Harmony Girls v0.4.5 Development Update #4

I managed to get a surprising amount of work done last week despite having a minor surgery that put me out for a couple of days. I've now completed all of Katie's solo scenes, with the teaser image being a tough fluid simulation which can take a while to get right. I've also ironed out that last bit of back end changes to get the new animation format working how I want it, so I'll be posting links and a change log for anyone who's interested in testing it. I also finished the updates to the character stat progression system, which I want to focus on for this development update.

I'm most likely going to expand this system and add three difficulty settings for players to choose from. The current system you all have played will be considered the hard setting, where no stat values are boosted. A normal setting will have identical progression early on, but each girl with a maxed stat will increase the stat gains for subsequent girls. This will also be the case for maxed perks and subscribers over 2000. So every time you max one of these, it will be easier to gain for other girls. Lastly, easy mode will see characters gain stats as if every girl in the current update is maxed. You'll gain perk points, exp, and subscribers much quicker as a result.

I built the current stat progression system before Harmony Girls released to the public, when Lily was the only girl you could progress. The grind felt fine back then, but now you've got 3 more girls to progress and it can feel tedious to some. However, I understand some of you have enjoyed the sense and speed of progression, which is why I plan on creating these three difficulty levels. Some of you enjoy the reward of slow progression, while some of you prefer to just hop into the action.

I haven't implemented these different difficulties yet, but doing so should be pretty easy. I'll be releasing new builds of v0.4.2 as I finish rendering new camera angles, and the next one I release should include these difficulty settings. These builds come with a couple of disclaimers. First, the version of Ren'Py has been updated and there have been a lot of persistent data changes. I believe a result of those changes are the breaking of persistent data files, which is what stores the gallery unlock data. I highly encourage you to create a backup of your persistent file located in your save folder. Second, these will be experimental test builds which are not heavily tested, so expect bugs. I probably won't update these versions with bug fixes, but will instead fix any bugs you find and include that in the next test version. These versions don't contain any new content for v0.4.5, but they do include new full resolution renders of older scenes. If you're interested in testing the new format and seeing the new camera angles, you'll find the links to the folder below, just choose your version and download. Otherwise, I'll see you all in the next development update!

v0.4.21 Folder

Change log:

• New movie format for Lily's solo scenes & first video

• New minigame end for Lily's solo scene

• New character progression system

• Probably a bunch of other small stuff