Happy new year everyone! (Patreon)

Settle in for a good little read, grab a coffee and get comfortable ;-)

Now, let's toss aside the year of our lord 2020, lord knows future historians will try to make us remember it the coming few hundred years so no need for everyone of us to walk around thinking too much about it.

DO NOTE THAT I'M MENTIONING A LOT OF PRELIMINARY STUFF HERE, EVERYTHING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS I GET FURTHER ALONG. TIMESCALES ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN AT FACE VALUE!

Let's get into the status update I've promised. This is all subject to change mind you, as a lot of research and development is going on here, but let's get into it:

Skull and Bones patch:

To avoid confusion, I'll address this first. Hopefully within the coming month, I'll be releasing my first Skull and Bones patch, SB-Patch. This will address the problems with the Steam versions of the game by basically bypassing them altogether. I have shared Details on how I plan to go about this with ManlyMarco, the maker of HF patch so that his patch can take these into account as this will create a third variant of the game. Japanese, Steam and SB-Patched. See the section about the steam games for more info.

I have a working SB-Patch already for AI Shoujo, but not quite happy with it yet, so giving it a whole lot more work before releasing it (NSIS isn't super good for this kinda thing, might change framework).

Honeyselect 2, Koikatsu and PlayHome:

Next up here now, first on the menu for 2021 is a update to the HS2, KK and PH packs. These will be smaller updates just to take some feedback into consideration after the xmas release. These would've usually been hotfixes, but going with full pack as these packs may see a bit of time before the next full update again as I focus on other things that're rather time demanding, so want to get these packs good and in a state where they can stand on their own for a little bit.

Museum releases:

Everything in December took longer than expected, museum releases is no exception. I have one more or less good to go now, and several ones that are still in need of a bit of love to play nice. These will be my primary task for a while. For those interested in older games to get some variety, do look forward to it :-)

AI-Shoujo (Steam), HoneySelect 2 and Koikatsu Party:

The existing steam packs are moved to Museum releases. They will not receive regular updates, but they will get one here and there as time allows. To replace them, new packs will be introduced, namely SB-patches (Skull and Bones patches), more info at the top of the post.

I see that multiple people in the steam reviews have requested this, and I think it's a good idea. Basically, a (kinda) delta conversion from steam version to JP version while keeping the steam functionality and aesthetics. Long story short, KKP will be pulled back to a active pack, so good news for those of you that keep asking for it ;-)

I expect this will be needed for HoneySelect 2 as well when that hits steam, as illusions track record with steam is.... not optimal...

Currently working on improving Chinese language implementation for these, and will release as soon as that's good and proper.

HoneySelect 1:

Pack is moved to a Museum release, it will receive updates. Looking into how to deal with the whole "can't redistribute the game" thing, might be a SB-patch for this one as well to make application easier for you all, I know some users are confused about the current R0.5 pack.

HS1 is absolutely lowest on the priority list though, let's be upfront about that. The next update for HS1 will be as a direct consequence of PH getting a large update containing HS1 mods. Reason for this is simple: I got a LOT of pushback from releasing my R0.5 pack, some users were very unimpressed with a change to the status quo, and I believe a repack based on IPA at this point is a useless venture. I expect even more pushback if I start commissioning BepInEx mods for this game as well, so I will basically put it on the backburner.

Modding Research and Development:

Now, as I've been teasing earlier, I'm mapping out a new type of mod touching on Koikatsu, HoneySelect 2 and AI-Shoujo. This time the focus is on the main game portions of these games, not studio as is more often the case, namely new personality types.

I have already established contact with a writer to write out the dialogue, and will be looking for a voice actor to do the voice work. May also need someone to translate english to Japanese and Chinese to allow these users to use the mod just as well as the western users.

I'm currently documenting details of what files decide what with regards to personalities for each of the games, and have a working unofficial patch running as a proof of concept for Koikatsu, so technical work is already in production. At this time it's not possible to mod this in using sideloader mods, but I'm sharing my findings with modders that may be able to change that by the time everything is ready.

First up for this mod will be Koikatsu, and if all works well, and the reception of the mod is positive, I'll move ahead to HS2 and AIS with the same personality.

Got multiple personality types planned out, but we'll see how it goes with this one for starters.

Barebone packs:

So, a lot of users have approached me, informing me that even with the studio stuff split off from the main pack, the packs are just too large for them due to space constraints, so looking into either splitting up the packs further, or just periodically releasing barebones versions of packs with just the bare minimum to get going. More info to come.

Support for Chinese, and other national community, users:

As some of the Chinese users here have noticed, I've been starting to post my packs to uu-gg and zodgame lately, and focused more on implementation of Chinese language in my packs. I intend to continue this, and double down on direct offerings to the Chinese userbase. I do not bill sauce (forum currency for those not familiar) for access to my packs when I post to these forums and try my best to offer it accessibly and understandably to Chinese users, though I don't speak or read a word of Chinese, so do have some patience with me as I'm getting settled in there ;-)

I'd also like to extend similar support to other language communities, but I don't know about all language communities around the globe, and don't know about translation projects for these regions. I'm especially looking for an in to Japanese and Russian communities as well.

Adding helpers:

As you see, I got my plate filled, so I won't exactly run out of stuff to do, rather it's too much for one person to handle really =P

To make this doable, I've been spending a part of December taking on and training someone to assist me with the sideloader modpack for HS2/AIS. If all goes to plan, his first work should be on my desk for quality assurance early january. This means that the actual gathering and prepping of mods for the sideloader modpack will be separated from my workflow so that it can get more prompt updates. Will be a while till this is realized though, as there's a lot of training going on here to make sure that there isn't a reduction in quality.

This has lead the sideloader modpack not to get updates for a while, but should in the long run make for more prompt updates

This all promises a interesting 2021, so stay tuned >.<

Do note that all of the research stuffs can make for some periods where I may seem inactive, all of this takes a lot of time >.<