#after the last UI update

[ejacutastic]

which phone model you use? your pics have gorgeous quality omg

I've got a Samsung s22 ultra :) honestly I have a lot of beef with the cameras/software on it. Samsung has some weird like post photo taking editing it does like it adds HDR and increases texture and shit often like, for instance, it makes flapjack look Extra Textured when he is Regular Textured in real life and looks Regular Textured in the photo preview. It also struggles to focus with the front camera in even slightly low light like just constantly refocuses when nothing is being moved to prompt it to need to.

sorry I know you didn't ask for a full review, but I honestly preferred my note 10+. I also know they've done AI kind of things without user permission/without a setting to turn it off with moon photos in particular and I don't think they've done away with that. which I don't care about that as a feature that can be turned off but uh, as someone who is very familiar with and comfortable with dslrs and photo editing and like having control of at LEAST the editing process, I wanna be able to turn it off.

so yeah I wouldn't recommend it unfortunately.

[mujori]

time to gut out some stuff out of my mods folder

[burning-academia-if]

Burning Academia: Chapter 2 Release

Play Here | Intro Post

Burning Academia is a 17+ paranormal dark academia IF about family, magic, school politics, and the ghosts which haunt you.

Total Word Count (w/code): 89.2k

Words Added (w/code): 47.9k

Chapter 2 Features:

Have a weird encounter at work

Enjoy an almost normal day for once, or another bad one

No really, if you have a bad day this time it's on you

3 endings, each with their own lasting consequences

3 achievements, if that's your kind of thing

Content Warnings:

Severe: Discussions and depictions of death, gaslighting, emotionally unstable parent

Moderate: Scopophobia (eyes/staring), references to alcoholism, references to unhealthy coping mechanisms

Mild: possession

Chapter 1 Change log:

Added piercing and facial hair options during the customization screen

a handful of variable fixes

gonna be honest, I edited this chapter a few months ago and I don't remember what else I fixed, but I remembering fixing them

Upcoming in Chapter 3:

Consequences for your actions...or not

Go to your magic elective and listen to the voice in your head roast your professor

Pop quiz, because said professor hates you

Hit up the town, go to the freshman party, or break into one of the school buildings. You can even do two of those things, if you're lucky

Notes:

Chapter 1 saves might not work, but if you have any saves from the end of the prologue, those should work so you don't have to start completely from the beginning if you don't want! I'd recommend keeping a save for a chapter prior from now on, ie keeping a chapter 1 save for chapter 3, since there's always a possibility I will need to fix or adjust things in chapter 2.

Also I just wanted to give a vague update schedule. So 3 things: Zoe's backstory is going to be released in July! This is the only thing with a set time frame for release. Next, I want to focus on updating/fixing the UI before anything else, just because it's kinda been bothering me. This will be the next "game update" for BA. After the UI release will come Chapter 3. I'm hoping chapter 3 doesn't take 5 months this time, but that's up to life which has had a sniper riffle on me for the whole of 2024, so we'll see.

Lastly, as always, if I broke something feel free to send an ask or submit it through the google doc here!

[stygiansun-totaleclipse]

Chapter 1 Part 1 Release!

It's finally here after much struggle. Play the demo here!

Intro post here.

First update to the demo is here!! The current demo is sitting at around 21,300 words. In this update, you can:

Speak with your older brother, Parim, in a nightmare.

Encounter the shadow that has been lurking in your dreams the last few months, stalking you and getting ever, ever closer.

Get traumatized babeyyyyy

Meet Luca, your departed childhood friend.

Customize your character, including name, pronouns, appearance, and personality.

Throw hands with an eleven-year-old. (jk - but you will get into a fight with your younger sister, Farah.)

Briefly meet your retainer, Aurynn.

This is my first time making an interactive Twine game, so I appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism so I can continue to improve my game! This is currently a work in progress, so some features of the game are missing and some things are subject to change (especially the UI). If I missed any spelling/grammar mistakes or any bugs/errors, please let me know in the comments on itch.io or by messaging me on tumblr.

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it!!

[goblin-social]

A quick example of the current state of Goblin:

I imported my following list from mastodon and started following everyone with my goblin.band account too, so I basically read all my mastodon content from there already. Even if no one but me using the tumblr-like features I'm adding, I already enjoy Goblin more than Mastodon.

Things that I've added since my last post:

Integration with mastodon (and well, any other fediverse platform that use plain text instead of html)

Copy/pasting images in the editor

Sanitized html input when saving & updating posts

Improved the landing page

Cleaned the menus and improved the UI in general

Current "next" to-do list:

Fix posts displaying images twice when you paste an image

Fix RSS feed including the inline files again after the post

Sanitize html inputs on incoming federated posts

fix several style issues around different settings sections (black texts on dark blue background, white text over white background, etc)

Figure out if I can create a tumblr-api app so the posts from goblin can be automatically shared here without having to go through Zappier.

Figure out what kind of server I need to run a, let's say, 500 people server.

Find someone to do some security review of my server (Long story short, I've only a very slim idea of what I'm doing when configuring a server and I'm sure I've left some huge security holes around).

This is happening, folks. I think Goblin is going to be a reality. At least https://goblin.band will be.

[jovial-thunder]

Pre-alpha Lancer Tactics changelog

(cross-posting the full gif changelog here because folks seemed to like it last time I did)

We're aiming for getting the first public alpha for backers by the end of this month! Carpenter and I scoped out mechanics that can wait until after the alpha (e.g. grappling, hiding) in favor of tying up the hundred loose threads that are needed for something that approaches a playable game. So this is mostly a big ol changelog of an update from doing that.

But I also gave a talent talk at a local Portland Indie Game Squad event about engine architecture! It'll sound familiar if you've been reading these updates; I laid out the basic idea for this talk almost a year ago, back in the June 2023 update.

We've also signed contracts & had a kickoff meeting with our writers to start on the campaigns. While I've enjoyed like a year of engine-work, it'll be so so nice to start getting to tell stories. Data structures don't mean anything beyond how they affect humans & other life.

New Content

Implemented flying as a status; unit counts as +3 spaces above the current ground level and ignores terrain and elevation extra movement costs. Added hover + takeoff/land animations.

Gave deployables the ability to have 3D meshes instead of 2D sprites; we'll probably use this mostly when the deployable in question is climbable.

Related, I fixed a bug where after terrain destruction, all units recheck the ground height under them so they'll move down if the ground is shot out from under them. When the Jerichos do that, they say "oh heck, the ground is taller! I better move up to stand on it!" — not realizing that the taller ground they're seeing came from themselves.

Fixed by locking some units' rendering to the ground level; this means no stacking climbable things, which is a call I'm comfortable making. We ain't making minecraft here (I whisper to myself, gazing at the bottom of my tea mug). 

Block sizes are currently 1x1x0.5 — half as tall as they are wide. Since that was a size I pulled out of nowhere for convenience, we did some art tests for different block heights and camera angles. TLDR that size works great and we're leaving it.

Added Cone AOE pattern, courtesy of an algorithm NMcCoy sent me that guarantees the correct number of tiles are picked at the correct distance from the origin.

pick your aim angle

for each distance step N of your cone, make a list ("ring") of all the cells at that distance from your origin

sort those cells by angular distance from your aim angle, and include the N closest cells in that ring in the cone's area

Here's a gif they made of it in Bitsy:

Units face where you're planning on moving/targeting them.

Got Walking Armory's Shock option working. Added subtle (too subtle, now that I look at it) electricity effect.

Other things we've added but I don't have gifs for or failed to upload. You'll have to trust me. :)

disengage action

overcharge action

Improved Armament core bonus

basic mine explosion fx

explosion fx on character dying

Increase map elevation cap to 10. It's nice but definitely is risky with increasing the voxel space, gonna have to keep an eye on performance.

Added Structured + Stress event and the associated popups. Also added meltdown status (and hidden countdown), but there's not animation for this yet so your guy just abruptly disappears and leaves huge crater.

UI Improvements

Rearranged the portrait maker. Auto-expand the color picker so you don't have to keep clicking into a submenu.

Added topdown camera mode by pressing R for handling getting mechs out of tight spaces.

The action tooltips have been bothering me for a while; they extend up and cover prime play-area real estate in the center of the screen. So I redesigned them to be shorter and have a max height by putting long descriptions in a scrollable box. This sounds simple, but the redesign, pulling in all the correct data for the tags, and wiring up the tooltips took like seven hours. Game dev is hard, yo.

Put the unit inspect popups in lockable tooltips + added a bunch of tooltips to them.

Implemented the rest of Carpenter's cool hex-y action and end turn readout. I'm a big fan of whenever we can make the game look more like a game and less like a website (though he balances out my impulse for that for the sake of legibility).

Added a JANKY talent/frame picker. I swear we have designs for a better one, but sometimes you gotta just get it working. Also seen briefly here are basic level up/down and HASE buttons.

Other no-picture things:

Negated the map-scaling effect that happens when the window resizes to prevent bad pixel scaling of mechs at different resolutions; making the window bigger now just lets you see more play area instead of making things bigger.

WIP Objectives Bullets panel to give the current sitrep info

Wired up a buncha tooltips throughout the character sheet.

Under the Hood

Serialization: can save/load games! This is the payoff for sticking with that engine architecture I've been going on about. I had to add a serialization function to everything in the center layer which took a while, but it was fairly straightforward work with few curveballs.

Finished replacement of the kit/unit/reinforcement group/sitrep pickers with a new standardized system that can pull from stock data and user-saved data.

Updated to Godot 4.2.2; the game (and editor) has been crashing on exit for a LONG time and for the life of me I couldn't track down why, but this minor update in Godot completely fixed the bug. I still have no idea what was happening, but it's so cool to be working in an engine that's this active bugfixing-wise! 

Other Bugfixes

Pulled straight from the internal changelog, no edits for public parseability:

calculate cover for fliers correctly

no overwatch when outside of vertical threat

fixed skirmisher triggering for each attack in an AOE

fixed jumpjets boost-available detection

fixed mines not triggering when you step right on top of them // at a different elevation but still adjacent

weapon mods not a valid target for destruction

made camera pan less jumpy and adjust to the terrain height

better Buff name/desc localization

Fixed compcon planner letting you both boost and attack with one quick action.

Fix displayed movement points not updating

Prevent wrecks from going prone

fix berserkers not moving if they were exactly one tile away

hex mine uses deployer's save target instead of 0

restrict weapon mod selection if you don't have the SP to pay

fix deployable previews not going away

fix impaired not showing up in the unit inspector (its status code is 0 so there was a check that was like "looks like there's no status here")

fix skirmisher letting you move to a tile that should cost two movement if it's only one space away

fix hit percent calculation

fix rangefinder grid shader corner issues (this was like a full day to rewrite the shader to be better)

Teleporting costs the max(spaces traveled, elevation change) instead of always 1

So um, yeah, that's my talk, any questions? (I had a professor once tell us to never end a talk like this, so now of course it's the phrase that first comes to mind whenever I end a talk)

[cityof2morrow]

Mod Organizing & Load Order Shenanigans

Published: 5-1-2024 | Updated: N/A MOD ORGANIZING During the [first] "pandemic summer," I started reorganizing my game folders. I also started  a "conflict management" list, containing all the known conflict info from download pages, new conflicts I discover while playtesting, etc. It's 44 pages long at the moment....a testament to my unapologetic mod addiction. I encourage all simmers to keep a list like this. It’s very reassuring (and handy!) to be able to look up known conflicts or keep track of mods which have been merged (duplicate files can break your game FAST!).  **I won’t be able to share mine at this time but most of my info comes from the same pages where I download CC/mods - shout out to the creators who take the time to include this info.

MY LOAD ORDER(S) I number my folders and use mostly lower case filenames to force the load order I want – these were the most important changes I made re: how I maintain a heavily-modded-but-still -very-functional game. With few exceptions, this has been much more effective than keeping track of the number of z's and cases. It also means I don't need to rename downloaded files - I just put them in the right folder. When I played exclusively on mac, I learned that numbering the store cc folders was the ONLY way I could get all the content to work. I never figured out why but I imagine it was because the mac series doesn't include expansions required for some of this content.

DETAILS (the codes) I put that grad school debt...I mean...those grad school research skills to good use and made up my own codes. Here they are... 0= files needed in every save aka my "essentials." These include repair files, shader/UI files, CEPs, global probes (like scriptorium, money globals, inteen checker, inventory checker, etc).

1= mods that do NOT need a load order, some OFB-themed sets I want to keep separate from other CC - like the #co2bellabrand or upcoming #co2cdkseries stuff.

2= mods that require a hard load order. As @episims writes HERE, this only works for mods with non-game-breaking conflicts between them. Only the last mod in the sequence will retain ALL its intended functions. The code for this section goes like this: [number]-[what the mod deals with in-game; i make sure to consider alphabetical order]-[load order number] -name of the mod(s)

I have several global mods that need to load as close to LAST as possible. These folders all start with "2-z-[load order #]-." The "2" tells me they need to load in a certain order and the "-z" makes them load after all the other #2 folders.

See Object Freedom 1.02 (@fwaysims, 2023) and Shiftable Everything (@lamare-sims, 2022) both load at #78? I don't have them BOTH in game at the same time, but giving them the same number ensures that the right load order stays no matter which one i'm paying with. 3 = build mode and neighborhood deco/defaults

4= buy mode

"ts1," "ts3," and similar labels = content that was converted for Sims 2.

5=CAS/bodyshop

OTHER DETAILS I also label folders with certain "type codes" - these tell me things like whether they add permanent data to my saves (custom memories, careers, foods, etc. do this) or whether they are maxis-match. Here are some examples:

-BIN = mod files which go in the program folders -DEF = default replacement -MEM = this content includes custom memory data -MM = maxis-match or an add-on for default game furniture -ADD = content that is not maxis-match -NPC = this content includes or changes one or more NPCs -FIX  or -EDIT = this is a fixed or uniquely edited version of a pre-existing mod -BETA and -TEST = this mod is unfinished and/or a test version Remember, conflicts do not always mean something has to be removed from your game, nor are all conflicts unresolvable. No matter what kind of method(s) you use to organize your game – it’s just important to try/have at least one in the cut.

CREDITS Thanks: Episims, PleasantSims, and all simmers who include load order/conflict notes. Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Forcing the Load Order of Mods (whoward/Pick’N’MixSims, 2021 via sims2tutorials), Image(s) (Alexander, 2016), Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik).

...Oh and yes...I AM in fact an INTJ/Capricorn.

[2nd-toughest-in-the-infants]

Crown of Ashes and Flames (WIP) on itch.io Review

Author: @coeluvr

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Choice: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Replayability: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: 4/5

Pros: ANGST ANGST ANGST‼️, absolute monster of an antagonist, compelling characters, regular updates.

Cons: awkward dialogue from younger characters, no return button on UI.

**SLIGHT SPOILERS**

Notes:

TW!: Family Death, Murder, Forced Marriage, Child Marriage, Bullying, Isolation, Struggles with Mental Health

Crown of Ashes and Flames is another really strong IF WIP on itch.io with a very active author and so far it’s been receiving regular updates so I’m quite excited to see how the story develops as the game updates further. As it stands, I still want to share my thoughts on what is available to play so far.

So, Crown of ashes follows the MC who is the last surviving royal of Vesphire after King Luceris of a neighbouring kingdom, Rosea, declares war on Vesphire, murders MCs entire family, takes them back with him to Rosea and forces MC to marry him and become the new Royal Consort (at age 9?!?!) all for the sake of avenging the death of his wife, who he believes was killed by MCs older sister. As you can probably tell by that quick summary, this is an IF that is absolutely LOADED with Angst and drama, so, naturally, I was drawn right in!

I have to start off by saying how good of a job the author did in managing to create a cast of characters that are all so uniquely compelling in their own right. It can be the case that sometimes IF authors will focus too intently on just one or two main ROs while the others can feel like a bit of an afterthought, but in CoAaF, I feel as though all the characters are given equal opportunity to shine. That isn’t to say that there aren’t stand out characters, because there absolutely are and the first that comes to mind has to be Luceris. For me he stands out because not only is he an incredibly well-written, complex villain I find it rare that I have as much of visceral hatred of a fiction character as I do for him. I mean, what he does to MC in the name of ‘vengeance’ and the way he justifies himself just solidifies him as one of the most delusional and twisted villains I’ve read in an IF.

Also, the setting and minor characters in the story really serve to highlight how the MC is ostracised in their new ‘home’ as punishment for their sisters crimes. And it really is sickening how both adult and young characters justify the way they effectively bully MC because of something MC doesn’t have any control over and really serves to highlight the theme of injustice vs. justice that has been present throughout the game so far.

Furthermore, I enjoyed the amount of choice given to the player over the way MC reacts to what they’ve been through as well as to how the people around them treat them (both good and bad) and provides the player with the opportunity to explore how the traumatic events of the game impacts the MCs attitude and mental state.

It’s also quite interesting to see how the MC develops as they grow as the story starts with the MC as a nine year old and eventually grows up. This however, can be quite tricky from a writting perspective as typically authors can have difficulty with writing young child characters. Unfortunately, this is something that I have noticed was the case with this author as I felt that a lot of the dialogue exchanges between the younger characters (particularly the MC) just didn’t really feel accurate coming from a nine year olds mouth. Aside from that however, I feel as though the rest of the dialogue fits very well and overall I would say the writing is of a good quality.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this game to anyone interested in picking up a new, angsty WIP and I will certainly be patiently awaiting updates!

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog 36 | 11.26.23 ๋࣭⭑

:rises from the dead: I'm.... BAAAAACK!!!!!!

Long time, no talk (kinda) everyone! I hope you've been happy, healthy, and well since we last saw each other and that the wind-down for the year is being kind to you all <3

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's do just that ^^ This is.... so long. I'm really sorry in advance tbh---I thought I hadn't done much because break, but there's quite a bit to show.

It's been a while since a formal update on the routes, so I'll start by telling you all where they officially stand. Before I do, it might be helpful to tell you all how I define percentage completion in my head. Basically, when I finish the draft of a route, I consider it 70% complete. This means I could ship it as is. I wouldn't be happy with the product, but it's playable and makes enough sense---just not the best quality.

When Wudgey finishes their edits, a route is 80%-85% complete, meaning I could ship it as is. I think it'd be pretty good actually and players would be happy. Beyond this point, I am just making fine tuning edits to incorporate more player interaction, polishing the flow of things, etc.

After that, there's basically only Elm and Vi's edits left. When Elm finishes, a route is 95% complete. Again, I think at this point, it's good. Like edits from this point onwards are purely for polishing purpose. After Vi, it's 98% complete. Then the last review comes back to Elm and I for it to be 100% complete. Right now, this is where the routes stand:

Kayn: 98% Complete

Fenir: 95% Complete

Druk: 80% Complete

Etza: 60% Complete (Still working on their draft!)

Do Not ask me about Kuna'a or Aisa LFMASOEIDJ

So most of the routes are actually looking pretty good! They're just getting bounced around to different editors at this point, but the changes made for most of them are basically small. Fenir and Kayn especially could be shipped as is in my eyes if I really wanted to.

Art recently has mostly been focused on commissions. Vui actually is almost done with ALL of the BGs for Alaris!! Isn't that crazy?? In about a year, he was able to create almost 25 BGs with daytime variations!!! He's a phenomenal artist, and I couldn't be happier to be working with him. It's also a bit bittersweet (and alarming??) to know that part of development is already close to ending! q.q

The most exciting art update I have is that we got the GUI assets finished and I've started coding them into the game!! AAAA!! These were the final updated assets I needed, and seeing the fully revamped demo come to life has been so.... Emotional HAHA! It's crazy to see how far Alaris has come from when I was first making it with my little fingies and throwing things together like paper mache. I'm incredibly in love with how all the assets look together, and I couldn't be more grateful for the artists who helped me update the assets!

Updated History Log. Please say you like the dividers between entries---I'm most proud of those

I'm still making my way through coding everything, but here's a couple screen previews so you all can see how things now look in the game!!

First off, is the Dialogue/Choice Screen. You can see that we have a brand new dialogue box (She's Stunning) and Choice Screen! I'm hoping to add some sfx for the choices when you hover over them, and sfx for the new UI in general so there's more user feedback when you click and hover on things. But for now, enjoy this preview of the new dialogue box, choice screen, and the new personality indicators!

Updated Dialogue/Choice Screen: You can't see it as well in GIF format, but the BG also has particles floating around, so there's a tiny bit of animation going on in some of the BGs as well!!

Next, we have the Free Time Screen. I actually posted this on Twitter recently but I don't think I posted it on Tumblr! ISN'T SHE STUNNING... ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW BGS.... I'm especially happy with the text animations that show up at the bottom when you hover over the different choices! I was inspired by a couple other devs (specifically GUI god, @siyo-koy, and renpy animation master @just-a-carrot) to start incorporating animation style elements into my GUI. And I really like how it adds a little ~something~ to the feel of everything ^^

Updated Free Time Screen: begging someone to say they like the text animation so I feel validated for finangling with it

Finally, for our last preview, we have the Save Screen! While it looks new obviously with the new assets, I also did a lot of backend coding revamping for how it actually functions since my coding experience is a bit better now compared to when I was first fighting for my life figuring out save/load screens. The biggest change for you all is that there are now chapter markers so save slots will tell you what chapter that save file is from! And instead of screenshots, it's now a custom icon inside that shows the chapter card. I think it'll make the save screen look more cohesive now and hopefully more intuitive as well!!

Updated Save Screen: With a sprinkle of updated Chapter Card screen preview

That was long. Are any of us surprised, considering I had two months' worth of devlogs piled inside of me, begging to burst from the seams?

Anyways. Only two miscellaneous updates. One is that all soundtracks have been completed for Alaris! Peter finished the last of them recently, and they're all beautiful!!! For ppl who love piano soundtracks... :holds hand in piano lover solidarity:

Other update is that I finally fixed that godforsaken sprite bug that was associated with the energy vision feature from the demo!!! FINALLY!!! AFTER.... SO LONG. Extremely huge thanks to @robobarbie for taking time out of their day to do that; everyone please say thank you!!!!! OGs know how long that bug was bothering me!!!! Robo also gave me a pretty new rain code, so I'm showing you how both look in the new demo so you can appreciate them with me!!

Last miscellaneous update is more on a.... logistical development level?? Basically, now that I have new GUI assets to code, that means I can get a beta build of the routes currently written out. I was feeling really overwhelmed by that idea because most of this year has been focused on writing and making assets, not really coding. Knowing that I can Code and get Playable Builds out to people was stressful because I have to divvy up my time a bit more.

After an extremely insightful talk with beloved and admired Esh of @steamberrystudio I decided I'm probably going to be shifting how development goes from here on out. Instead of focusing head low on getting as many words written for the remaining routes everyday, I'm going to be making smaller but consistent progress and spend the rest of my time coding so that I can have more of a continuous cycle of production going on (e.g., writing a bit, making playable builds, gathering playtester feedback, etc. instead of doing each stage in blocked, sequential order).

I'm mainly telling you all this because it means writing updates will probably seem slower from this point on, but I think production overall will be more efficient because of it! This is also exciting news for playtesters and/or early access backers/patrons because it means you'll have playable content in the near future for content outside of just the demo :')

have u all heard of wudgeous of herotome. of course u have. they r all i talk about at this point

No market research because I've actually been addicted to BG3 LFMAOLSDJF. Actually, I'm taking some inspiration from it for the personality mechanic but eh.

On a more important note, @herotome demo is coming out December 2nd!!!! PLAY IT WITH ME. Wudgey is my editor, so you might think I'm biased but I'M NOT!!! I WAS A FAN OF HEROTOME BEFORE WUDGEY EVEN WORKED W ME!!! They have an exception eye for detail and player experience, and they are actually one of the devs that inspired me to even get into game development.

I just know the demo is going to blow everyone's socks off. OG Herotome prologue build fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Please mark December 2nd on your calendar---you will not regret it.

This was so unbelievably long, but I hope it's appreciated since there was no real devlog update for a hot minute. As always, Thank you all for your patience and continued support. With the year ending soon, I'm getting wrapped up in my feels in usual Crescence fashion. I am a Cancer so no one is surprised.

Next month will probably be more of an end-of-year devlog rather than the usual format. I know the devlogs of late have been all over the place, but once we get into the new year, it will be back to business as usual! Hope you all have a wonderful end to your year; I'll talk to you soon! <3

[hazelminesims]

⋒   Patch day tomorrow…July 26th   ⋒

My to-do list today:

Back up my saves.

Remove all mods - UI mods, script mods-everything that affects core game behavior. In other words, if it makes the game function differently, take it out. (I keep them in numbered folders so I can grab them all and move them outside of the mods folder.)

Delete the file localthumbcache.package from your Sims 4 My Documents folder.

The save I plan to play in after the patch: open it without mods installed and create a new save point using “save as”.

•  If you don’t want to deal with things breaking right away, turn off automatic game updates. Go to Origin > Application settings and look for the heading Client Update and make sure it is grayed out to turn off auto updates.

Then, go into offline mode through Origin before you start your game. It won’t prompt you for an update.

•  Last but not least, please please be patient with the wonderful creators of custom content and mods. Quite a few things will probably get changed behind the scenes with this patch and EP. They are people, too. They may want to just play the game like you. Give it time, give them grace.

And hopefully, we won’t have too many tears tomorrow ..lol!

The Cats and Dogs EP corrupted all my saves and I have a routine now that has worked for me.

And if you have something to add, please do. I really do believe in “sharing is caring.“ It is how I have learned so much over the years.

↪  Status Updates on Mods - very helpful list

TIPS FROM OTHER SIMMERS

•  From @mellindi ::  I usually move my saves and mods folder from my Sims 4 folder before I update just to be safe. Not sure if it makes a difference or not but I'm not trying to have none of my saves corrupted lol

•  From @gednaaahhh ::  I backup my Tray as well as mods and saves folders. I've lost my tray after an update before, which was devastating at the time. All my long time played families gone, never to be seen again... So please backup your tray often! :)

Happy Simming! 😊

[rustingcat]

Twilight

They started working on the test immediately. Bringing both Brainy and Nia to draw blood, as Kara and Lena started loading materials and performing last minute check ups before their real full trial. Their preparations took longer than expected, both Lena and Kara had important day jobs to get back to after all. After work, they started testing the nourishment distribution system. Hopefully the main system they would need to update and temper with in the long run.

A problem with a delicate Foundation project called Lena away in the late evening. Kara insisted on continuing by herself as there was not much left to do, Lena agreed and promised she would come back as soon as she could. Lena ended up coming up to check on updates every time she had a minute before needing to go back to deal with another issue.

It was getting much later than Kara anticipated when she finished setting up the PF, checking the numbers twice before proceeding to the next stage. The excitement came back to her in full force when she faced the familiar UI once more.

Their first trial was about to begin, their first test to see if their machine was capable of creating life!

She happily pressed continue through the proceeding warning windows and activated the nourishment system. She watched in glee as one of the pods lit up, indicating its activity. A warm feeling spread in her chest as she felt her smile widening. That little thing would become a baby, a baby that would be so loved and cared for by everyone around them, they're gonna drown in it.

Kara wiped off a tear and checked the status of the PF, which should start its transformation into an active embryo pretty soon. The numbers seemed to be on par as expected as PF1 made its new home in pod number one, pretty fitting Kara smiled. It took her a second to realise her mistake.

Getting closer than necessary to read through the genetic data of the new embryo confirmed her suspicions. She accidentally processed her and Lena's genetic data. The baby being created belonged to her and Lena!

Kara took a step back in sheer shock, her eyes as wide as saucers locked on the screen.

"Hey Kara." She heard Lena's voice from behind her.

Kara turned quickly, moving her hands around frantically from the shot of anxiety that went through her system and swallowed hard while she did her best to look normal. She gave Lena her best reassuring smile, that might have showed a bit too much teeth. Luckily Lena was engrossed in her tablet, writing down whatever it was that needed her attention. Kara was grateful her mistake was yet to be discovered.

"How did it go?" Lena continued, finally looking up from her tablet to meet Kara's questionable gaze. "Did it process Nia's and Brainy's genetic data?" She asked, concerned. With the crisis she was dealing with she was probably desperate for some good news.

A small giggle left her lips as Kara swallowed hard. "All is fine." She lied, raising a thumb up to solidify her claim. She would be the first one to admit that her statement was not as convincing as she hoped it to be, but at least it wasn't 'I accidentally started a process to create a baby for us', which was honestly a win by itself.

Lena studied her for a second. "Are you ok?" She asked with concern.

"Yeah, yes. Definitely. Just… you know, excited. Yes, I'm just so excited." She nodded enthusiastically.

"If you run into any problems you–" whatever it was that Lena was about to say was cut short as the power for the entire building was suddenly cut off. The room was illuminated by the moon and the few computer screens that moved to work on the back up generator and the New Birthing Matrix that had its own personal power supply created specially for it.

"God dammit," Lena muttered, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, I'll be right back." Lena stormed off the room and Kara selfishly wished she would exhaust all of her frustration on either her problematic project, or the people responsible to it so she wouldn't have the energy to be mad at Kara. Rao, she was terrible.

Breathing a small sigh of relief once she heard Lena entering a room a few floors down, Kara turned back to the machine.

Standing in the dark room, staring at the small pod illuminated almost exclusively by the twilight as the moon shined brightly through the opened window, Kara felt a shiver running down her spine.

Kara moved closer to the monitor, her fingers hovering over the termination button once again, only this time she would destroy something else, something more.

She saw them again, those flashes of small hands, chubby cheeks, and dimpled smile holding a small bundle of rags. A possible future. A future that had been haunting her dreams for months at this point. A possible future she suddenly desperately wanted to see to fruition.

Kara stepped back from the monitor to stand in front of the pod. She lay a hand on the protective glass, it was warmer than she anticipated. A small smile spread on her lips, knowing her hand was only inches away from their baby. She tasted something salty in her mouth only to realise she was crying. Rao, what a crazy day, a small chuckle escaped her lips as her tears became stronger. She was crying, she was standing in front of what she desperately hoped would become her first born child, a bizarre thought by itself.

Kara let herself have that moment, before drying her tears and turning back to the machine. She had still promised Nia and Brainy a child after all. It suddenly dawned on her, it would mean that their children could be born at around the same time! Give or take a few weeks, depending on the development of all the different species involved, but it would mean lots of conjoined birthday parties – if the kids wanted to of course – happy playtime together, and a chance to gain a true friend for life. Suddenly, this idea seemed like the perfect plan, she frankly wasn't sure why she hadn’t thought of it earlier.

Kara processed the second PF to pod number two, then lit up similarly to the first. They were already best friends, Kara smiled to herself, living next door to each other and all. "Be kind to your neighbour." She addressed her unborn child. And took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and turning back to the monitor.

She confirmed everything was okay with Nia and Brainy's data before letting herself sit down on the small couch in the corner of the room. In the dim twilight, Kara felt the dawn of a new era begin. Growing, in front of her eyes.

Kara wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at the pod before she fell asleep.

The morning sound that woke her up was not her usual alarm, nor was it the warm rays of the sun, but a loud voice that felt way too close to her face.

"Kara!" It rang in her ears, "Explain! Now!"

Read everything in order on AO3

Also, this whole fic was inspired by my little animation I did for last year's Supercorptober! This one right here

[sonqgmi-sims]

SIMS 2: My Essential Mods/CC

Hi everyone! I figured since I have been playing Sims 2 a lot lately, I'd provide my current essentials! Will update as I try more things, but this is valid as of February 1, 2024! ♥

Links for everything are under the cut! Found throughout MTS, Tumblr and other Sims Youtubers!

If any links don't work please let me know so I can try to find replacements!

View my video here!

AFTER INSTALLING SIMS 2 (Windows 10) Sim Shadow Fix: Fixes that weird shadow box glitch! Increase Resolution Fix: Have to go into the data files and alter some things to make it compatible for Windows 10!

NEIGHBORHOOD MODS Seasons Icons In Color: Colors the Season Icons in gameplay and in neighborhood view! Easy To Decorate Camera Mod: See more of the neighborhood map that you couldn't see before! CAS MODS Widescreen CAS Fix: Fixes the UI so your sim isn't covered! There's options for every resolution! (I use 1920x1080) More CAS Columns: Adds more Columns in CAS! Just like in TS4! Evie's Equal Genetics: Equal chance for offspring to receive dominant and recessive genes! 5 Custom Genetics Haircolors: Custom recolors for the Maxis hairs! Chocolate (Brown+Black), Sandy (Brown+Blonde), Icy (White Blonde), Auburn (Brown+Red) and Caramel (Brown+Red+Blonde)!

BUILD & BUY MODS Sim Blender: The holy grail of Sims 2 Mods. Can do anything with this! ACR: Sims autonomously Woohoo, Try for Baby, Get into Relationships, etc! Great for drama & storytelling! OFB Shelf Recolors: Beautiful wood recolors for the OFB Shelves! (The OG's were kinda ugly lmfao) Stay Things Shrub: Choose which items stay after a sim moves out! Monique's Hacked Computer: Pay bills, Order clothing, etc! Object Rotator: Rotate objects on an angle! Small, Large and End Tables! Lifetime Want Chooser: Pick your sims LTW!

LIFESPAN MODS 1 Day = 1 Year (Sims): As the title says! More realistic as I consider 1 sim day a year! 1 Day = 1 Year (Pets): Same as the Sim version, but for pets!

UNIVERSITY MODS Uni After Birthday Party: Teens can throw a birthday party and before blowing out candles, the game asks if you'd like to go to college first! Semester Changes: College is now 8 days instead of 24! Faster Uni Education: 24-48 Hour semesters! There Can Only Be One Professor: 2 per major seemed much, so I like this one! Generates less NPC's for me :D Doctors Need Degrees: Depending on your sims education/grades, they can either be stuck at career level 1 or 10!

GAMEPLAY MODS No 20K Handouts: As it says :) Now my sims aren't wealthy! Extended Family Treated As Family: Always hated it when second cousins could marry. This prevents it :) Community Time Project: Time spent on community lot matches with time at the home! Memory Manipulator: Hide/adjust Sims memories without using SimPE Break Up Via Phone: End a relationship over the phone! (Going Steady, Marriage, Engagement) 50 New Lifetime Wants: Adds new LTW's to the game! OFB Adopt Teen&Townie: Adopt Babies-Teens!

PREGNANCY MODS Shorter Pet Pregnancy: Pets give birth within 1 sim day! The default seemed way too long, so this is a must :) PregRel NL+: Can't find original post so I can't remember what it does, but I found a secondary version below! PregRel Compatibility Patch: Negative reactions to baby bumps if your significant other suspects cheating! Alternate Pregnancy Controller Lite: Possibility of your sims getting a miscarriage (Only had it happen once so far!) Triplets & Quads: Allows up to 4 babies to be born at once!

DEATH MODS Death By Childbirth: Morbid, but I like this for storytelling! Select Your Cemetery: When your sim lives alone and dies, a prompt shows up to move the tombstone to any lot! Now you don't have to cram the younger generations in your home ♥

MISC MODS/HACKS Last Name Copier: Edit/Change a Sims last name without using SimPE! Baby Pet Creator: Create a puppy/kitten with stray genetics! CJ Smart EP Checker: Does nothing, but it is required if you use any of Cyjon's mods! TS1 Prank Calls: Get the same funny and scary prank calls from Sims 1!

BONUS & EXTRAS The Christian Collection: On a MTS forum post, (look for Liv Lukas's post) but ChristianLov's mods are no longer able to be found separately. This is also linked where I put the Baby Pet Creator! Sims 2 Store Content: I only use the extra cars in my game, but there's loads of new stuff!

TOOLS SimPE: Edit ages, relationships, memories, family trees, etc! Sims2Pack Clean Installer: Used to install new lots and sims into your game! Mootilda's Hood Checker: Check any custom neighborhoods for corruption! Bat Box (FFS Lot Debugger): Similar to the Sim Blender. Here's the Vase version!

[asheepinthenight]

Talon’s End Devlog: December 2023

It's already the last devlog of 2023, and the demo update is just around the corner! As I'm posting this, the last few loose ends are getting tied up to post the update this weekend! As a warning, the update WILL break existing saves, so you'll have to replay from the start. But on the plus side, I've made a few tweaks to the original demo content that you'll get to see! There are some more options for nonverbal MCs and UI/wording changes to make some choices more understandable (hopefully!). I also had time to add a few achievements for doing things like asking lots of questions and making unwise(?) decisions. These are just for fun, so don't worry if you don't get all (or any) of them!

Basically everything else I want to say about the update is a spoiler, so instead, I'll jump forward to talk about plans for the first few months of 2024. I'll be taking a week or two off to recharge (aside from fixing any issues with the update), but after that, I'll be getting back into writing for a smaller update. The demo coming this weekend ends shortly before a big event that gets deeper into the relationships the MC can form. That event ended up being a bit too much to fit into this update, but I don't want it to wait until the next big update to add it! So I'm planning for it to get its own mini update around spring of next year to get the romance/friendship rolling!

No more spoilers this time since the update is so close! Thank you for your patience, and see you soon with the update!

[cosmicfunnies]

Navigating Through Space: Personal and Cosmic Updates

Hello my Stellar Supporters,

I hope this message finds you well, or at least, stargazing into the heavens with hope and curiosity. It's been a while since we last touched base, and I want to address this prolonged silence.

Over the last few months, my journey has taken a detour through a darker part of the cosmos. I've been grappling with depression, which has created a cloud of cosmic dust that's made it difficult to see the stars, let alone draw them. My mental health has always been a nebulous territory, and the gravitational pull got a bit stronger after I was laid off in November 2022. This event was like a supernova explosion, adding more confusion and gloom to my personal galaxy.

However, just as the Universe never ceases its inexorable expansion, I've been taking steps towards recovery, navigating my way out of this nebula. It's been a slow, incremental journey, but I've decided to redirect this energy into a new mission: a return to the academic world.

Yes, you've read that right. I've embarked on a course to acquire my Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design and Media Arts, with a specific focus on Web Design. This decision, which has the weight of a pulsar, came from a profound realization: to reignite my passion for exploring and creating, I needed a new kind of star map, one drawn from the insights and challenges of academic pursuit.

So, what does this mean for our beloved cosmic ship, Cosmic Funnies?

Our shared adventure into the realm of humor and cosmic wonders is evolving! Like a nebula birthing a star, Cosmic Funnies is transforming into an exciting new entity: an educational platform dedicated to space and the wonders it holds.

But don't worry! Just like dark matter binds galaxies together, humor and fun will still be the heart of Cosmic Funnies. Our beloved webcomics will be more integrated and central than ever as a part of the educational content. This decision, an outcome of my UI UX Design class, aims to combine learning and laughter in the best possible way.

In this new universe of Cosmic Funnies, students, educators, and space enthusiasts can gather to explore, laugh, and learn. Together, we will make learning about space a truly immersive and enjoyable experience.

For all you cosmic shoppers, our online store will continue to operate but will set up its own celestial body, separate from the main site. The primary mission of Cosmic Funnies will always be to educate, inspire, and bring a smile to your face with the beauty and mystery of our universe.

Navigating through uncharted galaxies can be intimidating. But armed with optimism and your support, I am excited about this new chapter of Cosmic Funnies. As we prepare for this new journey, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your unwavering support during this challenging time. Your patience and understanding have been like constellations guiding me through the dark.

Please keep your spacesuits ready and your minds open for the knowledge that is to come. Until then, remember to always look up, for the universe is full of Cosmic Funnies waiting to be discovered!

In the cosmos,

Jackie

[atthebell]

Updated QSMP AO3 Work Language Stats-- as of December 3rd, 2023

June 6 2023 stats, July 9 2023 stats, August 13 2023 stats

Back again with more language stats, after a long break! The stats were staying very similar, and I got busy, so I decided to set them aside for a bit and then see what they looked like. Because I didn't do monthly updates, discussions of the changes will be slightly different, as I'm not a statistician nor particularly talented at math. Focus will stay on the larger numbers and the comparison between QSMP specifically and AO3 at large.

Fun tidbits/disclaimers to start:

QSMP has 6211 works as of today!! That's 3175 more works since August 13, doubling the number of works in just under four months.

AO3 has 12,140,000 total works as of today (you can view this number on the home page when logged out); this is nearly a million more works since June when I first started doing these stats.

Filipino and Vietnamese works have been written since my last update!

I've mentioned my methodology on previous stats posts, but just as a reminder, I gather this data manually by filtering by language within the QSMP tag. On occasion I miss a new language, but on the whole the significant numbers should be accurate.

The numbers:

[Image Description: A table with three columns; the first lists languages, the second the number of works, and the third the percentage of total works. For the languages column, each language is listed first in that language and then in English in parentheses, and English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French are all color-coded to indicate that they are spoken on the server. End ID.]

English has 5169 works and 83.22% of total works in QSMP.

Spanish has 636 works and 10.24% of total works.

Brazilian Portuguese has 360 works and 5.8% of total works.

French has 29 works and 0.47% of total works.

European Portuguese has 5 works and 0.08% of total works.

Mandarin has 3 works and 0.05% of total works.

Russian has 5 works and 0.08% of total works.

The last four languages, Esperanto, Malaysian Malay, Filipino, and Vietnamese, all have 1 work and 0.02% of total works respectively, maintaining their numbers from last month as well.

Observations:

English still heavily dominates the work count on AO3 for QSMP, and Spanish has gone down 7.49% since June, which feels pretty significant. My guess would be the lack of active Spanish speakers contributes heavily to this, but it's also a matter of percentages interacting-- like I've stressed before, other percentages will go down when one or more others go up. In this case, Brazilian Portuguese works have gone up 3.92%, which could be cutting into the Spanish percentage, although considering English has also gone up I would venture a guess that Spanish speakers are writing less fic than they were in June.

The increase in Portuguese works is impressive, especially considering that from my knowledge Brazilians don't use AO3 very much (see below numbers). I would guess this is partially because AO3 is becoming more popular as multicultural fandom communities (QSMP in particular, since I'm not sure how common this level of multilingual fandom is elsewhere) interact and people move to AO3 rather than just Wattpad or Twitter. As always, feel free to tell me about other fic websites for other languages-- I won't do stats on them, as it's just far more difficult with other sites' UI & filtering, but it's always nice to hear about them.

AO3 Numbers Across the Site:

[Image Description: A table with three columns; the first lists languages, the second the number of works, and the third the percentage of total works. For the languages column, each language is listed first in that language and then in English in parentheses, and English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French are all color-coded to indicate that they are spoken on the server. End ID.]

To repeat, AO3 has 12,140,000 total works across the site as of today.

English has 10,797,442 works and 88.94% of total works across AO3.

Spanish has 146,087 works and 1.2% of total works.

Brazilian Portuguese has 34,078 works and 0.28% of total works.

French has 58,383 works and 0.48% of total works.

European Portuguese has 1,149 works and 0.01% of total works.

Mandarin has 709,088 works and 5.84% of total works.

Russian has 255,610 works and 2.11% of total works.

Esperanto and Malaysian Malay have 109 and 126 works respectively and both have statistically insignificant percentages of the total works.

Filipino has 9517 works and 0.08% of total works.

Vietnamese has 7769 works and 0.06% of total works.

All these numbers come from AO3's Languages page.

Observations:

Not a ton of significant difference since June, although English's percentage of total works has decreased somewhat and Mandarin's has continued to go up. I do think it's good to note that Mandarin and Russian, two of the largest language groups on AO3, are two of the more populated languages not spoken on the server within QSMP's numbers as well. It's also interesting to note here how low Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese's numbers are-- like I said, AO3 is not popular amongst these language groups, though I'm curious to see if it becomes more popular as time goes on and more multilingual communities continue to come together and interact in fannish ways.

Final disclaimers below the cut:

I did not include numbers for German even though it's spoken by a server member (& two admins as well) because it doesn't have any works in QSMP. I think if we get a full group of speakers for it, then the numbers will come. For fun, though, here are the AO3 numbers: 24,863 works.

Fics were posted as I was working on these numbers, so some might be just a touch off and even in the time it takes me to finish the post, even more fics will get posted. If I genuinely missed a language, please feel free to tell me, but otherwise any differences will be a matter of a couple of works and will not be statistically significant.

Fics often get deleted from the archive for a myriad of reasons-- there was a while where many Mandarin fics were being deleted, sometimes people leave the fandom and delete their works (this is especially common in MCYT fandom), etc. etc. This means numbers don't always go up; case in point, the one Latin fic was deleted and is no longer reflected in the numbers (note: this fic was tagged incorrectly anyway and was written in Spanish).

Languages are manually tagged by users; they are not double checked by the archive nor by me (I am not looking through six thousand fics to check if the language tagged is actually accurate. I did it with the Latin one because it was obviously wrong and there was only one work). Sometimes people tag the wrong language for various reasons, I can't do anything about this and on the whole most works are tagged correctly.

People sometimes tag for the wrong fandom, either on purpose or by accident, or works are wrangled into QSMP even though they don't necessarily involve the server. Wranglers make decisions based off usage, but if you genuinely feel there is some error in how something is wrangled, you can make a polite request for it to be fixed with Support and Feedback.

I am a volunteer tag wrangler for AO3; this does not give me any extra data-gathering capabilities nor do I agree with all actions/statements the org makes. I am disclosing this, and always disclose this, to make sure people are aware of any bias I may have. This is not free reign to harass me or any other wranglers who disclose their volunteer work.

If I did any math wrong, please politely let me know and I will fix the data. Again, I am not a statistician nor particularly talented at math, I'm just a nerd about languages and I enjoy looking at stats.

[slasheru]

Slasher U Update Roadmap: End of 2023!

Holy crap, it's been a hell of year, hasn't it?! Slasher U Act 1 came out at the end of April 2023 and there's been SO MUCH that's changed!

Things that were added in post-launch Slasher U Act 1 updates:

Sawyer's entire romance arc, storyline, and hookup/makeout games

Outfits

Bartending

The ability to talk to Dark Tate post-coitally

Butterflies and crows (fighting crows used to crash your game)

The entire good UI

Characters including Cliff, Stitcherella, Jennykind, Paisleigh, Tanya, and I'm pretty sure Kennedy was a very early addition, too

And that's not counting the tweaks, fixes, and content! In the interest of continuing to Ship of Theseus this game into the best dating sim ever (no biggie, right?), I have the following updates planned before the end of 2023 for Act 1!

Accessibility settings: A way to opt out of minigames with a random roll based on your personality stats (different stat per minigame as appropriate!)

Refining the places you can get personality points in Act 1

Customization: Cane accessories! These will run on a different band than outfits so you can mix and match them/equip them alongside outfits!

Finance: I made everything in the game on the pricey/"realistic" side and the money you get from gigs relatively low because A) college and B) i kind of thought it would both be funny/reflective of shitty college jobs AND a nice incentive to grind some minigames but. I think the economy needs a bit of a fix, right? ;) (in the meantime, try typing InfiniteMoneyVent with the caps correct in the Cheat Codes menu when you're in-game! Your wallet will be a little fuller!)

There are 27 major bugs left in the list for me to tackle as of now, most of them are routine but there are 3 or 4 harder ones to tackle (naming save files is being a beeeetch specifically because afaik Wolf wipes any additional system string variables even if you specify a larger variable count list? My engine just is like "naw actually I'm not saving that"?)

Prior Planned Quality of Life Stuff: Either a way to name your save files OR a way to make your character name appear under your save file (this used to happen but there was a bug where all names would default to your last used character name)

WHITE WHALE HOLY GRAIL I'm still trying to fix the text box bug! This actually isn't borked in the vanilla version of the WRPG engine but I can't fucking figure out how to fix it with the way I've set up the UI (I think? I THINK?!). This is realistically the last bug to get fixed due to my own ineptitude, so I'm hoping to A) make autosaves automatically turned on and B) making Data 1's save slot unusable so it's reserved for autosaves!

There's ALSO a couple content updates for Act 1 still (nothing major, except for, uh, ONE MAJOR THING, haha):

The Truth or Dare minigame/scenario is now going to be included in the Act 1 game, but take place after the Act 2 bumper (post-murder-attempt)

This is already in there but the preamble for Dark Tate's continuing storyline, and Laila's Act 2, activates after the murder attempt

I'll be adding Hex, Juno, and Sawyer's Act 2 lead-ins, plus regular Tate's lead-in, as I work on Act 2

Resolving the storylines (or, if you're being a Chaotic Evil type of player, ruining everyone's life) with story choices/quests for non-dateables: Act 2 will include more Sawyer/Horsemike story, and personal quests for Melyssa, Professor Plutonium, and partially Veronika/Archibald (theirs will continue into Act 3)

Maybe I'll let you fight crows again. MAYBE.

I'm ALSO working on Act 2, which has a lot of new features (notably permanent cosmetic upgrades like a piercing system and tattoos) as well as new content (obvi lmao), but I really want to find a way to offer early access passes to folks who didn't make it to the Crowdfundr (maybe via Patreon)?

Here are some Act 2 features that I'm excited to include/are already being worked on (you'll recognize a lot of these from fanvotes!)

Piercing/Tattoo Parlor

Headless Horsemike one-off hookup minigame

Tate's movie date (yes it's scripted and implemented, it'll be in the next Act 2 update lol. I KNOW I KNOW :D )

Being able to run the speakeasy/sex dungeon as a little moneymaking game in and of itself (well. More for the speakeasy. The sex dungeon is mostly for sex. You're welcome, Sawyer Enjoyers)

Being able to gift outfits to dateables

I'm personally super hype for Tate's storyline (which also involves some other students?? ooo????) and how that's going to mechanically shake out, PLUS, tattoos. Oh my god. TATTOOS GUYS. Plus, the piercing system works like IRL-style - you have to get pierced, then buy jewelry for your piercing if you want to replace your starter/healer gear! I'm a big fan of body mods IRL and having a more realistic piercing/tattoo system was important to me!

Can't wait for next year AND to bring y'all more Slasher U!!!!!!!!! Making video games is literally my favorite thing to do in the whole wide world and I can't imagine doing anything else with my life :')))) (one day I'll be able to do this FULL-full time instead of on top of reviewing medical documents and drawing IP comics for Big Corpo)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BEST FUCKIN' 6 MONTHS OF GAME DEV I COULD EVER FUCKING ASK FOR!!!!!!!!!! You guys rule :')))))))))))

xoxooxoxoxoxox, Professor Plutonium