Big Moves, Big Update

Hello my friends! I hope everything is fine with you!

I wanted to come here and talk a bit about the next update. I know it’s taking longer than expected, and I think it’s only fair to explain what’s going on.

The truth is: I’m in the middle of a big personal change. I’m moving to another country. I've been preparing to do this since the end of last year and now everything is finally in order, with just the last step remaining, which should happen at the end of May. That’s been taking a lot of my time and energy lately, and it’s one of the main reasons why the update is delayed. But don’t worry, it’s almost done. I'm working hard to release it before I move, so you guys will have something to play while I settle into my new place.

Now, about the update itself. Originally, the focus was on the hospital content. And yes, that’s still in. But as I was working on it, something didn’t sit right. It felt like it wasn’t enough — especially considering this might be the last Influencing update made in Ren’Py (...maybe, probably). So, I decided to go a bit further.

I’m adding features that will change the way you interact with the game world. This update is not just about playing as a single character anymore, or a family. It’s about giving you more control over the city and its people. You’ll be able to watch what characters are doing around the city, create new families mid-game, delete families, switch between families freely, change a bunch of things whenever you want, and more. I’m also improving the modding possibilities for those of you who like to tweak things.

Basically, I want to give you the tools to play the game more like a god controlling a system, not just one person living in it. That shift is something I’ve always wanted to explore, and this felt like the right moment to make it real.

Now… I know a lot of you are curious about the future. About what comes next. I don’t want to go too deep into that right now, because I don’t want to outshine this update. One step at a time.

But I’ll answer the question I get the most: The next engine will be Godot.

From what I’ve been testing and building so far, it’s already making a huge difference. It gives me room to add a lot of the visual stuff you guys always ask for, and more importantly, it lets me rebuild the foundations of the game in a much better and cleaner way than I was doing in Ren’Py (because I was learning). And yes, everything that exists in the game now will be carried over. The next version will continue right from where we leave off. Every function will be there, either the same or better.

That’s it for now. Thank you so much for your patience, support, and excitement — especially during this transition. I know I keep asking you to trust the process, and I really appreciate that you do.

See you soon with the new update! 🙏