ep5 dev update 09-08-2024

Gooooood Sunday!

First off,; Dang Hino looks good. Special thank you to my technician Fino for making all the characters jump into the new model looking better than ever!

This week has been busy. Lots of improvements made to the game.

First off, Time UI:
I always wanted to change the video of the sun rising to be a simple and minimalistic animation.

(video demo https://youtu.be/u4EtNTKOR5w?si=1t68x1OsH10r9dxH )

Next I've updated the time display to look more stylized and not just basic text printed in the corner., as you can see in the following screenshot:

 Oh whoops did I just spoil a bit of Hino?

Yup, this week I have been working hard on finishing up her story for ep5. She has a ton of variables to work with (girlfriend or not, dating manami or not, broke up with manami or not, give Hino serum or not)

Because of her complexity I am sure there is more stuff I need to polish, but for now I've gotten a good throughline of her story.

Her updated slightly muscular sprites look fantastic and I shared the rough first pass of them in the Super Supporter channel already.

 Seeing her updated sprite next to the chapter 4 sprites of Saya and Miyu makes it tempting to update all the girls.

I am actually updating Saya's sprites too. Plan is to update most sprites. However I will leave updating all scenes to a later date: Priority now is to finish ch5. Updating all the art is a monumental task that will be done at a later stage.

Next I've done more UI work:

I've updated the choice selection

• boxes that scale with the choice text.

• changed to the font used throughout the UI.

• Grouped meeting girl choices into 'meet up with someone' choice.

  • likewise grouped the useless choices into a skip time tab. (Go online, watch TV)

• Added use skill items choice

(Grouping the girls into a separate tab helps keep the choices from cluttering up the screen)

I did this otherwise the evening time choices can get overcrowded very fast.

This is the most crowded it can get now. Imagine if on top of that you had "See Hino, See Haruka, See Kaori, See Naomi, go online, watch tv. The choices would expand beyond the window haha.

I really should rework the choices screen in the evening and daytime to be a unique UI, featuring the chibi heads of the girls. Maybe for another time.

More UI updates:

This is what the use skill item UI looks like. Using a skill item will pass the time. But they generally give you either +2 or +3 in the target skill. Some items unlock special choices even. For example the coding book will unlock coding in the evening on any day - as a powerful way to earn money.

I wonder what this item does?

More vendors!

I added a handful of retro games you can buy at a retro games shop. These will increase your skills ;)

The total number of vendors are now 7! Jeeeez! So many items, so many reactions from the girls...

I think that covers most of what I worked on this week. Making heaps of progress. Let me know what you think in the comments! Your feedback has helped shape many things in the game so far.

Hope you have a fantastic week and I will see you next Sunday with another update!

-Jon