Thank You for Sticking Around!

At long last, the game is ready to begin public testing. The overhaul will roll out according to the following schedule (which is also subject to change, and will stay updated on Patreon) :

October 10th

• The game will be made available to itch and Steam users on the test branch

  • To change branches in the Steam library:

    • Right-click the game > Properties

    • Select Game Versions & Betas

    • Choose the test branch from the version/beta selector.

    • Close Properties, wait for Steam to download the changes, then launch.

October 22nd

• The game will replace the itch and Steam main branches

This should help any last kinks to be ironed out before it goes full public, plus allow me more time to update the store pages and screenshots.

Changelog

Character Creation

• +Added Birth Me, which uses simplified real-life statistics to create your character for you and can provide instant access to certain traits like large breasts or genitalia

• +Added a new largest possible size for both breasts & penises

• +Added player voices:

  • Player voices are currently limited to 5, with more planned.

• *Applied some restrictions to character customization-- you will now have to either work for certain traits (larger genitalia/breasts), or use the new Birth Me option to roll the genetic dice across the board.

• *Overhaul of the Perks & Boons system

  • Now uses a point system to limit the amount of perks (advantages) that can be given without also taking some boons (disadvantages)

  • Some perks/boons have changed either in name or in how they work

Gameplay & Progression

• +New status effect: Wounded

  • Being wounded will cause some minor suspicion gains daily until healed by the clinic or over time.

• +Added new Special Bidding: Priya – Invest money in her startup business to receive a sizeable return

• +Added a difficulty system (Easy, Normal, Hard)

  • Unlike previously, this difficulty system is not tied to perks, but rather directly affects most success/failure rates and other RNG events like stat gains and losses.

• +Added a weather system with light rain, heavy rain, and snow

• +Added a bidding option to allow any NPC to feed your broodmother daily

• *Broodmother system overhaul

  • Broodmothers can now only be created from infesting an NPC with a queen parasite

  • The queen parasite can be obtained directly from the broodmother artifact

  • There can only be 1 Broodmother, however, the Broodmother can be switched out so long as they have not transformed past the 2nd stage

  • Broodmothers now stay in the student center boiler room

  • Broodmothers now have multiple stages
    -1st stage: Can birth 1 parasite every 10 feedings
    -2nd stage: Can birth 2 parasites every 18 feedings
    -3rd stage: Can birth 3 parasites every 24 feedings
    -4th stage: Can birth 4 parasites every 28 feedings

  • Broodmothers advance stages with each birthing

• *Changed Groping to have two types of groping:

  • Light Grope – plausibly deniable touching with (relatively) low suspicion risk

  • Hard Grope – blatant touching with high suspicion risk

• *Penis Enlargement / Libido Pills can now be purchased directly through the new Shop section of the SHiMMER app

• *Restructured the Upgrades system

  • Moved some upgrades around into different tier levels

  • Tiers are now unlocked by the number of frenzied individuals, instead of by XP

  • Pruned the Cosmic Complexion, Hyper Fertility, and Call of the Broodmother upgrades from the list

• *The Diminished upgrades have changed.

  • Diminish 1 now includes everything that Diminish 2 used to: ghoulish appearance, willingness to follow basic commands.

  • Diminish 2 now includes everything Diminish 3 used to: feminine appearance (albeit more androgynous)

  • Diminish 3 will now be a full-on gender swap, replacing their penis with a vagina

• *Sex acts

  • Will now provide a preview of the anticipated stat changes before the act is initiated

  • Give the option of “Dominant,” “Submissive,” or “Mutual” for appropriate acts and partners

  • Have been given simpler names

• *Perks, boons, and upgrades now play a larger role in things like quests, random encounters, and more areas where they can be relevant

• *Simplified the use of upgrades such as Eldritch Enhancement, Vitae Exchange, and more

• *Vitae Exchange:

  • Now uses Husk Dust instead of XP. Husk Dust may be obtained from “releasing” a husk.

  • Now only releases 1 essence. The higher the number of NPC frenzies, the higher the chance of obtaining a desired essence.

  • Essences are now used immediately, instead of stored for use later. Unwanted essences may be turned into Husk Dust.

• *Expanded some encounters

• *Improved the tutorial

• *Drinking coffee from Starby's now provides a slight boost to academia scores

• *NPC IQ will no longer recover

• *A lot of new varying text and dialogue for certain things such as talking, infesting, flirting, and more

• *Changed prices of hairstyling at Peached Pink

• *Changed the way attending class works

  • Instead of functionally having 2 classes that the player can attend, there is now just 1 long class that the player can attend or attend late, with the greatest attendance benefits coming from being on time

  • Attendance can no longer rise above 100%

• *Moved Melissa from the arboretum overlook to the arboretum trail

• *Addiction is now always curable through rehab, despite how severe it is (excluding the High Tolerance perk)

• *Events in which multiple days pass at once (resurrection, rehab, etc.) no longer accrue benefits or penalties that typically occur at the start of a new day

• *The Recreation Center now has a bathroom

• *The Essex Red now has articles that release throughout the school year concerning player actions*Mikah will now avoid interaction with the player at the start until progress is made

• *Likewise, some other NPCs or their quests may not be available until a certain amount of progress is made

• *Perks, boons, powers, gender, and even body types can now play a larger role in some events and interactions

• *There is now a visual representation for how “evil” the game interprets the player to be overall*Professors or other people employed at the university will be more resistant to flirting than students

• *NPCs now have a multitude of unique and varying lines of dialogue for general interactions

• *Shadow Over Arkham upgrade will now display animated fog when outdoors

• *Academia rating now also provides relevant bonuses or penalties to suspicion gains

• *Submissive acts with non-binary (futa) characters will increase their penis sizes

• *Penis Enlargement pills now have their suspicion hit reduced, and in some cases recovered, and is the most efficient way to grow your penis/libido without worrying about suspicion gains

• *Parasites will now have more efficiency in light rain, and even more in heavy rain. Snowy weather will make them less efficient.

• *Doubled the amount of potential husk possession scenarios

• *The dealer is now available every single night outside the student center, and costs no time to interact with

• *Expulsion can now occur in as little as 35 days

• *Individual flirting bonuses are now indicated when interacting with a character you have a flirting bonus with

• *Using condoms to prevent NPC bodily changes during sex is now an optional part of gameplay, toggleable from the Gameplay section of the menu. This also affects the presence of condom dispensers in bathrooms.

• *Condom dispensers now have a shared inventory instead of a different inventory for each one. No more bouncing around bathrooms trying to find which ones have condoms stocked!

• *Having sex while having the Virginity trait will now remove the trait

• -Removed the ability to explore the different rooms in the house at will

• -Removed NPC sex act preferences

NPCs, Encounters, Quests

• +Added minimal NPC voices

  • Harriett's voice is currently absent, and will come soon.

• +Added new encounters to some places that previously had none

• +Added a few new quests to facilitate some character introductions

Interface & Accessibility

• +Added an on-screen keyboard for accessibility, and to help improve Steam Deck compatibility

• *Various UI improvements, especially in regards to SHiMMER, world navigation, and NPC interactions

• *Made the automatic speed consumption feature be more obvious

• *The Dev Console has been moved to the new Gameplay submenu

• *Massive performance improvements

• *Clicking the player name will now show an extended set of stats

• *Clicking the player image will now zoom in to a player portrait

• *Males will now see brown hair color as “Brunet” instead of “Brunette”

• *Additional player information is now displayed when clicking on the player portrait

• *The game now has an autosave with different settings: Daily, Every Other Day, or Never

• *Save-to-File has replaced the default engine save system

• -Removed the bedroom laptop

Audio & Performance

• +Added a lot of new ambience, music, and sound effects

• *Remixed or replaced some existing sound effects

• *Fixed some audio track levels

Known Issues

• Ying is missing his infested image

• Maya is missing one voice file

The overhaul has roughly the same content as the old branch, plus anything new in the changelog above. The main quest cuts off earlier due to rewrites, but most other quests or events are implemented and the game is more sandbox-y. Most sex scene images should be there, with any WIP images belonging to same-sex interactions, mostly for men. All sex scenes are also textless, though this is meant to be temporary.

What a Long, Strange Journey

When we decided to start the overhaul, I knew it was a process that was going to take at least a year. I knew that year was going to kill the momentum, but after a long internal debate it was decided improvements were needed on both a visual and structural level. One year became two, and everything that could go wrong, did.

It's been a rough ride this past year, for indie developers as a whole and for me personally. We are glad to finally be at a new stepping-off point for the game and regular updates can be expected again.