Progress update 04-09-2022

Hey everyone! This week was a bit of an odd one, as besides writing being done I spend most of my time actually working on the update after this. What was the subject? Well, once more... clothing.

Clothing is a difficult beast. Because it adds so much of the gravity of growing, as its the most common way people interact with the size of their own body. But it's also incredibly detailed; multiple layers of clothing, different bodyparts outgrowing different clothes... there is a lot that needs to be tracked. 

And I wonder more and more if it's FUN. The core problem of the game is that it's a roadblock now; the clothing breaks, and the game grinds to a halt. Other genre's have that too; in an FPS if you run out of ammo, the game grinds to a halt. But here it's such an often occurring break. Yet breaking also feels for me as a necessity; how do you show the player outgrowing their life, when they can't outgrow it?

There were two core problems. One, the problem of too many clicks. Creating and planning outfits is a bit of a chore now, same with equipping them. Two, the clothes are just a roadblock.

To solve this I'm hard at work at introducing two new features, and reworking another. First, I plan to have outfits give bonuses. Getting extra gains at the gym from proper clothing, or more confidence during the day. Another is that I want clothes to be organized in outfits the player can create. It's a bit complex, but I think it'd lessen the amount of clicks needed significantly. Right now it's in the early stages, and unfortunately the restrictions of the twine engine don't make it easy.

So yeah, this is what we're working on now! The next update, and the future after! But I'd love to hear your ideas for the clothing feedback, as I'm always looking for input!