The first little dribble of content for the next planet is here; the fleshing out of Phaedra is our next goal, but we have to start somewhere. Backers should have access to the very initial structure that we’re going to be working to expand over the next couple of months. It’s very barebones at present, but we can’t just pour months of effort into getting it to a more fleshed out state without letting people see what we’re up to!

Behind the scenes Fen has been polishing the Zaika Gangers off some more, and they are extremely close to being ready to see the light of a backer patch. I’ve also been working on polishing up an addition to Malai, the character that is going public this week. He’s got a quest coming that’ll slide in a generic Kui-Tan pregnancy, result in the vendor-boy providing a permanent discount, and has a bunch of meaty bad-ends squeezed into the combat portion. The bulk of the actual content is coded, I just gotta go back over and balance the combat, make sure it doesn’t blow up in any spectacular way, so it should be ready for next week. Once everybody else is back into the swing of regular content delivery, I’m going to slide back over to working on the UI and implementing the layout changes that Jacques helped to crystalize into the preview we showed off a few weeks back.

0.9.032 Changelog:

• BACKER: The very first initial Phaedra content is available. There is a lot more work to do here, but it is now possible to fly to a very barebones starting area for the planet and experience the first encounter, The Fuckplants. (Skom, Leek & Fenoxo)
• PUBLIC: Malai is now available to the public. A big boy rask with a weapons shop at the south-end of Gabtown. (Doots & Leek) Evidently just copying the previous patchnote is not ideal™
• Wired up Shalena busts. (Leek & Adj)
• Fix Anno’s crew button vanishing. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix big green potion so that players can properly get Blueberry Yogurt lacation what the fuck who put this in the game. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix the counter for Gwon bondage scenes so players can unlock her fourth scene. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix for dong designer; players should no longer get null type dongs. (lowercase_donkey)
• Update dong designer to support large numbers of options. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix scope issues for goo boobs and crotch adjustments (lowercase_donkey)
• Added code to clear rut after pc impregnates Nastizia. (DrunkZombie)
• Also some typo cleanup in Roxy scene. (DrunkZombie)

Everybody has been distracted and in their own little worlds for the last couple of weeks for some mysterious reason; I can’t really speak specifically for what has kept everybody else busy, but I took the opportunity to cleanup and rework the Imagepack download process for the Electron Backer build. A couple people have been having issues with it, and a few gaps in how I built it came to light so I took the opportunity to really comb through it and handle as many of the missing bits as I possibly could over the holidays. Very much a case of “fix one thing, find two more problems” all the way down until it finally came together. With it handled though, it opens the door for some more image-based things that I need to get onto sorting out over the next couple of weeks; we’ve got a stash of assets that have built up over the last couple of years that we never previously had the capability to easily squish into the game, but we’re finally at a point that we can.

Plenty of other bugfixes have rolled into the repo since the last build, and I don’t want to sit on them whilst I keep plugging new content together, so you’re getting a bugfix patch, and hopefully another one soon™ with some steamy fresh content.

0.9.030 Changelog:

• The imagepack download process has been heavily reworked behind the scenes and should be more reliable. There is now also an additional option under the Graphics settings menu to delete the imagepack if it is installed. (Gedan)
• Tweaked how bulk descriptions for multifoe fights overwrite individual combat descs to be more standardized and efficient. Previously it was converting the character’s class name into a string and checking against a list of strings. Now it’s just a boolean slapped on a character object. This was done for working on the unreleased zaika gang encounter. (Fen)
• Standardized stun immunity checks to check a function in the creature object instead only checking for a specific status (which the function now checks). (Fen)
• Fixed a possible error with Bhakar’s vaginal fuck scene where it could try to route him into your ass, which the scene didn’t support. (Fen)
• Allow players to win ties with Roo. Remove some text that had her sneaking into basic blackjack. (lowercase_donkey)
• Players can no longer bet negative amounts of money in blackjack and throw the game. Honestly, who cheats at cards?! (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix Nykke’s missing pregnant bust (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix Rats Raider busts being attached to the wrong raiders (lowercase_donkey)
• Siegwulf item fix. Item stats will now correctly display on the item. Stats also changed slightly. The new stats are:
  Normal: 3 evasion, Bimbo, not Dom: 2 evasion, 5 sexiness, Bimbo Dom: 2 resolve, 4 sexiness (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix CyberneticExoskeleton to actually allow you to carry heavy weapons (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix some items softlocking player when inspected (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix for LionOS not showing options. (lowercase_donkey)
• Crash fix: Sera “sex party.” (lowercase_donkey)
• Crash fixes: Gianna sex and Mirin sex. (lowercase_donkey)
• Crash fix: majinUpdate() not found. (lowercase_donkey)
• Sophora fixes: isHard() crash; intro showing wrong text based on players experiences; `legOrLegsNoun` error. (lowercase_donkey)
• FIRST-14 tutorial fixes: players will no longer get mail before they have an email set up, stop Krissy and possibly others from appearing. (lowercase_donkey)
• Improve the hints for players looking for Una bad end. (lowercase_donkey)
• Update character data on a few NPCs so it includes their canonical heights. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix Myrna and Mirin scenes warping players back to ship. This warping is a fallback when the game can’t find the place a scene is looking for; it’s helpful when you report these. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fix for quest log not showing Dhaal dungeon as complete (lowercase_donkey)
• Stop Kane from hurting himself in confusion when he is supposed to be interrupting the player (lowercase_donkey)
• Porno hacked drones will no longer attack their original target in the same turn they are teasing the player. (lowercase_donkey)
• Syri’s idle crew text now has the correct line breaks. (lowercase_donkey)
• Many spelling fixes. Did you know it’s “gabilani” and not “gabiliani”? (lowercase_donkey)
• Added some autofiltering to the equipment screen that should autofilter available items when selecting an item slot. (Jacques) (I believe this still needs a little work to polish it, but I ran out of time before getting to it tonight…)
• Added and fixed a few more completed cards to the set. (Jacques00)
• Cleaned up a lot of stat change displays across the game. (Jacques00)
• Fixed a bunch of Sylvie typos. (Jacques00)
• Tweaked item card renders in the equipment screen. (Jacques00)
• Minor tweaks to gooArmor text display when handled during item collection. (Jacques00)
• Tweaked item rarity colours. (Jacques00)
• Consistency for showName() capitalization. (Jacques00)

It’s been a couple weeks hasn’t it, woof.

As part of the last post I pointed out that I wanted to sledge some time into the layout of the sidebar. I didn’t yet really know where I wanted to go with things exactly, just the general feedback that I wanted to take on board and how best to try and glue all of the things together in a way that I think could work, whilst also keeping in mind the desire to improve the usability of the UI on touch devices.

I threw a week into cleaning up some partially implemented ideas that I’ve had sat around for a few months, things I did to prove out the capacity for the new version of TiTS to handle in a satisfactory way. First and foremost, autopathing for the map. I’ve added an option that allows you to click or tap on a room displayed in the map, and the game will step-by-step move you toward that target. I think it needs a little bit more work, like potentially a stop button squeezed in somewhere, and there might be a few things that end-run around when it’s supposed to stop you when events occur, but I think it’s like 98% there in it’s current state.

With the time I spent working on that, and messing with the sidebar in general, it gave me time to crystalize the things I wanted to achieve for the overhaul, things that I think are gonna be problems to watch out for, and exactly how I think we can make it better for touch input. Jacques then took a lot of that and cobbled together a few potential layouts, the best of which I’m gonna squeeze here now as a preview of the potential.

The overlay of controls on the map is another thing I’m thinking about implementing in addition to the Autopathing option (hence why it is an option!) that’ll allow us to get rid of the seperate movement control buttons, freeing up a little bit more space to squeeze stats back into the bar, but the design and sizing of everything is still very much an idea and not how things are going to play out. This moves most of the controls down to the bottom corner of the screen, which imo is perfect for one-handed tablet use. If we then make the sidebar side an option too, so you can left or right hand the UI, depending on preference. Add to this a couple of ideas to remove the need for the button tray to run across the entire bottom of the UI, at least as an input system – probably still keep it for layout purposes, but add an extra way to interact with those buttons that can be done without moving your hand from the “control corner”…. Groundwork has been done for a bunch of this, but it’s gonna be a while yet before it’s ready for public consumption.

Then I realised everybody else was in some state of sick/busy/on holiday, and we had nothing major in the hopper ready to release. I grabbed something off the top of the pile and set into it, but the deeper I got into implementing it the more I realised it needs a lot of reworking and polishing to bring it up to our standards. I was hoping to have at least some more backer content ready before a christmas patch, but I didn’t want to hold off on updating any longer. I might still get it out before Christmas, it depends how over the top I get on wanting to rewrite a bunch of room descriptions and combat attacks in the process.

Back 2 da mines.

0.9.029 Changelog:

• Public: Amber has a new X-Mas date! Made public because it’s an other seasonal event! Requires Anno and Amber to be crew, to be docked on Tavros and Amber not to have partaken of any Dumbfuck. (WritingDen & Leek)
• Public: Dhaal’s Dungeon is now available to the public!
• Public: Una’s Expansion is now available to the public!
• New tech for bust priority selection: Screen now shows the number of busts each artist has in the game (shoutout to Adjatha with 839 busts) and has a ‘sort’ button which sorts artist priority by this number. This tech should also make the artist list complete (31 -> 47). (donk)
• Ensure artists are always spelled the same so the above works well. (donk)
• Autopathing map input now works. It’s enabled by an option under “Controls”. With it enabled you can click/tap on a room on the minimap and the game will move you room-by-room to the destination, stopping when events crop up. (Gedan)
• Reaha, crew Eitan, wall 🦑, XO variants for each corp, Harru, Gwon, bots for the Crash dungeon (Adjatha)
• New busts for Sera (22 of them!) (Shou)
• Updated some Riley jumper art with corrections (mehLewds)
• Updated Holiday (the character) art with latest versions (Damnit)
• Rats raider bust fixes (donk)
• Room descriptions for Short Stacks (writes: Adj, codes: donk)
• Gobtown Zone is green on the map once more (donk)
• Fix a bug that was hiding the “no” option for giving Ardia a horsedick. Cowards. (donk)
• A lot of groundwork for Zaika Gangers (they’re still not out yet, though) (donk)
• Fixes for players not receiving red myr dildo. (donk)
• Fix map bugs for Sera party and PuppySlutMass (donk)
• Fix for ghost cock dream. The game was adding a cock to what you had, but growing and ultimately removing your first cock instead of the ghost cock. Spooky! (donk)
• Kattom will no longer loiter on stairs (donk)
• More fixes for player movement being locked or unlocked in error. Keep reporting these! (donk)
• A lot of text fixes, typos, etc. (donk)
• Fixed a few internal ballsize values. (Gedan)
• Cleaned up a few bits and pieces with Ambers preg events when boarding the ship when she’s not crew. (DrunkZombie)
• In an effort to avoid a few issues with getting stuck in loss-loops, the depth suit used for the Uveto Bioloab will lock on when entering the area so that it cannot be removed whilst in the danger zone in such a way that you could then save without the suit and immediately enter combat, softlocking the save. (DrunkZombie)
• The Slavesuit and Chamelon Armor should no longer bug the drop menu. (Fenoxo)
• Added a trader you can run across in Gabtown that can exchange loot from the Dungeon. (Fenoxo)
• Also added a few extra items to look for from the Dhaal Dungeon. (Fenoxo)
• Fixed a softlock in the Decorate menu. (Jacques)
• Cleaned up a bunch of old UI calls from the AS3 version of the game that were left placeholdered during the conversion process. (Gedan)
• Deduplicated a couple of other placeholder things that existed to get the very initial JS builds to run. (Gedan)
• Yet more tweaking to the OmniSuits special equip processes behind the scenes to try and make it properly equip itself. (Gedan)
• Added a keybind display for the button to switch sides in the drop menu. (Jacques)

Sneaky hotfixes that have rolled out:

• Tweaked the Anno christmas event buttons to not get stomped by the decorate button. (donk)
• Buttsluttinator should be properly accessible once installed on the ship. (donk)
• Globally corrected the spelling for “Raccoon” (donk)

Bit of a weird week all around. Things have mostly been focused on cleaning up the new Dungeon and digging in to quality of life things around the game. We snuck out a good few hotfixes over the last week-and-a-bit to that end.

After the last couple weeks effort with new keybinds for some of the most used interface layouts, and then a bit more tweaking to better support tooltips for touch interfaces I wanted to spend some more time trying to improve mobile performance on lower-end devices. I have both a deece iPad and a cheap-as-possible Android tablet to test things on for really reals to get a handle on exactly how things are working. All I can say is the iPad mostly seems pretty dang good, but the Android is really struggling. I know there’s things I can fish out to improve things, but I think the biggest problem is simply the sheer size of the game and how much thicc code we’re asking the device to handle. We’ve made some non-optimial choices with how we’re abusing the UI to do the things we want it to do but I think I’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel in terms of easy performance wins there.

At any rate, I think my next challenge is going to be reworking the entire sidebar. It’s always been kinda placeholder whilst we built up all of the individual components that makes it up with a view to cycling back around once everything was working to redo its layout, taking into account the feedback we’ve seen and polishing off a few of the things that we’ve tested over time, like the ability to move via the minimap directly.

As for the rest of the team…

DZ has spotted something that interests him in the code-queue.
Will has parked some extra juice for Extrameet in the backlog.
Jacques is still living in card art hell.
Slabin is returning to slab and working on his next big character quest.
Adj continues delivering sick bust art.
Donkey is giving me too many commits to review, as is the style.
Fen is working on some shiny new items to plump up the rewards for the new Don Jon.

0.9.028 Changelog:

• Backer: Malai is now available to backers. A big boy rask with a weapons shop at the south-end of Gabtown. (Doots & Leek)
• Fixed a few crashes with new keybinds. (Gedan)
• Jasvalla art has arrived and been implemented! (Adjatha)
• Fixed issues with a Stormguard scene. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fixed issues with a Pippa scene. (lowercase_donkey)
• Fixed an errant empty combat text container involving stuns. (lowercase_donkey)
• The usual assortment of bust fixes. (lowercase_donkey)
• Tweaks have been made to Bess/Bens menus in various places. (lowercase_donkey)
• A bunch of cleanup has been done for the new Dhaal dungeon – too many little things to exhaustively list.
• Attempts have been made to recover frosty’s custom name from older saves. (lowercase_donkey)
• The ability to refund perk selections has been enabled as a cheat. (I think Leek originally made the UI, donkey wired it up as a cheat)
• Final cleanup of Sophora issues; a few combat tweaks, a bad end properly implemented. (Gedan)

I spent a bunch of time getting down and dirty with the race-determination code that I overhauled a couple of weeks back. It should be working far better now and a bunch of the edge-cases and wrong-results have been fired out of a cannon and into the nearest sun. I wanna see where this lands before I implement the next stage of things, by allowing you to pick a “sticky” race from the top of the list of potential scores, allowing you to somewhat bypass hyper-specific scoring scenarios to get the race you want and leave room for flexibility to turn your Steele into exactly what you envision for them.

This week meeting was good all around; we’ve got a lot of fresh content lined up to be completed over the next couple of weeks, so expect a return to form for backer content over the next couple of patches. Somewhere in the next couple of weeks you should expect the next dungeon to drop, now that Fen and Leek have gotten together and made lots of code babies over their two halves of the implementation process. Fen just has a couple of final touches to rope together and it’ll be DONE. SOON™.

Now I must go and clamber back into the codemine.

0.9.024 Changelog:

• • [BACKER] Una has a new series of facesitting scenes, along with a potential bad-end for good boys who prove they know their place under her booty. (William, Nonesuch & Gedan)
  • Bakhar’s menu being funky has been fixed. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Fixed a handful of character names not being consistently displayed in the UI. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Fixed a couple of oversights with parser tags in lovestarz content. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Fixed where the displayability of the update notification message is determined which should ensure it can be consistently displayed across different build types. (Gedan)
  • Fixed milk thief crashes. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Fixed Credits always being listed as the currency during a shop checkout process, even when another currency is being used. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Improved the parser to support literal arguments. (leek)
  • Tweaked all of the current race scoring parameters to more closely align with expected results under the old system. All of the starting race options should now properly result in half-race outputs as expected. Where possible, the new system avoids using specific genitalia as a scoring element and instead relies purely on other appearance factors but there are a handful of cases where this is impossible or clearly does not make sense to avoid. (Gedan)
  • Tweaked all of the different ways the player can acquire Kiro’s ship for themselves, hopefully resulting in a more consistent experience. (Gedan)
  • Deduplicated a bunch of old content as well as cleaning up the scope of a lot of functions across the codebase. (lowercase_donkey)
  • Undo states should be properly created in more instances when the parser has been provided temporary parser tags. (Gedan)
  • A variety of scene and tag fixes, along with the usual assortment of bust tweaks have been performed. (lowercase_donkey)

Managed to sneak in another little spooky addition just in time!

Once again I’ve found myself sidetracked with a bunch of other important things that aren’t directly associated with make game has more content or features; last week we started running into issues with people being able to download TiTS and CoC2 updates for a couple of hours. The issue isn’t that our server can’t keep up, it seems to have just been one of those general internet issues that crops up from time to time. In the process of digging into it though, I decided it would probably be prudent to start putting some thought into expanding our capacity and hopefully deliver a system that will let us work around routing issues like this in the future. It’s a technical challenge that I haven’t really had to approach before, and there’s a lot of things that I need to keep in mind with some features that we have planned for the game, and how those are going to work with whatever distribution system we end up utilizing.

Lighterflud is back in action, and is the person who smashed through the code for this extra spooky addition for this patch, so he’s been getting up to speed now that the games basically completely changed behind the scenes and he’s been contributing to the utter melee that is trying to figure out answers for technical questions that crop up when I’m not directly available. Little javascript beans learning their way through the horrendous pile of bad decisions that I had to make to get us this far, brings a tear to me eye it does.

Fen & Leek have been getting down on gluing the latest dungeons bulk content and the boss encounters together, along with rifling through a bunch of the combat code to straighten a few things up. SOON™.

0.9.023 Changelog:

• PUBLIC: A new event can occur whilst onboard your ship for a spooky trick or treat encounter! (Doots (Check out their Patreon!) & Lighterflud)
• Tweaked how ship-board controls are generated in different rooms to better handle events that don’t want to clear out the room description. (Gedan)
• A bunch of globally available functions that didn’t need to be have been cleaned up; we might have a few missing function call errors here and there. (lowercase_donkey)
• penny.short should be resolved. (lowercase_donkey & Fenoxo)
• A bunch more busts have been added and existing ones fiddled. (lowercase_donkey)
• Duplicate content that has amassed during the porting process is being cleaned up and removed, should help reduce the size of the game download. (lowercase_donkey)
• A bunch of other fixes and tweaks all across the code has happened, and I’m too tired to exhaustively list every last one. One day I’ll figure out a good way to autogenerate these patchnotes…