Course of Temptation Dev Diary #21 (Patreon)

Hello friends! Feels like I wrote the last dev diary a month ago... but it was definitely just last week. I checked!

Everything that needs to be in 0.4 is now in and we're in the playtesting and polishing phase. Expect early access to begin by next Friday the 15th, though it may be a bit earlier in the week if I can swing it. Public release will follow a week after. Just in time for the holidays!

The faculty mini-storylines I talked about previously are now in, along with the after class and office hours professor conversations, sports games, practices, and everything else going into this update. It's a lot! But all that's left now is finding issues through playtesting, resolving them, and polishing the presentation.

I even found time to add a scene that was decidedly missing from a previous update...

Contributors

Also it's time to acknowledge that I'm no longer alone in adding stuff to the game! A handful of volunteer contributors have been digging into the codebase and starting to figure things out.

Z has added some watersports content, finally fully implementing the watersports inclinations. And MCMic has added flexibility to clothing layers, meaning that you can now wear a skirt and leggings.  Outstanding! That stuff will be in 0.4. More stuff is in the works too, from those two plus others, including a proper full event set for the Summit Market job, a hypnosis website, new clothing, and more.

The update cycle

Now that 0.4 is almost here, I want to talk about how it's definitely been too long since the last update! Ideally, I'd like to have at least one update per month (even if it's a minor one) and maybe even one poll per month.

But as it turns out, each major update is about ~100~300 hours of work, and I'm already working on the game full time (which I couldn't do without you, so thank you!) so if I want to accomplish that goal, it's the workflow that'll have to change.

One patron gave me an idea that I've been turning around in my head ever since: spend two weeks on minor update stuff, then spend two weeks on major update stuff, and keep alternating. Aim for one minor release per month, and the major update comes when it's ready. I may not stick to that specific rhythm, but I like the concept and I think I'll give it a try once I start in on 0.5.

"Major update stuff" is, of course, stuff like 0.4 that comes with a whole load of new mechanics and new events all at once, while "minor update stuff" is polishing existing systems, adding to existing characters and storylines, or some new system or storyline small enough to be finished within a week or so.

With the project management practices I've adopted in the past few weeks and a little conscious adjustment in how I develop the game, I think more consistent updates are quite doable. So we'll see how it goes! In any case, following this release, updates will definitely be more frequent for a bit.

Next week

Playtesting is the name of the game! I played this for six hours straight yesterday and I was able to call that work! New code inevitably comes with new bugs — I couldn't even tell you how many things, big and small, I fixed or adjusted in yesterday's play session — so this time is very much needed. Over the next few days I'll be sanding off as many rough edges as I can find.

As soon as early access is ready, you'll hear about it right here. Unless there's some major catastrophe, update notes and a download link will be the next thing I post. See you then!