0.52 Reflection and 0.53 Preview

Hello, perverts! I'm doing pretty well and I'm looking ahead to see that I've almost reached three years of working on this game, which is both bizarre and exciting. I'll have to think about what I want to do for the anniversary, if anything! On a related note, Theresa's Valentine's outfit, the cheongsam, will be available from the Tailor in-game without spending Ken from February 1-28, so if you haven't grabbed it in your current playthrough, you can take advantage of that soon.

I polled the Center of Attention patrons about what existing systems in the game I should expand next, and one option that was particularly popular was more events in the mansion. My aim is for the mansion to feel like an important character, so I'm happy to be at a point where I can highlight it a bit more.

Reflecting on Casual Sex and Filth

This one had a lot of stuff in it! The biggest part in terms of work for me was the overhaul of Theresa's chamber menu. It's been unwieldy for a while, and I feel like there could be enough options in it that many players' eyes glazed over a bit and they didn't explore everything they might want to.

Splitting the menu into major categories was simple, but I still want to draw folks' attention to stuff they might not have noticed. That's where the "new" icons come in. This was the bulk of the work on the release: making sure menu items were represented in a way that allowed them to act as categories that "knew" when there was something new under them. Most of Theresa's menus now use the code that was previously used for choosing play scenes or terminology.

Since I was diving into all the menus anyway, I did a bunch of work to improve the accessibility and the layout of their buttons. I'd had trouble in the past with laying the stat choice buttons out; since the requirements on the right can vary in width, it was hard to get the button text wrapping properly without overflowing. It turns out I found an edge case that wasn't accounted for, so I'm continuing my pattern of trying to do weird things that call for changes in the Ren'Py framework.

The bar toilets were fun to add; they'll play a role in Theresa's final graduation, which should be coming sometime soon. I hope that the little sex scenes I added to the Reform Institute help make it feel like a game space and not just an island used for certain tasks.

Next Release

Simple things first: I'll be converting major characters to use the same style of menu as Theresa's. Some of them can get long menus as well, and making the approach consistent should help make things feel smoother. I've seen a few reviews/comments that the game feels "grindy", which I don't quite understand; I think that the amount of hunting around in menus may be adding to that impression. I'm not sure if all characters will be converted in the same release or not. I may do all the town characters and postpone Shelby, Meg, and Esther for later.

Thanks to the poll, I'm going to add some mansion-centric stuff! First up will be ambiences that play in the entryway, just like the ones that show up in town. I'm planning to make these show up the second time you go through the entryway in a day; since players often will go to bed, have a nightmare, go through a breakfast scene, and arrive in the entryway, I don't want to give them one more procedural event in a row.

I'd also like to add some slightly-more-substantial events; one place these will show up is at night. Folks with the "Jealousy" sophisticated text active already sometimes get a photo under their door, and I'd like to give more options for that. I'm also thinking about letting Theresa stop by your room more often; at the moment, that only happens rarely when she's assigned to sleep around as her evening routine.

The last big chunk that will come out in this release is a new minor ruination of some "birds". This one will focus around cuckqueaning, where a wife gets off on her husband fucking other people; it was a strong runner-up in my last poll on which "birds" should be implemented. Since you have to ruin three birds in order to progress the story, I want to do my best to have enough options that appeal to any given player. With this new sequence, you'll be able to skip two of the five birds, which I think is a decent amount of choice.

I'll also probably be starting work on Theresa's third graduation option soon. This one will be a trip to town; depending on your choices, I'd like it to be able to take the form of some hardcore exhibitionism, public sex between you two, free use of Theresa, or even the two of you serving crowds together. We'll see how versatile I can make the sequence when I start actually outlining it. Either way, the sequence will almost certainly not come out in the next release.

Thank you so much for your support! I'd love to keep hearing from you, so please comment with what you think or contact me privately. And if there's a place where you like to find and discuss lewd games, consider telling folks about Ruin Me! Have a lovely week.