next update (v1.3) may have prestige!

New features

• Customer Rating & Reviews: live 1-5 star rating (with a small +/-10% income effect)
  plus a dedicated Reviews tab with procedurally generated, multi-topic, data-driven
  reviews (no AI) - author avatars, search, tag filters, in-game dates, monthly
  dividers, and Load More.
• Statistics tab: rating gauge, special-blend rate, outcome distribution bars, and
  empire-progress bars.
• Income Delta preview: purchase cards show the exact +$X/s a buy will add.
• Buy Max: a Max button + shift-click to buy as many upgrade levels as affordable.
• Active Buff Tray: live list of buffs with multipliers and countdowns.
• Milestone celebrations: confetti on level-ups and money milestones (respects reduce-motion).
• European Long Scale: number names support Milliard/Billiard, separate from full-word names.

Revisions and Balance

• Flavors reordered to a sensible progression (Chocolate -> Vanilla -> ...),
  early flavors cost more, slots fixed to start at 2 / max 5 (Level 8 upgrade).
• Research Lab now gated at Level 6 with its own tutorial.
• Flavors tab redesign: collapsible Normal/Event sections, combos near the top,
  next 3 flavors shown by name + 2 shown as "???".
• Seasonal flavors can only be unlocked/used during their event; only the active
  event's flavors are shown.
• Locations start cap of 10, expandable to 50 via the new Real Estate Portfolio upgrade.
• Slightly slower overall economy pacing for a better curve.

Polish and QoL

• Settings: number options consolidated into one intuitive "Number Display" picker
  (with live examples); cleaner sections; added a "Show Tab Badges" toggle.
• Main menu: animated blue/cyan accent gradients, a Continue button, save sorting
  (Recent / A-Z), and a fixed layout (page no longer scrolls; only the saves list
  does; bottom buttons always visible).
• Save names: Business Name now is the save's name; imported saves (code or file)
  keep their name; spaces work in the name field.
• Background customization no longer falsely framed as an "unlock."
• More readable text on frosted panels; clearer Return-to-Menu button.
• Renamed everything to "Strider657's Milkshake Mania".

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a PostCSS/HMR crash.
• Fixed game-mode flavor costs (cards now show and charge the correct Hard/Easy price).
• Fixed ESC not closing popups; Space no longer eats keystrokes in text fields.
• Fixed save data bleeding between slots (per-save options no longer shared globally).
• Fixed long-scale name precision, double-spend races, and stale save-slot previews.

v1.1

Milkshake Mania is an incremental, clicker-like game. It features milkshake blending, passive income from employees, and a variety of upgrades and special outcomes. This experience allows you to create your own milkshake empire, starting from a small shop and building your empire through blends, staff, and expansion.

Feel free to comment on this game! Your feedback is valuable for development, and can help improve the game!

Download the desktop version (releases section) here, or play the game at https://striderplays.vercel.app/!

This update completely overhauls the logical foundation of the game, ties progression to an active gameplay loop, and introduces critical Quality of Life improvements to help you track your milkshake empire.

Part 1: The Leveling & XP System Has Arrived
No more endless, aimless clicking. Active gameplay now directly drives your progression!

Earn XP by Blending: Every single milkshake you mix now grants experience points.
Level Milestones: You must now level up your shop to unlock critical expansions. Want automated staff, extra flavor slots, or facility extensions? You'll need to prove your experience first.
Paced Progression: Leveling gates ensure the game stays engaging and challenging over longer play sessions.
Part 2: Brand New Goals & Milestones
To give your blending purpose, we've introduced an active Goals System. You'll receive objectives as you scale your shop, giving you clear milestones to shoot for beyond, watching your cash counter tick upward. Achieving these goals keeps your operational momentum high and rewards strategic planning.

Part 3: Feature Enhancements & QoL Upgrades
We’ve added tools to give you better visibility into your shop's performance:

Event Chronicle: A brand-new live log that tracks recent actions, special shake triggers, and milestone achievements so you never miss a massive multi-matching payout.
Better Help Menu: Completely revamped help info explaining how your flavor combinations, labor policies, and upgrade stacks interact.
UI Cleanups: Various minor interface adjustments (though we're secretly keeping the main banner that says "Milkshake Tycoon" because it adds character).
What's Next?
Version 1.1 takes Milkshake Mania from a basic idle game and turns it into a tightly paced, strategic balancing act. The handcrafted math is dialed in, the progression loop is hooked, and the game is from playtesting, a large improvement from 1.0.

Get out there, fire up the blenders, and let us know what level your shop manages to reach!

Game Launcher v1.1

The official launcher for Strider657's Milkshake Mania!

Launcher Version: 1.1
Platform: Windows 11

Created by @Strider65710 (main developer)

Overview

The Strider657's Milkshake Mania Launcher allows you to download and manage game versions directly from the official GitHub repository. The latest version is recommended for the best experience.

Launcher releases will also appear in the versions list since they are stored in the same repository as the game. These entries can generally be ignored, although they can be used to reinstall the launcher if needed, even though if you need the launcher to be reinstalled, that probably means your launcher is not working, so how would you download the launcher? Anyway, it is generally fine to just ignore the launcher versions included in the game versions list.

There were a few bugfixes in this update, alongside some new features.

Platform Support

Compiled releases are currently available for Windows only. Development is performed on Windows, so macOS and Linux builds are not provided at this time.*

*Clarification: The launcher is written in Python, while the game itself is a web game. Python is an interpreted language; when "compiled" is mentioned, it refers to packaging the launcher into a standalone .exe file.

Game Launcher v1.0

The official launcher for Strider657's Milkshake Mania!

Launcher Version: 1.0
Platform: Windows 11

Created by @Strider65710 (main developer)

Overview

The Strider657's Milkshake Mania Launcher allows you to download and manage game versions directly from the official GitHub repository. The latest version is recommended for the best experience.

Launcher releases will also appear in the versions list since they are stored in the same repository as the game. These entries can generally be ignored, although they can be used to reinstall the launcher if needed, even though if you need the launcher to be reinstalled, that probably means your launcher is not working, so how would you download the launcher? Anyway, it is generally fine to just ignore the launcher versions included in the game versions list.

Platform Support

Compiled releases are currently available for Windows only. Development is performed on Windows, so macOS and Linux builds are not provided at this time.*

*Clarification: The launcher is written in Python, while the game itself is a web game. Python is an interpreted language; when "compiled" is mentioned, it refers to packaging the launcher into a standalone .exe file.

Tabs

Home

• Launch the game.
• Select an installed version.
• View release notes.

Versions

• Browse all available versions.
• Install any listed version.
• Includes launcher releases due to the shared repository structure.

Settings

• Configure launcher preferences.
• Appearance settings.
• Personalization options.
• Network settings.
• Diagnostic tools.

About

• Information about the game.
• Credits and acknowledgements.

v1.0

Finally, v1.0 of Strider657's Milkshake Mania! The game is of course, planned to be updated soon because of development success and fun making the game.

As always, you can either play the game at striderplays-smm.vercel.app, the main site or at strider657.itch.io

IMPORTANT: The domain is now striderplays.vercel.app/smm

v0.3-3

Added more upgrades and other features, and as always, you can access the game at https://striderplays-smm.vercel.app!

v0.3-2

Buxfix patch for the desktop app.

As normal, you can play the game at https://striderplays-smm.vercel.app/, or download the desktop version for windows.

v0.3-1

Bug fixes, UI improvements, and a major management update! Shop Extensions are now fully separated from the Employees tab instead of acting as an alias. The stats panel has also been redesigned with a cleaner and more polished interface.

As normal, you can play the game at https://striderplays-smm.vercel.app/, or download the desktop version for windows.