Gameplay outside of cutscenes

Hello everyone,

I apologize for taking a whole month to post again. I'm afraid you'll think I'm neglecting the project. What happened was that after the problems with bugs that only appeared in the build, I decided to test all the game's systems for problems, and I found bugs related to saving that appeared sporadically.

In the search for the cause I made several changes to the code that resulted in some improvement, some redunciations were eliminated and the loading of saves became faster, among other things. I ran the tests again and now we have a stable build that I want to bring you in this video.

You already know and have tested the system that controls cutscenes, which is what was used in MaliXemas and FPS. This video shows the systems you haven't seen working yet, which are navigation, exploration, achievements, and item collection. But first, let's click on the settings to see the modifications panel.

The “Visual Novel” modification, as described, changes the game experience by reducing cutscenes, dialog, and choices. In other words, everything I'm presenting in this video is left out. Four options close off paths that lead to certain scenes in the game that some may find unnecessary. This doesn't change the background of the characters, for example, Nicole will continue to be bisexual, but all paths for her to have relationships with women will be closed if you decide to do so.

The censored mode is more for my use so that I can post videos of the game on YouTube, but maybe someone else will benefit from it.

This character selection screen is provisional, I couldn't get a good result with what I had in mind and left it like this for the time being. In the game, Nicole will only be available to choose from after you complete Step 1 with Brendon, but in this demo, I chose to play with her. At the moment it takes a while to load because I've taken the load weight off the startup. If you compare it with the latest version of S4H, you'll see that this version takes less time from the first click to the gameplay, even though it has more content.

With the cutscenes disabled, the game starts with a routine gameplay section. In this system, you have more freedom to walk around the scenery and items to interact with and rummage through, such as cupboards and drawers.

I accidentally deleted the terrain file that contained all the vegetation. It's not difficult to redo it, but until then the landscape is left with this empty green. Each house on this suburban map is set up to be visited, and I want to create characters and events for each of them, or at least most of them.

I made the dissolve effect too slow and I'm going to fix it so it doesn't get annoying for you, but it's possible to cancel the establishment shot with one click if you're in a hurry.

I needed a trigger to release the action figure. In the game, these triggers will make more sense, for example, if you play on Halloween day, you'll get a themed action figure. Opening the action figures triggers other triggers, such as minigames, in this case, “Easter Photoshoot” (sorry for the typo).

But to open the extra content you need to find the items scattered around the scene. They won't always be apples, each content will ask for something (perhaps easter eggs at Easter would make more sense).

It's important to note that:

• This extra content will be the same as what I make available to you who support me here, so if you don't wish to explore the scenario in search of items, you won't be missing anything.

• I've put a “Replay” panel in the extras, but I don't intend to make a gallery where you replay parts of the game. This part will focus on animations and interaction mechanics, even allowing you to modify clothing or camera angles.

• At the end of the video I saved the game, but I didn't load it to show it was working. The save panel uses the same system as the “Continue” button, and I can assure you that everything is working fine.

• Nicole moves strangely when she walks, yes. The gaze control system I created does something that no other system does: it works when the character is lying down or bent over, and I don't need to explain why this is so important. However, it generates this weird head movement when walking, especially in Nicole's animation, which is more swaying. I'll fix it over time.

It's tough to explain the importance of reaching this point in the project. I confess that if I had known how long it would take and how difficult it would be, I might not even have started. But I'm glad I did it. This game skeleton still looks simple, but it's ready to take on all the content I could ever imagine for this game. It's a powerful system that is now stable and ready to receive content.

Without the burden and stress of programming and smashing bugs, I hope to keep you entertained with more frequent content and information about the project from now on. But first I need a good weekend's rest, which I also wish you.

Thank you very much! I'm happy to reach this point and I couldn't have done it without your support.