Cicada Springs v0.10.0.0 | Time in a Bottle

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my monthly updates on this project.

I hope that everyone's Summer months are wrapping up nicely, and that the Fall is going to be kind to you. My August was derailed by Jury Duty for much of this last week. For those of you who have served on a jury before, you'll know firsthand that it isn't very fun.

Although there was some interruption in my game-making and writing process, I have a fairly comprehensive update ready for you.

Strap in, because there's going to be a lot to cover.

Version 10.0.0

Are there any known bugs?

• The Calendar has been temporarily removed from the HUDMaker extension, but not from the game itself. Selecting the Calendar icon will prompt nothing. Close this by selecting the red "x" button that pops up in the top right.

• Not all NPCs may be coded to the new time system; more on that to follow.

Will I need to start a new game?
Almost certainly. Please, please do not try to run old saves on this new system. I have no idea what that will do.

New Features

New Map Design

• There has been an update to the outdoor map - tiles have been shifted downward so that there is a skybox that shows the appropriate time (more on that later)

  • While tiles have been moved around without much difficulty, events needed to be moved manually. I've done my best to place everyone where they need to be, but there may be a stray in an odd place. These will be fixed.

• The skyboxes reflected are as seen above:
  Light blue sky is "morning"
  Orange sky is "evening"
  Dark sky is "night"

  • All maps will receive an update to account for this skybox so that windows actively reflect the time. This has not happened yet, but is on the shortlist of things to improve.

  • Screen filtering for outside will also be a thing - something's stopping it, and I'm not sure what it is (yet) but it's probably a parallel process somewhere floating around.

New Clock / Time System

This is a lot of the meat and potatoes of this update.

The previous timing system was a simple binary: "if Time=0, Morning" or "if Time=1, Evening". This was primarily a holdover from the earliest versions of the game, but it is no longer how time will be managed in this game.

I have made a system that now works on hours and minutes. The notes included in this version (mostly) explain how it all works, but even then, my script has changed during its implementation into the system proper.

• Why?

  • Because I hate myself now, I have explicit control over where characters can be during specific hours on specific days, which will factor into the finalized schedules.

  • Much of the background work I have been doing is built around reintroducing the "game" aspects of Cicada Springs back into the fold.

  • More precise control of characters' schedules means I can (hopefully) unbug delivery quests that I have already written into the game, which will allow for extra gifts on certain days.

  • Much of this will boil down to challenging the player's strategy when it becomes harder to make these characters fat. When every step counts, players will think harder about what they're doing, where their favorite characters are, and when they'll be there.

• How?

  • Every 10 steps equals 15 in-game minutes.

    • Originally it was every 4 minutes, but I was going through an hour just trying to get out of the apartment maps every day.

  • Players will have a "bedtime" that is set by a combination of personality type and occupation, set at the beginning of the game (see chart above)

    • "Friendly" personality is the baseline

    • "Snarky" personality gets up an hour later and goes to bed an hour later

    • "Loner" personality gets up an hour earlier and goes to bed an hour earlier.

  • The "occupation" part will come in later. Work will no longer be optional, and will be something that players have to take into account. You'll essentially be plucked from whatever you're doing when the clock strikes whatever time your selected job starts.

    • This isn't implemented yet, but it's a simple enough task that it should be available by the next update.

    • You'll still be able to put in extra time at the computer (at the cost of half a day) to earn more money.

• tl;dr

  • I've wanted to have this in the game since the beginning. It'll contribute to less aimless wandering, and is a big step forward towards making this game what I want it to be. It makes the city feel more alive, and will impose a challenge to the player.

  • THE SYSTEM IS PROGRAMMED IN, NOT ALL NPCS HAVE BEEN CONVERTED. You'll for sure be able to find everyone on the map, but I need a little more time fully bringing everyone into the fold. More background work is needed.

  • Despite what my whiteboard says, Clover and Margot will not be swapping in the AM/PM. At least not yet. Maybe if I ever get around to making a third NPC barista, I can. But that seems like a lot, even for me lol.

Okay but like... what about the endings?

• By Wednesday, I'll have Margot's Secret ending done, and I'll make a 10.0.1 post that is just the ending.

  • It's really fun and cute and I really like how it's come out, but I need a little more time to make it function in the UI, and between my day job and personal life, I'll be out of my office until Monday. There are a lot of fun effects that need to look right, but like the last one, it's over 3000 words all by itself - a standard that I want to keep moving forward.

• After that, the only character without any endings will be Alex - something that I can start working on for next month's update.

• I still plan on going back and rewriting a few of these (primarily Charlie's) to get them up to snuff, but I swear I'm almost done with that last crucial aspect of this game.

That "10.0.0" version number in the title of this means that I essentially have all the pieces on the board. Now it's just a matter of assembling them, stitching them together, and polishing everything up.

I hope y'all don't mind a little jankiness with this update. It's easily the biggest one I've made in a good, long while, but it's probably the last "big piece" before I start screwing in all the nuts and bolts. The next full update, I should have a lot of the issues with the time ironed out.

All of that is to say, like always, thank you all so very much for your support. There is a LOT of work that goes into these updates, and it wouldn't be possible without y'all. I know that this isn't exactly the chubbiest update, but it's an important one - I could sit here and type all night about how cool I think this update is and how much I appreciate you guys for supporting me the way that you have over the course of this game's development, but the truth is I really wish that there were more hours in the day to devote to what I do here.

Between writing commissions, making this game, going to work, and trying to have a social life, sometimes it all gets to be a lot. These past few months have been an awful lot of a lot, and sometimes it's just nice to know that I have cool readers and players like you who pay me to do cool stuff.

Thank you all again.

Now that that's out of the way, here's the latest download link.

[Windows Download.]
$5 Patrons and up!