State of the Game - September 30, 2023 (Patreon)

Hey, how's it going?

Another day, another devlog. Time to fill you in on what's been going on lately!

Stores in the game are getting a bit of an overhaul. You no longer have to endure a loading screen whenever you want to visit a store. The "locations" tab in your main menu has been replaced with a "shop" tab, which opens up the shop UI immediately on your screen. Along with tabs at the bottom to switch between other shops instantly. Think of it like how the shops work in Splatoon (pay no attention to the Mr. Krabs placeholder).

A handful of in-game systems are getting fleshed out as well. Take "happiness" for example. Aside from your character's level, it's the main component that determines how many happiness points you receive per second. In 0.5.2, the only thing that determines you happiness rate is how full your character is. 0.6 uses a handful of weighted factors like fullness, cravings being satisfied, affection, illness, events, and a couple of other things I can't go too in-depth with at the moment. Other systems are getting a similar treatment, which I may go into more detail at a later date.

Quirk Badges are also getting slightly retooled. In 0.5.2, the player would have to buy multiple badges in order to make it's ability more powerful. In 0.6, the player only has to buy a badge one time (per citizen). Said badges can then be leveled up using the normal level-up system, rather than having to buy multiple. Speaking of leveling up....

Whenever your citizen levels up, you're no longer bombarded with a window that makes you choose a trait to level up on the spot. Instead, your citizen now gets a level up shard added to their inventory that the player can use to level up traits/badges whenever they're ready to.

I'm also currently working on a bit of an experimental mechanic called "overstuffed". This allows the player to feed their citizen beyond their regular maximum stomach capacity (up to double). However, if fed beyond their regular capacity, they'll earn slightly less XP, as well as run the risk of getting ill. Seems like a fair tradeoff to me. Let me know what you think.

I also really want to get custom blurbs up and running as well. But I can't really say anything either way about that yet.  That's most of the interesting stuff that's happened lately. I'll keep you filled in where I can. And thank you again for all your patience!