State of the Game: Grappling with Romance (Patreon)

Hey all, it's a new month, and a new update! As usual, v0.13.0 is now up for the public at the public link as well. Additionally, it's the second year anniversary of the store launch of Carnal Coup! If you haven't already picked up a copy of the Overseer's Edition, swing by Steam or itch.io for a special discount! 

My main focus this cycle was in setting up Choker's 'romance' branch and first sex scene. Like with Specialists in CC, you'll have the option of having either a Romantic or Platonic relationship with each special recruit, and the option to change your mind as well. A number of scenes have been added to support this branch, as well as a two-variant scene for the first romance scene. I've also added a shop to the Seeder system, like with the Harians who will allow you to purchase Tactical upgrade items, the Seeders will offer both Medical and Cultural items once you've advanced the main 'civilian' plotline a few steps.

As for next month, while there's still plenty left to add for the Harians and Seeders, I've decided it's time to finally start adding the next pair of factions: the Schen and Happee Co (ie, space goblins). This means the next update is likely to be very light on playable content - I've already started some work on preparing portrait art assets for the pair, but between that and matters like setting up maps and support for character generation of the new species, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work to be done. It may well be that the only new content in v0.14.1 will be getting to fly to the new systems and then fly back again, but we'll see how it goes.

I'd also like to note that we had a tie in our next cameo poll, with Grunt and Switch both scoring 40%. I'll be stepping in then with my tie-breaker powers to say that Switch will be our next cameo, as we've already got a buff Harian for you all to enjoy and Celopi are as yet unrepresented in CV. Thanks for voting!

Finally, I should mention that Unity did finally make an announcement on their new pricing structure. Largely, it can be boiled down to '2.5% max revenue share'. If they'd gone with this from the start there would have likely been some grumbling, but it is still generally cheaper than Unreal in most cases. Of course, they didn't go with that from the start, and there's still a huge smoking crater where developer trust used to be. Personally, I feel confident enough in being able to finish out CV with Unity, but if they haven't notably changed their leadership or some such within the next few years, when/if I get around to considering a third game I'm still going to be very hesitant to choose Unity again.

That's about all I have for today, game links will follow for supporters, and patch notes are below. Thanks for playing!

v0.14.0 Change Log

Game Functions:

• Assets and functionality added to support Schen civilian portrait outfits.

Scene Content:

• Choker Relationship branch scene added, unlocked 100 hours following her third ship scene. Replayable if you change your mind.
• 'Romantic' version of Choker's ship hub scene added, including replayable scene to change relationship type between Platonic/Romantic.
• Choker sex scene added, with two variants. Replayable.
• University Supply Shop added to Everroots University. Shop contents unlocked following the third 'University' plotline scene, includes Medical and Cultural upgrade items.

Art Content:

• Choker's Nude portrait is now unlockable in the gallery following the first sex scene with her.
• Background added for University Supply Shop.

Codex Entries:

• None

Bug Fixes:

• None

Known Issues:

• None