Cicada Springs v0.8.0.0 [DOWNLOAD] (Patreon)

Okay! Sorry about the delay! If it's any consolation, this has been a pretty huge update.

Let's cut the intro stuff and let me just lay out what I did.

Technical Changes:

• Cut the number of Common Events by 3/4ths.
  - There were something like 200+ common events that were running this game engine.
  - Now we're down to a little over 50.
  - This was causing a lot (as in, a majority) of the issues that folks were facing. Basically, instead of having a different version of each character at different weight stages and whether or not they were at work, now there's just one version that responds to weight.
  —This has been tested! But if you see any hiccups, you should let me know either in the comments section or in the designated Discord channel.
  - This should cut the number of glitches, inconsistencies, and overall hiccups down significantly. These characters should be running as smooth as butter now, and the file size should shrink accordingly.
  —Given the drastic nature of this major change, I highly recommend that you start a new playthrough if you'd like to experience these things yourself. Continuing an old save file will break the game.
• Dialogue Overhaul.
  - Basically, rather than have all of the dialogue be friendship based (elements of this will return, see below) it's randomized per day. So instead of hearing the same lines of dialogue over and over again, now there's a lot more spontaneity to it that'll make these characters feel more alive.
  - This is still undergoing - in doing the above work cutting down the common events, I've made adding/modding dialogue much, much easier for me.
  —In essence, you'll be hearing more varied dialogue much more easily now, and relationship development will feel a hell of a lot less stagnant.
  —This process is not complete, and will be the focus of the next update (see below)

Gameplay Changes:

• Story Revisions are underway.
  - The progress that has been made with Alex and Clover is still present and has not been removed, and their potential storyline will continue accordingly. That being said, the plotlines of certain characters (namely Charlie at the moment) have been tweaked ever so slightly.
  —Charlie remains the "hard mode" gainer. She will only accept food from the Bobo's cart. But she catches wise to what you're doing pretty quickly. If you like degradation about fattening up your friend, give her some of that good food truck diet.
  - Once characters reach the "huge" size (so far, Alex, Charlie, and Clover) they will eat almost anything you put in front of them. The dialogues for their [GIFT] options have been changed the most, but Margot and Kendra will also follow suit.
  —Each character's "gainer type" will become more apparent in these dialogue updates. Alex is resigned, Charlie is indignant, Clover is self-conscious. Kendra was/is already much more comfortable about her size, and Margot will become more confident.
  —In the interest of getting this update out sooner, I decided to include this in the planned update later this month. Again, more on that below in the What's Next section of this update.
• Tastes are being finalized.
  - Character tastes are being finalized. Again, there were four separate pages for this. They got a little lost. They've always been finalized in my head, but it wasn't until looking through the gift sections that I realized I'd missed a few i's and t's.

Known Bugs:

• [Special] Dialogue options have been disabled for now. They should just exit the conversation. This is normal, they will be put back in later.
• There may be instances of sprites "flickering" in and out. No need to panic, this is just instances where I have missed the common event designed to delete sprites and put them back in. This will be addressed in the official December update.

What's Next:

• Planned Storylines/Secret Endings (General)
  - these have been written and rewritten multiple times. But now that modding dialogue will be a lot easier for me (since I won't have to keep track of 20 different speech sheets) I'm free to divulge a bit more into where things are going.
  —Alex and Clover: High friendship with Alex and Clover (plus a high weight on Clover's part) will allow you to convince the two of them to become programmers together. Thus resulting in Big Nerd Clover.
  —Charlie's Special Project: This is a branching storyline. So high enough friendship with Charlie and Alex or Margot will mean that Charlie will start to date them. This hasn't been implemented quite yet, but work was started before I made this huge overhaul. Basically, it'll add a passive buff to their gaining and unlock one of their secret sprites.
  —Help Wanted at the Broken Stool: Requires a high weight and friendship with Charlie or Clover. Kendra needs help around the stool, and those two are best suited to do it. Again, this will only affect secret endings.
  - These will more than likely each be updates all on their own. Most of these have already been written/storyboarded, but actually implementing them into the game will still take time and effort. That being said, this means we're around five updates out (in a perfect world) from getting out of beta.
  ——please God please don't strike me down for my hubris I'm sorry I put a number on it oh please Sky Papa don't hurt me.
• The rest of the Dialogue Overhaul. (December Update)
  - So far, I've just been slotting in already existing dialogue for the aforementioned revamp dialogue functions. Now that things are better organized and based on randomly generated numbers instead of friendship levels, I have so much more room to improvise.
  —Gift Dialogue for each and every character at every weight stage should be finalized at the end of this month. Expect tropes galore as our gals get fatter.
  —Talk Dialogue for each and every character will be modular and swapped out as need be, but it will be the focus of next month's update. Basically, now instead of having each girl say 1 thing at a friendship level at each size, I can program in literally as many as I want. (insert mad scientist laughter)
  ——If you have suggestions for dialogue you'd like to see in-game, please feel free to submit them to the #cicada-springs channel on my discord. (Please don't be weird)

Without further adieu, here is your Cicada Springs update (For now, Windows only, as my Macbook is once again being stupid. God is punishing me for my imperfections.)

[DOWNLOAD]