Weekly News #192

Version 0.980a is already available for download for subscribers of the Best Friend tier ($10). To view the post with this version, follow this link: https://www.patreon.com/school123/posts/released-0-980a-165816234

Version 0.980b is already available for download for subscribers of the Super Best Friend tier ($25). To view the post with this version, follow this link: https://www.patreon.com/school123/posts/released-0-980b-166736815

So, another week and a half has passed since the last full release of the game. It's time to release our weekly news, where we definitely have a lot to share – we've been focusing on fixing existing bugs in the game, as well as refining existing mechanics. A huge amount of work has been accomplished during this time: about a hundred bugs have been fixed, several systems and mechanics have been refined, numerous events have been created that address the game's design flaws – a lot has happened, but let's take it all in turn.

First, randomized NPCs. There are a lot of small and minor changes here, but the first thing I'd like to mention is that there's significantly more romance in the game. You might receive unexpected declarations of love:

If a randomized NPC sees that your character is depressed/negative/apathetic, she may try to calm you down. This only applies to caring NPCs. If your character is calmed down, they will have a permanent romantic/positive moodlet, even if they were previously permanently depressed.

After having sex with a randomized female NPC, you can now hug/kiss her, and she may confess her love to you, which will trigger a small event with choices. When an NPC comes to visit your character, she can greet you with a hug or kiss, or you can greet her with one. Only characters with a sufficient level of romantic inclination are prone to this very romance.

Now randomized NPCs can actively engage in sex on the street, and you can observe it: if an RPNCs has a partner, you can spot them having sex somewhere on the street if they're bold enough and have a high level of sexual promiscuity. Among other things, they can grope each other and engage in other inappropriate behavior.

There’s a huge amount of such content that gets added on top of what already exists, and it makes your relationship with NPCs more… Interesting. Among other things, even if it’s not noticeable in the screenshots above, we’ve done a lot of work to refine all the scenes with NPCs: they now display very large breasts, 7 types of nipples, the “rib visibility” appearance setting, and 7 recently added moles to the game. Among other things, almost all the scenes have their own fixes and bug corrections.

Another major innovation: full‑fledged cohabitation with NPCs, with a huge number of events and opportunities. Each NPC will be different in everyday life: some will stock the fridge with a variety of food for your character, some will give you money to pay for the apartment, some will demand a relationship if there isn’t one, or complete “freedom,” and so on. Some will be extremely neat, others the opposite — each NPC will be unique, creating a different cohabitation experience and offering both advantages and disadvantages. To suggest living together, you just need to invite the RNPC to visit you or go to visit her yourself — in this case, a new interaction will appear on the screen.

Strangely enough, in addition to inviting the RNPC to live with you, you can ask to move in with the girl — this is done through exactly the same interaction as “let’s live together…”

Another innovation that we were often asked to implement is dozens of different events involving the pregnancy of a randomized NPC, and overall, a global improvement of this entire system. We’ve done some work on this system, but the main innovations and improvements will still be prepared for the next versions.

In fact, there are changes, including minor ones that we’ve been asked for for a long time, but it’s unnecessary to talk about them. The entire list of changes, which is larger than all the previous ones, is below, where you can read about everything in more detail.

Secondly, system changes. First, it's worth mentioning that the translations into Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish have been updated. This overall translation improvement significantly reduces the number of interfaces that were unreadable after language changes, especially in the game's East Asian languages. We will continue to refine the existing languages, and the translations will improve even further over time—we're working on it.

A full-fledged hacking system has been added to the game: now you pick locks on other people's apartments not only by checking attributes, but primarily by using a fully-fledged system. The system itself has three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. It features specific animations and interesting changes depending on your hacking experience and your character's dexterity.

New neutral skills have also been added: pickpocketing and lockpicking. Each time you do this, you level them up, making any future hacking/pickpocketing easier. Pickpocketing only affects the steal percentage, while lockpicking has a direct impact on the lockpicking minigame, making it significantly easier, especially on harder lock difficulty levels.

Thirdly, what's not yet ready are sketches. Very soon this will develop into a fairly large scene and location, but for now you can watch and imagine what it will be like:

Fourth, bug fixes and code refactoring. This is where the bulk of the work lies. About a hundred bugs were fixed, every chat and bug report was reread—we fixed every possible issue reported to us. We also deliberately avoided heavy fundamental systems to ensure the new full version would be completely stable.

New content:

A full-fledged hacking system has been added to the game: now you break into other people's apartments not only by checking attributes, but primarily by using a fully-fledged system. The system itself has three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. It features specific animations and interesting changes depending on your hacking experience and your character's dexterity.

Full-fledged cohabitation with NPCs has been added to the game, with a huge number of events and opportunities. Each NPC will have different behavior: some will stock the refrigerator with a variety of food for your character, some will provide rent, some will demand a relationship if you don't have one, complete "freedom," and so on. Some are extremely clean, others are the opposite—each NPC will be different, creating a different cohabitation experience and offering both advantages and disadvantages. To propose living together, simply invite an NPC to your place or visit them yourself—in this case, a new interaction will appear on the screen.

In addition to allowing NPCs to live with your character, the game now also allows you to move into an NPC's existing apartment—this is much more difficult than inviting an NPC to live with you.

The translations for Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish have been updated. The overall translation has been significantly improved, significantly reducing the number of interfaces that were unreadable after changing languages, especially in the game's East Asian languages.

The relationship system between NPCs has been slightly improved: they will still meet each other, but much less frequently than before. They will also meet much less frequently during gameplay sessions when forming a couple. This was done to avoid the feeling that everyone around you is in a relationship. Furthermore, NPCs who are not romantically inclined will not even attempt to form relationships, making the situation with "single" NPCs much easier.

New neutral skills have been added to the game: pickpocketing and lockpicking. Each time you pickpocket, you level them up, making any subsequent lockpicking/pickpocketing easier. Pickpocketing only affects the steal percentage, while lockpicking directly influences the lockpicking minigame, making it significantly easier, especially on harder difficulty levels.

A new purchasable item, the lockpick, has been added to the grocery store. It's essential for the new lockpicking system.

Romance has been significantly increased in the game: after having sex with a randomized female NPC, you can now hug or kiss her, and she may confess her love to you, leading to a small election event. When a female NPC comes to visit your character, she can greet you with a hug or kiss, or you can greet her with one. Only characters with a sufficient level of inclination towards romance are prone to this very romance.

Now, sexual encounters with randomized female NPCs don't just start out as a blank slate, but with a full-fledged choice: you choose how to initiate it—with or without foreplay. You can initiate sex relatively romantically or slowly and gradually—all of this will influence your arousal at the start of this system.

Now randomized NPCs can actively engage in street sex, and you can observe it: if a female NPC is in a relationship, you can spot them having sex somewhere on the street if they're bold and raunchy enough. Among other things, they can grope each other and engage in other inappropriate behavior.

The system for stealing items from NPCs has been slightly improved: if money is stolen or any other theft is committed from a female NPC, further interactions with them will be less likely throughout the day due to a lower mood. If you plant something, the opposite will happen. The chances of interacting with them will be higher due to the NPC's overall higher mood. Additionally, the theft "memory" system itself has been changed: the NPC doesn't forget that it was robbed the next day—memories and chances take a very long time to return, making full recovery simply impossible.

The sexual encounter system with randomized NPCs has been slightly improved: firstly, the number of times your character has ejaculated now affects how quickly the ejaculation meter fills. The more they ejaculate, the harder it is to fill the meter, and without stimulation, the meter drops faster. The same applies to the female orgasm meter, but it is directly influenced by the number of times the female character has ejaculated, not the male. Furthermore, this orgasm meter is affected by both your character's sexual experience and the NPC: your character's sexual experience divided by 3 is the percentage by which the rate at which the female orgasm meter fills and the speed at which your character ejaculates increases. The RNPC's sexual experience, divided by two, has the same effect, but in reverse: it reduces the girlfriend's meter and accelerates the ejaculation meter's rate. Furthermore, fatigue has been changed: changing sexual positions no longer increases fatigue by 20 or more. Instead, it removes a maximum of five, and each ejaculation increases fatigue by a significant number depending on your character's stamina.

The RNPC's movement system has been improved, and an issue has been fixed that prevented RNPC from visiting their apartments or only visiting for one hour per day, while otherwise wandering around locations. Their movement is now more logical; RNPC don't wander around the city 24/7, idly. A separate module has been created specifically for this purpose, determining when they take a break from their routine, when they sleep, and so on—previously this was merely an illusion, but now they actually do all of these things.

A dozen new events have been added to the game related to the pregnancy system. The pregnancy system, depending on your cycle, will have its own problems and "cockroaches" that it can unleash on your character, making their life more "fun."

The limb system has been improved on hard difficulty: instead of your limbs being permanently tired, they now regenerate at a rate of 3 per hour, allowing you to better manage your limbs and time rather than lose all their durability by the end of the day.

Now, if a randomized NPC sees your character in a depressed/negative/apathetic mood, they may try to calm you down. This only applies to caring NPCs. If your character is calmed down, they will have a permanent romantic/positive moodlet, even if they were previously in a permanently depressed moodlet.

The RNPC may unexpectedly confess his love - if he does so and it's mutual, your character's mood will be permanently romantic/positive.

New appearance settings have been added to the 18+ character scenes for the "Cowgirl," "Doggy Style," "69," "Side Position," "Masturbate for Me," "Missionary," and "Lesbian Sex" positions: very large breasts, 7 nipple types, the "Rib Visibility" appearance setting, and 7 newly added moles.

New appearance settings have been added to the "Holding Hands," "Grooving Breasts," "Taking a Shower," "Massage," "Female Hugging," "Girl Swimming," and "Sunbathing" activity scenes: very large breasts, 7 nipple types, the "Rib Visibility" appearance setting, and 7 newly added moles.

Now, significantly fewer "informal" hairstyles are generated for male NPCs/your male character, which could irritate the player in the early stages of the game. These hairstyles are still available in the NPC/your character editor.

Now, the scene where a girl looks at you or you stroke her maintains the blush on the female sprite's cheeks.

The game's size has been reduced by 140 megabytes by compressing some files, removing some vestigial ones, and generally making better use of the game's existing data and files.

Fixed bugs:

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to go to work at the grocery store at the beginning of a game session, with a very rare chance of occurring.

Fixed a bug where the NPC smoking coefficient setting had certain issues, which were described as a game world simulation setting.

Fixed a bug where the location of an NPC's apartment could appear as your own apartment when you were visiting, without any apparent reason. This only occurred outside the NPC communication interface.

Fixed an issue where some randomized NPC interactions simply did not work, making them impossible to see in-game without a cheat menu.

Fixed a bug where the swimming girl event would not trigger when entering the interaction menu with a female NPC while she was swimming in a pool/sea. Fixed a bug that prevented the Academy's "Medical Office" sublocation from being accessible from certain locations.

Fixed a bug that prevented the RPNS greeting system from working at all, as well as the "last dialogue time" system, which also caused some other systems to malfunction.

Fixed an issue that prevented the permanent rain system from working properly and days with permanent rain from being initialized.

Fixed a bug that prevented your character's mood system from affecting gameplay properly: it had insufficient effect on leveling/attribute systems, etc.

Fixed a bug that prevented the game from triggering some of Yuki Oota's quests after his speech to the student council.

Fixed a bug that allowed you to invite a random NPC to your apartment even if someone was staying with you at the time.

Fixed a bug that caused your character's thumbnail in the diary interface to display incorrectly, completely ignoring your character's actual appearance and distorting it.

Fixed a bug that caused absolutely all RNPC to take on part-time jobs, which seemed counterintuitive. This issue has been reduced, and 50 percent fewer RNPC are taking on part-time jobs.

Fixed a bug that could cause the old and new interfaces to blend in some locations, potentially disrupting gameplay.

Fixed a bug that prevented accessories such as glasses, cat ears, and other accessories from displaying in the 18+ character scene for the "Missionary" position.

Fixed a bug that could cause significant issues with the display of male NPCs' hands on screen when characters were naked in the "Take My Hands" activity scene, causing their hands to simply disappear. Additionally, fixed a bug where even without any clothing, female NPCs would still have sleeves from their clothing displayed without any apparent reason.

Fixed a fundamental bug where messages to your phone from NPCs who had romantic feelings for you could cause constant exceptions when they even wanted to text you.

Fixed a bug that caused the game to throw exceptions when trying to determine the type of messages an NPC was sending at certain rare points in gameplay.

Fixed an issue where NPCs would "not want to talk" too quickly, making it impossible to properly develop relationships with them. Also fixed was an issue where their sprite would not display on-screen as intended while they were talking about it.

Fixed a bug where the game would incorrectly display clothing and details on female NPCs in the "Grope Breasts" activity scene if they had a "very large" breast size and/or were generated with it.

Fixed a bug where an exception would be thrown after asking an NPC about their plans, after which, if you were in the same location with them, the game would throw endless exceptions.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to incorrectly display the breast size of a female NPC in the "Holding Hands" activity scene, and even incorrectly display clothing if the breast size was set to "very large."

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions after a month of gameplay due to an inability to determine the current pairing of a given NPC.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when displaying certain hairstyles on female NPCs (such as base type 47) or to constantly display a missing image when beta testing was enabled in the 18+ character scene for the "69" character. Additionally, fixed a bug that prevented hairstyles with base types 15 and 21 from displaying on the male sprite—instead, the sprite would be completely bald, which was inconsistent with his actual appearance.

Fixed a bug due to which, in the scenes "taking a shower", "massage", "female hugs", "girl swimming", "sunbathing", the game could incorrectly display the breast size of a female RNPC, and if this breast size was set to "very large", then it would display clothes incorrectly.

Fixed a bug that caused the girl's nipples to display incorrectly in the 18+ character scene for the "Cowgirl," "Doggystyle," "69," "Side Position," "Masturbate for Me," "Missionary," and "Lesbian Sex" positions if nipple type 7 (inverted) was selected/generated.

Fixed a bug that caused the girl's nipples to display incorrectly in the "Take a Shower" activity scene if nipple type 7 (inverted) was selected/generated.

Fixed a bug that caused clothing, skin tone, and other appearance details related to randomized female NPCs to be displayed incorrectly when hugging them while female, or when observing two female NPCs hugging, due to the data being mixed up between the two NPCs. Among other things, a bug was fixed where their clothes wouldn't appear on their bodies at all if one of the two had very large breasts.

Fixed a bug where, when hugging randomized female NPCs while being female, or when observing two female NPCs hugging, the right girl's hair would sometimes obscure the left girl's face, and her clothing straps would overlap her shoulder, which could look extremely odd.

Fixed a bug where the game would throw exceptions when asking a randomized NPC if they were working. If they weren't working, it would throw an exception for no apparent reason, simply because the game was trying to find the name of a job that didn't exist.

Fixed a bug where hovering over certain buttons in the "What to do in class..." interface could cause the tooltip to freeze, and afterward, the interface would display persistent tooltips about your character's mood until you hovered elsewhere.

Fixed a bug where 18+ scenes could cause exceptions due to an inability to find pubic hair data for female NPCs, even when it was simply missing for various reasons.

Fixed a bug where x-ray glasses would not work during the "Grope breasts" activity scene for female NPCs, displaying the actual clothing on the girl.

Fixed a bug where the bra in the 18+ character scene for the "Masturbate for me" position would not display on the female NPC sprite. If it did display, it would only show the first basic type of that bra. Hiding it would throw an exception.

Fixed a bug where freckles on the face/body of female RNPC characters in the 18+ cowgirl scene weren't working at all and weren't displayed in any way. Now everything displays correctly. Also fixed was a bug where nipples on the female RNPC sprite weren't displayed at all if they were type 7.

Fixed an issue where a randomized female NPC could agree to have sex with another randomized female NPC regardless of their sexuality, resulting in heterosexual women eventually having sex.

Fixed a bug where many character settings available in the RNPC editor were unavailable in the character creator; all settings are now identical.

Fixed an issue where it was impossible to skip the shower scene, which could lead to annoying moments where the scene itself would freeze for a minute.

Fixed a bug where, during a randomized female NPC's shower scene, her hand would sometimes appear incorrectly on the screen, causing issues such as part of her leg appearing on top of her hand.

Fixed a bug where, during a fight scene with a randomized female NPC, she might not have all her clothes on due to certain issues and bugs.

Fixed a bug that caused significant breast rendering issues in the massage scene for a randomized female NPC: pixels would misalign, resulting in a distinct gap between the body and the breasts.

Fixed a bug that caused the game session settings to work incorrectly when playing in English – half of the settings would simply be blank and without any tooltips.

Fixed a bug that caused swimsuits to not display on a girl with very large breasts in the scene where she was swimming in the sea/pool. The same issue also applies to another scene – the "sunbathing" scene.

Fixed a bug that caused a different character to be displayed in the scene when playing as a female character and sunbathing/swimming.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw an exception when attempting to open the stealing interface with a certain chance, when it was impossible to calculate the chance of stealing certain items from the RPNS.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to purchase a perk in the corresponding game interface.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when opening the character stats interface category on the phone during rare gameplay moments.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to initialize clothing data for the female MILF RNPC during rare gameplay moments.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when transitioning between locations, under certain circumstances and performance levels, when the game was unable to generate relationship points between NPCs and NPCs when in love or friendship with each other.

Fixed a bug where, when fighting a randomized male NPC, the game could throw exceptions if he had glasses on his sprite.

Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions during the massage scene for a girl and the corresponding event inviting you to that scene if the game language was set to English and you removed the towel from your butt.

Fixed a bug where the "shower" scene for randomized female NPCs and/or your female character could throw some exceptions when triggered at the very beginning of the game without attempting to access it the normal way.

Fixed a bug that caused the game to throw an exception when attempting to grab a snack with a NPC in the corresponding event. The girl is "starving" at the time, and you can give her food or go grab a snack, which triggered the exception.

Fixed a bug that caused the game to throw an exception when attempting to gift a mobile phone to any random NPC through the gift menu.

Fixed a bug where, while playing the story with the story character Ayano Yoshida, the game would completely stop progression ONLY in the diary when visiting her house. This was a visual bug, but afterward, the diary hints were simply useless.

Fixed a bug that caused strip card games to throw an exception without any apparent reason after the first time you chose the clothes the girl you were playing against had to take off.

Fixed a bug that could cause exceptions when hovering over a tooltip in the interaction interface with randomized NPCs or when the gift selection interface was open.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw an exception due to the inability to find sleeves for certain clothing types in very rare gameplay situations.

Fixed a bug that could cause an exception when clicking on certain items in the online store on your character's computer to get a tooltip or purchase option.

Fixed a bug that could cause exceptions when hovering over certain buttons in the interaction interface with randomized NPCs, with a slight chance of occurring.

Fixed a bug that could cause exceptions when attempting to skip certain jobs and after rewinding time in rare gameplay moments.

Fixed an issue where the "Character Stuck" setting was available before the character customization process. Clicking it later could cause the game session and character customization progress to be lost.

Fixed a bug where, after dating Yuki Oota, the game would throw exceptions in most gameplay situations. While these exceptions could be skipped, the achievement could not be earned afterward.

Fixed a bug where, in locations related to the "Eagle" storyline character in Suzuki Matsui's storyline, the old interface could appear underneath the new generic interface, confusing everything.

Fixed a bug where stealing money from the RNPC would simply replace the stolen amount, instead of adding it to your existing balance. If you stole 1,000 credits, you would now have 1,000 credits, not the intended 1,536.

Fixed a bug where sexual contact with a randomized NPC would award twice as many relationship points as intended if it resulted in your character falling asleep after intercourse.

Fixed an issue where showering in your character's room could consume a significant amount of energy and hunger, initially amounting to around 30-40 percent of your total energy pool.

As you can see, a huge amount of work has been done. Even minor and inconsequential issues have been fixed, including fundamental bugs, like the one that completely broke the game's diary. There's also a lot of content improving existing mechanics—you've read everything and know that this micro-update is quite large. This micro-update will be followed by a full update—it'll be released on August 27th. In the meantime, you can check out our work in 0.980b, which is covered in this entire changelog.

System of lock picking in Academy Life (YouTube)