Greetings! It's dev diary day once again.
Since last week, I have shifted focus from 0.8, the NPC simulation update, to the February content update. In regards to 0.8, I continued work on pregnancy. I implemented a version of a morning after pill, available at the pharmacy in town if you suspect you may have acted unwisely. I'll probably end up adding this stuff to the clinic on campus too, just so it's a sort of one stop shop for all this stuff.
I also implemented a system for discovering you're pregnant, since not being sure is of course part of the experience. I implemented pregnancy tests, which are generally very reliable but can give a false negative if it's very early on. If you go through a whole month of being pregnant without realizing it, you will be warned about being "late" — though, at this time, we're not actually specifically simulating that part of the cycle, it's just sort of implied. If you go through two late cycles without ever testing, your character will become pretty certain that they're pregnant even if you haven't tested yourself.
Of course, if we don't want just one month of lateness to be a reliable indicator, then we also need to have pregnancy scares that end up amounting to nothing, which I'm realizing in real time as I type this. Onto the todo list it goes!
The next step is to have NPCs go through a similar process by leveraging the NPC simulation events also being added in 0.8, and that's probably where I'll pick things up next month. Still on my todo list for 0.8 is: cheating mechanics, breakups between NPCs, events about influencing NPCs to get specific inclinations, continuing to extend D/s mechanics and sub rules specifically, and the rest of the pregnancy stuff. Safe to say that 0.8 will be a big one!
But, for now, onto the February content update.
First of all, our volunteer contributors have really been cooking. It looks like we'll have the usual fashion update from Hee Ho with some new clothes and hair options, as well as a new jewelry store. Hee Ho also has an entire holiday in the works, something to celebrate the coming of spring with its own party event set and a new storyline NPC.
Speaking of the changing of the seasons, HeartsDmise has sent over a whole set of new location images for the outdoor spots on campus. These will reflect the current time of year and also change when there's snow on the ground.
We've also brought aboard new contributor CGeorge, who's looking to make some improvements in gathering behind-the-scenes statistics and working them into the UI. For starters, there's a new tab that will collate and show info related to your streaming and online video side careers. There may be one in the works to show your character's income sources as well, and more specific info about your hangout/date history.
Meat Glacier has also contributed a handful of vegetable-shaped sex toys, following a spirited discussion on whether it's a good idea to use real vegetables for this purpose. Safety first!
But that sort of ties into one of the miscellaneous tasks I jumped into for my own contributions, which is granting some NPCs their own selection of sex toys. Depending on their Disinhibition and Sexual Knowledge, NPCs may now carry their own collection and no longer rely on the PC having their own, and they can use them in encounters. Which toys they have depends on their orientation and inclinations. Careful, that hot dom girl you've been flirting with may now be equipped with a paddle and a strap-on! If you'd prefer not to deal with NPCs having their own toys, you can turn this off under content options.
In addition, I've begun tinkering with the #3 priority from the recent development focus poll: expanding on the library basement. I'm adding a new event to the library basement set to add some more variety, and ultimately I want to expand this into a location you can visit on your own. This involves extending the furniture system so the X-cross and bench are properly functional, along with adding bondage.
Is there anything in particular you'd like to see from the library basement? Let me know!
After working on the library basement, I'll probably either do some more work on sports storylines or tinker with the texting system (which also scored highly in the poll). We'll see! I'm fairly satisfied with where sports are mechanically after adding the new practice system, but a couple of the storylines could still use some alternate paths and such.
Rfpnj has this to say about the romance book contest: "Deadline for submitting entries is Wednesday 1/28 so that the winner can be added to the game for next month." The winning entry will be highlighted in the new bookstore recently added to the game. For more information, check the contest thread under Suggestions in the Discord.
I'll be back with another progress report next week, and early access will begin the day after that. Until then, please have a good weekend! And as always, thank you so much for your support, it really does mean a lot.