Course of Temptation Major Update Focus Poll

Welcome! You are, if you so desire, about to help determine the direction of the game's next major update, what will be version 0.8, by selecting which roadmap item(s) I focus on next.

I do two types of updates for this game: monthly updates, which extend existing content or add smaller pieces of new content and, true to their name, come out once a month; and roadmap updates, major pieces of new content that generally take multiple months to complete. Typically I do a half-and-half and schedule: around half of each month is spent making progress on the major update, and the other half is spent working on that month's update. My goal is that however long a roadmap update might take, there is still new stuff coming out each month.

This poll will help determine the next major update.

As I discussed in a recent dev diary, where the last two major updates focused mostly on specific locations, I would like the next one to instead focus on gamewide systems, things that improve the game generally as a life sim. Of course, as with any part of the game, the ultimate goal with any of these systems will be to help tell an emergent erotic story.

A lot of the possibilities I'm about to lay out have some interplay and overlap — for example, "Crime and punishment" would also lay some groundwork for "Consequences" and vice versa. Same with "Background simulation" and "Year advancement." If they're both at the top, there's some chance I'll try to scope them both into the same update, or at least lay a great deal of groundwork for the other. But we'll have to see once I start planning.

What do I mean when I say "scope," you might ask? This is simply the bounds of the update, which things I will plan to include in it. When I plan out an update, I tend to have specific things that must be in the update, things I would like to have in the update, and wishlist things I will add if the higher priority things somehow don't take very long (this rarely happens). An update's scope is a balance between including everything I would like to and delivering it in a reasonable amount of time. Even if your favorite item comes in at #2 or #3, its placement may affect what I choose to scope into this update beyond the #1 item, or what I focus on in monthly followup updates.

Anyway, here are our choices:

• Crime and punishment: Getting caught streaking by campus security, breaking into buildings after hours, violating the rules of your residence hall... these are all things you can do, but currently there are no consequences! This item would focus on interactions with campus security and town police, with your resident advisor, and with campus administration. Your punishments might include fines, a night in jail, administrative probation, community service, or you might have the opportunity to deflect some consequences thanks to this being an adult game. I would probably want to add some new crimes too, shoplifting and the like, to really put that new Troublemaking skill through its paces.

• Consequences: You might have noticed that never attending class or never making your weekly payments doesn't really have any super severe consequences. Academic or administrative probation might be in your future (again, there's some overlap with the above item), and you may even end up kicked out of college! Temporarily, at least. Staying at a local hostel while you try to get your life back together (assuming you're interested in doing so) would be a unique living experience and unique challenge.

• Year advancement: As you've noticed if you've played through a whole year, it's groundhog day — while you keep your story progress, you otherwise begin a new year that is much the same as the first. In an update focusing on year advancement, I would add new classes and new professors, let you pick new electives or change your major, and eventually even graduate. I'd like to try to scope in an update to the homework system with this too — making it a bit more interesting with different possible types of projects, including having an assigned partner or needing to do a group project, which of course can lead to all sorts of dynamics with NPCs. Speaking of NPCs, this update would mean that some come and go through the years, or some students may convert to townies.

• Background NPC simulation: Currently, NPCs are generated at the start of your game and never change much except in scripted storylines. I would like to add a background simulation that sees them change over time, starting relationships and breaking up, having their own friends and enemies, and, particularly with your help, gaining new skills and inclinations. NPCs would have their own dramas going on, surfaced in new events and social media interactions, with friends and partners often pulling you into their own drama. This pairs pretty well with year advancement, and as with the other pairing, doing either of them will lay some groundwork for the other — which one comes out ahead will determine what exactly gets scoped in.

• Pregnancy: Now, this is a bit of a tricky one, so I'll say right off that I wouldn't plan to scope this by itself but rather work this into a broader update depending on what else does well in this poll. Some people really want me to work on this, and some people really do not want me to work on it, so it's a bit complicated and I'd be aiming to compromise. We made a start on this with pregnancy risk assessment and contraception, but it has yet to go as far as actual consequences. If it doesn't do well in this poll, I still have plans to iteratively add this over time, but if you really want me to prioritize it, this is your chance. Anything that touches on background NPC simulation stuff would also lay some groundwork for this, so that makes for a good combo. This item will focus on pregnancy itself and taking care of an infant will not be part of the scope.

I'll let you pick as many as you want, but if you can narrow it down to a top two or three at most, that'll give me a better idea of what people really want me to prioritize. Just to reiterate, whichever of these wins, I'll probably end up laying some groundwork for the rest, just because they all play into each other somewhat, so doing any of them results in at least some progress toward the rest.

I've rambled enough, so I'll leave you to decide. Thank you for your input and for your support, I appreciate you!