Demo Update! Chapter Four + Other Stuff


Please do not use old save data. 

Old saves are incompatible with the new updates and will cause things to break. 

Hello everyone! Esh here with a quick devlog about the recent update! There are a lot of new changes that have been done. This is a pretty big demo update, and is probably the last demo update before the game gets released (I'm saying probably but who knows?)

Below you can find a short list of updates if you want the gist of it without getting into the details, but there's a detailed list for those who are interested in all the deets.

We hope you enjoy the changes and updates! 

Abbreviated Changes

  • Reuben encounter edited
  • Reuben CG added
  • Chapter Four added
  • World Building name changes implemented
  • Official music added
  • Profiles and galleries for additional LIs added
  • Additional customisation added
  • Flowcharts added
  • Faction scoring removed
  • Title screen changed
  • UI changes throughout the game
  • Confirmation screens at the start of routes or pre-route content.
  • Completion tracker removed

Detailed Changes

Content

Reuben Encounter

The Reuben encounter has had some edits which includes the introduction of a new character, Wynter Ashton, who is a backer character and Reuben's partner (he only makes a very brief appearance). There are a few other small changes/edits to the scene.

There is also a CG that can now be acquired from meeting Reuben.

Chapter Four

The player can now play through the entirety of Chapter Four. This means that most of the common route is now available to the player. There are only a couple of short scenes that are left in the common route, but those have to do with route selection and will not be made public until game release (most likely).

World Building Changes

There have been a few notable world building changes, mostly regarding the names of various things. 

The planet on which the story takes place was previously Altair, but is now referred to as Arcalis. 

The Ivory Tower, Endgame's headquarters is now referred to as Cor Solaris.

Caravaners are now referred to as "Nomos."

Music

Music has been edited to include the official game music by Tobi Weiss instead of the placeholder tracks we were previously using. 

Profiles and Galleries

New KS love interests have profile pages and galleries which can be accessed from the appropriate screens. New characters are: Reuben Kelner, Kauri Leere, and Yuu Sasaki.

At typo on Caissa's profile has, at long last, been fixed.

Game Mechanics

Additional Customisation 

The game now includes the full selection of physical traits the players will be able to choose from in the full game. The customisation page has been redesigned to accommodate the new options. 

Options now include:

8 skin colours (as opposed to original five)

7 eye colours (as opposed to only one previously)

10 hair colours (As opposed to original five)

6 skin tone specific eyebrow colours (as opposed to only one previously)

This customisation is now reflected in the first CG as well.

We will not be adding further customisation of the main character.

PLEASE NOTE: If you attempt to load an old save with a customised character, the previously chosen options are likely to be messed up. It will potentially throw errors as well.

Flowcharts

We have now implemented a flowchart system that lets you view your progress through the game and routes. Flowcharts can be accessed via the Extras screen or from the in-game side menu.

These flowcharts are slightly simplified from the actual branching variations available in the story. Minor branches due to previously chosen paths (such as whether you go through the crowd, avoid the crowd, or join the crowd) are often not shown as separate story branches. Rather the icon in the flow chart has a dashed outline around it (instead of a solid line). This dashed line usually means there are small variations within that scene. There are numerous small continuity based branches like this throughout the game, but to keep the flowcharts cohesive and easy to view, many of these small variations are not specifically noted outside of the presence of the dashed outline. 

We have focused on a simplified structure that makes note of branches significant to story or characterisation - or those that are related to customisation.

Faction Score Removed

You'll notice the little symbols that flashed in the corners after some choices are now gone. 

This was a mechanic that was more relevant when all the love interests were aligned to either Endgame or Crimson. Your scores in this area affected a choice in chapter four and what options were available to you there.

With the addition of new LIs, we now have three that aren't aligned to either of the two major factions. So the faction scoring felt a bit superfluous.

As such, it was removed.

Interface

Title Screen

Title screen has been altered to include artwork for the three additional LIs that were added as a result of the Kickstarter. Profiles, glossary, gallery, and endings are no longer accessible from the title screen. 

A new "extras" section has been added for access to these areas, as well as the new flowchart area.

UI Throughout

There have been numerous UI changes. Most of these are purely cosmetic - changing background images or the location of buttons. 

The in-game side menu has been updated to include a button that leads to the "extras" section so that galleries, glossary, and flowcharts can be accessed from within the game.

Confirmation Screens

We have added confirmation screens to warn the player that a specific choice is going to put them on specific routes (or the faction related pre-route content). This is in lieu of having Lance's route locked from the start - there is now a confirmation and spoiler warning when the player makes the choice that will put them on Lance's route.

Completion Tracker Removed

We removed the tracker that let you know your completion percent. Due to the number of very small variations and branches, we decided this was an inefficient way to track progress. This is replaced by the flowcharts instead.


And that is, I believe, everything.

Files

GS-Demo-5.1-windows 612 MB
Version 3 May 21, 2020
GS-Demo-5.1-mac 610 MB
Version 3 May 21, 2020

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Comments

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How do I start the game? I've downloaded it several times but not sure how to start it :/

Hi safiiiyyyaaa - this is a difficult question to answer without more information.

I assume you are not using the itch.io launcher (if you've never tried it, it makes managing games much easier as a whole).

If you are on a PC (not mac), you will download a zipped folder. You need to extract the files to an easy to access location. Once you've done that you can click into the folder and you should find a .exe file. If you double click this, it should launch the game.

Sometimes Renpy games trigger a windows defender warning. The game is fine to just open and launch. There's nothing harmful in it.


If this process doesn't work for you, I will need more information on your system and why you can't launch the game to help.

Yes I am on PC but double clicking does not start the game. I'll try using the itch.io launchers, hope it works! Thanks for answering :)

If you've extracted the folder, it's definitely odd that double clicking won't start the game. Hopefully using the launcher helps!

I have a question, when this comes out what would be the price of it? OwO

(+2)

The game will launch with 6 LIs and an estimated 700,000 words, but will update with three additional LIs (due to our Kickstarter campaign), which will probably bring the word count up close to 1,000,000 words.

We are expecting to ask around $28 USD for the game based on the sheer amount of content it will contain. <3

(+1)

steamberry: here are 9 beautiful men to Romance
me: Yes yes very good... but Rory stole my heart when I reasoned with him

Steamberry: well he is not really a rout more of a plot device

Me: oh I know, but sad boi very cute, he has my heart

( ok all joking aside I am really excited for this game and to play all the routs. the music is wonderful!)

(+3)

Haha. Rory, surprisingly, does have some fans. Maybe.....just *maybe* you'll see him again (cleaned up and slightly better) in some of the routes! OwO

(+2)

UWU my boi! look at him all  clean and fresh.  thank you for giving me hope of seeing my boi again    

Here to join the Rory fanbase <3 hahaha he has my heart, too and I'm sobbing.

Welcome to the club! :D

Deleted 252 days ago
(+1)

Thank you so much! We haven't really considered the possibility of a pre-order, but if we did it would be much closer to game completion since it always feels super weird to me to sell something that doesn't exist yet! LoL

I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it unless release was on the horizon anyway. <3

I'm wondering when will the game be out? Do you guys have an estimated date? :3

Thanks for your hard work!

We are hoping to have the game finished by the summer of 2021. With 9 love interests at 100,000 words per route, we have a lot of writing and art to complete! This is definitely going to take some time.

However, if you're interested in our progress, you can follow us on tumblr (or just check out our blog there). We update at the end of every week - usually on Friday or Saturday (Sydney time).

We know it can be hard to stay excited about a project when there's radio silence on development, so we try to keep people updated so they know the project is alive and well! 

(+1)

Hello! Fairly new to itch.io, in order to play this demo do I have to download all the previous ones first?

There is only one demo file that has been updated several times. You only need to download the one available file on the page!

Thank you! I downloaded it last night and I can’t wait to try it out.

(1 edit)

So enjoyable!! I'm so excited for the full release!

Just one thing—it seems Lance's profile text isn't padded like the others, so it gets cut off by the text box:

Compared to Jack's:


Should probably state I use a Mac if it affects anything and how I see it. 

Mac won't affect it. The profiles are actual .png files rather than coded text. So I just did a poor job of creating the image.

I'll fix it at some point. Considering it took....half a year to fix the typo on Caissa's route, I'm sure it'll be a while. OwO LoL

Makes sense! Good luck, haha. <3

If I could also make a suggestion and then I'll stop pestering you, I promise, you may want to recolor Morgan's tears so they're less white/more apparent. On the two lighter skins and Tan 1, it's really hard to see she's crying/has tears:


Tan 1 you can somewhat see the tears, but they're clearer from Tan 2 and onward:


You can totally ignore what I'm saying, I just thought I'd bring it up because it took me a while to recognize Morgan was crying when playing her with light skin (I noticed her nose was redder, but could not make out the tears—I thought they were face shines).

I really love this scene, btw—it sold me on Jack and it's really sweet.

Hope you have a pleasant day! Thanks for entertaining my ramblings.

I'm aware of the tears situation. Unfortunately tears are clear and her sprite is small which means they're likely to stay as they are as there's no way, fitting the style of the game, to really fix it. As you can imagine, I played around with the tears a bit before finalising the design and this is just what looked best. =) 

The face blush doesn't always show up well on the darker skin tones and the tears don't show up as well on the lighter tones. It's one of the drawbacks of customisation and is more of a minor cosmetic issue than a problem we will be spending time to fix in a game this size and with this many features to be managed by a single person. <3

Thanks for your comments! ^_^

I understand and thank you for taking the time to reply! Best of luck and I look forward in what's to come. :0)

(+3)

oh my god I love Rory, can I please give him a hug or something? I think he needs it

(+3)

He definitely needs a hug! ;A;

(1 edit) (+1)

So many updates! I haven't played it yet but I'm sure it's amazing!

edit: I literally just loaded the game to look at the characters' profiles, and OMG Lance is such a cutie I love him so much 😭 I can't believe his route is locked at the beginning :(

(+1)

I think it will no longer be locked - just require a confirmation from the player after a spoiler warning pops up! OwO

(+1)

oh ok, thanks!

(+2)

I really don't enjoy locked routes in games, myself. Much less being forced to play characters I'm not terribly interested in. So I thought it might be more effective to put the decision of play order back into the player's hands and just warn them there might be some spoilers for other routes in Lance's route. 

(I don't think it will diminish enjoyment to play other routes first. It'll just probably diminish the "*gasp* OMG WHAT?" levels a little. LoL) 

But if a player is fine with that, then I think it's nice to let them make that choice!

(+1)

I haven't even played the updated version but I just KNOW it's gonna be good! Thank you for all the hard work! 

We hope you like it! <3

(+4)

I just played the updated demo and I have to say, it looks amazing! I'm so excited to play the final version. :) I'm sure I will love it just as much as Changeling if not even more. The characters all look really interesting and I love the customization and the flowchart as well. I've not played through all possible choices yet, but so far Jack is my favorite. One idea I had though - if possible - is to maybe omit some details about the characters in the bio until they are revealed in the story. For example, in-game Jack said that he is with that cult, but when I checked his bio, it showed that he was lying to me the whole time and that he is with Crimson. It's fine either way though because I enjoyed the demo regardless.  It's just an idea I had. I don't know how to program so I have no idea how complicated my suggestion would be either.

Anyway, I look forward to playing the full game! :)

(+1)

I don't really consider that a major spoiler since it's been public for a while that Jack is with Crimson. Just because the profile and game content don't match, it doesn't mean he's lying per se! There are just pieces to the story you don't have. 

For me, it's sort of like Magnus or Caissa giving Morgan a fake name. The player knows it's fake. The player knows Caissa isn't being nice - he's trying to get Morgan in his car so he can kidnap her. Magnus is just lying through his teeth about who he is. 

But that's not a big spoiler or reveal. And neither is Jack being with Crimson. The player still doesn't have the full story even if they know he's not being 100% transparent with Morgan right now.

In game play time, if Morgan goes with Jack, the full story gets revealed like...five minutes after the restaurant scene.


Thanks for taking the time to comment! <3

(+1)

I see. That makes sense! (Especially if the full story would get revealed right after the restaurant story). Thank you for replying to my comment. ^^ 

I wasn't able to fund the project when it was live on kickstarter, but I will make sure to buy it when it gets released. :) I know I said it previously, but this game just looks more amazing the more I look at it. I was hooked seconds after I started to play the demo, and then it just kept getting better.

(+2)

I just spent the last few hours going through most of the new demo and I love the way this story is shaping up. I loved playing around with all the new features and the new soundtrack adds a whole new level of immersion to the story. I can tell you really put your blood, sweat, and tears into this game and it's already so amazing. I can't wait for the full release

Hi Ryan! Thanks so much for commenting. We're working really, really hard on it and we're so happy it's starting to show! <3

(2 edits) (+2)

Nope. I don't believe it. I bet you only show us a couple of additional lines just to torture our poor souls so when it does finally come out we are all scrabbling like hyenas over scraps of food. 

I am just kidding...sort of. I am excited to see the final product and, of course, thankful for any additional updates even if it may prove torturous rather than to wait for the whole thing in its entirety. 

Love your work and cannot wait for the final release. 😊

I would never do something so horrible! >=3

Thanks for your comment! We are going to be working hard! OwO

LOL...I don't know...I just finished reading up to the end of this demo and I feel like the wait is even going to be MORE torturous now. Nah it's fine. It's really good, but alas the more delicious tidbits we get will only make the wait harder. 😭 Just being complimentary in a really round about way. It is easy to tell there is a lot of hard work going into it. I understand it takes time too. Painful as it may be. Thanks again and looking foward to the end. 😊

(+4)

Wow! What a wonderful update.  I've just done one play through of the new demo with the chapter 4 update and it was a lot of fun.  The story and world becomes more engaging and intriguing as this game develops.  The new soundtrack flowed well into different emotional states and helped build tension in the action sequences. 

I really enjoyed playing around with the new cc variations and intend to play around with it more with some other runthroughs.  It also made me pay even more attention to the mc's sprite during the game and notice all the expression changes she makes.  I love her angry expression and her cynical eyebrow lift.  I think I paid more attention to her than the boys this time around.  'Sorry lovely lads, but I now have a crush on Morgan."

The UI changes look good and easy to read and I really love the addition of the section with the flowcharts.  It was great to see the way personality choices affected the game and how all the decisions, including the choice of silver hair in the cc impacted a play through.

I can see how much effort, attention to detail and great writing is going into this game and you should be proud of what you have already achieved.  Also thank you for the, much needed, boost in mood I got from seeing this update and playing through it.  (I love the way Jack calls Morgan 'butterfly' and can only imagine he thinks she has the potential for unpredictable chaos.) 

(+3)

Thank you so much for such a lovely and thoughtful comment! 

I have been looking forward to this update for such a long time. Omg. The longer we had to wait, the more things that got added, and finally I just could not wait any longer. The new customisation was really exciting because it's just fun to be able to throw in a lot of variations - and I think some turned out really lovely. (I almost didn't add violet eyes but they turned out to be my favourite colour!)

I'm really hoping that, especially when it gets into the character routes, the flowcharts help the player visualise how their choices and cc are changing the content they see. A lot of the personality based branches are fairly minor but some are a little more significant so I'm looking forward to people being able to experience that.

Anyway, we really appreciated reading your comment - thank you so much for taking the time to leave it for us! <3