Course of Temptation Dev Diary #90

Hello friends!

We are on v0.7.0n! This mostly contains minor fixes, but there is one exception. I'll spare you a really long explanation and just say that SugarCube doesn't really like having class instances in save data, which is unfortunate because it's a technique we've used from time to time, and a particular glitch can sometimes cause a weird error that looks like "patched is undefined" when you attempt to load an affected save.

Any bug that affects saves is high priority, but this one is at the SugarCube level (the engine the game runs on) rather than the game level, so it's a little complicated to work around. I've attempted a fix that mostly just avoids ever storing instances of the specific class that appeared to be leading to this issue in the game's save data. The catch is that while this should prevent the bug happening in new saves going forward, it does not directly fix affected saves.

However, affected saves can be repaired! And so, I've added a new button under Options, next to the Restart button, to do this. You'll have to paste in the contents of a save file (there are instructions) and it'll repair and then load the save. The catch here is that it'll take you back to the beginning of your passage history, but that's just a few clicks (unless you've increased your passage history size, then it'll be more clicks).

This function is temporary, and once I'm confident we're past the issue (or, even better, if the SugarCube glitch gets fixed) then I'll remove it again. And just to be completely clear, the only thing this button repairs is the "patched is undefined" error. It doesn't have any other use.

Unrelated to this, I've also had to fight with the thing that builds the APK file (the Android version) because something got updated upstream, which caused its signature to change. This may necessitate a fresh install — if so, be sure to export all of your important saves first.

Anyway, onto fun stuff. This week I completed the underwear raid:

As discussed last week, the raid is a bit of an extended adventure where you move around a rival house, working alongside fellow members and pledges of your house, taking actions that (hopefully) contribute to the raid's success. It sort of has events within events, so there's a fair bit of branching. I would like to extend it even further before I call it truly finished, but there's a lot I want to get done this month, so for now I'm moving on.

Also getting finished this week are house upgrades! Doing things for your house (winning games, excelling in school, and things like the underwear raid) build house renown, which can be converted into upgrades that benefit you and your house.

I came up with a bunch of these and assigned them to tiers that are unique to each house, in order to express their character a bit more. Many upgrades overlap between houses, but when they unlock depends on what that house's values are. For example, if you're in Alpha, you can unlock the gym in tier one instead of the study.

In addition, each house gets one top tier upgrade that is completely unique to it. What they have in common is that they emphasize the connections the house has through its alumni, and they'll provide a mechanical advantage for the player when it comes to making money, in some form or another.

This is still in progress and may change as I work on finishing this system. Also, if you have ideas of your own or certain upgrades you'd like to see, let me know!

Once I get this done, I'll shift my focus back to the event side of things: adding more interactions, making some of the pledge tasks repeatable, and that sort of thing. I'll update you on my progress next Friday, which will be just prior to early access on the 31st!

So, that's all for now! Thanks for reading, thank you so much for your support, and please have a good weekend!