Version 0.977a is already available for download for subscribers of the Super Best Friend tier ($25). To view the post with this version, follow this link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/released-0-977a-157414808
So, it's been a month and a half since the release of the last full version of the game—it's time for our weekly news. Surprisingly, we definitely have a lot to tell you about—a significant amount of work has been done, especially in terms of tweaks to existing systems, bug fixes, and code refactoring. But first things first.
First, randomized NPCs. Let's start with an interesting change to a mechanic that was added many years ago but hasn't received any updates or improvements since—the randomized NPC biographical system. Certain systems were created specifically for this mechanic (such as automatic text changes based on gender), and the overall system has become completely modular. Each NPC has their own bio based on their influence stats, club, stats, and a host of other factors: each line is generated with certain dependencies based on its "weight," creating a unique story. Furthermore, the biographies themselves have become truly extensive: each contains over 300 words, divided into childhood, the fundamental factors that shaped the NPC's current status, the reasons for joining the academy, the club, why they have their particular hobbies, and so on—all stories are created to be complete and engaging. Additionally, a separate button with the entire RNPC biography has been added to the corresponding menu where all of this is read, not just the small window. There, you can read the biography in full without skipping. You can see what it looks like below. Read the biographies this new system creates, and also see what it looks like now:
Another interesting new feature for the NPC is a completely redesigned message history. It now features a full message history, saved from the moment the conversation began. Every message you send or NPC response includes the date it was sent. Additionally, requests like "Where are you now?" or "Come to me" have approximately 30-60 different variations to ensure the history doesn't look completely identical. We've also added a new button option: "Send nudes." Your character can literally ask a randomized NPC to send them nude photos, and they may agree. These photos will always be available for viewing from your SMS history, and you can view them at any time. These updates are preparations for more comprehensive phone-related systems, and you can see what it looks like now below:
We've also introduced a new feature to the game that we mentioned in previous weekly news. Specifically, chubby versions of female NPCs are available now. They are generated at a rate of 15 percent of randomized female NPCs in a game session, are available for communication, and you can interact with them just like other NPCs. You can see what they look like in a game session below:
Another simple and easy-to-use feature: female RNPCs now have a choice of ear shapes. There are about eight different ear shapes. Each ear shape will vary slightly, making each female RNPC more unique in appearance. You can choose them in the RNPC editor, or they are generated completely randomly on the RNPC.
Last but not least, we're announcing a new scene featuring randomized NPCs. Both genders. We're preparing major changes to the combat system, both systemically and visually. This scene is directly related to them:
This is still a sketch, but the combat system itself will soon be more interesting and enjoyable, and most importantly, more diverse.
Secondly, the plot. We can mention here that the plot for Suzuki Matsui is already ready for integration—it contains over 15,000 words. It continues the plot related to her apartment and adds more developments. We also re-drew the scene with Hitomi Watanabe—you can see it below:
Third, locations. New locations. We're preparing to integrate a new system that should be quite interesting and improve gameplay. You can see the corresponding backgrounds below:
Fourth, bug fixes and code refactoring. This is the largest project we've completed in this period. We focused on fixing all exceptions and errors, including fundamental ones, such as unprovoked changes in NPC appearances in scenes, incorrect relationship changes, and other gameplay issues. Many, many bugs were fixed, most of them critical. The game has become significantly more stable and enjoyable: it produces a minimum of errors in the first hours of gameplay thanks to all the fixes, and you can see the full list below:
New content:
A new type of randomized female NPC—Chubby—has been added to the game. They are generated at a rate of 15 percent of the total game session during session creation. They have their own underwear, clothing, and some exclusive systems. After the game session begins, they can be encountered around the city, and you can engage in dialogue with them just like with MILFs or standard NPCs.
Extensive work has been done on the biographies of randomized NPCs: specific systems have been implemented (such as automatic text changes based on gender), and the entire system has been made completely modular. Each NPC has its own biography based on their influence statistics, club, attributes, and many other factors. Each line is generated with certain dependencies due to its "weight," creating a unique story. Furthermore, the biographies themselves have become truly extensive: each contains over 300 words, divided into childhood, the fundamental factors that shaped the RNPC into who they are today, the reasons for joining the academy, the club, why they have the hobbies they do, and so on—all stories are now complete and engaging. Furthermore, a dedicated button with the RNPC's full biography has been added to the corresponding menu where all of this information is read, rather than just the small window. There, you can read the biography in full without having to scroll back and forth.
The message system with randomized NPCs has been completely overhauled: all replies/messages are now saved on the screen without any issues, they don't reset, and each new message appears at the end of the corresponding list. Additionally, various requests to approach a designated place, ask for directions, and so on have been specifically created for this purpose. As a small addition, each message now includes the date it was sent.
A new request button has been added to the phone interface for randomized female NPCs. You can request nudes from them. There's a chance she'll send them to you, and they'll appear in the general message list, where you can find them at any time. Some refactoring of existing scenes has been done specifically for this purpose, ensuring they display properly in this interface.
More than 8 different ear styles have been added for female NPCs: they are generated directly on them, making each NPC's face more unique. Furthermore, these ears can be modified in the corresponding editor—each one will be available.
In the 18+ character scene where a randomized female NPC is receiving a massage, 50 hairstyles, in addition to the initial 15, are now displayed correctly. A second base hairstyle is no longer applied, and everything is displayed correctly.
A comprehensive refactoring of the RNPC display system was conducted: the entire system has become more modular and understandable, becoming more stable, resulting in fewer errors during use.
The game session creation system, or more specifically its interface, was modified: it became more detailed, with more instructions. The number of students in a session is now displayed more accurately, taking into account not only the selected students, and the default values for generating these students have been lowered to allow the player's device to better work with the available data, without unnecessary errors.
A comprehensive refactoring of the system for using some online game features was conducted: they became more stable, more servers are now available, and the coverage area for these features has been expanded thanks to this work.
A comprehensive refactoring of the activity detection system was conducted, resulting in improved performance. There was an issue in the game where RNPC weren't interacting with each other as often. These were primarily caused by aggressive actions. Any romance between them was simply absent—now it is, and all the previously existing romantic/sexual interactions are properly present. Furthermore, the interface itself has become much better than before: it better distributes activities overall, is more intuitive, and, most importantly, works more reliably overall.
A major refactoring of the systems responsible for initializing randomized NPCs was carried out: it has become slightly more modular, and several systems have been added that make everything more stable and understandable.
Fixed bugs:
Fixed a bug where certain choices in Suzuki Matsui's storyline could trigger exceptions and errors that prevented certain story branches from being opened.
Fixed a bug where, in rare cases, opening the refrigerator menu with all dishes prepared would trigger exceptions after cooking certain dishes from new updates.
Fixed a bug where certain categories of dialogue and interactions with Ayano Yoshida could trigger unexplained exceptions without any apparent reason.
Fixed a bug where the game would throw exceptions without any apparent reason when attempting to use cloud saves and some other online features.
Fixed a bug where Suzuki Matsui's sprite would occasionally persist on-screen during the character "Eagle"'s speech during the event where your character and Eagle play cards.
Fixed an issue where some location interactions with the story character "Eagle" could cause the background behind him to be missing.
Fixed a bug where developing the Occultism Club could cause exceptions without any apparent reason, with a slight, though not particularly high, probability.
Fixed a bug where, when accessing the AI via the "Talk about..." interaction with the RNPC, the "Always translate" button simply wouldn't work properly, failing to save the result.
Fixed a bug where businesses purchased by your character through the relevant interface would fail to save and reset after each new save.
Fixed a bug where a female NPC could appear bald without any apparent reason in a scene where she was swimming/sunbathing.
Fixed a bug where selecting "extra large breasts" for a randomized female NPC would cause the game to hide her breasts in any 18+ character scenes involving her.
Fixed a bug where, when using an 18+ scene with a randomized female NPC in the "Side" position, the sprite would sometimes be missing nipples, resulting in an unsightly scene.
Fixed a bug where, in an 18+ character scene for the "Rider" position, a female NPC would have her torso completely missing.
Fixed a bug that could cause visual glitches in 18+ character scenes for the "Missionary" and "Doggy Style" positions, making the scene appear extremely strange.
Fixed a bug that prevented the "Notification" text from displaying translations when displaying any notifications when playing in English/Chinese.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to perform location-based activities in the "Cinema" location.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to display information about modifications and related systems.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to initialize general RNPC data in some rare instances where loading was impossible.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to open the relevant game settings and font categories.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions due to enabled generation filters during the generation process itself, in very rare cases.
Fixed an issue that could cause inaccurate and incorrect data display in savegames due to certain errors in initialization files.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when opening the interface for creating/editing randomized NPCs.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions at certain points during gameplay when the player's location on the world map could not be determined.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to initialize the current and future clothing of a randomized NPC.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash without specific exceptions or freezes when attempting to cache randomized NPC data without any apparent reason.
Fixed a bug that caused changes to NPCs through influence to work incorrectly, resulting in other NPCs having their data changed. This resulted in some NPC gameplay and interaction functions simply not working as intended, rendering them useless.
Fixed a bug that could cause the NPC sprite to become deformed: a penis would unexpectedly appear, a female hairstyle would appear when the NPC was male, and so on.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to access scenes with randomized female NPCs with tattoos.
Fixed a bug where, when playing in English, the biographies of randomized NPCs would not display at all through the corresponding menus, either in the NPC editor or in the corresponding biographies menu.
Fixed an issue that could cause the game to incorrectly handle translations of the game, such as Chinese and English, causing rare exceptions due to font errors.
Fixed a fundamental bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions during the game's tutorial.
Fixed an issue where the notification interface did not function properly and did not center the main text, causing the interface to look odd.
Fixed a bug where purchasing items through the online store interface simply did not work – after purchasing, neither money was withdrawn nor added to your character's inventory.
Fixed an issue where the game console, where cheats and commands were entered, could become cluttered with excessive log data about certain game modules and systems, making the console difficult to use.
Fixed a bug where events featuring the story character Suzuki Matsui could trigger under incorrect conditions, without taking into account the required number of days' delay, or not triggering at all, even if other conditions were met.
Fixed an issue where the game could have certain issues displaying English translations when playing in English, often affecting monosyllabic words like "further," "yes," "no," etc.
Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions during certain story events involving story characters, most often involving Suzuki Matsui and Ayano Yoshida.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to distort the sprites of some story NPCs in related story events, including emotional distortions, missing facial parts, etc.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when opening the grocery store interface during the time it was being stocked (usually Monday mornings).
Fixed a bug that could cause some NPCs, regardless of the location's movement conditions, to be in locations they shouldn't be (requiring a sufficient courage level to enter public places, taking the time of day into account, etc.).
Fixed a bug that could cause some English text, in certain words and phrases, to have a literal translation that didn't convey the overall meaning of the sentence.
Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash when attempting to access the inventory interface during a long game session and when the inventory itself contained too many different items.
Fixed a bug where, when playing in English, the game would sometimes not display the English translation if the cooking interface in your character's room was open and you were looking at a dish's description.
Fixed a bug where the academy guard would kick your character out of your house when your character was communicating with the story character Ayano Yoshida.
Fixed a bug where, after subscribing to Patreon, your subscription information would take an excessive amount of time to be added to the game's database, making it impossible to log in and receive your Patreon subscriber privileges. Everything now works instantly and as expected. The entire system was rewritten from scratch to avoid potential issues with this.
Fixed an issue where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to open the interaction interface with randomized NPCs, in the category with their rules.
Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to create a cloud save in certain rare gameplay moments.
Fixed an issue where the game could freeze when attempting to play a minigame in the grocery store in certain rare instances when the player has a low-end device.
Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when using certain items from your character's inventory in certain locations.
Fixed a bug where relationships with randomized NPCs were incorrectly awarded for sexual contact with randomized NPCs, for inviting them to your home, and for certain other similar processes.
Fixed a bug where your character could rob one character, but in fact, it was a completely different character being robbed, which ultimately looked extremely odd.
Fixed a fundamental bug where the NPC in scenes would change after the scene had started, the data itself could reset, and generally all of this could be excessively buggy and simply malfunction. The entire system responsible for this has been redesigned, making the game significantly more stable.
Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to open any interface window from your character's computer, with a small chance of doing so.
Fixed a bug where in some locations and storylines involving Hitomi Watanabe, her old sprite could be displayed instead of her new one, which would blend with the new one in those same places and could interfere with reading the text.
Fixed a bug where randomized female NPCs simply didn't have swimsuits visible while at the beach/pool, causing them to appear naked, which was not intended.
Fixed a fundamental bug where the start of a game session could be an infinite exception with a slight chance of occurring after generation due to errors in the game's generation.
Fixed a bug that caused some 24-hour systems to work incorrectly, causing the game to throw exceptions without any apparent reason after the day changed, although not very often.
Fixed a bug where the game could constantly change some NPC data, even after it was displayed on the screen, through other interfaces, making many systems inaccurate and, in some cases, completely inoperable.
Fixed a bug where, after scrolling through time at the start of a game session, your character's sprite on the main screen (the "Mood" screen) would break without reason: the gender would change, elements of the sprite would become deformed, etc. Everything now works as expected.
Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to navigate to scenes with randomized NPCs, both 18+ and normal scenes like kisses, hugs, etc.
Fixed a bug where, in the phone menu (calls/texts), the game could duplicate NPC names for no apparent reason: they would simply occupy slots and repeat there.
As you may have noticed, a significant amount of work has been done to improve the game's stability. A huge amount, in fact. Among other things, we've improved existing systems, making them more replayable and engaging. The phone number and biographies, for example, were added long ago but haven't changed much since then. By May 15th, we'll be doing even more work to make the game even more engaging: dozens of new events with NPCs are ready, introducing full-fledged yandere characters to the game and increasing the overall diversity of NPC characters. A large amount of content will be added soon, but for now, you can try out the content mentioned in this post in the new micro-update.