re:Dreamer Alpha 0.17.0 (Patreon)

Click here for the download links.

I am so, so, so sorry for the delay! I worked my butt off and pulled out a 100-hour week to get this update out the door on time, but the sprites and the writing together were just too much work for the development period.

I bit off more than I could chew, but I got some of the most important writing for my own benefit I have ever done in my life.

Anyways, without further ado, here's the changelog for the fourth anniversary re:Dreamer release, which, in case you need a reminder, has everything unlocked with no delay of staggered releases!

Changelog:

• re:Dreamer's huge fourth anniversary update, with just under 60,000 words, is live for everyone at the same time, with every feature unlocked! This means the entire visual novel is open with all its extra features, and if you've never read this title, now is the perfect place to start!
• But first, sorry for the two-week delay! I hate that I broke my promise with this, but the CaptainCaption sprites took over two weeks to polish ("my" amazing new sprites from TiltSHIFT are comparatively cheap add-ons to Samantha's existing sprites, which have gotten yet another round of polish), and even working a 100-hour week with the writing didn't get this ambitious optional side story done in time.
• The celebration of re:Dreamer's fourth anniversary is also a self-indulgent story for my 30th birthday (yes, this game first released on my birthday; the writing explains why), and it is presented as an act in two parts:
• The first is an unfiltered look at my recent life, with talks about my recent revelations about my gender and the drama around it (which you are given the in-game choice to skip as drama can be draining and even boring for people to read even if nobody's name is used and I think it provides a lot of context about this update and why my attempts to find myself have been such a struggle), my worrying physical and mental health concerns, explaining how much making this visual novel means to me and being so thankful I can do this as my job and that other people care about it so much more than I expected, restating my mission statements for this project while stating a new mission I am giving myself of making sure people have the opportunity for self-identification and self-actualization without pressure to make a decision one way or the other (aka, no gender bigotry nor egg cracking, just a safe environment where you can ask questions and be suggested answers but not told who you are), and assorted small tangents of rambling.
• While the second part is an extension from the first part and both parts elevate each other to be greater than the sum of their parts, there is an in-game jump to just that second part, which is a unique fourth wall break going into the edge cases of how the rights for everyone to have self-identification and self-actualization breaks down when self-determination hasn't been there from the start, scathing callouts of my self-righteous bullshit and how my recent character arc isn't as selfless as I claim or would like it to be, and the inherent contradictions of a creator saying they care about their work and the characters in it while from the characters' perspective their creator is a sick puppeteer pulling the strings on them and everyone else they have ever known in a grand deception of theater while being an uncaring figure who has been solely responsible for every bad thing that has ever happened to them.
• Yes, I swore I would never break the fourth wall, but this visual novel will only ever get one fourth anniversary, and I decided very much not to do this in a shallow way like Doki Doki Literature Club did, so...
• Also, in both parts, I have several important revelations about who I am as a person in real-time as I write, and I capture those moments as they happen. This is stuff like me genuinely experiencing gender euphoria over how my name sounds; gender dysphoria over how disgusting letting out any anger makes me feel; existential dread over my looming mortality; bitterness over how I had a choice to choose who I am and who to trust and I often chose wrong on both counts and am left holding regrets; frustration and confusion that trying to figure out who I am feels like a hopeless battle with answers that keep slipping out of my grasp, a spiral into hopeless depression as I realize my fear of getting hurt has lead to an inability to trust people which has further lead into me guarding who I am so closely that whoever that person is never had a proper chance to grow; and sense of optimism that my weird little game is somehow leaving a positive tiny impact on the world and that it's never too late for anyone to decide to start a journey to find who they are and assert their identity to themselves and the world.
• It is certainly a unique reading experience, but it is also the most important writing I have ever done for myself, as all my writing ultimately is. I make personal breakthroughs on my path to being a more complete person I never thought I would, and if for nothing else, they serve the role of showcasing the mind of the author and trying to get you (the reader) to think about who you are, but of course, I won't give you the answers. I can only give you the opportunity to think about what it means to work to be yourself, and regardless if you are exactly the person who you thought you were, or if you learn something about yourself and discover there is a discrepancy between who you thought you were and who you are, both are equally valid, as you alone have the right to decide who you are and how you decide to share that, and yes, deciding to not share that is just as valid and sharing it.
• I choose to share this journey I am on to find myself alongside the development of this visual novel I am making, as not only am I a writer who loves to show off this project like I'm a kid at a part and it's a cool stick I found as I excitedly explain why it's actually a magic forest katana gifted to me by a tree nymph and now I have to slay a dragon with it as I venture toward Castle Swing Set, but neither growth happens in a vacuum. I learn about parts of who I am through this project, and you see many parts of the real me through it. In both a literal and figurative way, we complete each other.
• Anyways, um...
• The Author's Note system has received a heavy overhaul for the option of displaying the CaptainCaption sprites during them... but unfortunately, this update is so late that only the new side route shows them. Those Author's Notes and I do have a unique red textbox now though!
• I changed the entire file structure and variable nomenclature of the game away to stuff such as "2022_10_07" and "2022_10_08" instead of "day1" or "day2" to their dates, as this make even more sense for long-term use. I am over 200% positive this broke every single save, but I figured it'd be best to get this out of the way on a version of the game a lot of new people will be playing to keep compatibility better.
• I hopefully finally fixed an issue with the dance arcade game that led to the help prompt showing up between saves, as described here. This really seems to be an elusive bug as I used to get it on my end a year ago but thought I had fixed it fully.
• Redid the password system. It now uses hashed passwords instead of plaintext ones, so uh RIP to places like F95zone decrypting it.
• Fixed a few broken expression parts for Samantha.
• Removed the sprite viewer button from the quick menu. It just kept breaking in annoying ways and it drove Espeon and I insane trying to fix it. We'll probably get back to this one day when I am not late with an update, but for now, the button is inaccessible for users in compiled builds.
• Espeon the randomness in Zone of the Zombies 2 breaking. Thanks, Ren'Py engine updates!
• Fixed a spot here or there that broke from the Ren'Py engine update.
• Fixed a brief CG issue with Britney breaking during the yuri topping sex scene that happened with lower Awkwardness.
• Fixed right clicking breaking Ren'Py during the phone call with Zach's dad.
• Fixed what was apparently a long-standing issue of Zoey's hair and eye color resetting to colors a player who no longer has a Sustainer password might have selected once they lose access to the ability to change those colors on the fly.
• Standardized "damnit" for everyone but Britney, whose Texan accent slips through when she gets mad, so she'll use the more phonetic spelling "dammit" (although both are valid spellings).
• A ton of spelling fixes and minor bug fixes.

As usual, the full changelog for every release can be found at https://justpaste.it/rdchangelog

"God, I hate the new Patreon post editor... and what a stupid, terrible logo! As I said on my Twitter, 'Patreon just Pepsi Universed themselves.' How do you do a logo worse than the new Twitter logo?! And the notifications are so flooded with useless data that I don't see stuff like comments! And this font is terrible and likely breaks on italics (like these)! How do you fuck up a UI this bad?!"

"Hi. I am probably going to be taking a mental health break update of sorts for November. I need to get artist design documents done, get my mental health treatment affairs in order, clean my goddamned bomb crater of a room, change out my old and dying iPhone 11 for a Pixel 8 since I want off the Apple ecosystem and I can use it to test Android features for re:Dreamer, I need to switch out the SSD on my desktop as it is dying, and probably upgrade my motherboard since it is falling apart, which also means that I need a new CPU since the socket I have for my good CPU isn't common anymore, and look into apartments again. There will still be work going on for this visual novel, likely stuff I am forgetting here, but it probably won't stuff you will see until later."

"Also, those female hormones I am stuck on are starting to do their thing, so, um... I'm gonna go lie down. Take care and enjoy, folks!"