Cicada Springs, v0.9.0.0 (with Instructions) (Patreon)

Normally, I would have this to you much later in the month.

When I started this update, my goal was to hammer in the last big parts of the UI before getting back to story and sprite development. I got to the Menu, the HUD overlay, and the inventory system, but wasn't able to get to the Ask events and the new portrait size in time. Upon toying with it, I likely wouldn't be able to finish it in time for February 29th, and I figured you guys would rather take an update late than early.

Despite my phrasing, this upload of Cicada Springs is pretty substantial in regards to challenge and interface. I would highly suggest reading through the list of changes below. All old save files will not be compatible, but for reasons that are different than when I normally say so.

With that out of the way, let's get into what's different.

UI Changes

RPG Maker Default UI has officially been disabled. You can still access your inventory and save your game, just through the icons located in the collapsible menu to the right of the screen.

• to Save/Exit the game, select the "BoboPhone" icon
  
• to access inventory, selected the "Backpack" icon
  

Inventory has been overhauled. We're getting close to implementing storylines and implementing the day count that cap off and yield the secret endings - one of the last steps of this project. In order to make those things fun and/or challenging, these following changes have been implemented.

• Inventory is now limited to 5 slots.
  
• Player can only carry one type of item at a time.  
• ->In the instance you trigger Margot's "free frappe" line of dialogue, just get rid of it before you talk to her again - Charlie should accept them, or there is an option in the Dev room (more on that later)
  

Please keep in mind that these were manual implementations of over 200+ instances and that I'm kind of dumb. If there's an issue involving a singular item, please feel free to let me know! I have a designated channel on my discord for bugs in Cicada Springs' development. 

Gameplay Changes

An official Dev Room was patched into the game last upgrade, but now it does more than set sizes for the characters. In addition to the robot that will provide a preview of the new format for character portraits (see above picture) there are two new NPCs that can help with prospective tomfoolery.

• The right character is a Vendor that will give the player any item upon request, for free.
  ->Please be advised to only have one of any item at a time before attempting to gift a character that item.
  
• The left character is a Disposal that will automatically purge your inventory.
  ->See above.
  

This is a feature that will be taken out of the game proper. I'll be changing the password next update, but to give everyone a chance to play around with this game as we get closer and closer to the juicier story bits (and as an additional "thank you" for help making this game happen), I'll be giving out instructions on how to access the Dev room.

• Approach the vending machine next to the tarped-off building

during the evening

• 
  
• Enter all 9's into the menu
  
• Go to the far right side of the tarped off building and use the opening. The tileset will not have physically changed, but the event will be activated.
  

Thank you all again for your help! This game had been chugging along slowly for a while, but I'm beginning to feel the momentum as we pick up speed again into development. My next update will hopefully be as productive as this one has been, I'd love to start sprinkling the plot into the script again.

Without further ado, here is your newest build of Cicada Springs: [Link]