Hazelnut Latte v0.14 Progress Report 9/9/25
Howdy everyone! Welcome to this week's Progress Report!
Sorry for bringing it to you so late D: Normally, I write these the day before, but I had to take a mental health day yesterday as the burnout was getting to me. Then today I've been working, so this just kept getting pushed, but I'm here now!
Writing
The second draft is done! But it never means the writing is finished. The last thing I had to do was all the ace/asexual moments in v0.14. There are likely still moments that aren't perfect or scenes that can be expanded or included. The script is never done, but it's at a very good place! Good enough for an Alpha build.
In addition to this, I want to say that I finally did the math on how big Episode 6 is and uhh, it's actually gigantic. For comparison, here are the episode word counts:
Episode 1 - 7,674 words.
Episode 2 - 19,629 words.
Episode 3 - 13,141 words.
Episode 4 - 25,752 words.
Episode 5 - 17,714 words.
Episode 6 - 53,749 words
Double our largest episode. So, if you think about it, every update has been Episode length. It's just that the story is now split up and free roam. Lots of small moments and interactions, along with alternate story beats depending on your choices. It's been a beast.
Coding
Coding moved a bit, but honestly, we are in the weeds. Our project's Git probably looks crazy today, as Noba and I have been ping-ponging builds back and forth, fixing stuff. A lot of what we are currently doing is playing the game over and over, trying to break it, and then fixing what we've broken. It's hard to put a timetable on this because it's basically over as soon as we stop finding problems. It could be this week or in three weeks. It's a war of attrition, but it means we're almost done with v0.14!
I did a Podcast + Unity
https://youtu.be/Tu6Q5h8Rqc4
As you may have seen, I was on the Sexy Business Podcast last week getting interviewed! I had a fun time, but I also revealed the first real bit of information on the Unity build we are working on.
For those who didn't give it a listen (how dare you), I'll reiterate it here.
v0.15 is going to be a completely reworked Episode 1. The original Episode 1 was quite short and very different in tone compared to the game that followed and doesn't do the rest of the game justice in setting up: Tone, promise, character, and setting. Basically, all the standard storytelling things you'd expect. Why? I didn't think I'd make more than 1 episode of HL back in 2022. So now we are essentially restarting and reworking the game from the beginning. v0.15 will not be Episode 7.
This does not mean a complete and total ground-up remake. Much of what has been done is staying in; we are simply making it better and expanding when necessary. Rewriting scenes but keeping the essence of what the scenes were. Adding new scenes to make the overall game better. Some of these changes are things I noticed as being flaws, and others are ones that have been pointed out ever since I released the early builds. You'll get to see Isaac in Newhaven pre-Jade City, and setting up more of his character arc.
We'll have more information as we progress, but yes, the Unity build is starting over with improved storytelling.
Wrap Up
We are working hard; it's just a lot of fine tuning and detail work.
Thank you all so much for your support. Have a fantastic day, and Stay Rad!
Comments (17)
it's when your back is against the wall that you see who you really are... it's the same for a latte. keep going, we're counting on you.
Switching engines? Oof. One does not simply switch game engines. That's always a huge undertaking. Watched the YT vid. You were amazing. Im sorry to say I struggle to tell AI from non-AI sometimes and ehm, may have made some poor purchasing decisions with regards to the offender complained about in the video. I feel kind of stupid now.
It is a huge undertaking, which is why we've been working on it for months :D We didn't want to run into the problem of everything being put on hold while we switched, so it's been in development for quite some time. In regard to AI, it can be tough to sniff it out. I have a good eye, and it's something you sort of need to train. Usually, there will be a discussion about it. Hell, on our Discord, we usually have people posting game links asking for people to check if it's AI, and the community helps.
Bruh
Positive connotation?
You rock! I will be buying the second it is available! For the future, would LOVE to see the MC get penetrated by Robin or Hazel. Love that option with the servers!
It will happen, just gotta get there ;)
i have a question , i can't unlock the second and third scene that appears in Robbie's memories...I've tried several times but i can't unlock it
Don't fuck hazel till after the Robbie thigh job. Like at all not even the blowjobs.
Honestly excited with the progress , almost can't wait for it to be released .
Still releasing updates on itch.io?
Maybe when the game is done, if they let lewd devs make money
you're so close I'm very excited for the progress
That episode 1 rework sounds exciting. Love the idea of fleshing out our MC more and giving a feel for what the rest of the game will be like earlier on. But above all, it's just crazy how much the game has grown since that first episode. Will definitely make starting from the beginning in the Unity build a fresh experience.
That was another part of it, too. Everyone needs to restart anyway, since it's a new engine, might as well refresh the story and make it EVEN better if everyone is going to be replaying it for the new build.
Oh right, I still need to watch that YouTube episode. And never be sorry for taking time off for your mental health!! If you burn out then that’s no good for you or your husband. You gotta be doing your best and burning out is no fun.
I needed a day of rest, probably need more but the one was good lol